Episode 118: Passing the Torch

Worldbuilding for Masochists

In this final episode of 2023, we have a momentous announcement!

Rowenna Miller is stepping down as a full-time co-host of the podcast, because... well, life! It happens to us all sooner or later. But fear not! Rowenna will still be joining us from time to time, and she's still working with us on the Traveling Light anthology.

And we're welcoming an amazing, fantastic, glorious new co-host! Please give your attention and accolades to Natania Barron!

Who's Natania? Well, listeners may remember her from Episode 72: This is Cerulean, Right?: Fashion, Politics, and Power. Natania is a fantasy author, fashion historian, Arthuriana expert, and all-around awesome person!

So as we say farewell to Rowenna as a full-time host and welcome Natania, we also discuss the very concept of eras, epochs, and other meaningful periods of time. What gives an era its flavor, its vibe, its aesthetic? How much of it gets defined by a ruler, a dynasty, or celebrity figures? How much of that is real, and how much is illusion or a carefully crafted fiction? When it comes to your worldbuilding, do your characters think they're part of a defined period? Are they trying to consciously create one? Do they look back to an idealized past? And how do you communicate that to a reader?

Join us for the discussion and get to know our new cohost Natania!

[Transcript TK]