A Fantasy Writer’s Resource

The more I study about the craft of writing fantasy, the more I want to share what I have learned with other writers and lovers of fantasy. From practical advice on the nuts and bolts of writing to facing the challenges of writers block, from exploring rich veins of inspiration to tapping your inner creative genius, my goal is to encourage magic and ink flow across the page.

Who is Stace?

I was in 4th grade the year I walked into a wardrobe and never came out again.

That was the year I first read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the year I wrote my first novel, and the year my mother told me I should be a writer. I never got over any of it — I’ve been inventing worlds and characters and stories ever since.

After completing a degree in medieval studies and pursuing graduate work in folklore and mythology, I founded Phantastes: The Online Journal of Fantasy Criticism in 1998, one of the first publications on the web to focus solely on the fantasy genre. Sometimes styled “The Fantasy Writer’s Guide,” Phantastes featured articles and interviews with authors such as Guy Gavriel Kay, Stephen R. Donaldson, Kate Elliot, Jeffrey Ford, Terri Windling, and others. It was named as a best online resource three years in a row in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror anthology series.

Since then, my professional career as a writer and editor has included everything from magazine publishing to game design to content marketing and back again. My portfolio includes articles, interviews, blog posts, how-tos, infographics, videos, newsletters, web pages, press releases, FAQs, product announcements, and reviews, in topics as diverse as home decor and home improvement, arts and crafts, health care, education, lifestyle, technology, and fiction.

Through all these experiences, I’ve learned that no matter what you’re writing, a good story is essential, and I’ve found my passion exploring what makes a story good.

A Community of Inspiration

Subscribe today and connect with a community of like-minded creators. Currently, you’ll find:

• Forest of Distraction: My occasional newsletter with a miscellany of inspiring distractions found around the web.

Coming in the 2nd half of 2024:

• Interviews with traditionally published and independently published fantasy authors.1

• Fantasy Foundations series, a beyond-the-basics topical conversation with writers of fantasy fiction (actual series title TBD).

• Community activities: challenges, prompts, writing sprints, accountability partners, and warm fuzzies.

An Inkling of Wonder

With so many publications out there vying for your attention — on Substack and beyond — it’s pretty amazing that amidst your Internet wandering you landed on this page and have read this far!

Personally, I take it as a sign that you and I are meant to be here together. Maybe the universe knows that you and I have something to learn from each other, whether it’s about writing fantasy or other some great mystery of the world. Won’t you take the risk to find out? Just push the button and wait for the magic to start!