What do you think about the differences, Scott? Some of those, I incorporate some inform deeper layers of the story some become short stories on their own. Many stories gain some ground in my notebooks as I develop the bigger story for that reason. I don’t think the world beyond a novel’s main focus should cease its workings just because it’s not the focus. Deciding whether a story is big or small is sometimes a matter of scope–for me, a problem arc that characters can work through in a matter of days can be a short story, a novelette, or a novella (it can also be a novel, don’t get me wrong) a problem that takes longer to solve and more people to solve it is often a novel. In all seriousness, I think short stories taking place within a larger, epic world are not only entirely possible, they’re important to think about and play with when writing the longer work. (See this giveaway post to enter to win a free copy of Updraft!)īCS : Some people say that epic fantasy can’t be done at the short fiction length, but you’ve written epic fantasy short stories, like “ Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud” and your previous BCS story “ The Topaz Marquise,” and you’ve written epic fantasy novels, like your new novel Updraft, set in the same high-altitude world as “Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud.” What similarities do you see between writing epic fantasy in those two formats of very different length? What differences?įran Wilde: Whoops.

In a special author interview with BCS, Fran Wilde discusses her new story in BCS #181, “ Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud” (also podcast BCS 157), her previous BCS story “ The Topaz Marquise” (also podcast BCS 131), and her brand new novel Updraft, set in the same world as “Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud,” which released from Tor Books two days ago writing epic fantasy at short fiction and novel lengths, the qualities of secondary-world settings, and more.

Updraft by Fran Wilde