The Big 5-0

Newsletter milestones, dopamine blasts and plans for the future.

Welcome to Magic & Ink, a newsletter about magic, fantasy writing and the creative life. I have some exciting news to share about the future of this newsletter — please keep reading!

I.

Wow! I hit a milestone here on Substack this week. While fifty subscribers doesn’t seem very significant when I’ve been writing Magic & Ink for a year and half now, it’s fair to say that I’ve been operating most of that time without a clear vision or purpose so it’s not too surprising that growth has been slow so far.

I am so very thankful for each of you who have subscribed and stay subscribed through this irregular journey.

I would have thrown in the towel a while ago without your ongoing encouragement — and by encouragement I mean that it is simply enough that you didn’t unsubscribe! There are a lot of online things demanding your attention these days, and the fact that you haven’t turned off this bit of noise keeps me going.

(There’s a poll at the end…. please vote!)

I have been on something of a journey the last couple of months, starting with my retreat in Big Sur at the end of March, which allowed me to shake off (in a very literal sense) a lot of old muck (in a less literal sense) that has been weighing me down. In more recent weeks, I’ve been on a social media diet, and I have enjoyed my time away from the mindless scrolling of Facebook and Instagram (but maybe don’t look at my YouTube screen time). It helps that I’ve had good news on several fronts that has overpowered the minor dopamine response of social media, which is really the whole point — if social media is your primary dopamine source, it’s no surprise how fast it can hook you. I’m sure I’ll go back eventually (there are things I do enjoy about each platform) but hopefully I’ll be able to manage it better, at least for a while.

In the meantime, I have some news for you that I am greatly excited about: I have finally figured how I want to shape this newsletter!

Jacarandas are my favorite dopamine flavor.

II.

From the beginning, I’ve known I wanted this space to about writing fantasy, but finding the sweet spot between personal reflection and “valuable content” has eluded me.

Until now.

Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t think about this sooner. A billion years ago (ok, 25) I started an ezine about THIS EXACT TOPIC and it did really pretty well, for the time that it existed in the dark ages of the Internet. I got to speak with and write about many of my favorite novelists, and worked with many other writers who shared their own passion for the craft of writing fantasy. The ezine was even included as a best online resource in year’s best anthologies several years in a row.

While the internet is a lot different today then it was then (almost no one else was providing what I was in 1998 but today every writer can have their own platform), I still think there’s an opportunity to do what I have always wanted to do — fill the gap between scholarly, literary criticism of fantasy and the practical “how to write” advice that is so commonly found online.

And I am not doing it alone! As with my ezine, this new effort will be collaborative, drawing on my community of fellow fantasy writers to begin a conversation that will both entertaining and educational, and hopefully enlarge our understanding and enjoyment of the genre. I have already begun reaching out to fellow writers (some of whom are the new subscribers who have bumped me up to this milestone — hello and thank you for joining!) and within a few weeks I hope to start publishing the fruits of those efforts here.

Here’s what I’ve been working on:

• One-on-one interviews with favorite fantasy authors. Nothing beats talking to the pros when it comes to learning how to succeed! The first interview is booked and I have a list of people I really want to talk to next. (If you have your own wishlist of who you’d like to hear from, please leave a comment!)

• A new series, tentatively titled “Advanced Topics for Fantasy Writers,” which will draw on the experience and expertise of multiple writers to create a richly and meaningful resource for all writers of fantasy. Not just a bullet-list of how-to-write advice, our conversations will explore deep and meaningful ways to improve your craft on every level. So far, the planned topics are Worldbuilding, Characterization, Plotting Strategies, Magic, Mythology and Folklore, Theme, Genre Blending, Writing Craft, Revision and Editing, Experimental Storytelling, Compelling Endings, and The Writer’s Journey. I can’t tell you exactly what each of these topics is going to look like, because it’s a collaborative process and the conversations haven’t started yet, but it’s going to be exciting! (If you are a fantasy writer who would like to participate, please DM or email me — all levels of experience are welcome!)

III.

The big question right now is whether or not I want to continue the Forest of Distraction section of this newsletter. Right now, I feel like it’s sort of run its course, but that might just be seasonal — I went through a fallow period last summer, too. After a few months, I might feel more inspired to pursue those odd little bits of history and geography and culture that make up that charming collection, but really only if others find them valuable as well.

So here’s the poll I promised to my long-time readers up at the top:

The landscape of fantasy has changed dramatically since the time I stopped publishing my ezine in 2001. The first Lord of the Rings movie had only just been released, as well as that one about the boy who lived. Game of Thrones was just another big, fat fantasy book, well-regarded but not really known outside the genre. There are so many more fantasy books available these days, not to mention movies and games and tv shows; so many more writers and readers and fans, too. It’s a richer, more diverse field than ever, more than one person can every hope to digest on their own.

That’s why I’m so excited to make this journey a collaborative one. I’m not an expert or authority or teacher, but I want to learn. I want to learn from you what is exciting or perplexing or inspiring or hard about being a fantasy writer in 2024, and I want to share what I learn along the way.

I hope you will join me in this journey!