Rationally Writing

Daystar and Alexander go into detail on ways to adjust story structures to more rational stories.

Timestamps

00:35 Story structures in rational fiction

7:07 Non-standard endings

14:15 Balancing Endings

Alexander and Daystar explore the different ways of planning out and structuring stories, and give examples of their strengths and weaknesses.

Time Stamps

00:37 Story Circles

12:40 TV show structures

20:54 Chapter by chapter planning

24:01 Alternative story structures

Daystar and Alexander explore how to match antagonists against protagonists, how villains should push heroes, and other ways to structure compelling antagonists and conflicts.

Stay tuned after the ending music for a book recommendation and our first advertisement!

Time Stamps

00:34 Matching Antagonists against Protagonists.

04:08 Fixing Doomsday

6:42 Villains push Heroes

14:49 Reality vs Fiction

20:13 Understanding/Removing Antagonists

23:35 Multiple Antagonists

Daystar and Alexander explore what makes for compelling story antagonists, and discuss some of their favorites.

Timestamps

0:34 What Makes an Antagonist?

2:38 Shallow Antagonists

9:06 Favorite Antagonists: Randall Flagg

12:41 Favorite Antagonists: Lex Luthor

17:54 Basics Do's and Don'ts

25:16 Creating Motivations

(32:15 Seriously guys please don't blow anyone up)

34:10 Favorite Antagonists: Magneto

Daystar and Alexander describe five of the major types of conflicts in storytelling, and the pitfalls and strengths of each.

Timestamps:

00:30 Why do we need conflict?

02:05 Man vs Man

05:54 Man vs Society

14:28 Man vs Nature

21:27 Man vs Self

28:32 Man vs Technology

Daystar and Alexander continue discussing magic systems, including advice on constructing one that's rational and compelling.

Timestamps:

1:10 Sanderson's Second Law: Limitations

8:25 Sanderson's Third Law: Expand before adding

15:05 Exponential complexity and "Why didn't anyone think of X?"

21:15 Designing Magic Resources

24:41 Designing Magic Power Levels

27:15 Ways to Limit Magic

29:20 Magic shouldn't make your job easier as a writer.

32:51 Diversity in magic systems

39:20 Characters Have to Approach Magic/Technology Intelligently

Daystar and Alexander discuss what makes a magic system, what their purpose and function is, and some of the pitfalls and challenges to creating effective ones that enhance storytelling rather than distract from it.

Daystar and Alexander discuss the Rule of Cool trope, and how rational fiction tries to create organically cool moments without sacrificing the story's integrity.

Timestamps:

0:40 What is the Rule of Cool? Is it inherently good or bad?

5:45 Swords vs Guns, Lightsabers, Waif-Fu

11:07 Why avoid it in Rational Fiction?

13:00 Ways to minimize negatives of Rule of Cool

19:20 Breaking the world

26:40 Is it better to fully explore an idea, or minimize its

role so as not to "cheat" the plot?

29:40 When to kill your darlings

34:15 When to run with the craziness

37:55 Recap of the three approaches to mitigating loss of coolness when rationalizing.

What are the pros and cons of writing fanfiction, and what types of fanfiction work best to inspire rational fiction?

Timestamps:

0:40 The Three Types of Fanfiction

3:13 Examples, and where Rational Fiction falls

5:27 What are the pros of writing Fanfiction?

7:38 How do Daystar and Alexander find it useful?

9:25 Con 1: Limited Audience

12:18 Con 2: Expectations from Canon

14:39 Con 3: Lack of Profit

16:18 Genres that are easy and hard to rationalize.

19:55 Genre Ghettos

21:15 Daystar rants about Magical Realism

24:44 Fanfiction Ghetto

26:47 Best stories to rationalize

32:44 Finding new solutions, creating new problems

35:53 Bridging the gap between Fanfiction and Original

Fiction

In a world where "everything is a remix," what's so important about originality, and how can you help your writing be original?