Rationally Writing
Webserial authors Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales talk about the craft of writing stories that make sense, and examine writing tropes and media through the lens of the Rational and Rationalist genres. Intro and Outro music is G.A.T.O. Must Be Respected, by Tim Yarbrough To contact us, please email daystar721@gmail.com
Episodes
Daystar has noticed a trend in Alex's writing, and the two get into what it actually means to be a "bad" vs a "good" person. It doesn't exactly start as an intervention, but it arguably gets there by the end.
Hosted by Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales.
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Daystar and Alexander talk about the various pitfalls, contradictions, and complications in writing heroes or villains who commit political violence... or don't, as the case may be.
Hosted by Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales.
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Daystar and Alex invite Max back on the podcast to talk about his new novel, Red Heart, a modern sci-fi thriller that follows an American spy sent to a Chinese AI lab to investigate how far ahead their capabilities are compared to the US.
Max works at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and has been thinking about the state of AI Safety for over a decade now. He's also written the Crystal Society trilogy, which we dis...
Daystar and Alex invite Max back on the podcast to talk about his new novel, Red Heart, a modern sci-fi thriller that follows an American spy sent to a Chinese AI lab to investigate how far ahead their capabilities are compared to the US.
Max works at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and the trilogy is an imagining of what Artificial General Intelligence might be like, written from the perspective of one of the AI's su...
Daystar and Alexander hang out with Duncan Sabien (TK17) at LessOnline, and invite him back on the show to chat about his views on the Magic the Gathering Color Wheel this time, as well as some other stuff. Duncan is the writer of Animorphs: The Reckoning, as well as a variety of other great essays on culture, epistemology, and more.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O M...
Daystar and Alexander hang out with Max Harms at LessOnline, and invite him to record an episode on his books Crystal Society, Crystal Mentality, and Crystal Eternity. Max works at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and the trilogy is an imagining of what Artificial General Intelligence might be like, written from the perspective of one of the AI's subagents.
His newest book, Red Heart, will be out November 3rd and is avai...
Daystar and Alexander talk about AI in writing, both for creating fiction and its impact on writing fiction set in the modern world.
Hosted by Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales.
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Daystar and Alexander record in front of a live audience at LessOnline to talk about Utopian Fiction; what it is, why it's so rare, and what it says about us as individuals and societies.
Hosted by Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales.
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Short episode where Daystar and Alexander speak with Velorien, one of the writers of Marked for Death, to discuss the impact of reader feedback in serial fiction.
Hosted by Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales. With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Daystar and Alexander discuss the role of money and class in fiction, and how it can affect, or fail to affect, their decisions and interactions.
Hosted by Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Alex and I attended a writing retreat with some other authors in the rationality community, and while there decided to host an impromptu episode on subverting expectations, joined (primarily) by our Nebula nominated friend, Jamie Wahls. All I had to record with was my laptop, so apologies for the sound quality!
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Li...
Today we're joined once again by Duncan Sabien, aka TK17, to discuss his incredible rationalfic, Animorphs: The Reckoning. It was recorded shortly after the story finished and includes questions on not just his writing process, but the various decisions that went into changes made from canon, so spoilers ahead!
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Li...
Today we discuss Alexander's original serial fiction, Worth the Candle, and the various decisions and aspects of the story that came up throughout the writing process.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Daystar and Alexander discuss gender in fiction, and how it cultural gender norms or deviances can inform not just character personalities but can be an interesting part of world building.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Daystar and Alexander discuss using different species or "races" in fiction, and how it informs characters and is addressed by different types of stories.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Daystar and Alexander discuss race in fiction, or rather, species, and how it informs characters and is addressed by different types of stories.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Timestamps
03:38 Race as a Social Construct
14:20 Approaches to Race in Fiction
22:30 Black Superman
32:55 How Race Informs Character
48:01 Literal Racism
56:48 Research
Daystar and Alexander discuss politics as a plot device, and and political fiction as a genre.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Timestamps:
00:35 What is a political plot?
8:58 Main types of political plot structures
24:00 Political 5 Man Band
37:05 Challenges
Links:
Rules for Rulers
Daystar and Alexander discuss irrational or non-rational fiction.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Timestamps
00:35 "Rational" vs "Irrational"
10:04 How do you distinguish?
18:50 Conversations around the difference
33:05 Audience Mindset
48:18 Writing non-rational fiction
Daystar and Alexander discuss horror in fiction, and the unique challenges and opportunities that come with rational horror.
Co-hosted by Alexander Wales
With thanks to Tim Yarbrough for the Intro/Outro music, G.A.T.O Must Be Respected
Timestamps
0:37 What Do You Find Scary in Fiction?
7:42 Rational Horror
22:50 Horror vs Thriller
31:00 Strengths of Prose Horror
Links
Daystar and Alexander discuss dropped threads and side plots in stories, what tends to lead to them and how to manage them as you go.
Timestamps
2:34 Serial Fiction
9:32 What Ends Up on the Page
14:55 Side Plots
17:10 Serials
21:25 Why Threads Get Dropped
27:30 Story Shifts
37:30 Our Dropped Threads
44:28 Bonus Dropped Threads
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