Episode 260 – Mood, Atmosphere, and Worldbuilding with Joshua Essoe

Mark interviews editor Joshua Essoe about the elements of atmosphere, mood, and world-building.

Prior to the main segment, Mark shares a personal update, comments from recent episodes, 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.

In their conversation, Mark and Joshua talk about:

How Joshua got into being an editor twelve years agoThe limitation of only being able to work 1:1 with so many clients at a time and how that led to Joshua deciding to release books (Essoe’s Guides to Writing) to assist writers with some of his knowledge/experienceThe way Joshua divides up a typical day of work, which involves a lot of burning the midnight oilJoshua’s unique way of combining two subjects into a single double-sided flip book as a special Kickstarter exclusive projectThe first flip book – Action Sequences / Sex ScenesThe second flip book – Worldbuilding / Mood & AtmosphereThe problem with trying to release a flip-book format in the traditional print book market. (Where does the bar code that’s supposed to be on the “back” of the book go?)Original artwork from James A. Owen that is part of these books, and this special Kickstarter projectThe 6 major areas where writers usually have issues in Worldbuilding, including Info-dumping, which is also broken down into 6 types:world-building info dumpthe back-story info dumpthe technical info dumpdialogue info dumpthought info dumpemotion info dumpHow Kevin J. Anderson does a great job of setting up his world in the first several pages of the Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. novelsThree big things that you need to do in your world-building: broadening it, deepening it, and involving itHow writers need to shackle their impulse to share too many details about their world all at once to readersA discussion of Tolkien’s world-building, which involved a combination of intriguing teaser moments, but also some longer segments of info-dumpingWhat are we talking about when we’re talking about Mood and Atmosphere?How there aren’t that many books in existence on the topic of mood and atmosphereThe way that every aspect of your writing that can contribute to moodHow atmosphere is a part of mood, but is a big enough element that it can be understood and explored on its ownAn excellent example of atmosphere from A Wrinkle in TimeHow you want to be purposeful when creating and sharing mood in your writingSome of the rewards that are going to be available in Joshua’s KickstarterAnd more…

After the interview, Mark reflects on a couple of things from the discussion.

Links of Interest:

Joshua’s WebsiteJoshua’s Worldbuilding, Mood & Atmosphere KickstarterEP 137 – Action Sequences and Sex Scenes with Joshua EssoeKobo Writing Life Podcast – EP 76 – (Mark’s first interview with Joshua)Findaway VoicesThe Emotion Thesaurus on the Writers Helping Writers WebsiteOther Episodes Mentioned in this podcastEP 247 – My Mom’s Influence on Me As A WriterEP 258 – June 2022 Reflective Hangout Highlight ClipsBuy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsBest Book Ever PodcastLovers Moon PodcastThe 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 MoonThe Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

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