Episode Description
In this episode, Leslie and Clark critique the opening pages of As Realms Unravel, an epic fantasy novel by Steven T. Bushar. They discuss world building, flashbacks, conflict, and dialogue.
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Show Notes
“Above all, worldbuilding is not technically necessary. It is the great clomping foot of nerdism. It is the attempt to exhaustively survey a place that isn’t there. A good writer would never try to do that, even with a place that is there. It isn’t possible, & if it was the results wouldn’t be readable: they would constitute not a book but the biggest library ever built, a hallowed place of dedication & lifelong study. This gives us a clue to the psychological type of the worldbuilder & the worldbuilder’s victim, & makes us very afraid. [sic]”
Editorial Mission - An Alternate Approach to World Building
One of your characters has just arrived in your setting. She writes a letter to her parents describing what she has encountered so far. Experiment with different purposes: At first she wants to reassure them. Then she wants to scare them for attention.
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Inline Critique
