Prose and Cons

Yeah, look, we’re not going to beat around the bush, The Book of Boba Fett was not great. But, as they say, another person’s failed attempt at representing a well-known IP is another writer’s treasure.

In all seriousness, though, it not always obvious in the moment when a bit of writing isn’t working. Yes, in this episode we do poke fun at The Book of Boba Fett, but as writers, we get it – this happens. Let’s see what we can learn from this.

We’ll talk:

• The benefits of character flaws.
• Good vs. poorly done flashbacks.
• When to introduce your antagonist (hint: not at the end).

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 1 TODAY, 55 OVERALL

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This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

But what about when the narrator isn't giving the full story? When about when you can't trust them at all? And where's the line between unreliable narrator and ineffectual storyteller?

In this episode, we break down everything you could ever want to know about writing unreliable narrators - from different types, to best examples, to pitfalls to avoid.

(Note, dear listener, that this ep contains spoilers for several books and films, but telling you which would reveal that they unreliable narrators... It's a Gordian knot that's beyond our abilities to sever, so potential spoiler warning for things made before 2011.)

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 0 TODAY, 54 OVERALL

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Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

We've got a MONSTER of an episode for you today ... I'm truly sorry about that. But it's true! Matan, Paddy, James  and Alex discuss monsters in all their incarnations and ask some questions:

•  How do you write about something that is 'indescribably horrific'?
• The different frames in which to place your monster: horrific, challenging or redemptive.
• What even is a monster anyway?

Answers to these and much MUCH more, constant listener. Get ready for an oversized creature feature of an ep from Precipice Fiction

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 4 TODAY, 54 OVERALL

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Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

The episode so nice we did it twice! Sorta. As James and Paddy couldn't make our Barbenheimer episode extravaganza, we're releasing their own micro-episode just on Christopher Nolan's new film Oppenheimer.
James and Paddy don't always see eye-to-eye on movies (and by "don't always" we mean "never"), so tune in for a particularly varied discussion on the film and the history that inspired it.

Send us a message!

Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

What is Lord of the Rings without Middle Earth? What is Star Trek without the Final Frontier? To some settings, the right setting can be absolutely crucial; and to others, next to irrelevant. So when does it matter? And why? In this episode, we explore setting in depth, asking questions like:

• Why is setting important at all?
• Does setting always matter?
• Is a setting ruined by leaning into popular tropes?
• Where actually is Hogwarts?

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 2 TODAY, 50 OVERALL

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Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

Who could imagine something so explosive, something that could impact the world so much, such as . . . Barbenheimer! That’s right. This week on Prose and Cons, Phoenix (who was very sleepy for this one), Ally, Alex, and Matan explore Barbie, Oppenheimer, and the many spaces of grey and pink in between.

Some things we’ll touch on:

• Barbie and the feminist discourse.
• Oppenheimer—A cinephile’s dream.
• The THIRD Nolan brother.

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 0 TODAY, 48 OVERALL

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Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

On this special, extended episode of Prose and Cons, Phoenix talks with C.M. Kosemen, the author of All Tomorrows and co-author of All Yesterdays (as well as an all-around impressive artist). From evolutionary biology to Paleoart, the two explore the intimate relationship between art and science.

• What is Paleoart and how does it work?
• The various ways science can inform our literature and, subsequently, our art in general. 
• A special reading from the latest revision of ‘All Tomorrows’.
• What does the snake people's music sound (or feel) like?
• Learn a nifty little technique to cool down your computer.

Some timestamps for if you’d like to jump around:

• 18:15 Interview questions begin.
• 55:03 Reading from latest revision of “All Tomorrows”

You can listen to ‘All Tomorrows’ for free here:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imNtSPM3-r4&t=1464s&ab_channel=AltShiftX

Find more of C.M. Kosemen’s work at the following:

• https://www.youtube.com/@cmkosemen on YouTube
• https://www.patreon.com/cmkosemen on Patreon
• http://www.cmkosemen.com/ personal website

Special callout to the beautiful work of Joanna Kobierska (images seen in the YouTube recording of the interview).

• @JoannaKobierska on Twitter
• https://joanna_kobierska.artstation.com/ on Artstation.

If you’d like to hear a close approximation to the Snake people's music for yourself, look up: ‘Nikr iz longa’

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 0 TODAY, 48 

Send us a message!

Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

From sweet childhood memories to the mildly traumatic literary moments, in this episode of Prose and Cons, Alex, Ally, and Phoenix explore yesteryear and all those glorious, early literary influences, trying to see if there’s some kind of throughline to discover.

Some themes in this one:

• How we got interested in reading.
• Some deep lore on Phoenix.
• Whether you read a lot as a kid or hardly read at all, all are welcome in this beautiful literary world.
• Warning: Highly relatable if you’re Australian

Also, Brandon Sanderson, we love and appreciate you very much. If any of our words sound harsh it’s just because we’re deeply impressed (I cannot stress enough how unironic this statement is).

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 0 TODAY, 48 OVERALL

Send us a message!

Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

Hello Listeners! Today we managed to snag ourselves another delightful interviewee. Our very own Matan Elul grabbed none other than Galatea Sensation Herself, Sapir Englard, for a talk about publishing, sexual tension and life as a writer in the 21st century.

Sapir A. Englard is the author of the massive digital hit, THE MILLENNIUM WOLVES, published in 2019 on the Galatea app and which has amassed more than 125 million reads. Sapir’s success has been written about in the Boston Globe, Forbes, Tech Crunch, and more. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Sapir is a full-time writer and musician.

Also, sorry for the late upload this week; a few storms came together to form a not-so-tragic, mildly-inconvenient perfect storm.

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 0 TODAY, 48 OVERALL

Send us a message!

Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction

Break time!

Put down the tome you’ve been reading to research global wind patterns and take a break—there’s plenty of space around this proverbial water cooler here. This week, Paddy, Alex, and James reflect on some of the benefits that taking a break has had on their work.

• Sometimes plot develops when you’re going for a jog.
• Why not step away and … trade stocks instead?
• Ideas for when a break might be beneficial or, on the other hand, when it might be good to push through.

STEPHEN KING REFERENCE COUNTER: 0 TODAY, 48 OVERALL

Send us a message!

Contact us at: precipicefiction.com/contact/

=============================================

This is Prose & Cons - a podcast for emerging writers, by emerging writers. Because sometimes we feel like pros, and sometimes we feel like cons.

Brought to you by Precipice Fiction. Six Writers. Six Worlds. Alexandria Burnham, Paddy Boylan, Alex Eldridge, Matan Elul, Phoenix Raig and James Healy.

The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection - Available now in ebook or paperback: mybook.to/TheNewMythic

• Website: precipicefiction.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@PrecipiceFiction
• Instagram: instagram.com/precipicefiction/
• Twitter: twitter.com/PrecipiceFic
• Facebook: facebook.com/PrecipiceFiction