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Pay your corporate citizenship fees and suit up for war against the evil Martian freedom fighters, because today we’re talking about the Light Brigade, our third Hugo nominee. This book is a time-travel story, but please don’t run away: we promise it’s good time travel. … read more »
What is a story, really? Is it just words, or is it a door to another world? In the second week of our Hugo series, we’re looking at The Ten Thousand Doors of January, a book that is very interested in those questions. We explore … read more »
The season of Hugos is upon us, and Mythcreants is getting into the award-winning spirit! Not by winning awards of course, but by critiquing each of the six novels nominated for the biggest award in speculative fiction. This week, we’re doing The City in the … read more »
Hmm, who was that one character again? You know, the one that did the thing in that place? Ugh, if only they were easier to remember! That’s what we’re talking about today: making characters more memorable. We talk about sneaky tricks authors can use, like … read more »
Where does animal end and monster begin? Are monsters just particularly dangerous or mysterious animals? What effect would monsters have on an ecosystem? We talk about all that and more, because this week’s topic is realistic monsters. It’s time to discuss what monsters eat, why … read more »
Character thoughts, huh, what are they good for? A whole lot, it turns out. But they can also be used poorly, and then they’re worth absolutely nothing. This week, we do a deep dive on how to narrate what’s going on inside the protagonist’s head. … read more »
You’ve done the work of adding sword fights, epic battles, and dramatic arguments. Your characters always have something they want, no matter how minor the scene. And yet, you’re still having difficulty making readers care. Congratulations, you’re having difficulty making your conflicts matter, and you’re … read more »
We all know that the most important function of alignment is ranking celebrities and fictional characters on a nine-square grid, but what if I told you it was also a morality system in a tabletop roleplaying game? That’s right, this week we’re talking about D&D’s … read more »
Words words words! What do they even mean? And who decides what they mean? When you’re a writer, these are very important, which is why today we’re talking about the terminology of storytelling. In fact, we’ve already started, since “storytelling” is a bit of terminology … read more »
Look, redemption arcs are great fun, but what happens when a character does something bad and doesn’t ever redeem themself? That’s a downward arc, and it’s one of the hardest tropes to pull off successfully. That’s why it’s the subject of today’s episode. We discuss … read more »