14.16: Your Setting is a Telegraph
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Margaret, and Howard
Your setting can quickly tell the reader what kind of a story they’re reading, and in this episode we’ll talk about how we make that happen. Think of it as the “establishing shot” principle from film making, expanded to cover whatever worldbuilding details we choose to reveal first.
Liner Notes: Here are the Schlock Mercenary Book 19 prologues Howard described, complete with the footnotes which make fun of prologues.
Credits: This episode was recorded by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.
Homework: Write an opening. You can start from scratch, or re-open something you’re already working on. Write a half page, and with three concrete details establish the tone. Now rewrite, keeping the dialog the same, and use different details to telegraph a different tone.
Thing of the week: Terminal Alliance, by Jim Hines.
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