Today my first professionally published story, "The Broken Karwaneer," came out in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I thought I would write a blog post about my thoughts on an important element of that story. If you haven't read the story yet, please do so before going on. This post will make more sense context. In the story, …
Continue reading Worldbuilding: Dark Settings and their Purpose
What is it about secondary world fantasy and science fiction that draws readers in? Why do readers seek out stories that take place in worlds not our own? There are many reasons (possibly as many reasons as there are readers) but one such reason, and the reason I most identify with, is the powerful thematic …
Earlier today I was reading through a reddit thread in which comparisons were being drawn between the Mystery/Thriller genres and the Fantasy/Science Fiction genres. The discussion mostly revolved around an unusual paradox, this being that while the apparent readership and sales figures of the Mystery/Thriller genres are much higher, Fantasy and Science Fiction titles show …
Leading off from my last post about worldbuilding the little details, I thought I'd write briefly about creating creatures, which is one of my favorite aspects of worldbuilding for fantasy settings. In this post I will briefly discuss how I go about creating fantasy creatures, using this charming little guy as an example: That is …
Recently, while giving me feedback on a story, LL Phelps of the Taipei Writer's Group asked me about worldbuilding, and specifically how I go about filling my fantasy worlds with details. I like to think that I'm pretty good at "little details" worldbuilding, and I've spent a lot of time practicing working it into my speculative …
J.T. Greathouse 