Your Rivers Are Wrong

It's time to close out Season 8, at long last! Join us as we tackle fan-submitted wordbuilding prompts, provided by listeners like you :D

How would you adapt to a world drowned in endless greenery? Today we tackle the challenge of navigating the realm of "The Wildsea", a setting where travel is nigh impossible except for the most innovative of explorers.

Prompt: Travel gets dangerous! How do you protect what matters most?

Time is a slow and deadly killer, and the world changes even as no one is looking. Today we talk through the impact of decay on stories and settings, and why the untold stories of long-since-lost artifacts are so "steeped with stuff" to be curious about.

Today's Prompt: Explorers find a rotted locale, and a single curiosity that surely isn't the problem.

New social media home on Bluesky! Find us at @YRAW https://bsky.app/profile/yraw.bsky.social

A blur of an episode as we talk about designing games with intent, and how "ability scores" play a role in that - how do game designers convey themes and genre through the mechanical aspects of their game?

Prompt: What if everyone had their highest ability score floating above their head?

Tragedy is a tale as old as time. How do we write melancholy in a satisfying and meaningful way? How far can we push tragedy before we lose the favor of the reader or audience? In this episode, we discuss what makes sadness "good" and how to use it to enhance our storytelling.

Prompt: Start and end a (sad) story with the same sentence.

One of the more unhinged episodes of ours, surely - welcome back to fan prompts, where we take your one-sentence ideas and improv with them off the deep end!

Twenty contestant, one prize, and a brutal path to victory - sound familiar? The thrill and horror of a well-written "death game" resonates in a morbidly exciting way. Why are we intrigued with these type of plotlines, and what themes does it distort? What is unique about this plotline that ultimately always leads to revolution?

Prompt: Create your own death game!

We've got a sleepy episode today about immortality! We're specifically focusing on the perspective of a timeless being in a world that relentless move forward without them - what values do they hold, how do they carry themselves, and how do they view their fleeting compatriots? All this and more on today's episode of Your Rivers Are Wrong c:

Prompt: An immortal is no longer. Describe their first day.

What goes into a well-written dialogue? Well, it's gotta be snappy but subtle, concise but emotional, and informative but not too informative. It's complicated! Let's break down the nuances of an effective dialogue in all sorts of media, and how you can improve the conversations between multiple characters.

Prompt: Write a very conclusive email!

We're back at it! Jumping into Season 8, we talk about reputation - how does it inform the reader of a world, and how does it function differently in a living, unfinished world as opposed to a published story? Finally, does a reputation drive or inhibit a character's progress? We talk Mistborn, Rebecca, and lots of other updates on ourselves in this episode!

Prompt: As a guest on a talk show, your publicist may have exaggerated your accomplishments...roll with it!