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PODCAST

Worldbuilding for Masochists

worldbuildingformasochists

A podcast by three fantasy authors who love to overcomplicate their writing lives and want to help you do the same.

arts books

All Episodes

01:09:24

Episode 76: Farm to Table Fantasy ft. SARAH GAILEY

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/05/11

Everybody's got to eat. But where does the food in your world come from? Who tends livestock, who transports it, who turns it into a meal -- and how? In this episode, guest Sarah Gailey helps us think through the practicalities of feeding your characters so that their hanger doesn't derail your plot! We also examine the intersection of food production and consumption with colonization and imperialist violence. Please note that this episode contains some frank discussion of the butchery of livestock

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01:12:06

Episode 75: Worldbuilding Beyond Borders

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/04/27

What makes a nation? Who decides where borders are, or even what borders are? What unites a people, within a country or across those borders? What differences are there between cultural identities, ethnicities, and nationalities -- and where do those concepts overlap and intersect? In this episode, we discuss ideas of citizenship, belonging, invasion, defense, and self-definition -- and how you can complicate or literalize all of those ideas in your fantasy worldbuilding! Please note: This episode

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01:04:58

Episode 74: FMK Worldbuilding Edition

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/04/13

Worldbuilding is, often, about choices. What bits stick out at the top of the iceberg, and what stays beneath the surface? What shiny ideas can you make tentpoles of your world, what might be cool ornaments but are not essential to the book's functioning, and what can you simply not find the room or justification for? In this episode, we return to our co-built world and play a good honest game of fuck-marry-kill with some worldbuilding concepts! Transcript for Episode 74 (Our scribes? They're

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01:00:30

Episode 73: In-Line Worldbuilding ft. MELISSA CARUSO

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/03/30

Where does worldbuilding fit into your overall process of writing, rewriting, revising, writing some more, and writing again? In this episode, we welcome back Melissa Caruso to help us think about the granular details of synthesizing your worldbuilding with your drafting and editing. Characters exist within their worldbuilding, and worldbuilding can drive plots, but how do you bring all those things together during the act of creation in a way that will feel seamless and natural to a writer? Do you

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01:08:52

Episode 72: This is Cerulean, Right?: Fashion,...

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/03/16

Fashion: not just a frivolity, but a component of worldbuilding that can communicate so much about your world's resources, industry, and power structures, as well as characters' individual choices and personalities. Guest Natania Barron joins us to explore the potential presented by frills and furbelows of all kinds. From bifurcated Celts to Tudor sumptuary laws to lavender pocket squares, what inspiration can you find for complicating the "standard fantasy wardrobe" into something specific to your

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59:13

Episode 71: X Marks The Spot ft. PENG SHEPHERD

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/03/02

This one's for the cartography geeks! We know that's a lot of our followers. Peng Shepherd joins us to think about what a map of your fantasy world can tell your readers, what the social and cultural implications of a map's presentation might be, and how much time you should spend squiggling in all those little fjords. Plus: Schrodinger’s Continents, a bowling alley on the Enterprise, and an augmentation for our Magical Nude Gate system of travel! Transcript for Episode 71 (thank you, scribes!) Our

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01:04:10

Episode 70: Magical Ethics and Ethical Magics ft....

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/02/16

When you've introduced elemental, supernatural, ethereal, or diabolical powers into your world, what does that do to your society? Guest Kate Heartfield joins us to discuss the rules, regulations, and roguery of magical worldbuilding! In this episode, we explore the two levels that magical ethics can operate on: within your world, and within our world. What are you saying when you decide who has access to magic, how they control it, or how they use it to control others? Magic literalizes many issues

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01:01:38

Episode 69: The Sexy Things People Don’t Want You To...

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/02/02

When your characters push boundaries, defy authority, and get down and dirty -- well, how do they do it, where do they do it, and just how much trouble are they going to get in? In this episode, guest Elsa Sjunneson joins us for an extremely naughty exploration of obscenity and transgression. Engaging with obscenity means building complex social dynamics within your world and communicating those ideas to your reader. How can you bring all of that across? How do you show your reader what's normal and

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01:02:23

Episode 68: Potpour-V

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/01/19

It's time for another Listener Q&A episode! Wherein we discuss fjords, metallurgy, giant Martian otters, bouncy castles, starch-based food categorization, and much more. And, because you asked, here's how you can nominate Worldbuilding for Masochists for a 2022 Best Fancast Hugo Award: Eligiblity: You can nominate us (and all your other favorite works from the past year!) if you either had a qualifying membership to DisCon 3 (WorldCon 2021) or if you have a qualifying membership to ChiCon 8

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10:15

Episode 67: WorldCon Minisode

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2022/01/05

Happy New Year! In this minisode, your WFM hosts take a little time to reflect on this podcast's growth, our Hugo Award nomination and the ceremonies, our experiences at WorldCon, and where we're going from here. Many, many thanks to all you listeners, to our amazing scribes, and to every guest who has joined us to discuss the wildness of worldbuilding! Transcript for Episode 67 Join us on Discord!

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58:43

Episode 66: Deep History, ft MARIE BRENNAN and ALYC...

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/12/22

So you've got lore galore, complex sociopolitical tangles, and a history that reaches back through the ages. How do you show that on the page without infodumping? Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, who together make up M. A. Carrick, help us explore building a world with deep historical roots while communicating that history in a way that feels natural and exciting for a reader. How do your characters think of their world's history? What different perspectives are there on historical events, and how have

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52:58

Episode 65: Money Makes The Worldbuilding Go ‘Round

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/12/08

On this podcast, we talk a lot about how economics play into other elements of worldbuilding, from death to politics to food -- but we've never before looked at finance and currency by themselves! In this episode, we take the plunge and explore how to build an economy into your fantasy realm. Do the people in your world have currency, or are they bartering? Or do they even conceive of value in that way at all? Do they have a complex system that requires accountants and stock brockers? How is money

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54:56

Episode 64: The Times, They Are A-Changin‘, ft. FONDA...

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/11/24

Y'know, the thing about the world is... It isn't static! It changes, all the time, and if you want your invented world to feel real and full of life, a great way to do that is to make sure it also changes. But how do you build societal change into your fictional world? Guest Fonda Lee joins us to discuss cultural diaspora, temporal shifts, geopolitical cross-pollination, and other exciting ways to show the natural shifts and turns of society. We also discuss how sci-fi seems to incorporate the idea

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01:00:40

Episode 63: It’s A Grimdark World After All ft. ANNA...

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/11/10

Dirty clothes, grayed-out color palettes, and terrible things happening unrelentingly to everyone: that's the stereotype of grimdark. But in this episode, Anna Smith Spark joins us to explore what that term really means, from interrogating ideas of heroism and villainy to unraveling toxic masculinity and examining the consequences of supposedly noble choices. Transcript for Episode 63 (Thank you, beloved scribes!) Our Guest: Anna Smith Spark lives in London, UK. She loves grimdark and epic fantasy

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56:41

Episode 62: Otherworldly Worldbuilding ft. SEANAN...

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/10/27

As Halloween draws close and the veil between the realms grows thin, we wonder... how, exactly, do you build a world that, by design, touches other worlds? Seanan McGuire joins us to discuss portal realms, alternate realities, multiverses, and designing the liminal, the permeable, the spaces in-between. Transcript for Episode 62 (thank you, beloved scribes!) Our Guest: Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone

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59:55

Episode 61: Worldbuilding: The Search for...

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/10/13

From aliens to AI, from dragons to dwarves, from to nebulous clouds to sapient mushrooms, how do we conceive of non-human intelligence in our speculative worlds? Martha Wells joins us to discuss the various considerations in building a culture from a perspective entirely unlike our own, perhaps operating on different levels of consciousness, or through a hive mind, or dealing with entirely different biologies and ecologies. How do you on-board a reader to something beyond the human brain? Is that

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56:11

Episode 60: Worldbuilding: The Never-Ending Story

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/09/29

Worldbuilding is often considered part of the pre-writing process -- but sometimes, more worldbuilding happens mid-manuscript or even mid-series. What do you do with those interjections? Can you graft them in, or do some of them need to be deferred? What happens when answering one worldbuilding need knocks something else askew? How much can you retcon in, and what do you do if you've written yourself into a corner? In this episode, we examine the ongoing process of worldbuilding, once the plot is

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01:10:45

Episode 59: Ooooh, Shiny! Crafting a World from...

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/09/15

Worldbuilding can lead an author to generate a lot of fun ideas. But how do you figure out which of those ideas can actually be integrated into your story? Is there an upper limit on how many shiny notions the weight of the narrative will bear? In this episode, we discuss the balance in worldbuilding, as well as discussing how that balance is different in novels vs role-playing games. We also return to our collectively invented world and spend some time applying the concepts explored in recent

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59:50

Episode 58: L’Etat, C’est… Quoi? ft. C.L. POLK

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/09/01

Most speculative fiction takes place in a society that has a government of some kind. But what, exactly is a state? And how does it come to be? C.L. Polk joins us to discuss the making and breaking of nations within your fantasy worlds. From farmboy kings to scheming dukes with surprisingly benevolent control of their printing presses, from the trials and tribulations of parliaments to the somewhat horrifying implications of magical lobbyists, we hope that you'll find ideas in here to help you craft

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55:45

Episode 57: Ask a Necromancer ft. AMANDA DOWNUM

Worldbuilding for Masochists ·

2021/08/18

How do people in your world handle death? Spiritually, financially, emotionally -- and, as may be relevant to your plot, how do they deal with actual dead bodies? Amanda Downum joins us to discuss the details of the deceased -- and she's both a writer and a licensed mortician, so she can answer some of the questions you've been afraid to Google, lest you end up on a government watchlist! Transcript for Episode 57 (thanks to our scribes!) Our Guest: Amanda was born in Virginia, and has since then

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