London Writers' Salon

#201: Writing Fantasy — Holly Black (The Cruel Prince) & Samantha Shannon (The Priory of the Orange Tree) on Magic Systems, Building Worlds From Research, and Writing Through Self-Doubt | Compilation

Episode Summary

Bestselling fantasy authors Holly Black and Samantha Shannon on building believable magic systems, researching and constructing immersive worlds, and why the right book often only emerges once you’ve written the wrong one.

Episode Notes

Bestselling fantasy authors Holly Black and Samantha Shannon on building believable magic systems, researching and constructing immersive worlds, and why the right book often only emerges once you’ve written the wrong one.
 

You’ll learn

• Why the most convincing magic on the page often starts with something you once half-believed was real.
• How writing the wrong version of a book can be the only route to the right one.
• What the texture of a world quietly promises a reader before the plot even begins.
• Why putting a character through the worst is often the best thing you can do for a story.
• When the certainty that your draft is a disaster is just a normal part of the process.
• What early hype can do to a writer, and why other writers are the antidote.
• Where to draw the line between research that serves the book and a rabbit hole that doesn’t.
• A method for plotting a long series when you know the destination but not the route.
• What happens when a character starts refusing what you try to make it do.

Episode Links

Holly Black — original LWS episode: https://londonwriterssalon.simplecast.com/episodes/127-holly-black-crafting-bestselling-fantasy-world-building-character-development-and-the-prisoners-throne

Samantha Shannon — original LWS episode: https://londonwriterssalon.simplecast.com/episodes/068-samantha-shannon-the-art-of-writing-fantasy-fiction-plotting-mental-health

About the Guests

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy books, including the Novels of Elfhame, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Spiderwick Chronicles, her adult debut, Book of Night, as well as an Arthurian picture book called Sir Morien. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library. She invites you to visit her online at blackholly.com or follow her @Hollyblack @blackholly.

Samantha Shannon is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Bone Season and The Priory of the Orange Tree. Born in West London, she studied English Language and Literature at St Anne’s College, Oxford, from 2010 to 2013, specialising in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Principles of Film Criticism.