By J. D. Harlock For a world to feel lived in, characters should receive the same attention as the lore, with characterization and worldbuilding intertwining, each influencing the other. This is as true for main characters as it is for supporting casts. When we think of classics like Discworld or One Piece, often our memories […]
by Katherine Garcia Ley We’ve all seen them: the thirty pages of interview questions you should ask your characters. The analytical texts on astrological signs. The “ultimate of ultimate” tools offering twenty-some Enneagrams for character development. All these resources are fantastic. Heck, I use them, and they’re amazing. I’m a list-loving personality theory hoarder. These […]
We’re pleased to announce that the THIRD season of Narrative Worlds will debut on Sunday, October 16, at 1:00pm Pacific Time. Part of the ongoing 2022 Nebula Conference Online, this worldbuilding webinar series is hosted by bestselling author and SFWA member Kate Elliott. Her guest for the first episode will be Agent DongWon Song. They […]
By Kim Zarins When I was a child, I snuck out to the backyard, made a little circle of stones, and jumped inside the circle. The goal was to get to Narnia, which I loved intensely. But I have never pictured Narnia or its characters in my mind. I’m an aphant, that is, someone with […]
By Katie Gill In recent years, audio drama has made a comeback in the form of narrative podcasts, which have gone from relative niche to mainstream markets. Audio drama series have been adapted into successful books, seen financial success on crowdfunding sites like Patreon, and launched Netflix adaptations. Likewise, the pandemic-era growth in remote recording […]
by Hunter Liguore Creating new characters takes a careful eye. When an idea comes, we might rely on familiar images to fashion characters that aren’t truly our own, but rather influenced through media images or by people we’ve encountered or known well. What is often missed in the early drafting of characters is the up-close […]
by Chelsea Mueller There’s significant power in fighting and kissing scenes. When done well, they’re often reader favorites. Look at how readers talk about stories with excellent fights or swoonworthy sex, and you’ll see them call out these scenes specifically. In books that bring violence and romance to the page well, readers may even praise […]
By Anessa Kemna Science fiction and fantasy should be the perfect places for disability representation. Writers make the rules in their worlds. But it’s difficult to find disabled characters and even harder to find quality representation in the SFF genres. It’s difficult in mainstream fiction too, but a genre built on imagination should have higher […]
by R. K. Thorne Worldbuilding is a fun aspect of writing fantasy and science fiction. It is so tempting to get lost in drawing maps, hoarding pictures, plotting lineages, or researching how that awesome weapon system could actually work. Our efforts often focus on geography, history, and politics. But part of worldbuilding should be envisioning […]
by Gabriel Murray We tend to remember our first brushes with the imaginary vast: when we read our first children’s portal fantasy, were enchanted by the animated world of our first Studio Ghibli film, or got lost in our first strange, endless game map. As writers, we often want to bring our own readers there […]
A historical fantasy: the remarkable tale of Miss Bristol, a young woman born in 1885 who lost herself, found herself, and learned how to eat pizza like a New Yorker in 2025.
Amber Hansford is a fantasy author with a Too-Much Gene living in Atlanta, Georgia. Her debut novel, The Hand of Mashyana (Feb 2025), began her Persian-inspired Epic Fantasy series, The Emari Chronicles.
