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 »
What’s that, someone did a new Star Trek show and we don’t have an episode about it? This shall not stand! Today we’re talking about Picard, the whole Picard, and nothing but Picard. We discuss how this show measures up to previous Trek offerings, where … 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 »
Sometimes, we love a villain. We can’t help it; they’re just so dark and cool that we want them to be heroes. But they can’t usually just become heroes on account of all the villainy they did. That’s when you need a redemption arc, a … read more »
For no reason at all, disease seems to be on a lot of authors’ minds right now. Whether you’re writing up a storm in self-quarantine or just thinking of new ideas during this difficult time, we’ve got all the disease-focused discussion you could possibly want. … read more »
I could tell you what this podcast is about, but how would you know if I was telling the truth? Normally, you’d just have to trust me, but in fantasy stories, we can have magic that stops people from lying. That’s what we’re talking about … read more »
