Mythcreants

Fantasy & Science Fiction for Storytellers

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How Much Emotion Should a Scene Have?

Betwixt mundanity and melodrama awaits a great scene.

Some aspects of narration are easy to take for granted but have to be rigorously studied to master. One of those aspects is how we express emotion in a scene. Coming up with the right words to convey emotions is always tricky, and that’s not even the biggest concern. Before we futz with words, we need to know how much emotion to aim for.

Too much emotion creates a scene that’s melodramatic, sensationalist, and often unintentionally humorous. Too little emotion creates a scene that’s dry and mundane, in which no story seems to be unfolding. To help you find a good balance, let’s compare these extremes to what a typical scene should look like.

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The special feeling of horror as you realize this isn’t just a brief cutaway for the villain to give an evil laugh, it’s starting a whole new subplot about the villain trying to get their lawn ornaments approved by the HOA and you won’t see the hero again for 10 chapters.

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So much discourse about how to keep your pace in a book: fold the page corner, use a book mark, write down the page number, etc. 

Real pros put a piece of cheese in there so now there’s a time limit to go back and keep reading.

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600 – Crafting a Long Series

Planning less optional this time.

Oh wow, that’s six entire hundreds. Honestly didn’t expect we’d ever make it this far, and now we’re lacking a plan. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean your long series also has to lack a plan, or lack a smooth transition for that matter. This week, we’re discussing how to lay the groundwork for a story that goes on and on, hopefully in a way that doesn’t leave you trapped four books into an epic work of dark fantasy with no idea how to continue.

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Lessons From the Rambling of Assistant to the Villain

Romantasy that doesn't take itself seriously? Impossible.

It’s time for romantasy – minus the sensationalism and dark drama that so many romantasies have. Originating in a TikTok video series, Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer is a big hit with a decidedly light tone and a style that is not the first-person, flippant, anachronistic voice that pervades every other romantasy. Thank goodness!

I’m still making fun of it though. Would you be here if I wasn’t?

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On the one hand, it would be nice to have another mega popular SFF book that everyone has read, so we have a source of widely understood examples. On the other hand, of the two books to have reached such status, one of the authors turned out to be a mega-bigot. Don’t love 50% odds.

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It’s very weird when a story describes someone as blunt or lacking social awareness, then writes them as deliberately mean. Those are different things! A character can be both but you gotta be specific.

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Looking at accounts of people being scammed with AI slop when they thought they were buying human work, a common thread is race-to-the-bottom sites like Fiverr and Upwork. Such marketplaces create enormous pressure to lower prices, regardless of the ethical or quality implications.

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Intensely curious at what point it becomes acceptable to say “this is my take on X famous story.” 

EG: “This is my take on Sherlock Holmes” is fine. “This is my take on The Hobbit” would probably get eye rolls. Is it just our inborn respect for US copyright law, or is there something else at play?

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599 – Tech Levels

To invent a steam engine, one must first create the universe.

As everyone knows, everywhere in the world had exactly the same technology from 476 to 1453, which can be summed up as a “Medieval Tech Level.” Or, wait, maybe that’s not true at all. And maybe technology doesn’t advance along linear paths like we see in 4X strategy games. So, what even is a tech level, and why are worldbuilders so concerned about them? Fortunately, we have some answers.

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The Six Hugo Finalists for Best Novella, Ranked

Spare a thought for all the little stories out there.

During Hugo season, the Best Novel category tends to get most of our attention, but that’s just one of many awards given out in this nerdy popularity contest. Best Novella is another such award, and good news, this time all six of the entries were included with the voting packet. Hooray! Four of them even had delightfully produced audio recordings, with the other two being easily acquired from my local library. This put me in a much better mood than I was with the novels.

I’m still going to make fun of the entries though. That’s my whole thing.

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How to Make Your Heroic Team a Stunning Success

Most ensembles are weak - here's how to beat the odds.

It’s easier to put the spotlight on a single hero, but sometimes having a whole team is what makes the story appealing. We call these teams an ensemble when the protagonists work closely together and share responsibility for solving the story’s big problems. One person could still be the main character, but everyone on the team is an important protagonist.

To succeed, ensembles need careful management. I can’t count the number of ensembles I’ve seen where two characters feel interchangeable, everyone blurs together into an indistinguishable mass, or supposedly important characters are completely neglected. These poorly executed characters aren’t making the story better; they’re just making our job harder.

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Who knew that if we wanted our provocative media critiques to go truly viral, we should have gone into the translation business?

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People debate whether Avatar is an anime but now it’s got an OAV complete with questionable canonicity, scaled up high budget fight scenes, and not enough story material for the full cast of a TV show. What’s more anime than that?

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Thank you to Crow Girl, our latest patron! It’s well known that you should be kind to crows, because if you aren’t, a lot of them will gather around you, and then there will be a murder. 

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How Do I Portray a Class of Students?

I’m thinking about a story told from the perspective of teachers at a school of magic. But I’m not sure how to handle their students in the

First, I’m very positive about magic school stories from the teacher’s perspective. I think that’s a great way to bring some novelty to a genre that’s, shall we say, well explored. I recommend The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh, if you’d like to see a story that takes that premise and runs with it.

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598 – Structuring Horror

Spoooooooky structure!

An exciting new horror story has come out, promising spooky monsters and exciting twists that will surely have a satisfying payoff. This week, we address some tricky questions about common pitfalls in horror. How do you resolve a conflict with an overwhelming force without seeming contrived? How do you keep squishy heroes alive while also keeping them in danger? Should you kill your protagonist halfway through and replace them with some guy? Listen as we try to figure that out.