Episode 237 – Building and Destroying Worlds with Angeline Trevena

In this episode Mark interviews Angeline Trevena, an author of dystopian urban fantasy and post-apocalyptic fiction, a podcaster, an events manager, and the author of a number of phenomenal books about world-building.

Prior to the main content, Mark shares a short personal update, including the fact one of his patrons will win a copy of Angeline’s latest edition of 30 Days of Worldbuilding, a coupon code to get $100 off registration for Superstars Writing Seminars 2023 (STARKSSWS2023) and a word about this episode’s sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During their conversation, Mark and Angeline talk about:

The release of the 2nd edition of her book 30 Days of World-BuildingHow Angeline has always loved fantasy, and choose-your-own-adventure booksThe way reading The Chronicles of Narnia was one of the factors that led to her love and passion for world-buildingThe original 30 Days of World-Building starting as an 30 day Instagram challenge, that became a worksheet, that eventually became a bookHow to Destroy the World, the 2nd world-building book in the same series that Angeline releasedThe original 30 days of world-building prompts that takes you from scratch, all the way up to creating a world ready to drop your characters intoAngeline’s three rules for world-building: Revealing character, pushing the plot forward, and exploring the themes of your novelBeing a panster and an avid world-builder at the same timeDestroying a world or creating a dystopian or post-apocalyptic settingHow dystopian stories can often be filled with a lot of hopeFood within world-building, including all the rituals and festivals that have been created around foodHow food can be a massive part of religion and magicSome of the other writing that Angeline has doneInvolving her 9 year old in the writing/early critique process of her middle grade booksAnd more…

After the interview, Mark reflects on the use of food in culture, religion, society, in rituals, as well as a way to help demonstrate or establish character and conflict in a scene.

Links of Interest:

Angeline Trevena’s WebsiteTikTokInstagramTwitterSuperstars Writing SeminarsBuy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsThe Relaxed AuthorBuy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook DirectPublishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author’s Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark’s Canadian Werewolf BooksThis Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover’s Moon

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0