We've talked before about the difference between aesthetic-driven genres, like sci-fi and fantasy, and structure-driven genres, like mystery and romance. So what happens when you want to build a world just ripe for all your favorite romance tropes? How can your world create the obstacles to your characters getting their happy-ever-after? Guest Gwenda Bond joins us to talk about the love of worldbuilding and worldbuilding for love!
A lot of writing romance means dealing with reader's expectations in a slightly different way than some other story-types. How useful are the sub-genre distinctions that might shape those expectations -- fantasy romance, romantic fantasy, fantasy with romance, romantasy, paranormal romance -- from the writer's perspective? And why are some SFF readers still worried that sex and romance might get cooties on their genre? In this episode, we look at how romance can hybridize with so many different forms and flavors of fantasy writing, and what choices writers make when directing the reader's attention more towards the romance or more towards the fantasy.
Sidebar: It's Hugo Award nomination season! If you're a nominating sort of person and you enjoyed the podcast in 2023, we'd love your consideration for Best Fancast.
[Transcript TK]
Our Guest: Gwenda Bond is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the first official Stranger Things novel, Suspicious Minds, the Lois Lane YA series, and the romantic comedies Not Your Average Hot Guy, The Date from Hell, and Mr. & Mrs. Witch. She has a number of forthcoming projects, including a magical art heist book, The Frame-Up. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Locus Magazine, Salon, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications.
She co-founded and chairs the nonprofit Lexington Writer’s Room, and lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband, author Christopher Rowe, and a veritable zoo of adorable doggos and queenly cats. Visit her online at www.gwendabond.com or join her newsletter at www.gwendabond.substack.com.
Episode 88: Hashtag Aesthetic, ft. MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL
Episode 87: Building Up Hope, ft BRANDON CRILLY
Episode 86: Live at WorldCon!
Episode 85: Falling in Love Again… with Worldbuilding Ft SARA MUELLER
Episode 84: Make or Break Worldbuilding Deep Dive: The MNG
Episode 83: Using Our Vacation Time
Episode 82.5: Live at ArmadilloCon!
Episode 82: From One-Note Worlds to Complete Space Operas, ft. Valerie Valdes
Episode 81: That’s Just Good Policy feat. VICTOR MANIBO
Episode 80: Festivus for the Rest Of Us
Episode 79: Building Past the Horizon
Episode 78: Reimagining Relationships w/ FOZ MEADOWS
Episode 77: Pull a Thread, Build A World w/ KRITIKA H. RAO
Episode 76: Farm to Table Fantasy ft. SARAH GAILEY
Episode 75: Worldbuilding Beyond Borders
Episode 74: FMK Worldbuilding Edition
Episode 73: In-Line Worldbuilding ft. MELISSA CARUSO
Episode 72: This is Cerulean, Right?: Fashion, Politics, and Power, ft. NATANIA BARRON
Episode 71: X Marks The Spot ft. PENG SHEPHERD
Episode 70: Magical Ethics and Ethical Magics ft. KATE HEARTFIELD
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