Coming to you “live” from CONduit, Writing Excuses is pleased to welcome fantasy superstar L.E. Modesitt (plus a slightly different Howard, by which we mean that Howard was out of town and replaced by Dan’s brother Rob).

Our topic for this episode is “practicality,” which is another way of saying “fantasy and science fiction may be unrealistic, but they should still be plausible within your definition of reality.” In other words, if you have an army of 1000 armored knights, you’d better have an economy and political system capable of producing and supporting them.

Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., about a mage so powerful anything he thinks can become reality.

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 Writing Excuses 4.21: Writing Practical Fantasy [15:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (9515)

This week the Writing Excuses team discusses magic again, this time focusing on the cost of magic. Whether or not your magic system has internally-consistent rules your readers can follow (per Sanderson’s First Law and last week’s ‘cast) you need to consider the ramifications of using magic in the worlds you create. Or at least, that’s what we think. Have a listen and find out why.

Also, this week Howard attempts to create “Tayler’s First Law” using a donkey. It can’t have gone too well, since by the end of the podcast he’s willing to give the donkey away.

This week from our sponsor, Tor: Jack: Secret Histories , by F. Paul Wilson

 

 Writing Excuses Episode 15: Costs and Ramifications of Magic [15:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (9185)

Does magic need rules? Sometimes yes and sometimes no; our intrepid podcasters talk about how to know which situation is which, and explore the pros and cons of each method. We’ll also yak for a while about the differences between Superman and Gandalf, which makes us, if nothing else, huge nerds.

Liner Notes:

Sanderson’s first law

This week from our sponsor, Tor: The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two B ,by Ben Bova (Editor)

 

 Writing Excuses Episode 14: Magic Systems and their Rules [15:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (11331)