Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, volcanoes... unstable wormholes, hellmouths, murder hornets, sharknados... When you're writing speculative fiction, the scope of disaster can be wild!
Do the local wizards cause occasional hails of turnips? Does Gondor have a tornado warning system? After a thousand-year flood, does magical FEMA show up to rebuild? Decisions about how your society plans for and reacts to disaster can imply a lot else about their infrastructure, government, religion, and other societal constructs.
Then there's the question of: Is the disaster the backbone of your plot, or just one plot element among many? That decision may shape the tone and even the subgenre of a book!
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Transcript for Episode 94 (tk)
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
Episode 105: We’re Going on an Adventure!
Episode 104: Riffing on the Real World, ft. KAT HOWARD
Episode 103: Worldbuilding - It Builds Character, ft. KRITIKA H. RAO
Episode 102: Side Dishes and Second Helpings: Serving Up Some Food Culture, ft CHANA PORTER
Episode 101: All About the Zhuzh
Episode 100: The Game is Afoot! ft. CATE OSBORN, ANDREW NOME, and SHARANG BISWAS
Episode 99: Connect the Dots
Episode 98: Mysterious Worlds, ft. ANDREA STEWART
Episode 97: Perfect Pairing - Intersectionality and Worldbuilding, ft SUYI DAVIES OKUNGBOWA
Episode 96: The Big Blue World: Oceanic Worldbuilding, ft DARCIE LITTLE BADGER
Episode 95: Building and Bending Gender, ft. G.R. MACALLISTER
Episode 93: Queries and Quandaries
Episode 92: Ringing in the New Year
Episode 91: Making the Incredible Credible, ft. CHARLAINE HARRIS
Episode 90: The Editor’s Take ft. BRIT HVIDE
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