Fashion: not just a frivolity, but a component of worldbuilding that can communicate so much about your world's resources, industry, and power structures, as well as characters' individual choices and personalities. Guest Natania Barron joins us to explore the potential presented by frills and furbelows of all kinds.
From bifurcated Celts to Tudor sumptuary laws to lavender pocket squares, what inspiration can you find for complicating the "standard fantasy wardrobe" into something specific to your world? How can you interrogate the intersection of clothing and gender, clothing and economy, clothing and oppression, clothing and political statements?
Transcript for Episode 72 (Thank you, scribes!)
Our Guest:
The award-winning author of Queen of None, a feminist Arthurian retelling, Natania Barron is preoccupied with mythology, monsters, mayhem, and magic. From medieval-inspired tales to Regency fantasy romance, her often historically-inspired novels are lush with description and vibrant characters.
Natania’s shorter work has appeared in Weird Tales, EscapePod, and various anthologies and RPG settings. On Twitter, she’s known for her #ThreadTalks, which dive deep into the unseen world of fashion history–one of their favorite topics–as well as a meme or two. She identifies bisexual and demisexual, and goes by she/her/they pronouns.
In terms of academics, the author holds a BA in English/Writing from Loyola University Maryland and an MA in English with a concentration in medieval literature from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Though she left academia physically, she’s never stopped researching. Natania can regularly be found deep in the tomes of digitized illuminated manuscripts around the world.
As a mental health activist, especially regarding adolescent care, Natania has drawn nationwide attention for her writing, including mainstream news and television appearances. Additionally, she writes extensively about her own later-in-life ADHD diagnosis.
When not traveling through imagined worlds, she lives in North Carolina with her family, where she traipses through the forest on a regular basis, bakes incessantly, drinks an inordinate amount of tea, and dreams of someday owning a haunted house of her own.
Episode 125: Monstrous Worldbuilding, ft. JOHN WISWELL
Episode 124: Worldbuilding in Review, ft. PAUL WEIMER
Episode 123: Worldbuilding in Your Underpants, ft. JOHN HARTNESS
Episode 122: Now Kiss: Building Romance into Your Worlds, ft. GWENDA BOND
Episode 121: Brave New Worlds, ft. FONDA LEE and MELISSA CARUSO
Episode 120: World Bibles and the Gospel According to Tolkien
Episode 119: Worldbuilding Philosophy and Practices
Episode 118: Passing the Torch
Episode 117: More Queries and Quandaries
Episode 116: Choosing, Presuming, and Decision Fatigue
Episode 115: When Not Writing Is Writing, ft. MUR LAFFERTY
Episode 114: The St Crispin’s Day Special, ft. ANNA SMITH SPARK
Episode 113: Trust Your Instincts, ft. SEANAN MCGUIRE
Episode 112: Whirlwind Worldbuilding ft. JAMES L. SUTTER
Episode 111: Let’s Pick a Fight: Balancing Realism and the Fantastical in Martial Matters, ft. S.L. HUANG
Episode 110: In Your Leisure Time, ft. MATT WALLACE
Episode 109: Seer-iously: Religion, Prophecy, Politics and Tradition, ft. APARNA VERMA
Episode 108: The Myth, The Legend, The Cultural Impacts, ft. EHIGBOR OKOSUN
Episode 107: Livin’ on a Prayer: Religion, Worldview, and the Individual
Episode 106: Lighten Up: Making your World a Little Grin-Dark, ft. M.J. KUHN
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