Words Are Hard Podcast

On this very special day of the year, we clearly had to bring you a very special episode. This week, Nienna and Jalinar have joined us for a series of reviews – but, of course, this being an After Dark episode, these aren’t just any reviews. Welcome to the extraordinary… Continue reading

Today we’re diving into a topic that many writers struggle with. You’ve spent weeks, months or even years laboring over your story, and you’re getting ready to release it into the world – but what do you call it? We’re tackling this particular subject from a slightly different angle to… Continue reading

This week, we’re continuing with the subject of characters who might not be immediately sympathetic to your reader. A few episodes ago, we talked about villains, and included some of our favourite examples. This time, we’re moving on to anti-heroes. Whilst anti-heroes and villains should evoke different reactions from your… Continue reading

It’s time for one of our nuts-and-bolts writing episodes! Nearly all fiction will contain dialogue in one form or another, so today Chase and Amy chat about their own approaches to writing it. We talk about topics like knowing the history of your character to make their speech feel more… Continue reading

As promised in a few previous episodes, today we’re reviewing The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson. Sanderson is an author we’ve talked about multiple times on the podcast, so it was great to be able to review one of his shorter works. We talk about all the basics of plot,… Continue reading

Quick warning: this is another of our fan-fic episodes and listener discretion is advised. Contents may be considered NSFW and at the very least will make you snort coffee out of your nose. Proceed with caution! Ah, the holidays. A time of good food, good company, and truly terrible fan-fiction.… Continue reading

What happens when you enjoy an author’s work, but disagree with their personal opinions? In this episode, we talk about whether it’s possible to read fiction without letting your knowledge of the author colour it – and whether you even want to. If an author is racist, for example, is… Continue reading

This week’s episode is all about a favourite subject of many writers: villains. In this discussion, we each pick a favourite villain from literature and talk about why we particularly like them. That might be because they’re irredeemably, unashamedly bad, or quite the opposite – they’re a villain, or antagonist,… Continue reading

Today’s episode is a continuation of a theme we started way back in episode 14 of season 2. In that instance, we discussed worldbuilding the religion for your story, and this time round we’re tackling the opposite side of the coin: science and technology. We cover topics including how quickly… Continue reading

Chase and Amy are back this week with a whole host of spooky recommendations, just in time for Halloween. We cover books, movies, TV and games, ranging right across the spectrum from mildly creepy to downright terrifying. There should be something for everyone here, just to time to get you… Continue reading

We’re back from our summer break, and we’re kicking off our third season with a return to our readings of terrible fan-fiction scrounged from the darkest corners of the internet. As you might already have noticed, this is one of our After Dark episodes, which means it’s not part of… Continue reading

It’s the second of our mini episodes to tide our listeners over through the summer (and yes, we’re titling these purely to torment Raven). As you may have guessed, we’re back in Anchorhead, where it really is a miracle we haven’t yet died a slow, painful death. But don’t worry… Continue reading

Our second season is now officially over, so we’d like to thank everyone who’s listened, commented, taken part in our contest and generally made running this show worthwhile! We’ll be back in September with a whole host of new episodes, but for now, we’ve got a couple of short, bonus… Continue reading

We’re back in Anchorhead this week, where things are once again suitably eerie, and where our strong, independent, Amazonian character continues her journey, all whilst carrying umpteen objects in her unfeasibly large hands. If none of that makes any sense, you clearly need to listen to the previous four episodes!… Continue reading

We’re back, and we’re talking about our current writing projects! With April’s Camp NaNoWriMo behind us (and another in progress already), we sat down to talk about what we wrote for Camp, and everything else we’re in the middle of working on. This is a behind-the-scenes look at what our… Continue reading

As long-time listeners of the show will know, all four of our hosts met through the Guild Wars 2 fan site, Chronicles of Tyria. As a result, we’ve all been writing serial fiction for at least a couple of years, and in this episode, Chase, Nienna and Amy talk about… Continue reading

We’re doubling up on Anchorhead episodes this month, as we get ever closer to uncovering the secrets of this strange town. What might our new husband and his family be hiding? What’s been happening in this town for century after century? Just how many objects will our unusually large hands… Continue reading

Fear not, listeners! We haven’t forgotten Anchorhead! We’re back there this week, continuing our adventures in this strange little Lovecraftian town. This episode is, of course, best enjoyed having listened to the first two parts of the series, which you can find here and here. Other than that, we suggest… Continue reading

In today’s episode, we dive into the subject of world-building. This is a vast topic, so we focus on just one aspect that’s particularly important in fantasy: creating and writing fictional religions. Our discussion falls into two main parts. In the first, we talk about the specifics of creating a… Continue reading

We’re back with another in our series of reviews/story chats, talking about the game Life is Strange. A story-based adventure game, Life is Strange gave us plenty to discuss, from its use of place and atmosphere, to the complications of creating consistent dialogue options when time travel is one of… Continue reading