It's the start of our eighth season! And we thought this would be a good time to examine what, exactly, we mean when we say "worldbuilding". There's been a lot of Discourse about it recently, and... yeah, we're a little spicy and spiky about it! So we're addressing, head-on, what we think are some popular misconceptions about what worldbuilding even is (hint: it's not tomes of lore, and it is in every story, whether SFF or not), shifting definitions of "good worldbuilding", and how we have Some Kind of Feelings about the extent to which these trends (or at least the perception of them) are shaping publishers' choices.
And then we try to figure out: What does an author do with all of that? How do we frame worldbuilding for ourselves? What's our relationship to it as it helps us discover our stories and our characters? And what hills are we willing to die on?
We also take a little time to explore the state of the podcast, looking back on some favorite past episodes, and the state of the podcasters!
[Transcript TK]

It's the start of our eighth season! And we thought this would be a good time to examine what, exactly, we mean when we say "worldbuilding". There's been a lot of Discourse about it recently, and... yeah, we're a little spicy and spiky about it! So we're addressing, head-on, what we think are some popular misconceptions about what worldbuilding even is (hint: it's not tomes of lore, and it is in every story, whether SFF or not), shifting definitions of "good worldbuilding", and how we have Some Kind of Feelings about the extent to which these trends (or at least the perception of them) are shaping publishers' choices. And then we try to figure out: What does an author do with all of that? How do we frame worldbuilding for ourselves? What's our relationship to it as it helps us discover our stories and our characters? And what hills are we willing to die on? We also take a little time to explore the state of the podcast, looking back on some favorite past episodes, and the state of the podcasters! [Transcript TK]

It's the start of our&nbsp;eighth season! And we thought this would be a good time to examine what, exactly, we mean when we say "worldbuilding". There's been a lot of Discourse about it recently, and... yeah, we're a little spicy&nbsp;and spiky about it! So we're addressing, head-on, what we think are some popular misconceptions about what worldbuilding even is (hint: it's not tomes of lore, and it is in every story, whether SFF or not), shifting definitions of "good worldbuilding", and how we have Some Kind of Feelings about the extent to which these trends (or at least the perception of them) are shaping publishers' choices.
And then we try to figure out: What does an author do with all of that? How do we frame worldbuilding for ourselves? What's our relationship to it as it helps us discover our stories and our characters? And what hills are we willing to die on?
We also take a little time to explore the state of the podcast, looking back on some favorite past episodes, and the state of the podcasters!
[Transcript TK]

Episode 183: Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want

When you're creating tomes of information about your world -- spreadsheets of demographics, maps at every level of geography, tomes of lore -- how do you keep tabs on it all? How much can you keep in your head, and how much has to be written down, codified, and carefully tracked? In this episode, we explore our tools of worldbuilding.
We use all sorts of different methods and platforms, some of them physical and tangible, others entirely digital. From nebulous notions of "the world is like this" to a fully indexed world bible, the methods vary! Like so much else in writing, this isn't a thing where there's One Right Answer that will Unlock the Mysteries of Successful Publishing: it's all about finding what works best for you, your habits, your preferences, and even for individual projects.
In other news: If you're a Hugo-nominating type person, you've got til the end of January to <a href='https://glasgow2024.org/get-involved/memberships-and-tickets/'>become a member of Glasgow 2024</a>! (If you weren't a member of Chengdu 2023, that is; if you were, you already have nominating privileges!) We think we had a pretty great year in 2023, and if you think so, too, we'd adore it if you became a member and thought of us when nominations open.

When you're creating tomes of information about your world -- spreadsheets of demographics, maps at every level of geography, tomes of lore -- how do you keep tabs on it all? How much can you keep in your head, and how much has to be written down, codified, and carefully tracked? In this episode, we explore our tools of worldbuilding. We use all sorts of different methods and platforms, some of them physical and tangible, others entirely digital. From nebulous notions of "the world is like this" to a fully indexed world bible, the methods vary! Like so much else in writing, this isn't a thing where there's One Right Answer that will Unlock the Mysteries of Successful Publishing: it's all about finding what works best for you, your habits, your preferences, and even for individual projects. In other news: If you're a Hugo-nominating type person, you've got til the end of January to become a member of Glasgow 2024! (If you weren't a member of Chengdu 2023, that is; if you were, you already have nominating privileges!) We think we had a pretty great year in 2023, and if you think so, too, we'd adore it if you became a member and thought of us when nominations open.

When you're creating tomes of information about your world -- spreadsheets of demographics, maps at every level of geography, tomes of lore -- how do you keep tabs on it all? How much can you keep in your head, and how much has to be written down, codified, and carefully tracked? In this episode, we explore our tools of worldbuilding.
We use all sorts of different methods and platforms, some of them physical and tangible, others entirely digital. From nebulous notions of "the world is like this" to a fully indexed world bible, the methods vary! Like so much else in writing, this isn't a thing where there's One Right Answer that will Unlock the Mysteries of Successful Publishing: it's all about finding what works best for you,&nbsp;your habits, your preferences, and even for individual projects.
In other news:&nbsp;If you're a Hugo-nominating type person, you've got til the end of January to <a href="https://glasgow2024.org/get-involved/memberships-and-tickets/" rel="noopener noreferrer">become a member of Glasgow 2024</a>! (If you&nbsp;weren't a member of Chengdu 2023, that is; if you were, you already have nominating privileges!) We think we had a pretty great year in 2023, and if you think so, too, we'd adore it if you became a member and thought of us when nominations open.

Episode 120: World Bibles and the Gospel According to Tolkien

We're talking about building flora and fauna for the world! Come get some biomes! 
 
<a href='https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hMjkygOjwB5abZwA6xUwRZakW9wf-U8VI65K_CqFLDc/edit'>Transcript available here.</a>

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

We're talking about building flora and fauna for the world! Come get some biomes! 
 
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hMjkygOjwB5abZwA6xUwRZakW9wf-U8VI65K_CqFLDc/edit" rel="noopener noreferrer">Transcript available here.</a>

Episode 3: As Narrated by David Attenborough

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. ;)
 
<a href='https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ABLy_2cy8U5Nc4wdY3Q5n55bOhu0hdQZyyDrnKY3U0I/edit?usp=sharing'>Transcript for Episode 2</a>
 
[Note, November 2022: The links mentioned in this podcast are, alas! lost to the vagaries of time. We apologize for any inconvenience.]

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.]

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. ;)
&nbsp;
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ABLy_2cy8U5Nc4wdY3Q5n55bOhu0hdQZyyDrnKY3U0I/edit?usp=sharing" rel="noopener noreferrer">Transcript for Episode 2</a>
&nbsp;
[Note, November 2022: The links mentioned in this podcast are, alas! lost to the vagaries of time. We apologize for any inconvenience.]

Episode 2: Terra Firma and the Firmament

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:  
<a href='https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vKz6f2GPUcR8KoSWJWvsUgRV79umHA4j8VMTTuZag98/edit'>The transcript for this episode can be found here</a>. Huge thanks to our scribal team!

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!

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&nbsp;start?"
&nbsp;
Transcription:&nbsp; 
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vKz6f2GPUcR8KoSWJWvsUgRV79umHA4j8VMTTuZag98/edit" rel="noopener noreferrer">The transcript for this episode can be found here</a>. Huge thanks to our scribal team!

Episode 1: Playing God In Your Spare Time

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

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