Every memorable story begins with an idea – but creating a world readers truly want to enter takes imagination, personality, and sometimes a little bit of wonderful absurdity.
At The RV Book Fair 2026, our Creating Worlds panel brought together author Steven Joseph and illustrator Andy Case for a lively conversation about the magic that happens when words and images meet.
Steven’s storytelling proves that meaningful messages don’t always have to arrive wrapped in seriousness. Through humor, playful language, quirky characters, and unexpected situations, his stories invite readers to laugh while also discovering something about communication, relationships, and the way we navigate everyday life.
Then comes the visual magic.
With more than three decades of experience as an illustrator, Andy brings characters and imaginary places off the page and gives them a personality readers can instantly recognize. His collaboration with Steven on the Snoodles books shows just how powerful the partnership between writer and illustrator can be. One creates the words, the other interprets them visually—and somewhere between the two, a completely new world emerges.
The conversation also reminded us that creating fictional worlds is about more than inventing unusual characters or colorful settings. Those worlds need their own identity, consistency, and heart.
Perhaps that is the real beauty of storytelling: there are no limits to where imagination can take us.
Give a writer a blank page and an illustrator an empty canvas, and suddenly, anything is possible.
Watch the video here:
Panel- Creating New Worlds
Hosts – Lucia Matuonto – www.luciamatuonto.com and Pat Backley – www.patbackley.com
Speaker – Sonia Marta (author and podcaster) – www.soniamarta.com
Guests – Steven Joseph (author) – www.stevenjosephauthor.com
Andy Case (illustrator) – www.andycaseillustration.com
Find out more at: www.relatable-media.com/the-rv-book-fair