Worldbuilding for Masochists Podcast
1) Episode 164: Worldbuilding and the Lens of Perspective, ft. MARTIN CAHILL
A point-of-view character's experience of the world will shape the information that the reader gets about that world. So, a lot depends on who that character -- or characters -- might be! How can you ...Show More
2) Episode 163: Gryphons and Dragons and Owlbears, Oh My!
Mythical and magical creatures are a staple of the fantasy genre, sometimes as obstacles for heroes to face, sometimes as healers and dispensers of wisdom, sometimes fulfilling roles both stranger and...Show More
3) Episode 162: A Leap of Faith: Worldbuilding Fantasy Religions, ft. DEVA FAGAN
Fantasy religions often feel like reskins either of ancient Greek or Norse pantheons or of the medieval Catholic church. But what more interesting choices can we make when we're building faith within ...Show More
4) Episode 161: The On Ramp
In this episode, we're taking a closer look at something we refer to a lot when we're talking craft: the on-ramp. Which is to say, at the beginning of your book, as you're introducing your world, how ...Show More
5) Episode 160: Cozy Worldbuilding, ft. SARAH BETH DURST
What makes a story -- and a world -- "cozy"? What are the conflicts, challenges, and obstacles like when, instead of taking the Ring to Mordor, you heroes are trying to keep a coffee shop afloat or op...Show More
6) Episode 159: Holding Out For A Heroic Worldbuild, ft. JOHN WISWELL
What is the measure of a true hero? What a society consideres heroic can say a lot about their values, needs, and ethos -- but it's also something that can shift a lot over time and from location to l...Show More
7) Episode 158: The Invisible Hand of Worldbuilding, ft. ELIZABETH BEAR
In one way or another, economy touches almost everything in a world. Even without currency or capitalism in the sense that we currently know it, the idea of obligations and repayment exert pressure on...Show More
8) Episode 157: How Far We've Come, ft ROWENNA MILLER
It's the start of SEASON SEVEN! And original co-host Rowenna Miller is back to join us in a reflection of how multiple years of doing this podcast has affected how each of us thinks about worldbuildin...Show More
9) Episode 156: From a Certain Point of View, ft. KATE ELLIOTT
It's one of the first choices you'll make when writing a story, consciously or not: what point of view are you writing from? First person singular? Third person limited? Omniscient? Something else? Th...Show More
10) Episode 155: The Rule of Cool, ft. JIM C. HINES
We often think about "making things make sense" in worldbuilding and building internal consistency, scientific realism, and other logic-based considerations into our fiction -- But what happens when y...Show More