Dissecting Dragons

Considering that writing and publishing are completely so closely linked, they couldn't be more different in terms of execution for the author. Assuming you manage to be one of the small number of people who actually finish writing a book, you may well find yourself bewildered as to what to do next. Drawing on their decade of experience in the industry, Jules and Madeleine use this episode to give you an overview of your options including why one path might be more suitable for you than another. The dragons also include tips on negotiating contracts, creative control and realistic representations of royalty rates. You've written a book? Great. Here's what you do next.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

A strangely contentious issue when it comes to writing is whether or not your main character needs to be likeable. The vast majority of readers would probably argue in one direction while many subsections of the writing community would argue the opposite. For a subject where it's clear everyone's mileage varies, it's interesting that the question causes such a division and even anger. This week Jules and Madeleine take a look at what a 'likeable character' is in writing terms, as well as how you can make your character likeable. How can you give your main character broader audience appeal? How do you make readers identify with your MC? And how can you avoid making them unintentionally unlikeable? Find out in this week's episode.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

SFF has traditionally always been a form of literature where difficult topics are deconstructed and examined. The best examples are those science fiction and fantasy novels which focus on story first, weaving socio-economic or political themes in afterwards. However, it's really easy to include things in your writing which you didn't intend to include. Classism is one of those insidious flavours that can creep in without you noticing it. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at how to avoid this as well as examining a few examples of speculative fiction which deliberately engage with the subject. On the slab this week: Battlestar Galactica, The Black Magician - Trudi Canavan, Ironman 3 and many more.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Fun, escapism and entertainment may not be the only reason readers pick up books, but they're fairly high up the list of considerations. Something you might want to keep in mind when you're writing! Jules and Madeleine have talked in a previous episode (or several) about how to keep your readers engaged with your book. This week, the dragons take a look at a specific aspect of that process. Wish fulfilment gets a bad rap in literature terms but delving into what it actually entails, shows that this is an undeserved reputation. How can you add wish fulfilment without derailing your plot? How can it be used to make your book appeal to a broader audience? What should you avoid doing if you don't want to lose a reader?  Under the microscope this week: Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, The Martian - Andy Weir and many more.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

While most books focus on one, two or three main characters and have secondary characters filling in as needed, sff lends itself well to an 'ensemble cast'. Not to be confused with a large cast which may incorporate many characters but still has only a few POV characters which directly affect the story, an ensemble cast has four or more main characters, each on their own arc, each affecting the plot and resolution equally. This week Jules and Madeleine look at the advantages and pitfalls of using an ensemble cast in your book, including why you might want to create one, how it makes for richer world building and when not to do it. On the slab this week: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R R Martin, Spinning Silver - Naomi Novak, Deep Space Nine and many more   Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Fan theories are one unexpected but gratifying indicator that someone has really connected with your work. And the bigger the fan base, the wackier and more oddly compelling the theories grow. This week, Jules and Madeleine use Disney films to examine this phenomenon, taking a light hearted look at several fan theories of popular films and delving into how the theories may have come about as well as how likely they are to fit.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

The dragons are back with another 'fairytales in focus' episode. This week Jules and Madeleine take a look at the origins of folk favourite, Rapunzel. While the story everyone is most familiar with is that collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, there are earlier incarnations of the story which cast the events in a somewhat different light. Added to which inspiration for the story comes from some diverse and unusual places from the Greek myth of Danaae to St Barbara of Nicodemia to Persian epic poetry. Tune into this weeks discussion of where the story of 'Little Parsley' came from.    Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Most of us have a soft spot for mysteries and even if we don't, everyone knows the basic premise of a who-dunnit. Starting with Wilkie Collins and the first detective novel, following through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and finally taking a fixed shape in Agatha Christie's mystery novels, the who-dunnit appeals to us on multiple levels. Interestingly, it has also influenced other genres lending aspects of mystery, well known tropes and elements of suspense and tension to fantasy, sci-fi and even romance. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at why we're wired to find a who-dunnit compelling; why the story form has very much become it's own thing and how you can leverage that for your own writing. On the slab this week: Knives Out, Death on the Nile, See How they Run and many more.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic 

Fantasy and romance both have their origins in the High Romance tradition. It's comparatively recently that the two have become separate, specific genres with their own tropes and expectations. Which makes the current fantasy-romance trend especially interesting. A romantasy is one of those storytelling recipes where the quantities of ingredients are going to vary according to taste from fantasy elements used as mere window dressing for the romance, to well-built complex worlds where the focus is nevertheless on the romance. This week the dragons take a look at what makes a good romantasy and why they are increasing in popularity. Under the microscope this week: The Bridge Kingdom - Danielle L Jensen, That Time I got Drunk and Saved a Demon - Kimberley Lemming, Half a Soul - Olivia Atwater and many more. Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Tropes often go hand in hand. A preordained destiny often goes with the 'chosen one' trope: the 'sins of the father' often goes with the 'magical bloodline trope'. And in general, no trope is bad in and of itself, although the latter has certainly drawn a lot of flak over recent years - largely due to poor examples of the trope. This week, the dragons take a look at characters born to magical or enhanced bloodlines. What causes this trope to fall into elitism? Can it ever work? Does it deserve the bad reputation it seems to have earned? And what do Jules and Madeleine think about using it themselves? On the slab this week: The Once and Future King, Unveiled, Dune, House of the Dragon and many more.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Another year has passed and the dragons are once again looking back before moving forward. As usual, Jules and Madeleine are drawing your attention to some of the great things that happened in 2022 which you may not be aware of. While this past year may have felt at times like a worthy successor to the previous two years in terms of 'irritations' - and the dragons certainly mention a few - it was also a year of great strides forward in medicine, science, art, conservation and many other areas. Tune in for a light hearted and positive recap of some of the best bits of 2022. Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

The Dragons would like to wish all their listeners a very Merry Christmas/ Seasons Greetings/ Happy Yule Following in their tradition of providing festive folklore for Christmas, this year the dragons take a look at some of the common misconceptions regarding certain traditions and practices for this time of year. Do evergreens symbolise eternal life? Why were crackers invented? And what are the origins of this winter festival? Find out in this light hearted episode.   Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Heading into the festive season, the dragons take a look at a staple trope of childhood films and books: toys, teddy bears and dolls which 'come to life', exhibit sentience or are generally anthropomorphic. Simple on the surface, this surprisingly old and versatile trope lends itself to everything from tales of childhood wonder to featuring in adult horror stories. Focusing more on using the trope as an exploration of childhood, Jules and Madeleine look at the nuances of this eerie and wonderful trope. On the slab this week: Pinocchio, The Nutcracker, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Mouse and his Child, Toy Story and many more.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

  Most folkloric devices, tropes and common characters have strong ties to the times and cultures they exist in, reflecting various mindsets and shapeshifting to stay relevant - just as fairy tales do. However, few creatures have such mysterious origins or such a chequered past as the 'Ogre' and its various other incarnations. In this second part of a two part episode, the dragons delve into how ogres have been used in fairy tales and fantasy, even in sci-fi, both to represent specific undesirable human characteristics and as a sly form of xenophobia. Join Jules and Madeleine as they look at how the ogre-villain narrative is gradually being shifted and what this means for the evolution of SFF.   Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Most folkloric devices, tropes and common characters have strong ties to the times and cultures they exist in, reflecting various mindsets and shapeshifting to stay relevant - just as fairy tales do. However, few creatures have such mysterious origins or such a chequered past as the 'Ogre' and its various other incarnations. In this first part of a two part episode, the dragons trace the origins of the catch-all villain, trekking across continents and centuries and examining what and why such a creature would evolve in folklore. Join Jules and Madeleine into a deep dive into the human psyche, where they examine why we need to create supernatural villains as well as looking at historical possibilities they derived from.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

The advent of streaming television services has meant that more video content has been required and with that demand, has come a more specific requirement for less mainstream, more niche material. This has been great for SFF fans who now face an embarrassment of riches which cater to their very specific trope preferences. However, the half empty side of this is that beloved speculative fiction which has previously only been available in book form, is now being adapted for TV series...and not all series are created equal. This week the dragons tackle the big question this raises: do adaptations have a duty to be accurate? And moving on from SFF and why you might chose to not partake or an adaptation of your favourite book, is there a responsibility to not take liberties with historical adaptations? Under the microscope this week: Interview with a Vampire, The Woman King, Braveheart, His Dark Materials and many more.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Everyone has their own trope bugbears which have more to do with personal taste than anything else, and that's fine. The dragons are no different. However there are some tropes which just fundamentally don't work - at least not if you're going to cut corners. Either they result in shoddy worldbuilding or poor story structure or they're just so ick that they knock the reader out of the story. That's not to say that they can never work but you do have to be careful how you handle them. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at some of the worst offenders and best examples of the same trope done right, in sci-fi and fantasy. On the slab this week - Star Trek Discovery, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Virtual Sexuality and many more.   Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

Not to be confused with 'framing devices' such as a narrative within a secondary story, 'Framing' is a type of narrative enhancer which can be used to add tone or flavour to a scene. This week, Jules and Madeleine look at how specific scenes and even whole plots can be gently adjusted using this technique, especially when it comes to movies and TV. Why might you wish to use framing? How can it be used to as a subtler form of political or social messaging? And what happens when it goes wrong? Find out in this week's episode. On the slab this week - The Witcher, She-Ra Princesses of Power, Dead End: Paranormal Park and many more.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

This week the dragons are delighted to welcome back Laura Laakso, author of the paranormal crime/ urban fantasy series Wilde Investigations. The main character of the series - Yannia Wilde - suffers from a chronic illness, which means that her exploits in magical London, solving mysteries, are always a bit more challenging. It also makes Laura the ideal person to join Jules and Madeleine for this discussion. Like many aspects of representation, chronic illness is sometimes conflated with being the entirety of a character which does more harm than good, as does some ill researched or thoughtless inclusion of chronic illness or disability. This episode is a lively discussion of exactly what you can do to create more realistic chronically ill characters and why you might want to include one in your work. Aside from which, SFF can be the perfect place to explore the subject. Under the microscope this week: The Fault in Our Stars, the Goonies, Wilde Investigations and many more.   Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling C

Finishing up their spooky season specials and taking inspiration from previous years 'cursed objects' episodes, this week the dragons take a look at 'cursed' places. A handful of tame hauntings will not qualify a place as 'cursed' under this definition. Oh no. A single lonely ghost sighting won't fit. The places Jules and Madeleine discuss in this episode have an ongoing pattern of centuries of hauntings, strange happenings, UFO sightings, as well as a long a bloody history of violence and atrocity. Join the dragons for a curated (though by no means exhaustive) selection of the most afflicted places in the UK.  At around the 75% mark, we briefly discuss 'murder tourism' and a certain serial killer's house. While we do not go into graphic detail, we also don't dance around the topic. If you're not in a good place to listen to that discussion, maybe put this one on the backburner and enjoy one of our back catalogue of episodes instead.    Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic