Essence Of: Setting

[Karuka]

Hello Althanas!

Essence Of: episode one had so much feedback that we came back with an episode two. This week, Flames of Hyperion and I asked you to discuss setting with us, and just like in episode one, we took your answers and turned them into our discussion for this week's episode. And after we've done that, we throw in a little... twist.

Without further ado, I present:

Essence Of: Setting

I can't wait to hear your feedback, and be sure to check our question thread later in the week as we gear up for episode three!

[Kellai]

Meow. First of all, yes, "she" was appropriate in reference to moi as I am, indeed, a female. Secondly, I loved listening to this podcast. It gave me a lot to think about in terms of my own writing/characters. Additionally, even though I was already pretty excited to explore Althanas when I joined, I am now even more excited to do so because of this podcast.

Can't wait to listen to moar~

Also, I loved the bit at the beginning when you ranted a bit about tacos, Karuka. I was born in Texas, so my own taco approach is more Tex-mex, but I agree that you can't skimp. I'm all about that guac, and salsa, and cheese, and sour cream. And a tortilla can never be too big. x3

Finally, just a note on cultures from which writers draw:
In my own writing, I tend to pull a lot from my interests (ie, mythology--primarily, greek) or from my own experiences as an half-Arab, half-Texan (;P). Admittedly, as Flames was saying, there is an inevitable pull from English history as well, but I also really like pulling from unexpected cultures (but ONLY after I research them extensively, so as to avoid being offensive). For instance, on another site, one of my favorite chars was an ahuizotl, which was a creature taken from Aztec mythology, that could become humanoid. I actually even thought about re-purposing him so that I could write him on Althanas... and I'm still playing with the idea, in fact.

But I'll stop before I lose myself to rambling.

[Kryos]

Well done everyone. I would call that a very successful podcast indeed, primarily because I already want to go back and re-listen and take some notes. There were some ideas about setting and world building that I hadn't thought about before that I would love to try to incorporate into my own writing moving on. Thank you for the obvious preparation on both Karuka and Flames' part.

As for feedback on this episode, I only have the positive to say. You guys kept on topic very well, as well as branched out to a relevant discussion such as world building and how that can play a current role in the already established Althanas. I find it particularly fun that there is a group planning on world building at the moment in some of Althanas' more unexplored regions. I hope the advice and discussion here will be applied in those threads as well.

Lastly, some ideas for possible future episodes of "Essence of" podcasts.

• Character Creation
• Character Development (arcs)
• Dialogue
• Combat and Action
• Feedback/Writer's Workshop/Improvement Techniques
• Plot/Story (already planned I think?)

Those are just from the top of my head, and I will keep thinking of other topics that would be good to be explored as well. I personally would love to be a guest on the show for character development/character arcs, as that is one of the big emphasis' that I have with my own characters and is what motivates me to write, but if not no worries. You guys are doing a great job, and I look forward to tuning in again soon!

DFTBA

[Storm Veritas]

Loved the podcast. Glad to see that I'm not the only one that gets all sorts of confused regarding Althanian geography!

Excellent back and forth and conversation regarding using setting as a plot device; I'd expect weather impacts this in almost every thread, particularly in threads where volcanic explosions / heavy storms / driving heat push the action of characters.

Michelle, as an example, in our first thread back there was a battle ongoing that our characters weren't directly involved in (for long). When war becomes a part of the setting in the story, it adds a high element of tension to the thread and spurs fast action.

Keep up the good work!

[Flames of Hyperion]

Kellai - thanks for your comments, glad I didn't embarrass myself too much on the radio waves! I'm a big Greek mythology person as well, but have little to no experience with writing Mesoamerican mythologies. I'd love to see more on the site.

Kryos - glad you enjoyed it! The idea of an Essence Of devoted to feedback and the Writer's Workshop is a great one.

Storm - thank you! The maps that I mentioned are here, and I believe are accurate to the latest iteration of Althanas lore (I'm sure somebody will jump in here and correct me if necessary). I'm sorry that I didn't manage to finish reading Bringing Big Street to Little Country before recording, because there was a lot of good use of setting in there as well.

[orphans]

The banter about lightning in typhoons and hurricanes made me smile. Then I remembered a thunderstorm in a whiteout blizzard I was in once... that I mistook for plow trucks at first, except the world was lighting up with bright flashes (whiteout with lightning).

On the topic of perspective and settings and such... I usually find myself in a weird limbo as I grew up in the USA, but heavily influenced by stories from my family, particularly my mother. Grew up watching more foreign films as well. And lots of National Geographic on VHS.

Oh, and I've eaten fried cicada larvae! Tastes like a crunchy egg yoke. Then again, I'm the type of person that'll try anything once if other people are also eating it...

[Flames of Hyperion]

Orphans - thank you for the kind words! I am now in a position to report that under normal circumstances, hurricanes and typhoons do not generate lightning because the horizontal wind force is much stronger than the vertical. However, under certain circumstances (in particular, when a powerful typhoon is forming out to sea), lightning has been observed in both hurricanes and typhoons [1]. Thus we're both correct - Karu for saying that it is possible, myself (or rather my character Touma) for insinuating in-thread that it was impossible in a standard-sized typhoon over land.

[1]] WANG Fang, QIE Xiushu, LIU Dongxia, et al., Lightning Activity and Its Relationship with Typhoon Intensity and Vertical Wind Shear for Super Typhoon Haiyan (1330). J. Meteor. Res. (2015)

[Karuka]

Doctor Flames, you're such a nerd (and I appreciate that about you).

Thanks for the feedback everybody! I'm getting excited to record episode three!

[Rayleigh]

AP has been added to all participants of this podcast.