Introducing WorldCraft Club! This week we’re excited to bring you all something a little different. That’s right, it’s a crossover week. We had the opportunity to sit down with author Seth Ring and James Horton of the WorldCraft Club. They’ve created a community dedicated to building resources for game masters, novelists, and worldbuilders of all kinds. James and Seth release regular videos on a huge range of story and worldbuilding topics.

Forget everything we’ve ever told you about worldbuilder syndrome and icebergs and pacing yourselves. This week is all about the reasons we love worldbuilding–what about it captivates us, pushes writers and other creatives to delve into new, unexplored universes. We’ll discuss inspiration, trends, cultural shifts, and our favorite things about fantasy and science fiction.

Resources and Guest Links:

• Go check out the WorldCraft Club’s awesome videos: https://worldcraftclub.com/
• Our hosts: https://worldcraftclub.com/about/

Shoutout to Seth and James! It was an honor to be hosted on their podcast and get the chance to geek out about all things worldbuilding.

Host Links:

• H.Y. Gregor: https://hygregor.com/
• David Shadoin: https://www.davidshadoin.com/

Credits: (all assets licensed through the sites listed)

• Intro: Music- Cinematic Epic Trailer by PaulYudin on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user- kazim hussian; from pixabay users-davidfoxx, DavidGallie, olenchic, stefaniejockschat, AiVreaSaStii, RuneSnow, duyen-nguyen, EnchantedStudios,

• Outro: Music- Good Night by FASSounds on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user-onlydesignz; from pixabay users-olenchic, Placidplace, Evgeniy_Z, Dantegrafico, Shayea_Kim

Another excellent week with Mel Todd! With over 44 titles released in urban fantasy and science fiction, she’s also the owner of Bad Ash Publishing, where she works to create a place for excellent stories and great authors. Mel’s Kaylid Chronicles, the Blood War series, and the Twisted Luck series offer great new twists to her genres.

Join us in part one of this great episode with Mel, where we discuss her process, inspirations, and her four cats, who tolerate her.

In Part Four, We Discuss:

• Broadening your horizons through research, writing, and reading
• Don’t worry about retelling the same story–Shakespeare did them all, and he did them better than you
• Writing what you love, and making it real
• Style guides and consistency within your manuscript
• Language in worldbuilding
• Social media platforms and where to find Mel online!

Resources and Guest Links:

• get your hands on the brand-new Noble’s Luck trilogy! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQVHS64P
• Bad Ash Publishing: https://badashpublishing.com/
• Mel Todd’s site: https://meltodd.com/
• Mel’s Books: https://badashpublishing.com/books/
• Andy Weir (The Martian, Project Hail Mary): https://andyweirauthor.com/

Thank Mel With Us! While we’re used to hanging out with her in the real world, but we’re so grateful she joined us on the internet streets to bring her expert insight to Worlds Asunder.

Host Links:

• H.Y. Gregor: https://hygregor.com/
• David Shadoin: https://www.davidshadoin.com/

Credits: (all assets licensed through the sites listed)

• Intro: Music- Cinematic Epic Trailer by PaulYudin on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user- kazim hussian; from pixabay users-davidfoxx, DavidGallie, olenchic, stefaniejockschat, AiVreaSaStii, RuneSnow, duyen-nguyen, EnchantedStudios,

• Outro: Music- Good Night by FASSounds on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user-onlydesignz; from pixabay users-olenchic, Placidplace, Evgeniy_Z, Dantegrafico, Shayea_Kim

Another excellent week with Mel Todd! With over 44 titles released in urban fantasy and science fiction, she’s also the owner of Bad Ash Publishing, where she works to create a place for excellent stories and great authors. Mel’s Kaylid Chronicles, the Blood War series, and the Twisted Luck series offer great new twists to her genres.

Join us in part one of this great episode with Mel, where we discuss her process, inspirations, and her four cats, who tolerate her.

In Part Three, We Discuss:

• The hamster wheel of writing and marketing
• Bad Ash Publishing and time discipline
• Finding and protecting your writing time
• Worldbuilding pitfalls
• Submissions and engaging storytelling; same, same, but different
• Engaging with readers in person and online

Resources and Guest Links:

• Pre-Order the brand-new Noble’s Luck trilogy! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQVHS64P
• Bad Ash Publishing: https://badashpublishing.com/
• Mel Todd’s site: https://meltodd.com/
• Mel’s Books: https://badashpublishing.com/books/
• Iron Widow: https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Widow-Xiran-Jay-Zhao/dp/0735269939

Thank Mel With Us! While we’re used to hanging out with her in the real world, but we’re so grateful she joined us on the internet streets to bring her expert insight to Worlds Asunder.

Host Links:

• H.Y. Gregor: https://hygregor.com/
• David Shadoin: https://www.davidshadoin.com/

Credits: (all assets licensed through the sites listed)

• Intro: Music- Cinematic Epic Trailer by PaulYudin on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user- kazim hussian; from pixabay users-davidfoxx, DavidGallie, olenchic, stefaniejockschat, AiVreaSaStii, RuneSnow, duyen-nguyen, EnchantedStudios,

• Outro: Music- Good Night by FASSounds on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user-onlydesignz; from pixabay users-olenchic, Placidplace, Evgeniy_Z, Dantegrafico, Shayea_Kim

Another excellent week with Mel Todd! With over 44 titles released in urban fantasy and science fiction, she’s also the owner of Bad Ash Publishing, where she works to create a place for excellent stories and great authors. Mel’s Kaylid Chronicles, the Blood War series, and the Twisted Luck series offer great new twists to her genres.

Join us in part one of this great episode with Mel, where we discuss her process, inspirations, and her four cats, who tolerate her.

In Part One, We Discuss:

• Practical worldbuilding
• Research deep-dives and balancing research and writing time
• Blurring reality and accuracy in speculative fiction
• Relationships between worldbuilding and character
• Historical realism and suspension of disbelief
• The Assassin’s Creed franchise

Resources and Guest Links:

• Pre-Order the brand-new Noble’s Luck trilogy! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQVHS64P
• Bad Ash Publishing: https://badashpublishing.com/
• Mel Todd’s site: https://meltodd.com/
• Mel’s Books: https://badashpublishing.com/books/
• Terry Maggert’s books (as we’ve learned, he does lots of research!): https://terrymaggert.com/

Thank Mel With Us! While we’re used to hanging out with her in the real world, but we’re so grateful she joined us on the internet streets to bring her expert insight to Worlds Asunder.

Host Links:

• H.Y. Gregor: https://hygregor.com/
• David Shadoin: https://www.davidshadoin.com/

Credits: (all assets licensed through the sites listed)

• Intro: Music- Cinematic Epic Trailer by PaulYudin on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user- kazim hussian; from pixabay users-davidfoxx, DavidGallie, olenchic, stefaniejockschat, AiVreaSaStii, RuneSnow, duyen-nguyen, EnchantedStudios,

• Outro: Music- Good Night by FASSounds on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user-onlydesignz; from pixabay users-olenchic, Placidplace, Evgeniy_Z, Dantegrafico, Shayea_Kim

Links can be found on Substack podcast feed for Becoming A Household Name.

This week on Worlds Asunder, we’re pleased to introduce you to Mel Todd! With over 44 titles released in urban fantasy and science fiction, she’s also the owner of Bad Ash Publishing, where she works to create a place for excellent stories and great authors. Mel’s Kaylid Chronicles, the Blood War series, and the Twisted Luck series offer great new twists to her genres.

Join us in part one of this great episode with Mel, where we discuss her process, inspirations, and her four cats, who tolerate her.

In Part One, We Discuss:

• New approaches to old genres
• Integrating science and magic
• Handwavium
• Showing conflict on a global scale in urban settings
• Advantages and disadvantages to certain POVs in writing
• Genre tropes, marketing, and reader expectations

Resources and Guest Links:

• Pre-Order the brand-new Noble’s Luck trilogy! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQVHS64P
• Bad Ash Publishing: https://badashpublishing.com/
• Mel Todd’s site: https://meltodd.com/
• Mel’s Books: https://badashpublishing.com/books/

Thank Mel With Us! While we’re used to hanging out with her in the real world, but we’re so grateful she joined us on the internet streets to bring her expert insight to Worlds Asunder.

Host Links:

• H.Y. Gregor: https://hygregor.com/
• David Shadoin: https://www.davidshadoin.com/

Credits: (all assets licensed through the sites listed)

• Intro: Music- Cinematic Epic Trailer by PaulYudin on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user- kazim hussian; from pixabay users-davidfoxx, DavidGallie, olenchic, stefaniejockschat, AiVreaSaStii, RuneSnow, duyen-nguyen, EnchantedStudios,

• Outro: Music- Good Night by FASSounds on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user-onlydesignz; from pixabay users-olenchic, Placidplace, Evgeniy_Z, Dantegrafico, Shayea_Kim

Join your Worlds co-hosts as we recap the most recent 17 episodes of Worlds Asunder! We’ll go over our incredible guests, the things we’ve learned, and the most important tidbits we hope our listeners take away from the great insights we’ve received over the last five months. We’ll also give a sneak peek at future episodes and interviews.

Like the show? Have a topic or guest suggestion? Find us through our websites (or on Facebook) and let us know! Like, comment, subscribe wherever you listen or watch! We’ve had a blast recording these interviews and hope you’ll continue to join us in breaking down worlds to give you the bricks to build your own.

Resources and Guest Links:

• Gail Carriger: https://gailcarriger.com/
• James Fox: https://thejamesfox.com/
• Steve Ruskin: https://www.steveruskin.com/
• Tim Akers: https://www.timakers.net/
• J.T. Evans: https://jtevans.net/
• Kacey Ezell: https://kaceyezell.net/
• Mia Kleve: http://www.mrkdup.com/index.php/author/mrkleve/
• Heather and Jacob Holo: https://holowriting.com/
• Edie Skye: https://edieskye.com/

Host Links:

• H.Y. Gregor: https://hygregor.com/
• David Shadoin: https://www.davidshadoin.com/

Credits: (all assets licensed through the sites listed)

• Intro: Music- Cinematic Epic Trailer by PaulYudin on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user- kazim hussian; from pixabay users-davidfoxx, DavidGallie, olenchic, stefaniejockschat, AiVreaSaStii, RuneSnow, duyen-nguyen, EnchantedStudios,

• Outro: Music- Good Night by FASSounds on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user-onlydesignz; from pixabay users-olenchic, Placidplace, Evgeniy_Z, Dantegrafico, Shayea_Kim,

Join us in welcoming Jacob and H.P. Holo, with special guest alter-ego/pen name Edie Skye. Jacob is the author of over fifteen books, including the bestselling Gordian Division series (with David Weber), YA urban fantasy Time Reavers, and fantasy adventure Monster Punk Horizon (with H.P. Holo). H.P.’s catalogue boasts Monster Punk Horizon, Monster Girl Tamer, and a mountain of harem fantasy adventure novels under (joint) pen name Edie Skye.

Tropes are critical factors in genre fiction. Writers who ignore them sometimes do so at their own risk. Where’s the line between subverting reader expectations, being original, and honoring genre tropes that readers crave? Together we explore reader expectations, setting up plausible twists, honoring tropes, and tips and tricks for writing profitable commercial fiction.

In Part Three, We Discuss:

• Jacob and Heather’s top genre tropes in harem and science fiction
• Heroism and responsibility
• Power progression in fantasy and litrpg
• The role of different POVs in narratives
• Writing for male vs female audiences

Resources and Guest Links:

• Jacob and H.P. Holo: https://holowriting.com/
• Edie Skye: https://edieskye.com/
• The Gordian Division: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5YL5P87
• Titan Mage: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2ZXK1Z1
• Blood Knight: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLKVKXGS
• MarsCon: https://www.marscon.net/wp/
• SC Comic Con: https://www.sccomicon.com/

Thanks to Jacob and H.P! We’re glad we were able to bring their wealth of experience across genres to Worlds Asunder.

Host Links:

• H.Y. Gregor: https://hygregor.com/
• David Shadoin: https://www.davidshadoin.com/

Credits: (all assets licensed through the sites listed)

• Intro: Music- Cinematic Epic Trailer by PaulYudin on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user- kazim hussian; from pixabay users-davidfoxx, DavidGallie, olenchic, stefaniejockschat, AiVreaSaStii, RuneSnow, duyen-nguyen, EnchantedStudios,

• Outro: Music- Good Night by FASSounds on Pixabay

• Animation and Image- From Vecteezy user-onlydesignz; from pixabay users-olenchic, Placidplace, Evgeniy_Z, Dantegrafico, Shayea_Kim