An Interview With Ian Benke
You need to let your imagination run. No one has written imaginative fiction without setting themselves free to both ask and answer the question “What if…?”. Let yourself wonder aloud and explore all the possibilities. As long as your world is consistent, who cares if it’s totally off the wall. Someone will love it, and you’re allowed to write imaginatively.
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 Zachary Hagen.
Zachary Hagen is a fantasy author and English teacher. He is known for the Eternal Chronicles series, an epic fantasy set in the world of Lux Terra that follows the journeys of a bastard prince, a cursed merman, and a dethroned dwarven queen along with the companions they meet along the way. Reviewers have praised his world building, and Zachary seeks to continue his upward trajectory in the literary scene as he reaches new readers every day. He takes his skills as a writer into the classroom to help new generations discover their love of reading and writing and all the joy surrounding those skills.
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 think that I just gravitated to writing because of how much I loved stories. I loved reading as a kid and my parents kept evidence of my first forays into writing in the form of little books stapled together with pictures drawn in them and rudimentary stories. Beyond that, I loved literature and always loved hearing about the lives of writers.
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?
First is my tenacity. I very rarely give up on something that I want. I studied music in my undergrad studies, and I would spend hours killing myself over practicing and studying music history because I loved the challenge. There are clearly better singers and musicians than me even though I improved a lot in those studies, but some things like listening to music for those history classes and hearing what I was supposed to hear, I just never quite got, but I passed every one of those classes because I never stopped working at it! (Thank God there was a writing component or I would have had a D and would have had to change majors.)
I also think my innate creativity helped me. Of course, this is kind of a given, but I think that being able to completely invent something and make it so real to yourself that you can write about it as if it’s truth is a powerful tool for a writer. Before you can sit down at a computer or put pen to paper, the story and the characters and the world they live in have to feel real to you.
The last thing I think that helped me, strangely enough, was faith. I had faith in my story, the reasons for writing it, the characters, the people who supported me, and the call I felt to write. I think knowing that you can do it without evidence to support that claim is the most important part. If you don’t believe that you can write a book, you can’t.
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 currently working on the third book in Eternal Chronicles, an Aladdin retelling from the princess’s perspective, and I have plans for an Atlantis story, a paranormal gated community story (think Stepford Wives remake with hints of Gravity Falls and Melissa Joan Hart’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch). Of course, I’ll be finishing Eternal Chronicles as well, but I plan to make a sort of serial sit-com out of the gated community and hopefully make the Atlantis story a stand-alone novel, though it might have series potential. I have a lot of other ideas too, which I keep logged in my date stamped note files, but I don’t want to ramble on for ten pages on story ideas.
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?
What a great question! Of course, speculative fiction can include some fantastical elements or stretches of the truth we currently live in, but both sci-fi and fantasy take it further. Sci-fi is really fun to read and write, but it does follow a simple rule: it must be theoretically plausible. The weird elements in sci-fi always have a scientific explanation even if it isn’t backed up by current technology. They can always sort of be plausible. For crying out loud, the older Star Trek series had things that were essentially tablets. Now virtually everyone has a tablet, but twenty years ago, they were science fiction. Sci-fi can happen. That’s where fantasy is different.
While there’s reality as a backdrop for books like Cinder by Marissa Meyer, my books Eternity’s Well and Eternity’s Mirror, the first two in my series, do not have reality as the backdrop. I’ve chosen to set them in an entirely different world. For them, magic is part of their science, but it doesn’t have an explanation for this world. There are no such things as djinn, elves, or fairies in our world (as far as we officially know), so having those elements with a magic system integrated makes my story fantasy. The weird elements have no scientific explanation and are generally understood to be impossible in our world no matter how much technology progresses.
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?
I think that we’re getting wilder in our imaginations and hopes for the future. I’d love to read or write a book about humanity populating other star systems and starting a colony on mars as the base for all of it. The reality is that isn’t a far-off vision. The technology exists or will exist shortly for interplanetary colonization. I think people like to look forward through the lens of story.
In your opinion, what are the benefits to reading sci-fi, and how do they compare to watching sci-fi on film and television?
If you’re good at imagining things, the special effects in your brain will always be better than Hollywood. If I describe flying around a moon at blinding speed as you prepare for descent onto the rocky, barren surface of a planet, your brain will create something better than we can realistically put in a computer image. I mean, video games and rendered images look better and better, but no one is mistaking them for real in most cases. Your brain is more sophisticated than a computer, so it does a better job of showing you the images you’re reading about.
What authors and artists, dead or alive, inspired you to write?
Christopher Paolini, Marissa Meyer, C. S. Lewis, and Tolkien were all integral to my desire to write. It was an incredible experience reading their books, and I felt the need to add to the literary scene in the ways that they did.
If you could ask your favourite Science Fiction and Fantasy author a question, what would it be?
I would love to ask C. S. Lewis how he came up with some of the lines Aslan said because they are just dripping with wisdom. He writes the lion’s lines in one of his books “No one is told any story but their own.” I feel like that’s just an incredible way to remind us all that we need to focus on our own journeys and not look at others’ to compare.
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 think that I focus a lot on world building and character development. I am methodical in my development of plot and the characters that participate in it. This passage gave me chills when I read it back after writing it. I felt so accomplished and loved the imagery that I put in this section.
Opal put rested her chin on her hand and furrowed her brow. Several more minutes passed, and the Centaur Lord began to count with his front hooves as someone might tap their fingers on a desk as a show of impatience.
Another few minutes passed with no sign that Opal would make any headway. Frustrated whinnies and groans from all over the building rolled over the assembly. The Centaur Lord began walking back towards Opal. The clopping of his hooves echoed towards Elior as his heart sank. They had failed at the first obstacle in this mirror dimension. His stomach roiled as the thought of Eliam being forever trapped or eaten by Umbra crashed into him like waves against the shore in a storm.
The Lord of Centaurs reached out to touch Opal’s shoulder. Just before he was able to grab her, a force of sizzling cold air rushed out from her and pushed him back.
The light in the pyramid dimmed to nothing. The only source of light was pale and white emanating from Opal. The brilliance poured out of her skin like liquid silver. The stark light drained the color from everything except the tapestry.
Her voice was distant and far away when she spoke, yet it was clear and ringing. It was joined by foreign, but friendly, voices. It was as if she, Michael, and some unknown man spoke in unison.
“Regalla, the Mare of Ten Thousand Stories, spoke this prophecy to the assembly here on the day the mirror was sealed, and the dragons were no longer the ambassadors of Lux Terra and the other side, Nox Terra.”
Opal’s eyes closed, but light continued to pour from her skin. She stepped to the head of the tapestry, leaving puddles of silver light in every footprint. “The prophecy is not yet complete, but hear, you assembled here, the whole of Regalla’s ten-thousandth tale, for this was her last vision.”
Opal’s eyes opened again, but instead of an iris and pupil, more silver light filled her eyes and fell like tears trailing down her face slowly creating puddles at her feet.
She pointed to the top of the tapestry. “Watch and wait, for the way is barred at the closing of Solarium’s first war against Aelon. No more shall the coin flip and dance as it did during the first age. The path is shut and only one dragon will remain.”
She took another few steps to the next scene in the tapestry. “Guard yourselves well, for the lonesome, forgotten one will hold out hope in his master and ravage the land. Hide in the forests, hide in the fortified places. Retreat, you trees, to your hiding places lest you be burned for your faithfulness.”
She moved again, her light growing brighter. “Then, when death itself has died, the anointed of Aelon who will drink of deep waters of a restored Well will come. They will restore the sun to the land and remove the black lizard from the highest place.”
As Opal returned to the bottom of the tapestry, she kneeled and spread her hands over the woven scene at the bottom. “Then you shall know that the end of the age of darkness approaches, for the way shall be opened and claws will grip the land with a mighty and fiery hold. But you, in hearing this, hope still in the rain that extinguishes the flames and brings life back to that which was razed.”
Opal stood, and with all three voices speaking, cried out, “This hear and know the word of the Great Spirit, Aelon!”
The light pouring from her eyes dried up and revealed her soft brown irises again. Then the light pouring from her skin faded too, allowing the regular light to replace it. When all had returned to normal, Opal swayed as if she were about to faint.
Excerpt from Eternity’s Mirror by Zachary Hagen, copyright March 2022 by First Horizons Publishing. All rights reserved.
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.
You need an idea that has legs. For example, saying you want to write a fairytale retelling as fine, but what is the twist, how are you going to tell a new story while using the plot of the old one? I’m writing an Aladdin retelling as I’m studying my MFA. The twist is that Aladdin was always a prince until Aisha, the name of my princess, finds and frees the djinn and makes an inadvertent wish to be a princess. As princess, she has to hide her true identity or lose everything. See? I’ve set it in the general idea of Aladdin, but I’ve changed it enough that it’s a new story.
You need to know what your ending is. I know exactly where Eternal Chronicles ends in the fifth book. Knowing how I want to end the story helps me know where I need to take my characters, what needs to happen for them to authentically reach it. Even if plotting isn’t your thing, you need a goal in mind when you’re writing a book, and especially a series. Goals help you shape the story as you write it.
You need to not care if it’s stupid. There is a market for almost any idea. If I had everyone I knew weigh into the initial concepts that led to my first novel, they would have thought it was stupid, but now it has incredible reviews and people who have read it love it. Get the book out. You can make it better after that first draft but get it out.
You need good writing software. Some people love and swear by the basic, Microsoft Word. I hate it because every time I get in there, I have to scroll through thousands upon thousands of words. I prefer writing in Scrivener because I can set daily word goals, I can separate each scene and chapter into separate documents until I’m ready to move on to editing, and a ton of other stuff. Bottom line is that you don’t have to use Word. You can find another software that works with your brain to make writing less of a chore. Make it fun and something you will enjoy.
You need to let your imagination run. No one has written imaginative fiction without setting themselves free to both ask and answer the question “What if…?”. Let yourself wonder aloud and explore all the possibilities. As long as your world is consistent, who cares if it’s totally off the wall. Someone will love it, and you’re allowed to write imaginatively.
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 🙂
Michael Paull, the President of Disney Streaming. I grew up watching Disney and I love the parks and the cruises. I would love to see my fantasy series become a series on Disney+, and I know it would be a hit because I’m their audience. I wrote books I would love, and I think that it would be incredible to work with Disney to create their next epic fantasy saga. After all, HBO had Game of Thrones and now Netflix owns Narnia, so Disney needs something too, right?
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I have a TikTok and an Instagram using @zacharyhagen_writes and they can sign up for my newsletter on zacharyhagenwrites.com as well. All my social media links are linked on my website as well for easy access.
Thank you for these excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent. We wish you continued success.
Author Zachary Hagen On How To Create 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.