Megan Scott: 'My key piece of advice for worldbuilding is try to be specific to your world and your characters'
BY Katie Smart
13th Jun 2024
Former Writing YA & Children’s Fiction student Megan Scott's debut YA fantasy novel The Temptation of Magic is out now from Magpie (Harper Voyager).
Megan studied with us in 2017 and went on to gain representation from Curtis Brown literary agent Steph Thwaites. In this interview, we caught up to discuss her time studying with us, how she approach worldbuilding, creating a magic system and her love of romantasy.
You studied on our Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2017. How did studying with us impact your approach to writing?
I discovered how much easier it was to edit someone else’s work! It sounds so obvious, but I had never really had the practice reading work that was in a similar editing/pre-published state as mine. It also really highlighted for me that I needed to tackle learning more about craft, which I did after the course!
Many of our students find lifelong writing friends on our courses. Are you still in touch with anyone you met on the course?
Unfortunately, no! We did all have a group chat for a few months and everyone in the group was genuinely lovely, but this was seven years ago! Though, whenever I see a certain animal, I always think of one of the other writers on that course and their wonderful children’s book.
Your debut novel The Temptation of Magic is out now from HarperCollins. This YA fantasy novel follows Nicole – an Empyreal with the ability to kill any deadly supernatural. How did you come up with the magic system for your world?
So many things went into trying to craft the world. I knew I wanted to lean into the paranormal romance genre that I loved so much as a teenager, but I also wanted the female protagonist to be the one with the dark, dangerous powers and to be a match for her love interest (rather than the human-girl, supernatural-guy dynamic).
I then had to ask myself: what type of incredible supernatural predator do I want them to be? I wanted to veer away from vampires and werewolves because they had been so written about at the time. So thought to myself: there is only one way to be an apex predator over every other type of supernatural, and that’s if they can transform into each creature’s mortal enemy, which is where the transformative aspect of Empyreals came in. But of course, that would make them incredibly powerful, almost too powerful, and every magic system needs its rules. So, I made sure that an Empyreal can’t transform at will, they can only do it if the creature they’re hunting is about to kill someone, and it triggers their transformation so they can protect people. It also steeped into the book the themes of protection, morality, and the manipulation of both of those things by a darker organisation!
Otherwise, the location of the book (a fictional town in Cornwall) was inspired by pulling on my love of Cornish towns, my own coastal hometown, and, over the many years of writing and editing it, the place I went to university, St. Andrews in Scotland. Once I’d been there and studied Art History, and was so captivated by paintings of myth and supernaturals, I knew Nicole would be the same. She would just know that the myths and creatures were real . . .
Do you have any advice for aspiring fantasy authors struggling with worldbuilding?
My key piece of advice for worldbuilding is try to be specific to your world and your characters. Your world needs to test your character intimately and consistently. For example, Nicole’s main fear and character flaw is her need for control, which of course makes sense, since she’s scared of ever having her first transformation and losing control, but also can be overprotective based on what she is. So, the plot of the book and the world, are always testing her. When a dangerous supernatural comes to her town, she has to avoid it the whole time, or she’ll transform and be found by the organisation that rules all Empyreals. The same organisation that killed her mother. Thus, she has to fight against her own nature, and her own fascination with what she is and the paranormal secrets in the world.
So, when you’re looking at your worldbuilding, use it as a tool. Who is your character? What is their fear? Then put them in a world that constantly pushes on it, until they can find the way to overcome their fear/flaw and complete the ‘quest’ of the novel. This is the same in any genre, too, like romance. In romance, your character has a false belief about why they can’t fall in love, or be in love, and over the course of the book, they realise that’s been holding them back. They of course, only usually realise this fatal flaw during the ‘break-up-beat’, which brings on the classic, epic, love declaration of a rom-com.
Or, if you prefer to work from world-to-character, what dangers and pressures are in this world? Then build a character that would struggle in that world. Suddenly, you have your tension, your mapped out character arc, and a riveting story for a reader to read. When the odds are stacked against your character, the reader roots for them, which forms a more intimate connection. You can always do a test by looking at your favourite fantasy novels and asking yourself: what is the ‘weakness’ this character has that makes them so vulnerable in this world?
Let’s try two examples. One extra difficulty for the likes of Violet in Fourth Wing is her physical weakness and disability in a cutthroat school of dragon riders. This causes her to have to put a lot more effort into her training, and so the stakes are higher for her. But then when she’s able to compete with the others, it not only makes us cheer her on even more, but reminds her and proves to other characters in the book, that she is just as worthy. But she is also unprepared: she was never supposed to be there despite having a secret desire to be, which builds in internal conflict and drive. For Bilbo Baggins: he hates adventures, and yet gets thrust into one that will change him forever. He goes not just to help the Dwarves, but also perhaps out of a small, squashed desire to go on an adventure (as Gandalf pointed out about his adventurous spirit as a young Hobbit).
I also think trying to establish a key aesthetic is important, for me especially. This helps make sure the world feels cohesive, but can also be the key to making sure it feels unique in the reader’s mind. What visuals to you like? What is your own personal aesthetic? What things stand out in that world and with these characters that can make it feel different to the other books in a similar setting or time period?
Your debut also features a forbidden romance. It’s no secret that ‘romantasy’ is trending at the moment (thanks in no small part to TikTok) – what do you think about the trend and what are some of your favourite fantasy and/or romantasy novels?
I love the trend, I think it’s incredible that fantasy can now be more interwoven with romance! I recently wrote an article on what I think its appeal is here. Overall, I love that the lesson of the genre is that it’s possible to find love and save the world, but also that romantasy has opened up the high-fantasy genre to a wider array of female protagonists.
Some of my favourite fantasy/romance novels . . . I’d have to say a classic for me is A Discovery of Witches, and of course A Court of Mist and Fury (yes, the second book in the series). But there are a hoard of new romantasy titles I haven’t had the chance to pick up and dive into, so as soon as I’m off deadlines, they’re all on my TBR!
What does a typical day of writing look like for you? Do you have any rituals?
I’ve tried in recent months to keep weekends off, but usually the first thing I do is check my emails (all querying writers will know the love-hate-anticipation of checking your emails. This has yet to fade for me!). Then after breakfast, I’ll dive in.
I’ve been doing timed sprints in the last year, which have really helped me, as my brain can move a little quickly, and therefore I get very easily distracted. Jumping around my drafts, thinking about other things I have to do etc. This helps me home in a bit easier.
I do tend to need a hot drink when I work. My current go-to is a decaf with frothy coconut milk. There’s something about having that next to me that makes me concentrate, perhaps it’s leftover from my university/masters’ days when I would study a lot in cafés.
Then, because I work full time on writing, I can work any variation of hours each day depending on where I’m at in a project. I’m trying to implement more strict hours, though, to get into a better routine. I try to do a short walk in the middle of the day, as well, just to get out of the house!
I also need to read each day, as otherwise I find my writing suffers. It always reminds me of that great quote by Virginia Woolf, “read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river.” It really does make a difference!
Finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
Right now I’m working on the second and third books in the Empyreal series. Which means there’s 10+ years of ideas and research to wade through! But last year I finished an adult romance book I’d love to get to publishers soon, as I’ve discovered over the years that I think romance really is my favourite genre. Other than that . . . there are an endless amount of stories in my mind vying to be written, so fingers crossed I get to write them!
The Temptation of Magic is out now!