An Interview With Ian Benke
Worldbuilding: The number one thing I think you’ll need if you set out to write a sci-fi or fantasy story is a solid worldbuilding process. One of the things I find most fun about writing fantasy is that I don’t have to set my stories in real places that I can find on Google Earth — I get to make them up! That comes with a heavy responsibility, though: If you don’t put enough time and effort into your worldbuilding processes, your story setting will feel flat at best and confusing at worst.
Science Fiction and Fantasy are hugely popular genres. What does it take for a writer today, to write compelling and successful Science Fiction and Fantasy stories? Authority Magazine started a new series called “How To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories”. In this series we are talking to anyone who is a Science Fiction or Fantasy author, or an authority or expert on how to write compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing M. J. Kuhn.
M.J. Kuhn is a fantasy writer by night and a mild-mannered university employee by day. She lives in the metro Detroit area with her husband Ryan, a dog named Wrex, and the very spoiled cat Thorin Oakenshield. You can find more information about M.J. online at MJKuhn.com.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share a story about what first drew you to writing over other forms of storytelling?
I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, so it’s only natural that I was drawn to books as a storytelling medium. When I was younger, I really liked the anonymity of the writing medium of storytelling. No one has to see my face or hear me speak to enjoy my words when I put them in a book. The irony is that, in the current market, I’m promoting with my face all over social media anyways in order to spread the word about my book, but when I was first drawn to writing, I didn’t know about that part, ha!
You are a successful author. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
I’m not sure I’ve earned the title “successful author” just yet, but I do have a book on the shelf, so I’ll talk about the traits that got me this far, at least! The first — and most important — trait is stubbornness. The path to publication is not an easy one, nor is it a short one. I wrote, edited, and sought feedback on four full novels before I managed to catch the attention of my wonderful agent. Even after that, it took two more tries — and over two years — before we got a project picked up by a publishing house. If I wasn’t so stubborn, I might not have made it through that process.
Another important trait is humility. This industry is rough, and your ego will take a beating sooner or later, guaranteed. Even if you somehow manage to get through the querying process without a single rejection, which I don’t know anyone who has, there’s still the submission process to publishers. After that comes the scariest hurdle of all — reviews! Professional reviews, reader reviews, Goodreads and Amazon and StoryGraph, oh my! No matter how strong your story is, some people will hate it. That’s the nature of art. If you’re not humble enough to realize your book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, you will be miserable.
Lastly, I’ll say being internally motivated. There’s not a lot of external motivation to finish your book at first. When you’re writing your first project or two — or more, you won’t have a deadline, you won’t be working with anyone in the industry. It’s just you and your keyboard. For the past seven years, I’ve woken up before 7 almost every weekend day in order to crank out some words. Your schedule may look different from mine, but if you can’t bring yourself to sacrifice sleep/social events/etc. for writing time, you’ll find it difficult to even finish a book, let alone get it published.
Can you tell us a bit about the interesting or exciting projects you are working on or wish to create? What are your goals for these projects?
I’m working on several projects at the moment! One is in late-stage edits, another in mid-level edits, a third in very early editing stages, a fourth is in first-draft mode, and I have a fifth project that I’ve just begun outlining. The industry is tricky and it’s hard to tell what publishers will be looking for, so I’m trying to cover my bases with lots of different story options so I can keep my author career going! I’m most excited for the late-stage edits project and my brand new outline idea. The new idea is my first ever sci-fi project, I generally write fantasy, so I’m really excited to flex some different creative muscles there!
Wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define sci-fi or fantasy? How is it different from speculative fiction?
Personally, I include both sci-fi and fantasy under the larger speculative fiction umbrella. To me, the difference between sci-fi and fantasy is that while both include elements and happenings that are not currently possible or realistic in our world, sci-fi uses existing real-world logic and science to explain the possibility of these happenings, and fantasy creates new explanations using fictional logic, often in the form of magic. I’m not sure if that’s a “textbook” definition, but that’s how I differentiate the two genres.
It seems that despite countless changes in media and communication technologies, novels and written fiction always survive, and as the rate of change increases with technology, written sci-fi becomes more popular. Why do you think that is?
Every few years I feel like there’s a new hot-take think piece out about how books are a dying medium, how no one reads anymore, etc. etc. I don’t believe that will ever be true. There are a lot of reasons why people always circle back to books. For me, personally, the more time I spend staring at a screen for my day job and writing work, the less time I want to spend staring at screens in my free time, so reading is a really attractive leisure activity.
As for why sci-fi books in particular become more popular, I think that as technology increases, there are more opportunities for production companies to make high-quality sci-fi and fantasy TV shows and films. This might introduce people to the genre and make them fall in love with it. Once they’re hungry for more, they’ll discover hundreds of thousands of stories they can access in the form of books. That’s just a theory, though!
In your opinion, what are the benefits to reading sci-fi, and how do they compare to watching sci-fi on film and television?
In my opinion, one of the main benefits to reading sci-fi and fantasy is that it expands your mind beyond the confines of the world you’re familiar with. I think reading about characters and people who live in a world nothing like your own sometimes makes it easier for you as a reader to open your mind to difficult topics, concepts, or themes that you might not be open to if the characters were running around New York City.
Let me start by saying, I’m a big fan of watching sci-fi and fantasy on film and television, but the main advantage of reading these stories instead of watching them is that your imagination is not limited by the current capabilities of CGI.
What authors and artists, dead or alive, inspired you to write?
There are a lot of authors that inspire me on a daily basis. Some of these include J. R. R. Tolkien, V. E. Schwab, Sabaa Tahir, George R. R. Martin, Brian Jacques, and Diana Wynne Jones. I’m also regularly inspired by the authors I’ve met on my journey to publication and beyond. It’s such a trying process, and anyone who survives it is pretty inspiring, in my mind.
If you could ask your favourite Science Fiction and Fantasy author a question, what would it be?
If I had the chance to sit down with any one of my favorite authors, my brain would be bursting with so many questions, I think it might explode. If I had to pick one question though, I think I would ask them about their writing process. Do they outline first? Do they discover the story as they go? What does their editing and revision process look like?
Every author has such a different approach, and I’m always looking for ways to improve my own processes, so I’d love to pick my favorite authors’ brains about the way their stories come to life.
We’d like to learn more about your writing. How would you describe yourself as an author? Can you please share a specific passage that you think exemplifies your style?
I would describe my writing style as fast-paced, fun, and maybe just a tad on the lyrical side. My goal for every book is to write something that a person would want to devour in a single sitting -even if they can’t actually do that.
One line from Among Thieves that I think fits the bill is:
“Nash had never had much use for complaining. Complaining about a bad hand did nothing. A good gambler always played her cards as best she could. A good cheat just stole a new set of cards.”
Based on your own experience and success, what are the “Five Things You Need To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories?” If you can, please share a story or example for each.
- Worldbuilding. The number one thing I think you’ll need if you set out to write a sci-fi or fantasy story is a solid worldbuilding process. One of the things I find most fun about writing fantasy is that I don’t have to set my stories in real places that I can find on Google Earth — I get to make them up! That comes with a heavy responsibility, though: If you don’t put enough time and effort into your worldbuilding processes, your story setting will feel flat at best and confusing at worst. The first project I ever wrote, my beta readers peppered me with questions about the world; its history, the reasons why the magic system worked the way it did, and I felt my stomach drop farther and farther as I realized I didn’t have answers to those questions. In other words, I hadn’t taken the time to learn the world before I started writing, so, of course that world didn’t translate into a real-feeling setting on the page. After that, I began pouring a lot more time and effort into worldbuilding at the beginning of my process, and it’s become one of my favorite parts of each book’s journey.
- Research. You might be thinking, “but wait, MJ, you just told me I have to make up the whole world in the last bullet point… what do I need to research?” While it’s true that sci-fi and fantasy books are often not based in familiar, real-world locations, there will still be real-world elements you’ll need to pull into your books in order to make them relatable to your audience. Are your fantasy characters going to be fighting one another with swords? You’ll probably need to do some research on sword designs and sword fighting techniques to make those fight scenes pop, then. Does your sci-fi story involve space travel? Well, you’ll need a basis of knowledge about the vacuum of space, how ships survive it, etc. before you put pen to paper. When I was planning out Among Thieves, I did a ton of research on highwaymen and thieves, con artists, street-level scams, and art heists before I started writing. Even though you’re making up a fantastical story, you need to root it in real-world research in order for it to be believable to your audience.
- The Ability to Cut Ruthlessly. Sci-fi and fantasy books are usually long. As a reader, there is honestly nothing I love more than a book that is AGGRESSIVELY chunky. However, just because these genres have a little more wiggle room than other genres when it comes to book length, that doesn’t mean you can just throw a bunch of words out there. Every word in the book still needs to earn its place. After spending a lot of time on worldbuilding and research, you’re going to know a ton of details about the setting of your story. That’s great! It should feel like a real place to you. But just remember, in order for it to feel like a real place to your readers, they won’t need all of that information. When I do a worldbuilding document, I’ll usually have at least 10–20 pages worth of world details that never make it directly onto the page. A lot of these details appeared in early drafts of the project in question, but were cut in the end because they didn’t benefit the plot or push things forward. That’s not to say building those details was a waste of time, though! Any effort that helps you as the writer sink deeper into the world of the story still helps the setting feel more real to your reader, in the end. But make sure you’re prepared to ruthlessly chop out any info-dumps that make it into your starting drafts.
- Trusted Beta Readers. You’ve created the world of your story. The characters sprang from your brain. The magic system or technological possibilities of your world are things you dreamed up. As a result, they all make perfect sense to you! Will they make sense to a reader, though? The only way to find out is to ask them! For those who are unfamiliar, beta readers are folks who read your project for you when you’re still in the editing phase. They are invaluable when it comes to catching plot holes, worldbuilding inconsistencies, confusing elements, and more. I use beta readers for all my projects, bringing them in when I’m around three or four drafts into a new project. I’m sure beta readers are important for every genre, but I feel like there is an extra layer of importance to them for sci-fi and fantasy books. In short: If your world, magic system, plot, or characters are confusing or reading as unbelievable in any way, you want to know that early in the process so you can course-correct and fix it in edits.
- Love for Your Genre. Writing a book is a long process. I started my debut novel, Among Thieves, in 2016 and it didn’t hit shelves until 2021. That’s an awful long time to spend with a single project, so you want to make sure you really love it before you commit to that. Additionally, you need to make sure you love the genre enough to read broadly within it. Reading other fantasy and sci-fi books is important for a number of reasons. First of all, it lets you know what the market is currently into. Check out the bestselling books in your genre. You don’t have to copy them, obviously, but what do you think makes people love them so much? Can you adapt any of that ~mojo~ for your story? I also think it’s important to see what’s currently on shelves just for the purpose of understanding where your book fits in the genre. In my opinion, if you want to write great sci-fi or fantasy, you also need to love reading great sci-fi and fantasy.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Entertainment, Business, VC funding, and Sports read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂
There are so many people I would love to have the opportunity to meet! Authors like Leigh Bardugo, Sabaa Tahir, Pierce Brown, or V. E. Schwab are definitely at the top of the list. Also, hey, if anyone wants to put me in touch with Taika Waititi, Elizabeth Banks, or Patty Jenkins, I have some fantastic thoughts for an Among Thieves movie franchise 😉
Thank you for these excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent. We wish you continued success.
Author MJ Kuhn On How To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.