The Mythcreant Podcast
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This podcast is for Storytellers of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Tune in to listen.
The Mythcreant Podcast
3d ago
We try our best to give actionable writing advice that makes stories better, but, unfortunately, not everyone else follows the same code. There’s a lot of terrible writing advice out there, much of it dressed up specifically to tell writers what they want to hear. This week, we’re talking about how you can spot it before throwing away perfectly good money. Whether or not you think our own advice is good, you’ll be forewarned about anything that sounds too good to be true.
Show Notes
Scheme in British English
Writing Advice Cultures
Hyperion
Brandon Sanderson
Process Ad ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
1w ago
Swords? How droll. Guns? Completely unfashionable. Aren’t there any weird weapons out there to satisfy our thirst for novelty? You know what we’re talking about: the kind of completely bizarre contraption that’s as much a danger to the wielder as to the enemy. Fortunately, there are actually quite a few of those in both fiction and real life!
Show Notes
Mass Effect Weapon Heat
Transporter Gun
HL Hunley
The Claw of Archimedes
Greek Fire
Point of View Gun
Air Rifle
Mancatcher
USB Arrow
Kylo Ren’s Lightsaber
Laser Bow
Lirpa
Bamboo Cannon  ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
2w ago
Tension comes from problems that the characters have to solve, and if a character is important, they should contribute to solving the problem in question. But how will they contribute, exactly? This question can be difficult to answer, especially if you have a bunch of characters with different power levels on team good. Fortunately, we’ve got a few suggestions for you!
Show Notes
Animal Companions
Avatar Beach Episode
Echo
Tech
The Winchester Brothers
Toph
The Buffy Gang
The Fellowship
Cersei
Margaery
Holly Munro
Counselor Troi  ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
1M ago
A wise wizard once told us that our eyes can deceive us and we shouldn’t trust them, so maybe that’s why we’re always giving our characters additional senses. This week, we’re using narrative-o-ception to sense what this topic is about and how writers can incorporate it into their work. We discuss super powers, aliens, and just about every animal sense we could think of. Also, cats. Lots of cats.
Show Notes
Sting
Umwelt
Daniel Kish
Parable of the Sower
Echolocation
The Hidden Memory of Objects
Whiskers
Electroreception
Lockwood and Co.
Ian Water ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
1M ago
Even the best villains must eventually come to the end of their run, but what if you could bring them back? It would be so easy, what would be the harm—NO. You stop that. Do not give in to temptation! This week, we’re talking about why it’s almost always better to leave a villain dead and then complaining about stories that didn’t leave their villains dead. You could say there’s a bit of an Echo in there, and that, somehow, Star Wars discourse returned.
Show Notes
When to Kill a Hero – Or Not
Kingpin
Peter Hale
Kate Argent
D6 Star Wars RPG
“Ursula’s Crazy Sister!”
Shee ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
1M ago
Holy podcasting, Batman! It’s time for an episode about stories that have two main characters instead of one. A story so nice they main charactered it twice. Whether it’s a hero and their sidekick or two siblings equally sharing the spotlight, this week we’re talking about how to balance the needs of both characters. We cover how to keep them both in the plot, how to keep their interactions compelling, and why they shouldn’t steal development from each other.
Show Notes
The Winchester Brothers
Bo and Kenzi
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story
Sherlock and Watson
Nine Personality Clashes Ch ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
2M ago
Every story is made of countless little pieces, from characters and arcs to locations and magic powers. But if those pieces are scattered around randomly, they won’t amount to much. For a story to be as much or more than the sum of its parts, we need to make it cohesive. That’s what we’re talking about today, with discussions of fractured plots, random Cthulhu aliens, and diverging viewpoints. Did you think we were going to let this episode go by without grinding the multiple POV axe a little?
Show Notes
Whale Sounds
A Game of Thrones
Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters
Kaiju Pr ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
2M ago
From wholesome pipe-weed to shady ThreeEye, spec fic writers have a long history of inventing new drugs for their stories. Sometimes these drugs are a metaphor for something else, but other times, something else is a metaphor for drugs! This can get pretty confusing, so today’s episode is all about getting to the bottom of things. We’re talking about mushrooms that are literally magic, Super Soldier Serum, and the world’s most 90s video game. Plus, why lightning is drugs, but levitation isn’t???
Show Notes
Force Lightning
Willow’s Dark Magic
The One Ring
Spice (Dune)
Spice ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
2M ago
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that dialogue goes inside a set of quotation marks. Wait, we can’t all agree on that? Uh oh. What else don’t we agree on? What other wild choices are writers making out there? That’s what we’re talking about this week: everything from using dialogue as a wall of exposition to necessarily labeling animals as being from Mars. Plus, did you know this character is very weird and wacky? Their dialogue will remind you!
Show Notes
Dramatic Dialogue
The Road
Bad Batch
The Cruel Prince
Malazan
Travis Mayweather
Name of ..read more
The Mythcreant Podcast
3M ago
Careful with that podcast tuning dial: you might end up having to make impactful choices on a haunted island full of spooooooooky ghosts! This week, Oren and Bunny nerd out over the Oxenfree games – both because we just wanted to talk about the game, but also because it’s an interesting exploration of how branching narratives work in practice. Which choices do you make, and how much do they matter? More importantly, who is the best NPC to take with you, and why is it Nona?
Show Notes
Oxenfree
Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals
Armored Core 6
Alex
Riley
Jacob
Ren
Nona
Jonas
Clarissa
Michael
Tran ..read more