19.21: Language as a Tool (A Close Reading on Worldbuilding)
Writing Excuses
Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2024
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
What cultural and worldbuilding information is embedded within the smallest of word choices? Today, we dive into three specific sections from throughout Martine’s “A Memory Called Empire”: the word for empire, assimilation and naming, and learning the word for bomb. We unpack how Martine uses language to establish important principles of how the world works.
Thing of the Week:
The Gilded Age - Created and Written by Julian Fellowes Julian Fellows (on HBO Max)
Homework:
Write a scene that describes a fictional piece of literature— whether that's a poem, a song, or a story— that means something to the people in the story you’re telling.
Here’s a link to buy your copy of “A Memory Called Empire” if you haven’t already:
https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by our listeners, patrons, and friends. |
| 0:05.6 | If you would like to learn how to support this podcast, visit |
| 0:08.9 | www.patreon.com slash writing excuses. |
| 0:15.0 | Hey listeners, we want your input on season 20, |
| 0:18.4 | which I have to be honest does not sound like a real number. |
| 0:21.0 | What elements of the craft do you want us to talk about? What episode |
| 0:25.5 | or core concept do you use or reference or recommend the most? What are you just having trouble |
| 0:31.8 | with? After 20 seasons we've talked about a lot What element of writing do you wish we'd |
| 0:35.0 | of writing do you wish we'd revisit for a deeper dive on the |
| 0:40.1 | podcast? |
| 0:41.1 | Email your ideas to podcast at writing excuses.com. |
| 0:46.8 | Season 19 episode 21. |
| 0:51.5 | This is writing excuses. |
| 0:54.0 | A close reading on world building, language as a tool. |
| 0:57.0 | 15 minutes long. |
| 0:58.0 | Because you're in a hurry and we're not that smart. |
| 1:01.0 | I'm Mary Robinette. |
| 1:02.0 | I'm Dong-wan. I'm Don Juan. I'm Dan and I'm Howard. So this |
| 1:06.8 | week continuing our close reading series on Archide Martines a memory called Empire. I wanted to dig into three very specific sections |
| 1:16.7 | over the course of this book. Last week we focused heavily on the opening and here I |
| 1:21.2 | want to talk about how Arkady uses language as a tool and both |
| 1:27.2 | how she phrases things her word choices but also the way in which she |
... |
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