Worldbuilding for Masochists

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!