I wasn’t part of the recently recorded “Fantasy” episode of our genre writing series, and, in fact, Fantasy wasn’t even my selected prompt (I drew Sci-Fi, which you may recall from our Genre episode), but a funny thing happened during my daily commute. I had written a rough piece for my Sci-Fi prompt, and I started to think: “What would I have done with Fantasy?” That’s the way things go for me sometimes—inspiration hits when I’m done with another deadline. It’s that curiosity without the pressure, the what would I have done if…?

And it unspooled from there; a fully formed fairy tale about a tailor and a knight who meet in a bar. It’s one of the easiest things I’ve written recently—and I’m not talking about quality here, that’s another (ahem) story. I’m just talking about the ease with which the words tumbled out. Read more…