The negroes in the growing town of Canton were vanishing without so much as a whisper left behind. Leslie had been hearing the stories for weeks now. At his job at the textile factory, his coworker Desmond made a habit of sharing the latest disappearances when they stood around the maple tree, waiting for more batches of finished product to come through the factory doors so they could load them onto the boxcars. Leslie spent twelve hours a day heaving the heavy bundles of finished cotton cloth. It was grueling work that had made the muscles in his back develop a constant ache, even when he wasn’t working, but occasionally a machine would break down which meant the negroes could gather round the maple tree and share a few words. Leslie was on one such break now and took the opportunity to bite into the ham sandwich he’d made himself that morning. He ate quickly— one could never know how fast they would be called back to work. As he ate, he leaned against the tree, listening to the latest tale.

The monster was born in a dark room filled with the smell of sweat and used genitals. The curtains had been drawn to hide the foul deeds done in its confines. The monster glutted on the stench of stale bodies and the shame of a trust turned sour. It filled itself until it grew so large it might burst, then it hid its bloated body inside the little girl sleeping on the corner of the bed. Imani, the little girl, woke from a feverish dream and her eyes landed on a vase shaped like a deer. White lilies had been stuffed into it— their brightness came to her eyes even in the darkness. Imani walked over, took the lilies out, and ripped the petals into small pieces. She didn’t know why she did it, really, but it felt good.

The monster hid itself in corners of her mind she didn’t know existed. It whispered thoughts to her— so quietly, that she thought they were her own. Thoughts like, “tell no one” and “they will hate you.”

The first string appeared the day after Nia was married. When she saw it there, anchored into her shoulder and stretching up to disappear into the kitchen ceiling, she told herself she could always go back. She didn’t want too, of course—she loved Richard more than anything and couldn’t picture a future without him, yet the idea of marriage felt outdated. It was a lot of money to spend when they would live the same lives together with or without the ceremony. Nia just didn’t see the point. But everyone, including her mother, grandmother, and all her aunts, seemed to think it was proper and necessary, so she went along with it. It seemed to make Richard happy anyway. Besides, the string wasn’t that much of an annoyance, it was just that sometimes her shoulder would twitch, out of her control. It didn’t happen too often, and she had full command over the rest of her body, so she figured it was best to ignore the thin little strand.

So, you have the basic idea for a story, and you think you have a good idea of what it’s going to be about, but then you reach a wall. The problem is, you write fantasy or science-fiction and you just can’t seem to tap into your creativity, can’t seem to come up with more ideas for your world. Maybe you’re not so good at fleshing out your initial ideas. Or all of your most brilliant and original concepts seem to have been used up in your older stories. You want your new tale to be unique and believable, but how?

Whether you’re writing high or low fantasy or science-fiction, you’re going to need to do a little—or a lot— of worldbuilding. Sometimes the ideas flow and sometimes you get stuck and your creative mind seems to have shut down or disappeared. Well, I’m here to help with that. Below is a list of questions I ask myself while brainstorming ideas for new worlds. They allow me to delve into specific areas of worldbuilding, taking me from the broad and vague, to the very particular and distinct. They cover a broad range of topics and many of them will naturally overlap. Feel free to skip around as you see fit. This list is not meant to be definitive but to get your imagination going, to help spark ideas, and to help you create a detailed, complex, fleshed-out world.

I find that using the questions as writing prompts has helped me the most. I hope you can use them to help shape your own worlds too. So, grab your laptop, (or if you’re like me, a pen a notebook) and dive in!

Who wants to pay thousands of dollars for a master’s degree? Well, no one really. I’m grateful for the knowledge I gained from going through my master’s program, but really, you can improve your writing without going broke or going into debt. And the best part is, you’ll only have to spend a few dozen dollars instead of thousands. Here are my tips:

1. Read.

Read, read, and read some more. Read a lot in your genre to become aware of the rules and conventions within it. Find out what is generally accepted and what isn’t. For example, in young adult books, you might have a harder time getting a deal if it’s loaded with curse words. It’s possible and those books do get published, but it might be more of a challenge because of the “protect the children” mindset that many parents and industry folks have. In an adult book this obviously wouldn’t be an issue.

What is an MFA?

An MFA is a Master of Fine Arts. Getting an MFA in Creative Writing is often seen as a waste of time and money. Many people want their degree to help get them a job and if that’s what you’re looking for in an MFA, you’re looking in the wrong place. Having a masters can give you a small boost when applying to teaching jobs, but publication credentials are often preferred over education. So, what is an MFA good for? And what are the downfalls? Most importantly, if you want to take the leap and apply, how do you decide which school?

PROS

Validation

Getting into a writing school can feel like a validation of your talents and abilities. People who are actually involved in the writing profession have judged you to be a good enough writer to take on and teach. If you’re very confident in your writing ability already this may not be a good reason to apply to a school. But if you’re anything like my past self and doubted all the teachers and family that told you that you were talented, this can be a very nice aspect of being accepted.

I feel obliged to state the obvious with the following disclaimer: Every black person in the African diaspora will experience white people and racism differently based on geographic location, economic status, education, personality, and overall upbringing. The ideas and connections that follow stem from my own life experiences as a black girl growing up in southern California, who received an excellent education, lived in neighborhoods free of gangs and violent crime, and who has white relatives. I’d like to add though, that regardless of an individual’s awareness or lack thereof, racism does exist, and it can and will affect black people whether they’re aware of it or not.

I hope the following essay will be a springboard for open and thoughtful discussion.