Monthly Archives: November 2022

Career and Lifestyle, Season 17, Theory and Technique

17.48: Bodies, Why? (Part III)

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Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler 

Let’s talk about pain. It hurts, yes, but we all experience it, so writing about it can be a great point of connection between the writer and the reader.

Also, writing about it can hurt.

Liner Notes: We referenced  “No, I’m Fine,” by Howard Tayler, and “The Visions Take Their Toll: Disability and the Cost of Magic,” by Dominic Parisien

Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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This is a creative non-fiction assignment: write about the worst physical pain you’ve experienced. Use all your best prose tools, and explore as many senses as you can.

D.I.Y, by John Wiswell

Career and Lifestyle, Theory and Technique

17.47: The Linguistics of Disability

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Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler 

This is the “talking about how to talk about” talk. We begin by reviewing the difference between the medical model and the social model of disability.

Liner Notes: This TikTok provides a nice explanation of the medical and social models of disability. There’s also this essay, “The Linguistics of Disability” over at Fireside Fiction.

Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Second Person POV

Being Seen, by Elsa Sjunneson

Season 17, Theory and Technique

17.46: Monstrous Awakening

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Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler 

Okay, before we start, you have homework: Please take a few minutes to read this essay by Fran Wilde entitled “You Wake Up Monstrous.”

That will give you context for our discussion, which is about how body horror and other monstrous-ness is a tool we should be employing with great care.

Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Rewrite a scene containing body horror or body humor so that the character with the  disability/deformity is neither the source of the horror nor the butt of the joke.

Screams from the Dark: 29 Stories of Monsters and The Monstrous, ed. Ellen Datlow

Season 17, Theory and Technique

17.45: Bodies, Tech, and Character

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Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler 

Let’s talk about technological body-modification! It’s a common element in science fiction, but it’s also an increasingly important part of the world we’re living in right now.

Liner Notes: In this episode we referenced “Happenstance,” and Amy Purdy’s quickstep from Dancing With The Stars.

Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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In the context of your world, envision an augmentation that is both beautiful and useful.

A Rover’s Story, by Jasmine Warga