Adapting Folklore for Fantasy Fiction with Shona Kinsella

In this episode, host Janet sits down with Scottish fantasy author and editor Shona Kinsella (The Daughters of Nicnevin, The Heart of Winter, The Flame and the Flood) to dig into one of worldbuilding's richest wells of inspiration: folklore.

They start with a whirlwind tour of favorite folklore-inspired fiction — from Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver and Uprooted to Lucy Holland's Sister Song, T. Kingfisher's Nettle & Bone, and classics like The Dark Is Rising and The Black Cauldron — before diving into the craft questions every worldbuilder faces when working with mythic material.

Topics covered include:

• Subverting expectations vs. honoring them: how to bend the "rules" of familiar creatures like vampires and fae without alienating readers
• Who owns folklore? navigating cultural respect and sensitivity when drawing on traditions outside your own, especially living religions and belief systems still practiced today
• Inspiration vs. plagiarism: why folklore's ever-shifting, oral-tradition nature makes it different from other source material
• Capturing that "folkloric feeling": archetypes, tropes (mistaken identity, missing time, hospitality rules, dream-omens), and the rhythm of language itself
• Handling problematic elements: practical strategies for reworking outdated or bigoted baggage in old stories, illustrated with Shona's own reimagining of a Scottish myth in The Heart of Winter
• Where to find folklore: local museums, university archives, place names, and the value of digging past the "rainbowified" modern versions to find the older, stranger, more dangerous originals

Whether you're building a novel, an RPG setting, or a game world, this conversation offers a thoughtful framework for using folklore with both creativity and care.

Find Shona online at ShonaKinsella.com, and check out her latest release, The Daughters of Nicnevin, from Flame Tree Press.