Daystar and Alexander explore brainstorming, and how trope lists, patterns, and symmetry can be used to come up with new takes on old ideas.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Time Stamps
3:45 Mid-Story Changes
14:43 Symmetry
18:23 Lists
21:02 Group Brainstorming
32:42 Brainstorming Example
Daystar and Alexander explore how to “break the story” when outlining its plot and character arcs.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Time Stamps
00:49 What is Breaking the Story?
5:12 Example
13:38 Character Arcs
28:40 Plot and Endings
Daystar and Alexander review Alex’s latest NaNoWriMo book, The Dark Wizard Of Donkerk.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Time Stamps
1:12 Magic Systems
9:18 The Twist
15:53 Spirit Magic
20:47 Potential Sequel
25:17 Plot Threads
28:33 Villain
31:49 The Prophecy
Daystar and Alexander review some of each other’s writing, starting with Pokemon: The Origin of Species.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Time Stamps
3:30 – Planning the story
8:36 – Present Tense
10:15 Viewpoints
16:39 Goals/Defeats
23:41 Cycles
28:24 Interludes
34:55 Criticisms
Links
Dark Wizard of Donkerk review will be up in a couple weeks!
Daystar and Alexander are joined by special guest Duncan Sabien (TK17) to discuss multiple perspectives in fiction, including common pitfalls and benefits.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
Special guest: Duncan Sabien, aka TK17, Curriculum Director at CFAR and writer of Animorphs: The Reckoning.
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Time Stamps
1:30 Archetypes vs Whole Characters
5:34 Choosing Who Gets what Scene
14:45 Shifting Focus and Disorientation
25:06 Different Character Dialogue
35:30 Differentiating Characters
Links
Animorphs: The Reckoning by Duncan/TK17
Metropolitan Man by Alexander Wales
Shadows of the Limelight by Alexander Wales
Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
Odyssey by Vance Moore
Daystar’s friends as magic cards, circa 2012:
Daystar and Alexander discuss action scenes and how to ensure they’re engaging and meaningful.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Links
Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund
Monster Hunters International by Larry Correia
Kung Fu High School by Ryan Gattis
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Time Stamps
1:23 Action Scenes in Different Mediums
5:38 What Makes a Good Action Scene
11:22 Avoiding Repetition
17:01 Rational Action Scenes
20:07 Pacing and Flow
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This month, the podcast is being sponsored by Scrivener! It’s a great program to help better organize writing projects, from novels to research papers and more. They’re offering a 30 day free trial, and if you like it enough to buy it, you can support the show by using the promo code RATIONALLY through May 10th to get 20% off. Hope you find it useful!
Alexander recommends Altered Carbon in today’s post-outro Audible advertisement. Sign up for Audible today to get an extra free book by using our promotion link!
http://www.audibletrial.com/rational
Thanks for listening!
Daystar and Alexander discuss literary fiction, its values and failure modes, and its similarities and differences from rational fiction.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Links
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gabbie
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
White Noise, Don DeLillo
The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
FLEEP, by Jason Shiga
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
The Necromancer’s House by Christopher Buehlman
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kafka by the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Time Stamps
01:20 What Qualifies as Literary Fiction?
15:06 Pretentiousness
25: 03 Literary Fiction and Rational Fiction
35:50 Writing Literary Fiction
45:43 Recommendations
Advertisements
This month, the podcast is being sponsored by Scrivener! It’s a great program to help better organize writing projects, from novels to research papers and more. They’re offering a 30 day free trial, and if you like it enough to buy it, you can support the show by using the promo code RATIONALLY through May 10th to get 20% off. Hope you find it useful!
Alexander recommends The Necromancer’s House in today’s post-outro Audible advertisement. Sign up for Audible today to get an extra free book by using our promotion link!
http://www.audibletrial.com/rational
Thanks for listening!
Daystar and Alexander discusses the value of new settings opposed to using an established one, and the idea of others using their own stories and ideas.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Links
Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Metropolitan Man by Alexander Wales
Unsong by Scott Alexander
Pact by Wildbow
Time Stamps
01:24 Taking Ideas vs Fanfic
7:17 Stealing Mechanics
11:33 The value of something new
19:36 Taking our ideas
27:09 Guardian
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This month, the podcast is being sponsored by Scrivener! It’s a great program to help better organize writing projects, from novels to research papers and more. They’re offering a 30 day free trial, and if you like it enough to buy it, you can support the show by using the promo code RATIONALLY through May 10th to get 20% off. Hope you find it useful!
Daystar and Alexander discuss creative appropriation, aka “stealing,” and the philosophy and benefits behind it.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Links
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Copyright: Forever Less One Day by CGP Grey
Time Stamps
01:03 How to not be original
11:10 Adding something new
16:01 Stealing details
22:10 The argument against copywrite
28:38 Artistic distinction for using
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This month, the podcast is being sponsored by Scrivener! It’s a great program to help better organize writing projects, from novels to research papers and more. They’re offering a 30 day free trial, and if you like it enough to buy it, you can support the show by using the promo code RATIONALLY through May 10th to get 20% off. Hope you find it useful!
Daystar and Alexander explore the differences between good description and bad description, and analyze examples of descriptions from novels.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Links
Meredith Gentry series, by Laurell K. Hamilton
Game of Thrones, by George RR Martin
Lullaby, by Chuck Palahniuk
The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher
There Will Be Dragons, by John Ringo
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon
Time Stamps
01:16 Why is description important?
8:53 What is good description?
14:40 When to put the description?
22:12 Alexander’s notable examples
30:00 Daystar’s notable examples
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This month, the podcast is being sponsored by Scrivener! It’s a great program to help better organize writing projects, from novels to research papers and more. They’re offering a 30 day free trial, and if you like it enough to buy it, you can support the show by using the promo code RATIONALLY through May 10th to get 20% off. Hope you find it useful!