While writing All Things Dark & Magickal: Bitter Fruit I had to ask myself the question: how far should my language go? Let me explain. Arabella Cuthbert lives in 19th century England. Each chapter begins with a quote from the time period. I chose a feminist author of the era, Mary Wollstonecraft, for the quotations. … More Language & Worldbuilding: SF Benson
Today’s topic will be helpful for anyone who has wondered how to develop story ideas from classic stories. For me, I’d always wanted to rework the classic fairy tales. Did you know that they weren’t meant to be the iconic cute stories we currently read? With this in mind, your first step is to get … More Parsing Ideas For Fantasy Stories
The Importance of Accuracy in Worldbuilding The idea for today’s post came while binge-watching the CW’s Arrow. Hey, don’t fault me. I’m a huge fan of DC Comics and Marvel. While playing catch up on the series, I noticed frequent mention of Bratva (in a nutshell, think Russian mafia). Personally, I’d never heard of it … More Writing Advice: SF Benson
Worldbuilding and Research When I was considering what to write for this post, I first thought I’d write about my research process while writing my latest fairy tale retelling. But then, the question popped up—why did I need research for this story? All Things Dark & Magickal: Bitter Fruit requires worldbuilding. Lots of worldbuilding—hence, the … More Writing Advice: SF Benson
We Write Fantasy 