Writing Worlds: Conversations About World Building

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Join award-winning audio drama makers Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen for fortnightly conversations about world building with some of the best writers around, and find out how their worlds come to life.

  1. 6D AGO

    Alexandra Beaumont: Coasts and Shorelines

    Our guest on the Writing Worlds podcast this week is novelist and musician Alexandra Beaumont.  Alex’s fantasy is inspired by folklore, mythology,  history and the coastline of Cornwall in the far south west of England.  Her novels Dissonance of Birdsong and Ballad of River Bones (together known as the Myst Cycle) tell the story of a young woman, Eseld on a mission to cure the sacred birds her people rely upon.  Dissonance of Bridsong is a storm riven, atmospheric novel that has received a good deal of acclaim and we’re going to be looking at the settings and world building within it in our chat today.  Find out more about Alexandra Beaumont and her work by following her on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/abeaumontwriter/ And find links to Alex's books and articles here https://linktr.ee/AlexandraBeaumontAuthor You'll be able to hear more from this conversation with Alexandra Beaumont and many of our other guests by joining our Patreon at the Gold Tier or above. There we have exclusive bonus content from many of our Writing Worlds episodes with many more from season two coming soon. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 4m

  2. FEB 18

    Gareth L. Powell: Spaceships

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  Today on Writing Worlds we are honoured to be joined by novelist, short story writer and publisher Gareth L Powell.   Gareth is a double winner of the BSFA award for best novel and shortlisted for awards including the Locus awards and the British Fantasy Awards.  Gareth's work includes the epic "Embers of War" trilogy, the brilliantly named Ack Ack Macaque and  "About Writing" a brilliant short guide to creative writing. Find out more about Gareth and his work by visiting his website here https://www.garethlpowell.com/ You can follow Gareth on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/garethlpowell/ And on BlueSky here https://bsky.app/profile/garethlpowell.bsky.social Find out about Gareth and Jendia Gammon's publishing house Stars and Sabers here https://www.starsandsabers.com/ You'll be able to hear more from this conversation with Gareth L. Powell and many of our other guests by joining our Patreon at the Gold Tier or above where we have exclusive bonus content from many of our Writing Worlds episodes coming up for our patrons. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 2m

  3. 11/19/2025

    Season One Review with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory

    Thank you for joining us for this review of season one of Writing Worlds with hosts Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory. To hear our bonus content please join us on Patreon here ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store. Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories. Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 8m

  4. 10/15/2025

    Chris Beckett: Climate Crises

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  In this episode we feature Arthur C. Clarke Award winning novelist, Chris Beckett. The author of 9 critically acclaimed novels and a number of short stories which have featured in publications such as Interzone and Asimov's Science Fiction, Chris has also written an audio drama adaptation of his novel "Two Tribes" which was produced by Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories Find out more about Chris and his work by visiting his website here https://www.chris-beckett.com/ Listen to Chris's audio drama adaptation of 'Two Tribes' here https://www.patreon.com/posts/two-tribes-133816023 You'll be able to hear more from this conversation with Chris Beckett by joining our Patreon at the Gold Tier or above where we have exclusive bonus content from many of our Writing Worlds episodes coming up for our patrons. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 3m

  5. 10/01/2025

    Adrian M Gibson: Fungi

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  In this episode we feature author illustrator and podcaster Adrian M Gibson. Adrian's novel "Mushroom Blues' explores a world in the wake of a devastating war in which the fungal inhabitants of the island nation of Hoppon and its capital city of Neo Kinoko are in dire straits, wracked by food shortages, poverty, and an influx of war refugees. Find out more about Adrian and his work + order a copy of "Mushroom Blues" by visiting his website here https://adrianmgibson.com/ You can follow Adrian on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/adrianmgibson/ Watch Adrian and colleagues on the FanFi Addict YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/c/FanFiAddict In this episode we discuss a number of books about fungi and mycelium including "Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake, "Mycelium Running" by Paul Stamets and "Food of the Gods" by Terence McKenna. You should be able to buy copies of all of them by searching for a local supplier. You'll be able to hear more from this conversation with Adrian M Gibson by joining our Patreon at the Gold Tier or above. We have exclusive bonus content from many of our Writing Worlds episodes coming up for our patrons. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store. Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 1m

  6. 09/17/2025

    Tim Hardie and RJ Bayley: Voicing Vikings

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  In this episode we feature author Tim Hardie and voice actor and audio book reader RJ Bayley.  Tim and RJ talk about the creation of the audio book version of Tim’s novel Hall of Bones and we discuss the reasons why an author might consider producing an audio book and the economics and practicalities of doing so.  RJ provides insight into the ways in which a voice actor can help to bring worlds to life through voices and intonation. We’ll be sharing more from this conversation including an insight into running a kickstarter to fund an audio book project on our Patreon. Join to have all episodes of Writing Worlds delivered two days early and ad-free.  We have exclusive bonus content from most of our Writing Worlds episodes coming up for our patrons. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ To find out more about Tim Hardie and his work and to order copies of his books  please visit his website here  https://www.timhardieauthor.co.uk/ To find out more about RJ Bayley and his work and to book him for your audio book project please visit his website here  https://rjbayley.com/ Tim Hardie has partnered with Audiobook Empire to make his audiobooks available at a discounted price. AE Audio Outlet don’t take a cut, so the authors they feature get the full list price when you buy through them. You can think of this as buying direct from the author, whilst AE Audio Outlet handles the hassle of managing the storefront.  You can check out their growing list of titles online at https://shop.audiobookempire.com/ Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 7m

  7. 09/03/2025

    Arkady Martine: Language

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  In this episode we feature multi-award-winning novelist, poet and academic Arkady Martine. You can find out more about Arkady by visiting her website https://www.arkadymartine.net/ Follow Arkady on Bluesky here https://bsky.app/profile/byzantienne.bsky.social And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/byzantienne Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 1m

  8. 08/20/2025

    Joanne Harris : Smells and Sound

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  Join our Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/AltStories In this episode we feature multi-award-winning novelist Joanne Harris. We would like to offer our thanks and appreciation to Joanne for taking the time to record this episode with us. You can find out more about Joanne by visiting her website https://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/ Follow Joanne on Bluesky here https://bsky.app/profile/joannechocolat.bsky.social And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/joannechocolat You can read a full transcript of this episode here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eswme-QRDSWy_sk-JVLNqqmXGONIi39J/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=115587715767862763681&rtpof=true&sd=true In this episode we mention the book An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski. Find out more here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Actor_Prepares We also mention the Penguin Book of English Folk Song in which you can find out more about the Child Ballads https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/179200/the-new-penguin-book-of-english-folk-songs-by-bishop-steve-roud-and-julia/9780141194622 Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 2m
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Join award-winning audio drama makers Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen for fortnightly conversations about world building with some of the best writers around, and find out how their worlds come to life.

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