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Worldbuilding for Masochists: Daily Summaries Delivered
by worldbuildingformasochists
A podcast by three fantasy authors who love to overcomplicate things for themselves.
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- Yesterday50 min
Episode 186: Does It Hurt When You Do This? ft. JESSE ARAGON
Fantasy protagonists are highly prone to getting stabbed, sliced, impaled, poisoned, bonked on the head, dropped off cliffs, and otherwise wounded. Which means they need someone to patch them up! So who does that in your invented world, and how do they learn to do it? Guest Jesse Aragon joins us to discuss emergency medicine and other issues of healing. How much reality can you -- and should you -- bring into the medical components of your world? Waving a wand and curing all ills is easy, but potentially unsatisfying, but on the other hand, our heroes can rarely spare six months away from their Quest to let bones knit or infections pass. So just how much magic -- or sci-fi technology -- can you bring in to smooth the process along, and how do you make those things fit in with the rest of your world? Are there medical schools, or do you learn in a master-apprentice type system? How much experimentation is there? How well do your characters understand the real workings of the human body? And, most importantly: How do you get plot hooks out of it? [Transcript TK] Our Guest: Jesse Aragon* is a writer of sci-fi and fantasy, usually both at the same time. Her work features morally complicated protagonists, horror, tragedy, the numinous, and deep dives into the darkest, messiest parts of human nature. She grew up overseas, and “home” for her is everywhere from Brussels, Belgium to Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has a Psychology BA, an EMT-I license, and a BSN. She has been an usher, a cashier, a server, a home health aide, an EMT, an ER tech, and a trauma RN—her jobs have consistently been much stranger than any fiction she writes. When she’s not writing, she enjoys weightlifting, video games, and horror movies. She loves cats, green chiles, and UFO lore. Her debut novel, THE DEMON STAR, is forthcoming from DAW/Astra in July 2026! *Yes, this is a real name. No, it has nothing to do with Lord of the Rings. No, she is not (so far as she knows) a descendant of Catherine of Aragon. It is a very common surname for people of Hispanic descent in Mexico and the Southwestern US.
- 2 weeks ago1h 13m
Episode 185: How Much Is That Wyvern in the Window? ft. JOHN WISWELL
People and animals have lived together in lots of ways for thousands upon thousands of years -- and humans, as we know, will attempt to pack-bond with anything. But what does the domestication of animals mean in worlds that might have fantastical creatures or critters who can talk? Guest John Wiswell joins us to discuss the friend-shaped beings that inhabit our fantasy worlds. When did your culture domesticate animals, and which ones, and why? What distinguishes a merely domesticated animal from a true companion? Which creatures might be normal pets, and which ones are more off-beat or even taboo? What does it mean if you can tame a dragon, or if your kitty familiar can talk to you? And then, of course, writers also need to consider what role these animals play in the story: Do they serve a narrative purpose? Or are they just there to fill out the world and acknowledge that, yes, humans generally love animals and want them around? [Transcript for Episode 185 TK] Our Guest: John Wiswell is a Nebula-winning and Locus-winning author who lives in the middle of the woods. His debut novel, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN, was released from DAW Books in the U.S. and Arcadia Books in the U.K. in April 2024. John's work has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Tor.com, LeVar Burton Reads, Nature Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, the No Sleep podcast, Nightmare Magazine, Cast of Wonders, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and other fine venues. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. His fiction has been translated into ten languages. He graduated Bennington College in 2005, and attended the Viable Paradise 17 workshop in 2013. He has multiple disabilities including a neuromuscular syndrome, and thinks healthy people's capacity to complain is very funny. He finds a lot of things very funny and would like to keep it that way. He is frequently available for interview and for talks at conferences. He has done panels at places such as Worldcon, the Nebula Awards Conference, and the World Fantasy Convention.
- 4 weeks ago1h 31m
Episode 184: Building Better Cities
So, you're building a fantasy city: Plunk a castle in the middle, put some houses around it, make sure there are some inns and taverns, maybe a church or temple, slap it on a nice body of water, and call it a day, right? NAH. We can do better than that. In this episode, we explore ways that you can create cities that feel natural, lived-in, and unique. Cities are idiosyncratic creatures. So many factors contribute to the development of a city, whether intentionally planned or chaotically organic: the climate, the geography, natural disasters, wars, disease, social priorities, governmental and administrative needs -- They all mean that every city has its own personality. So how can you use those various factors to make sure that your fantasy cities don't all feel like they've been copy-pasted from one very basic mold? We've got thoughts, and we share some of our favorite resources about how cities come to be. Also: Hugo Award voting is open until August 8th! Learn more, register to vote if you haven't already, get the massive voter packet crammed full of goodies, and submit your ballot on the LA WorldCon website. Resources: Collections: The Lonely City, Part I: The Ideal City – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, by Bret Devereaux Collections: The Lonely City, Part II: Real Cities Have Curves – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, by Bret Devereaux Great Courses: Cities of the Ancient World by Stephen L. Tuck Also on Audible Great Courses: London: A Short History of the Greatest City in the Western World by Robert Bucholz Also on Audible Cities that Shaped the Ancient World, John Julius Norwich The Great Cities in History, John Julius Norwich A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, Alberto Angela On the Map, Simon Garfield The Map of Early Modern London Boston garbage map Largest Cities in the World (3700 BCE - 2050 CE)
- Jun 17, 20261h 35m
Episode 183: Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want
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]
- Jun 3, 20261h 20m
Episode 182: Stranger than Fiction, ft. GABRIELLA BUBA
Sometimes, the truth is weirder and stranger than anything we could make up -- and that's something a worldbuilder can use to their benefit! Guest Gabriella Buba joins us to talk about building real science into our magical worlds -- and the implications that can, in turn, have about a society's relationship with information, education, and the power structures that both derive from and control them. When blending science and magic together, writers can play with a lot of different factors and considerations. Is magic in a given world really about the movement of electrons or the interaction of chemicals, or is it a truly unexplainable force? What do your characters think about the scientific realities of their world? How do they test theories, and do they have a magical R&D department? And what might be the difference between how much the writer needs to know, how much the characters need to know, and how much the reader needs to know? Finding the balance can be tricky, and won't be the same for every project, but getting it right can add invaluable texture to your world. [Transcript for Episode 182] Our Guest: Gabriella Buba is a mixed Filipina-Czech author-illustrator and chemical engineer based in Texas who likes to keep explosive pyrophoric materials safely contained in pressure vessels or between the covers of her books. She writes epic fantasy for bold, bi, brown women who deserve to see their stories centered. Her debut SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW, a Filipino-inspired epic fantasy, was shortlisted for the 2025 Aldiss Award for World Building in Speculative Fiction. The sequel DAUGHTERS OF FLOOD AND FURY was a top trending Spotify LGBTQ+ Audiobook title. Her work as part of the anthology Witchcraft: Folk Tales & Horror Short Stories edited by Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane was a #1 New Release on Amazon. She has a Gothic Novella set during the Japanese Occupation of Manila coming with Absinthe Books Spring 2027. Alchemist of Bohemia her next novel will be out May 2027 with Titan Books. She has a Filipino Fantasy short stories in the anthologies Strange Religion: Speculative Fiction of Spirituality, Belief, & Practice & Of Stardust: A Queer Fantastical Anthology volume 1 & 2, Short stories placed with the Sci Phi Journal and PodCastle Fiction and essays on Filipino Identity in Prairie Fire Press and With Love: What We Wish We Knew About Being Queer and Filipino in America.
- May 20, 20261h 18m
Episode 181: Journey to the Past, ft. SHANNON CHAKRABORTY
History underpins so much of what we do in the fantasy genre, directly and indirectly. So how do we make that history feel real in an invented world? What makes it feel old and settled as opposed to a culture that popped up out of the snow like a daisy to give the protagonist their story? Guest Shannon Chakraborty joins us to chat about why we love history, how we study it, and how we weave it together with the fantastical. History’s not only about what was, but what is, how a society constructs the myth of itself, shapes its values, claims legitimacy, and that means it's not just the source of tomes of lore -- it's so much of what influences who your characters are, how they think, and what obstacles are in their way. Depicting history is also a commentary on today, part of an ongoing project of how we shape our ideas of ourselves and whose stories get to be heard. That makes it a powerful tool to use in crafting fantasy narratives. [Transcript for Episode 181 TK] Our Guest: Shannon Chakraborty is the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of The Daevabad Trilogy and The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages and nominated for the Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, Crawford, and Astounding awards. You can find her online at www.sachakraborty.com or on Instagram at @SAChakrabooks.
- May 6, 20261h 17m
Episode 180: Subgenre Spin, ft. FONDA LEE
In previous episodes, we've discussed how some genres are more aesthetic-driven (like sci fi & fantasy) and others are more structure-driven (like romance and mystery). So how do subgenres within SFF play with elements of both? How can we blend tropes and reader expectations to put fresh spins on familiar subgenres? Four-time guest and friend of the podcast Fonda Lee joins us to explore the possibilities and potential pitfalls. A lot of "genre" is really about marketing and packaging, so we also discuss the effects of knowing that end result on the process itself. How is it different if we start out with an idea of "I am going to write This Subgenre Thing" versus starting out with less of that marketing-minded specificity? How much do we play into or subvert a reader's expectations? Navigating that can be a high-wire act, trying to present new things that will delight and surprise a reader without knocking them out of the story. And what do we do if the packaging, which authors often have no control over, doesn't quite paint the right picture of the actual book? We also talk about some recent trends and shifts within SFF subgenres. [Transcript TK] Our Guest: Fonda Lee is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Green Bone Saga, consisting of the novels Jade City, Jade War, and Jade Legacy, along with a prequel novella The Jade Setter of Janloon and a short story collection, Jade Shards. Her newest book is the science fiction novel The Last Contract of Isako. She is also the author of the fantasy novella, Untethered Sky and several young adult novels: Zeroboxer, the Exo duology, and the Breathmarked duology, co-written with Shannon Lee. Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a six-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award), as well as a multiple finalist for the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. Her novels have garnered multiple starred reviews and appeared on Best of Year lists from NPR, Barnes & Noble, Syfy Wire, and others. Jade City has been translated into fifteen languages, named to TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time, and optioned for television development. She has also written acclaimed short fiction and been an instructor at writing workshops including Clarion West, Viable Paradise, and Aspen Words. Fonda is a former corporate strategist and black belt martial artist who loves action movies and Eggs Benedict. Hailing from Canada and the Pacific Northwest, she now resides in the Boston area.
- Apr 22, 20261h 15m
Episode 179: That's Me in the Spotlight, Worldbuilding My Religion, ft. VAISHNAVI PATEL
Faith is an element of society that intersects with a lot of other structures of power and privilege -- So what do we need to think about when incorporating real-world religions into our fantasy worlds and stories? Guest Vaishnavi Patel joins us to discuss Using cultures of faith respectfully but not fearfully! From gender roles to the afterlife, from guiding moral compasses to provoking conflict, religion has the potential to affect many different components of your characters' lives, whether they are themselves particularly devout or not. Does it put restrictions on their bodily autonomy, the jobs they can hold, or their social class? What role do religious rituals play in daily life -- or in holidays and special events? We also discuss how these considerations can influence character arcs, like crises of faith, redemption arcs, and social reformation. [Transcript for Episode 179] Our Guest: Vaishnavi Patel is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Kaikeyi, Goddess of the River, and Ten Incarnations of Rebellion. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Bustle, Paste, Ms. Magazine, and Buzzfeed. She is a lawyer specializing in constitutional law and civil rights, including issues of gender and racial justice. She has lived in five states in the last five years, but Chicago is home.
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