Journeys are a staple element of fantasy plots -- but just how do people get around in your world? Kate Elliott, author of Unconquerable Sun, joins us to discuss the feet, hooves, wings, wheels, portals, and other forms of transportation that allow your characters to go a-questing! We also consider the implications that may arise for communication, trade, and social etiquette based on how you structure those transportation systems. Our Guest: As a child in rural Oregon, Kate Elliott made up stories because she longed to escape to a world of lurid adventure fiction. She now writes fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction, often with a romantic edge. She currently lives in Hawaii, where she paddles outrigger canoes and spoils her schnauzer. Transcript for Episode 43, with thanks to our scribes!

So once you've done your worldbuilding, how exactly do you present it to the reader? Stina Leicht joins us to consider how much information to work in, when to do it, and other elements of the wordcraft of worldbuilding. Transcript for Episode 42 (Thank you, Scribes!)

We humans are "meaning-making" creatures -- So what stories do your characters tell about themselves, their world, and their culture? The writing team of Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, who together make up M. A. Carrick, join us to talk about weaving the myths, legends, and folklore that can help your imagined world feel fully textured and lived-in!   Transcript for Episode 41 (thank you, lovely scribes!)

We get asked about fantasy cussing all the time -- but before you can explore profanity, you have to decide what a culture holds sacred. What objects, rituals, or social contracts are inviolable? What bodily functions are unseemly for public discourse? What lines are there between etiquette and sacralization? Author K. B. Wagers joins us to explore building concepts of the sacred and the profane into your imagined world! Transcript for Episode 40 (with thanks to our scribes! who had to do a lot of referential parsing in this episode, particularly)

It's another viewer Q&A episode! Your hosts answer your queries on topics such as magic and disability, art styles that suit our stories, and the bits of worldbuilding we've poured our hearts and masochistic minds into but haven't managed to fit into our books yet. Plus, cooking with angel meat. Transcript for Episode 39 (with thanks to our amazing scribes!)

Whether you're taking down an Evil Emperor or a whole Evil Empire, how do you build antagonists into your world? Anna Stephens, author of The Stone Knife, joins us to discuss the parameters of villainous behavior.   Transcript for Episode 38, with thanks to our scribes!

In this episode, your hosts apply some of the considerations from the past several episodes to the world we're co-building! From "Griasta Man is at it again" to a community run by Virgos, we take you inside some specific "Choose; don't presume" moments. Transcript for Episode 37 (Thank you, scribes!)

Are you a good witch or a bad witch? Well, that really depends on how your world conceives of witchcraft, doesn't it? In this episode, we discuss witches: what form their powers take, what sets them apart from other kinds of magic users, how do you know someone's a witch, and what to make of all those familiars hanging 'round the place. (Cass apologizes for some fading audio in this episode. She's getting a better mic, she promises). Transcript for Episode 36, with thanks to our amazing scribes!

From youth to veneration, from cradle to grave, how does your fantasy world imagine the phases of life? In this episode, we think about the factors that influence a society's concept of aging: biological, economic, and cultural. What happens when your long-lived elves and your mayfly fairies live next door to each other? Are your adolescents adults-in-training or wild-and-free teenyboppers? And who would really want to take care of Baby Yoda for over a century of toddlerhood? (Transcript for Episode 35, with thanks to the scribe crew!)

Your WfM hosts are authors naturally-inclined to overcomplicate their writing lives -- but what if your instincts run the opposite direction? "Science fiction with feelings" author Mike Chen joins us to discuss reverse-engineering worldbuilding from plot, maintaining consistency, using POV to communicate your world, and the most complex pizza ordering of all time.   Transcript for Episode 34 (with thanks to the scribes!)

Fantasy literature hasn't always done well by people with disabilities. So how can we do better? Guest Elsa Sjunneson helps us think about possible ways to design a fantasy world with disabilities in mind: avoiding problematic tropes like magic cures, creating thaumaturgically-responsive buildings, and training service wyverns! We also explore the issues of community, economics, and technology that can inform how a society relates to disability. NB: Some of the original audio for this episode was lost and had to be recovered from our back-up. We apologize for a touch of degraded quality that resulted from that process! Transcript for Episode 33 (Thanks to our scribes!)

When fantasy stories are so much about adventure, what is the function of home? The amazing Zoraida Córdova joins us to discuss domestic spaces and how to fit them into your worldbuilding! Is home a place? A people? A ritual? Is it somewhere you escape from, something you defend, or your last refuge? Transcript for Episode 32 (thank you, scribes!)

Guest Michael R. Underwood joins us to discuss military cultures in fantasy worlds! If your story has warfare, what does that mean for the structure of your society? Do you have a standing army, a militia on-call, feudal obligations? How do technology and economy play into your military configuration? And what does your all-important training montage look like? Transcript for Episode 31 (thank you, scribes!)

K. Tempest Bradford, K. S. Villoso, and Sarah Guan join us for a panel discussing race and racism in fantasy worldbuilding. What sort of things does an author need to be mindful of when integrating real-world, real-world-inspired, or invented races into worldbuilding? How do tropes of fantasy species, like orcs and elves, or of magical races, like wizards and Valyrians, perpetuate harmful ideas? And how can we best examine our own biases and commit to digging out the bigotry that systematic racism has put in our heads?   For a deeper dive into this and related topics, please check out writingtheother.com and their many excellent resources, classes, and on-demand webinars.   Transcript for Episode 30 (Thank you, scribes!)

Whether your protagonist is a wholesome farm worker, a high-flying politico, or a bone-weary traveler, sooner or later, there's a good chance they'll end up in The City. But that city can be a character in its own right -- and that means putting some world-building work into figuring out why it exists, how it grew, what sort of people live there, and how they organize their lives! In this episode, we delve deep into the architecture and infrastructure of cities.   Transcript for Episode 29 (Thank you, scribes!)

Physical art colors the world around us -- literally! But how do we translate that into the written word? This week, we explore the difference between art and craft, art for public consumption versus private enjoyment, political messages in portraits and sculpture and graffiti, and how those details can communicate the values and trends in the world you're writing. Transcript for Episode 28 (Thank you, scribes!)

We begin Year 2 of the podcast by answering questions from listeners and introducing our new co-host, Cass Morris! We chat about architecture, city design, profanity, and other topics that may well spin out into full episodes as the year goes on. If you're new to the podcast, welcome! This is a great place to start. If you're a devoted follower of the podcast, welcome back! We're delighted to have you tuning in. Transcript for Episode 27 (thank you, scribes!)

Guest K.A. Doore joins us to talk about queer worldbuilding! What are ways to think about approaching queernorm in crafting second world fantasy? What ripple effects does normalizing queerness add to your world? Transcript for this episode (Thanks again, scribes!)

Fabulous guest ANDREA STEWART joins us to talk empires and rebellions, including the worldbuilding for the empire in Bone Shard Daughter! Don't miss this episode--it's revolting. In the best way possible. Transcript for this episode

Whether you're outfitting a fictional warrior for battle, a farmer for work, or a hapless Hobbit for a very long walk, the pragmatic and aesthetic elements of and individual's clothing and gear are an essential part of fantasy worldbuilding! Join us as we chat with Melissa Caruso (author of the Swords and Fire trilogy and, forthcoming, The Obsidian Tower). Transcript for this episode

People can make a ceremony out of just about anything--life events, accomplishments, afternoon tea. Why, and how, and what can it convey about the world our characters live in? Featuring TOCHI ONYEBUCHI! Transcript for this episode

We've finally done it--we're talking about food! Buffets of food description are a fantasy trope, but why is food so important to worldbuilding, anyway? Transcript for this episode.

Bodies may not be technically required in fantasy, but most of our characters have 'em...what medicine and concept of physical health and self do they have? Transcript for this episode

On this week's episode we're joined by the fabulous romance author Cat Sebastian while we do some SEXY worldbuilding. With, like, slow jazz and shit. Saxophones. Rose petals on the bed. The whole thing. Get cozy!   The transcript of this episode is available here!

On today's episode, we're doing a deep-dive and building up that Thirteen Families culture that we mentioned a little while back! From the ground up, here we go!   The transcript of this episode is available here.

On this week's episode, we're talking about the wonders of the world, both natural and man-made, and how they can enrich your settings! The transcript of this episode is available here. Thank you to our wonderful scribes!!

This week, we're joined by S.A. Chakraborty, author of the Daevabad trilogy (The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper and, forthcoming, The Empire of Gold) while we talk about the loooooong game: Not just recent local history, but thousands or tens of thousands of years of world history.    The transcript for this episode is available here. Throw a bouquet of roses to your local scribes!!

On this week's episode, we're talking politics. Yeah, yeah, we know, but we're gonna try to make it fun. Like, why does fantasy fixate so hard on monarchies, anyway?? The transcript of this episode is available here.  

Listeners have sent us questions, and we spend the episode answering them, and each of these questions was juicy enough to make a whole episode out of alone.  So you get to hear random morsels of joy that you would only get with a Listener Questions: about travelogue plots and caraco jackets and crownball, whatever that is.   Transcript for the episode is here.  Thank you to our wonderful scribes!  

Happy Holidays, dear listeners! This week, we're talking about worldbuilding holidays, and we giggle pretty much the entire time!  Transcript is available here. Blessings upon the heads of our wonderful scribes!

On this week's episode, we're joined by our glamorous guest, Tasha Suri, author of EMPIRE OF SAND and REALM OF ASH to talk about worldbuilding religions!   Transcript is available here

We're joined this week by glamorous guest star Cass Morris, Shakespeare scholar and author of FROM UNSEEN FIRE, to talk about art and pop-culture in fantasy worldbuilding!    The transcript for this episode is here. Thank you to our excellent scribes!

Rowenna and Alex are going a bit feral this week to talk about fiber arts! Marshall Ryan Maresca asks some good smart questions!  The transcript for this episode is available here. Huge thanks to our scribes!!!

On this very spooky episode of WFM, we're discussing the customs and practices surrounding death!    The transcript of this episode is available here. (HUGE THANKS to our wonderful scribes!!!)

Author RJ Theodore joins us this week to talk about worldbuilding family structures!  Episode transcript here.

On today's episode we're finally getting around to naming some stuff, and that means we're talking about languages! Conlangs, language and culture, lots of tasty stuff!   The transcript document is here.   If you enjoy the podcast, join in on our fan discord chat!

Today we're talking about building magic systems into the world!  The transcript for this episode can be found here. (It's still in progress, so if you'd like to transcribe a couple minutes to help out your fellow World Builders, feel free! :D) 

We're joined today by Jenn Lyons, author of THE RUIN OF KINGS, to talk about methods of organizing your worldbuilding! We give some cool recs for programs to use, and some of us admit to using more simple and chaotic methods of keeping everything in line. The transcript of this episode is available here. Thank you so much to our amazing scribes who have volunteered their time to assist with this: Eunice, Kate, and C, you're amazing!! 

This week we're talking big questions about people, culture, population, and technology! Let's make some civilizations! Read the transcript here!

This week we are joined by the amazing author Fonda Lee to talk about the basics of creating civilizations for your fantasy world!  Read the transcript here! Check out the map here! 

We're talking about building flora and fauna for the world! Come get some biomes! Transcript available here.