On Writing and Worldbuilding - Volume I

By: Timothy Hickson

Narrated by: Larissa Thompson, Merphy Napier

Writing advice tends to be full of "rules" and "tips" which are either too broad to be helpful or outright wrong. In On Writing and Worldbuilding, we will discuss specific and applicable ideas to consider, from effective methods of delivering exposition and foreshadowing, to how communication, commerce, and control play into the fall of an empire.

On Writing

• Part I: Prologues
• Part II: The First Chapter
• Part III: The Exposition Problem
• Part IV: Foreshadowing
• Part V: Villain Motivation
• Part VI: Hero-Villain Relationships
• Part VII: Final Battles
• Part VIII: The Chosen One
• Part IX: Hard Magic Systems
• Part X: Soft Magic Systems
• Part XI: Magic Systems and Storytelling

On Worldbuilding

• Part XII: Polytheistic Religions
• Part XIII: Hidden Magical Worlds
• Part XIV: How Empires Rise
• Part XV: How Empires Work
• Part XVI: How Empires Fall

Exclusive Content

• Part XVII: How I Plan a Novel

Dozens of sidenotes and extra thoughts on all these wonderful stories

©2019 Timothy Hickson (P)2020 Timothy Hickson

Day of Black Sun.

Love the whole thing and am excited for volume 2. But if I never hear about the Day of Black Sun scene from ATLA ever again I will be just fine. 😄

Do watch the ytube too

very good info!!! i love this guy and his videos are both informative and fun. that and he reuses some of the jokes. nothing more entertaining than your brain inputting the meme when the narrator quotes it.

Great points that go beyond standard advice

The points and examples put on the table in this book are much more thorough than the vast majority of writing/worldbuilding/analysis content found online.
It's a great title overall, but the narrator was prone to quite a few pronunciation mistakes and made it feel a bit amateurish at time. Their voices were fine, no complaints there, but something that I personally found a little weird was the narrator sounded a bit too dramatic for a book on, essentially, writing advice.

Modern references to story basics

Every generation needs their own references when it comes to pursuing any craft, this book acts like a screenshot of the current decade referencing media a younger generation is familiar with which then makes the lessons more digestible

Good writing techniques and good references

Great work. I feel like I have some good ideas for where to start my story

Phenomenally helpful!

This book is phenomenally helpful in writing novels, screenplays, teleplays, and more. Tim Hickson (Hello Future Me), is as talented as they come!

This is a masterclass in writing!

Exceptional explanation of what makes writing and world building satisfying, strategic and structural! A must read for any aspiring fantasy or so fi author or even mangaka! I’m on the edge of my seat for volume II!!!

all hail mishka

the content? absolutely amazing. the pronunciation of Javert? "JAH-verT" (instead of "ja-VER). tfw you don't know french so you just go hardcore on the american.

but otherwise, as a writer, this is literally setting off so many plot points that I think is gonna make my book dope af. my favorite is the villain sections, especially with the final battle.

Variety, engaging, and beginner friendly

I am an artist, not so much a writer, however I am going to create a comic and I wanted to learn what makes a page turning story. I like the variety of genres and media the author provides examples with—novels to anime to comics to television series.

I feel like I better understand when the author talks about a story I am familiar with, so I appreciate that we consume much of the same entertainment!

The narrators voice is friendly and energetic, I enjoyed listening and will listen again. Thanks for creating!

Absolute Must for New Writers

This book does a great job of showing a bird's eye view of elements that must be ironed out for a believable fantasy or science fiction world. I have read some very poorly built worlds (cough, cough, The Dragonslayer, cough cough) that could have been improved by the discussion in this book.
It has also been helpful to me.