The Creativity Fallacy
What does it mean to be a creator at a time when creativity is completely commodified? In this episode, we talk about the status of the author, and how audiences…
How To Write About Violence (with Fonda Lee and Lauren Beukes)
Battles and smackdowns are a key part of many science fiction and fantasy stories — but how do you do them right? Do you have an obligation to show the…
How to build a planet
We’re going to tackle a few very small questions in this episode, like how to build a planet from scratch – and then, how to build governments on that planet.…
What Makes a Story Feel “Fast” Or “Slow”?
People talk about “pacing” all the time when it comes to storytelling — but what does “pacing” mean? How do you make a story feel like it’s moving faster or…
Jem Calder | Notes on Craft
I hated my job, and the longer I remained at that workplace, the more I could feel my identity becoming warped by it; the edges of my personality being steadily…
I’m an Award-Winning Short Story Writer and I Don’t Know What I’m Doing Either
What I’d forgotten: the way I could hold a short story in my head for the entire composition of it, how the first mysterious intimations — a sentence, an image, an exchange…
Ray Bradbury’s Practical and Inspiring Writing Advice
Bradbury was full of wit and wisdom when it came to dishing out practical writing advice. His 1990 book Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity is a…
Writing in Someone Else’s World
I stumbled on a high-pay, low-prestige way to enter the publishing world—and overcame my reservations to make the most of the opportunity. My first book was not what I dreamed…