The Fairytale Community's 2016 Retelling Awards [closed]

FANTASCI Interview

There are a lot of user-run community accounts on Wattpad. From campaigns to fanfiction communities, to communities dedicated to promoting new writers, there seems to be an account for everything. However, one account in particular has taken the Wattpad writing community by storm over the past couple of months.

That account is FANTASCI .

FANTASCI is an account that focuses on Fantasy and Science Fiction. On their page they have everything from book clubs to a new magazine called FANTASHINE to contests. Needless to say, they're a creative force to be reckoned with... 

And we were fortunate enough that they agreed to do an interview.

(Note: Answers to questions 1-10 and 18-20 were provided by the captain and co-captain of FANTASCI, KarateChop and masheena. Questions 11-17 were answered by the captain and co-captain as well a number of people who are also a part of the account.)

1. As an account centered around Fantasy and Science Fiction, what is something that FANTASCI actively tries to encourage when it comes to writing?
We try to encourage a community atmosphere. We feel that these two genres are similar enough that writers and readers who love them should be able to come together and celebrate them in a fun, interactive way. As far as writing, we want to encourage the desire to always improve and to learn from others who write in the genre.  Creativity is always promoted.

2. For some writers, writing in Fantasy and Science Fiction is as easy as breathing. For others it's more difficult. What do you think is the most common problem that first time Fantasy and Sci-Fi writers run into?
We think it might be difficult for first-time Fantasy and Sci-Fi writers to get used to the idea of creating something new. Of course, everything has inspiration and it's nearly impossible to create something that hasn't at least been inspired by something that came before--but what we mean is that when writing fantasy or sci fi, you often create your own world or magic system, or your own interpretation of how scientific endeavors might manifest themselves. Thinking of a new world with different social dynamics and sometimes even different physics can be daunting. One important thing to remember with these genres is that while these genres can be incredibly freeing and creative, they still require structure and consistency to make sense.

3. When writing characters with special abilities or talents, may they be naturally or artificially given (like being born with magic versus being bitten by a radioactive spider), what is something that you always keep in mind?
It's important to not create an all-powerful character. No matter how great of a special ability someone has, there will be drawbacks or consequences. Not many people want to read about someone who succeeds all the time. Special abilities wouldn't be very interesting if they didn't have some catch or consequence involved.

4. Creating a believable world or culture can sometimes be an issue for first time writers. What is your top piece of advice for writers when it comes to creating their own world or culture?
Our advice (apart from keeping it consistent), is to remind writers that while your world can resemble our world's social dynamics, it doesn't have to. Discrimination, for example, doesn't have to be based on skin color or gender--it can be based on blood type, for example, or maybe some of your character have tails and others don't, and that provides a source of discrimination. There will be real world-type problems (poverty, war, lack of or abundance of technology), but they don't have to mimic ours.