Here Be Tygers

Hey all, Here’s the second half of our Possible Worlds session with Ken and Dex on what empires do when the world seems to end, how fiat alone cannot the sky’s falling prevent, and why you start from the little truths (like spiders) to find what gives shape, intent and life to rest. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all, Today’s ep is our first full attempt at the new Possible Worlds exercise, where you take a few truths of the world, story, and characters that you write, a particular premise, and ask yourself “what it…?” to see what /else/ might. Which should give you plenty of ideas to can play with, discard, or hold up as a mirror to your own work—without any fear of change to its original state. Unless you feel inspired by, or it sheds some new light. So join us today for the first half a romp through faith, empire, economics, haberdashery—and perhaps a little Vincent Price. We hope you enjoy, J --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all, It’s our 50th episode! Join us as we celebrate, occasionally reflect (sometimes ruminate) on what’s been, and talk about where seasons 3 and onward will go. And be sure to welcome Dave from Odder Worlds and Geekly Oddcast as an official co-host! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all, This episode was originally meant to air last year. But like so many things during that time, it slipped away and into the far off reaches of mind until the moment, I suppose, was more ‘right’. We’ve talked before about how both fear and expectations can interfere with what you’ll write—no matter the genre and in media of all kinds. Today though, I wanted to share some of what my own journey through that has been like: from “not at all” to “I’m still going to try.” And what better place to begin than the moment when what you’ve been working on meets an indefinite end? When you’ve lost what you thought you had, and there seems to be a chasm on the road that you’d pass… Oh, and there will be spoilers, starting around 12 minutes in, so if you’d prefer to keep everything about my books a surprise, you can save this episode for later. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all, We’re back today with the second half of our livestream, “A Mote in the Mad King’s Eye.” And yes, that is a nod to both the Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle work as well as the parable from which they derived. When we left the last time, it was on the note that a vizier (and perhaps wizard) gave to the king his most mad designs. And from there did the world break, for others to right. Though of course, and as always, things oft go awry. So join us today as we bring this little ‘what if…’ unto ‘why…?’ exercise to a close, and discover what this brave new world holds when even its villains outgrow their old life. We hope you enjoy. J --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all, Today, we’re sharing part of a livestream episode we did for our Patrons back in 2020, when we were tasked with creating a world in which other tales could be made. Using only the premise: “who built the ruins that now lie in waste?” You’ll hear my co-host, Dave, lay out the concept for the world. And then our panel will have a chance to make it grow from the simple and mundane into the new, the unique /and/ the strange. So join us as we look back to a different Stone or Bronze Age, the folks who’d create, and the maddest of kings who in bull wizards would put their faith. We hope you enjoy, - J --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all, For the holidays, we thought it would be fun to share a conversation that Dave and I had awhile back with one of the students from my writing class, Bee. When  we initially recorded the episode for Dave’s show, Odder Worlds, Bee had just begun to define the setting in which her story takes place. So  we invited her to share a few of the most essential truths about her  world, former princess Emery, and the nefarious villain Tarric, who is visited by an idea most unusual and strange. That said, there are a couple topics discussed that I would approach differently today: most notably, race. In fantasy tales, these are often distinct and discrete groups of people, with their own origins, histories, presumed biologies, and ‘one unique trait’. Though these frequently tend to borrow, mimic or outright appropriate from folks in our own world and their lived experiences without much thought or respect to “who” takes. Or how we profit as creators while things deemed ‘too fraught’ are left off t

Hey all,  Today’s episode is part of a conversation I had with my friend, radio expert, and archaeological buff, Ken.  You may recognize him from our earlier world-building eps. 2 & 8, “Rambling Man” and “The Unforgiving Tree”, where we first delved into some of the more unusual places in the world of Here Be Tygers.   Since then, I’ve discovered some peculiar (and perhaps, particular) threads about faith and the gods and things that occurred in the “way back, when…”. That I needed to chase to to their unraveling ends. Before, even to me, they could make some kind of sense.  So rather than leave all of that behind some polished text, we wanted to use today’s ep to show you how “truths of the world” and the journeys through can be laid from beginnings to ends.   We hope you enjoy,  -J  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all,  My apologies for the delay on this week. I’ve been severely ill since last Thursday, and am still finding it difficult to breathe, much less speak. Today’s episode comes from a world-building series on "how to create a space in which you can create", without fear of what might change or persist, that we ran for our patrons earlier this year.  You’ll probably recognize the first two voices you hear as the neuroscientist, Nic Lori, and my co-host, Dave Herman. They did such a wonderful job of explaining the premise on which everything else proceeds, namely: ‘what if the world evolved to ‘fit’ man instead?’, that we decided right from there to see what else could happen.  We hope you enjoy.  - J  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

We’re here today to provide you with a bit of a preface for our upcoming miniseries on the ‘Seven Great Rules to Writing Stories that Sell’. These are things I found myself teaching all the time, so before we go into them, I thought it would be helpful for Dave and I to talk about what to do *before* you write—a ‘Lesson 0’, if you will.  And how you can shift from a critical (‘what is…?’) state of mind to a more creative (‘what if…?’) one when you’d like. We’ll also share some of the more pernicious tales we tell themselves about why we ‘can’t try’ and what you can do to prove otherwise.  We hope you enjoy  -J --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all,  We’re sharing the rest of our conversation with Kate from “Ignorance was Bliss” today. At first, we’d thought about having it all in one ep, but there was enough of significance, impact, and quality to warrant a different time for the rest.  Above all, “The Stories We Tell Ourselves” is a reflection on the ones that we choose and the ones that we let: how much of our life is decided by them is something we get to decide. And to rewrite. Revise. So I invite you, as you listen to both of the tales shared today—on memory, loss, and of course, time—to think about the ones that /you tell/, of yourself and others as well, and those you’d care to keep in mind.  We hope you enjoy  - J  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all,  For our second convo in the lead up to the “Seven Great Rules” miniseries, we invited Kate Wallinga, a former forensic psychologist, crisis clinician and host of “Ignorance was Bliss.” In our earlier talks with Kate, the notion of how we make sense of our world in order to “get by” came up quite a few times.  So we decided to record a few episodes on the stories we tell ourselves: about the folks that we know, the ones that we don’t, and our own everyday life. And how, if we can let go of the boundaries we used to know, we’ll have the space / time / memory enough for other, more fruitful tales to grow.  We hope you enjoy.  -J --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all,  We’re continuing our lead up to the miniseries on the ‘Seven Great Rules’ that I teach to both creatives and entrepreneurs alike, so that they tales they tell will be true, sincere and come fully to life. With that I mind, I invited facilitator, addiction coach, and author of “If Not You, Then Who?”, Jesse Harless, to the show.  As both an addiction survivor and tireless entrepreneur, he speaks to not only the tales that we tell of our own lives, but also the ones that—as individuals or a society—we decide to live by.  So join us today as we talk about how to recognize your own (or someone else’s) needs, wants and desires and the tales around those that we write.  We hope you enjoy,  -J  Show notes  If you’d like to learn more about Jesse or his work, you can: visit his site - jesseharless.com buy his book - amzn.com/1733531610 or connect with him on Instagram @jesseharless222  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

We’re returning this week with our current guest, Matt S., for the second half our conversation on what it means to be a storyteller and why “legacy” —what you provide and where that helps them to arrive—matters for those who create. You’ll also hear us speak quite a bit about your tribe, or ‘those who provide’. These are the folks who are with you for life. Who will go with you on that journey again and again in exchange for those essential currencies of money, information and time.  Why? Because you’ve helped them to reach towards or achieve a better life. And that story, of who they are, what you provide, and where that helped them arrive—be it a solution, a service, even a tale of some ‘other’ world or ‘what might’—is a legacy we can all give, both as creatives and entrepreneurs alike, to our tribe.  - J  To learn more about Matt and his work as a writing coach, you can... Visit his site: https://www.mattselznick.com/ Follow his free serial fiction: https://www.selznick.me/hdacn Review his

Hey all,  I had to take somewhat of an unexpected break last month. As you may know, my father had been quite ill. And on the 8th of last month, we received word that he had passed away. It is still difficult for me, fully, to articulate what these past few weeks have been like. But I did promise myself that I’d return to the show. That I’d continue to write and to be your guide. So here we are today.  The conversation you’re about to hear is a preface to the miniseries that we’ll launch soon, on the seven rules, reflections or guides that I use to help folks as they write. So I thought it would be fun to invite a fellow coach, advisor and writer, Matt Selznick, to talk about what his work and that process is like. And what—for him—compels, inspires or drives. Our conversation did go on for awhile though, so we’ll share just the first half tonight.  We hope you enjoy. -J  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all,  Today’s episode is somewhat of a companion piece to the previous one, so if you haven’t listened to that yet, I suggest you give it a go. For those who have, we’ll be continuing our chat with philosopher and medical ethicist, Stephen Herman, about the worlds we perceive, the different lives they allow us to lead, and why we imagine in order to define truths or close to them, reach.  So join us today as we talk about magical lands, Faust, analogies, and how we shape things into beginnings, middles and ends so that we can better make sense of them. We hope you enjoy,  -J  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

In his book, The Origins of Creativity, biologist E.O. Wilson argues for a new way forward: one that embraces both the sciences and the arts (the possible with the conceivable) as a means to achieve a better life in this, and potentially other worlds. So with that vision in mind, I decided to invite my friend, philosopher and medical ethicist, Stephen Herman onto the show.   With the hope, or perhaps intent, that a few smaller discussions--on the search for shared meaning, how language and art ‘represent’, and what the journey to find universal or narrative ‘truths’ is like--can give us some sense of the road that Wilson describes.  We hope you enjoy, -J  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all,  This is the second half of my conversation with music and audio producer and coach, Steven Leavitt, for his show The Language of Creativity. In the last episode, we talked about the stories we create and how we so often attach ourselves to them and why, in our work, play and everyday life.   So for today, we’ll continue from that note into not only the tale that I write, but how I learn from that journey and what it entailed both the how and for whom I provide.  I hope you enjoy  -J --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

Hey all,  For today’s ep (and the next), we’re going to change things up a little by sharing a conversation I had with my friend Steven Leavitt on his show, The Language of Creativity.   Steven and I both work with a number of creatives in our everyday life. So we wanted to dispel a few myths about what that can be like, from where and how ‘art’ is derived, to the ways that our stories emerge—fiction or not—from the truths we  define. And like many tales, we go on a bit of a yarn at first—though it all comes together in the end.  We hope you enjoy. -J  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/herebetygers/message

We often talk on the show about how and when things begin, so I thought it would be useful today to discuss where they end: when all the truths of your tale lead to a certain place, when all the work that you do helps folks to arrive where they’d like to—in their work, in their life, in their play—and in a better state.   But what makes an ending ‘good’, makes it right, makes you and your market, audience or tribe feel like you’ve arrived, that ‘this, here, is fine’ at the end of the journey that together you’ll take? That it’s clear. And inevitable. That you know why. So join us today, as we talk about endings, what makes them satisfying, and how even the change of a beat—at the right time—can delight, make us treasure, or feel surprised. I hope you enjoy.  -J  Show Notes  The Empire Strikes Back: how the ending was changed to better clarify   Esquire on Catharsis in film, narrative and online    Screenwriter