#051 - Nathan Baugh on Storytelling, World Building, Fiction, & The Internet

Nathan Baugh writes fiction and the World Builders newsletter. We talk about writing, non-fiction vs. fiction, storytelling and world building devices, Kurt Vonnegut and other authors, getting the most out of technology and the internet, and more. — (00:47) Why writing (02:46) Loops & closing the curiosity gap (04:05) The combination of short form non-fiction & long form fiction (09:54) Storytelling & world building; Virgil Abloh’s 3% Rule (14:30) Tradeoffs of traditional publishing vs. self-publishing; going direct-to-audience (21:54) Tech and magic; AI (28:26) His most influential authors (31:08) Favorite opening sentences (34:25) Vonnuget’s shape of stories & promise, progress, payoff (49:11) Why not go all in on fiction? (44:41) Writer’s self limiting beliefs (52:54) Biggest fear as a writer: not living up to expectations (55:33) Balancing technology and the internet with deep work (59:58) What's one work of fiction that has stuck out? — Nathan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nathanbaugh27 Nathan’s Newsletter: https://www.worldbuilders.ai/ Vonnegut’s Shape of Stories: youtu.be/oP3c1h8v2ZQ Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R Spencer’s Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com