by worldbuildingformasochists
A podcast by three fantasy authors who love to overcomplicate their writing lives and want to help you do the same.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
6/26/2019
Email Addresses
0 available
Phone Numbers
0 available
April 9, 2025
Sometimes, people will say of a book that "the setting is another character". But what does that really mean, and how can a writer craft it? Ai Jiang joins us to discuss creating worlds and settings that have their own personalities! From the physical geography to the architecture, from the scale of the location to its dynamism, writers can make a lot of choices to make their setting feel unlike any other. The setting can do a lot to set the mood and tone of a story. Is it bright and peppy, or dark and gloomy? What's the vibe? The overlap between setting and aesthetic can be quite high, communicating a lot to your reader about what they might expect from the story and characters. We also often talk about how characters are the products of their circumstances -- and that means they're also products of their surroundings! What about the physical space that they exist in, or have existed in during their life, has shaped them? [Transcript TK] Our Guest: Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, The Masters Review, among others. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop’s 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of A Palace Near the Wind, Linghun and I AM AI. Find her on X (@AiJiang_), Insta (@ai.jian.g), and online (http://aijiang.ca).
March 26, 2025
In amazing fantasy and science fiction worlds -- Who's doing the work? Where does the food come from? The clothes? Who does the caregiving? Guest august clarke joins us to discuss the hands and bodies that create a society. Labor is something that’s often sort of invisible in stories if it’s not explicitly the driving focus of a book – So, why is that? How can authors better incorporate labor into their worlds? Labor intersects with so many other components of a world, after all: ideas about currency and property, concepts of time, religion, social class, technology. With labor touching so much of our characters' lives, where do we use SFF to examine & explore our world’s labor issues, and where can we get creative and try to imagine escaping dominant paradigms? [Transcript TK] About Our Guest: august clarke is here and queer, etc. They have been published in PRISM international, Portland Review, and Eidolon. He was a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction and a Locus Award, Dragon Award, and Pushcart nominee. They researched queerness, labor, and monstrosity at the University of Chicago. He is the author of the indie-bestselling series The Scapegracers, which he writes as H. A. Clarke.
March 12, 2025
Worldbuilding means getting to “play god” – so how does that take a different shape when you’re part of a pantheon rather than the One True Ruler of your world? Xen, Matt Roen, and Sara Wile, the creative trio behind Midst, a surreal sci-fi fantasy audio drama now produced by Critical Role Productions, join us to discuss co-creating a world and the stories that happen within it! When working as a team, how do you divide the labor? What's the balance of talents on your team, and how can you best get those skills to flow together? Words, art, sounds, shapes, motion -- all these tools can help to tell a larger story. How is co-worldbuilding for an audio drama like or unlike other forms of cooperative storytelling, like theater, gaming, and immersive experiences? We also discuss the joy of crafting the intricate details of a world and how creating the tiny details can actually communicate a great deal about the worldbuilding. [Transcript TK] Our Guests: The trio (also known as Third Person) are master world-builders. Their newest series in the Midst Cosmos, UNEND, takes listeners on a cosmic journey with an unconventional crew aboard a mysterious, supernatural ship—a story with the adventurous, space-western spirit of Firefly. The story combines psychological depth, moral ambiguity, and unexpected humor, brought to life by their unique collaborative process. They divide creative roles—Xen (sounds), Sara (pictures), and Matt (words)—yet approach every stage of worldbuilding as a team. The Midst Cosmos is the surreal, reality-bending, sci-fantasy setting of our three standalone series: Midst, Moonward: A Midst Roleplaying Story, and our new addition UNEND. Talking place several decades after the events of Midst and Moonward, UNEND focuses on a supernatural ship and a remarkable crew set forth on an expedition to explore the highest heights, deepest depths, and furthest reaches of the known cosmos. But their journey is fraught with peril as they discover truths and realities far stranger than any of them could ever have imagined. You can listen to all three series now on your favorite podcast app and on the Midst Podcast YouTube channel! OR if you want to unlock bonus content like music, art downloads, AMAs with the narrators, AND support the story, we invite you to Join the Fold at Midst.co!
Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
Rusty Quill
Eric Molinsky | QCODE
Critical Role
Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri
Distractible
Maximum Fun
Aubrey Gordon & Michael Hobbes
Unknown author
Spotify Studios
WNYC Studios
Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne
Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson
Wondery / Patrick Wyman
Pod Engine is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with any of the podcasts displayed on this platform. We operate independently as a podcast discovery and analytics service.
All podcast artwork, thumbnails, and content displayed on this page are the property of their respective owners and are protected by applicable copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to, podcast cover art, episode artwork, show descriptions, episode titles, transcripts, audio snippets, and any other content originating from the podcast creators or their licensors.
We display this content under fair use principles and/or implied license for the purpose of podcast discovery, information, and commentary. We make no claim of ownership over any podcast content, artwork, or related materials shown on this platform. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners.
While we strive to ensure all content usage is properly authorized, if you are a rights holder and believe your content is being used inappropriately or without proper authorization, please contact us immediately at [email protected] for prompt review and appropriate action, which may include content removal or proper attribution.
By accessing and using this platform, you acknowledge and agree to respect all applicable copyright laws and intellectual property rights of content owners. Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or commercial use of the content displayed on this platform is strictly prohibited.