Worldbuilding for Masochists

When fantasy stories are so much about adventure, what is the function of home? The amazing Zoraida Córdova joins us to discuss domestic spaces and how to fit them into your worldbuilding! Is home a place? A people? A ritual? Is it somewhere you escape from, something you defend, or your last refuge? Transcript for Episode 32 (thank you, scribes!)

Guest Michael R. Underwood joins us to discuss military cultures in fantasy worlds! If your story has warfare, what does that mean for the structure of your society? Do you have a standing army, a militia on-call, feudal obligations? How do technology and economy play into your military configuration? And what does your all-important training montage look like? Transcript for Episode 31 (thank you, scribes!)

K. Tempest Bradford, K. S. Villoso, and Sarah Guan join us for a panel discussing race and racism in fantasy worldbuilding. What sort of things does an author need to be mindful of when integrating real-world, real-world-inspired, or invented races into worldbuilding? How do tropes of fantasy species, like orcs and elves, or of magical races, like wizards and Valyrians, perpetuate harmful ideas? And how can we best examine our own biases and commit to digging out the bigotry that systematic racism has put in our heads? For a deeper dive into this and related topics, please check out writingtheother.com and their many excellent resources, classes, and on-demand webinars. Transcript for Episode 30 (Thank you, scribes!)

Whether your protagonist is a wholesome farm worker, a high-flying politico, or a bone-weary traveler, sooner or later, there's a good chance they'll end up in The City. But that city can be a character in its own right -- and that means putting some world-building work into figuring out why it exists, how it grew, what sort of people live there, and how they organize their lives! In this episode, we delve deep into the architecture and infrastructure of cities. Transcript for Episode 29 (Thank you, scribes!)

Physical art colors the world around us -- literally! But how do we translate that into the written word? This week, we explore the difference between art and craft, art for public consumption versus private enjoyment, political messages in portraits and sculpture and graffiti, and how those details can communicate the values and trends in the world you're writing. Transcript for Episode 28 (Thank you, scribes!)

We begin Year 2 of the podcast by answering questions from listeners and introducing our new co-host, Cass Morris! We chat about architecture, city design, profanity, and other topics that may well spin out into full episodes as the year goes on. If you're new to the podcast, welcome! This is a great place to start. If you're a devoted follower of the podcast, welcome back! We're delighted to have you tuning in. Transcript for Episode 27 (thank you, scribes!)

Guest K.A. Doore joins us to talk about queer worldbuilding! What are ways to think about approaching queernorm in crafting second world fantasy? What ripple effects does normalizing queerness add to your world? Transcript for this episode (Thanks again, scribes!)

Fabulous guest ANDREA STEWART joins us to talk empires and rebellions, including the worldbuilding for the empire in Bone Shard Daughter! Don't miss this episode--it's revolting. In the best way possible. Transcript for this episode

Whether you're outfitting a fictional warrior for battle, a farmer for work, or a hapless Hobbit for a very long walk, the pragmatic and aesthetic elements of and individual's clothing and gear are an essential part of fantasy worldbuilding! Join us as we chat with Melissa Caruso (author of the Swords and Fire trilogy and, forthcoming, The Obsidian Tower). Transcript for this episode

People can make a ceremony out of just about anything--life events, accomplishments, afternoon tea. Why, and how, and what can it convey about the world our characters live in? Featuring TOCHI ONYEBUCHI! Transcript for this episode

We've finally done it--we're talking about food! Buffets of food description are a fantasy trope, but why is food so important to worldbuilding, anyway? Transcript for this episode.

Bodies may not be technically required in fantasy, but most of our characters have 'em...what medicine and concept of physical health and self do they have? Transcript for this episode

On this week's episode we're joined by the fabulous romance author Cat Sebastian while we do some SEXY worldbuilding. With, like, slow jazz and shit. Saxophones. Rose petals on the bed. The whole thing. Get cozy! The transcript of this episode is available here!

On today's episode, we're doing a deep-dive and building up that Thirteen Families culture that we mentioned a little while back! From the ground up, here we go! The transcript of this episode is available here.

On this week's episode, we're talking about the wonders of the world, both natural and man-made, and how they can enrich your settings! The transcript of this episode is available here. Thank you to our wonderful scribes!!

This week, we're joined by S.A. Chakraborty, author of the Daevabad trilogy (The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper and, forthcoming, The Empire of Gold) while we talk about the loooooong game: Not just recent local history, but thousands or tens of thousands of years of world history. The transcript for this episode is available here. Throw a bouquet of roses to your local scribes!!

On this week's episode, we're talking politics. Yeah, yeah, we know, but we're gonna try to make it fun. Like, why does fantasy fixate so hard on monarchies, anyway?? The transcript of this episode is available here.

Listeners have sent us questions, and we spend the episode answering them, and each of these questions was juicy enough to make a whole episode out of alone. So you get to hear random morsels of joy that you would only get with a Listener Questions: about travelogue plots and caraco jackets and crownball, whatever that is. Transcript for the episode is here. Thank you to our wonderful scribes!

Happy Holidays, dear listeners! This week, we're talking about worldbuilding holidays, and we giggle pretty much the entire time! Transcript is available here. Blessings upon the heads of our wonderful scribes!

On this week's episode, we're joined by our glamorous guest, Tasha Suri, author of EMPIRE OF SAND and REALM OF ASH to talk about worldbuilding religions! Transcript is available here

We're joined this week by glamorous guest star Cass Morris, Shakespeare scholar and author of FROM UNSEEN FIRE, to talk about art and pop-culture in fantasy worldbuilding! The transcript for this episode is here. Thank you to our excellent scribes!

Rowenna and Alex are going a bit feral this week to talk about fiber arts! Marshall Ryan Maresca asks some good smart questions! The transcript for this episode is available here. Huge thanks to our scribes!!!

On this very spooky episode of WFM, we're discussing the customs and practices surrounding death! The transcript of this episode is available here. (HUGE THANKS to our wonderful scribes!!!)

Author RJ Theodore joins us this week to talk about worldbuilding family structures! Episode transcript here.

On today's episode we're finally getting around to naming some stuff, and that means we're talking about languages! Conlangs, language and culture, lots of tasty stuff! The transcript document is here. If you enjoy the podcast, join in on our fan discord chat!

Today we're talking about building magic systems into the world! The transcript for this episode can be found here. (It's still in progress, so if you'd like to transcribe a couple minutes to help out your fellow World Builders, feel free! :D)

We're joined today by Jenn Lyons, author of THE RUIN OF KINGS, to talk about methods of organizing your worldbuilding! We give some cool recs for programs to use, and some of us admit to using more simple and chaotic methods of keeping everything in line. The transcript of this episode is available here. Thank you so much to our amazing scribes who have volunteered their time to assist with this: Eunice, Kate, and C, you're amazing!!

This week we're talking big questions about people, culture, population, and technology! Let's make some civilizations! Read the transcript here!

This week we are joined by the amazing author Fonda Lee to talk about the basics of creating civilizations for your fantasy world! Read the transcript here! Check out the map here!

We're talking about building flora and fauna for the world! Come get some biomes! Transcript available here.

On today's episode, we're talking about drawing maps and creating solar systems, and we begin to build our very own world from the... ahem... ground up. ;)   Transcript for Episode 2   [Note, November 2022: The links mentioned in this podcast are, alas! lost to the vagaries of time. We apologize for any inconvenience.]

Welcome to the premiere of Worldbuilding for Masochists, a new podcast that is exactly what it says on the tin! Today we try valiantly to answer the question, "Gosh... when it comes to worldbuilding, where do you even start?" Transcription: The transcript for this episode can be found here. Huge thanks to our scribal team!