{"id":30640,"date":"2026-07-13T04:16:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=30640"},"modified":"2026-07-13T04:16:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:16:26","slug":"editing-your-sci-fi-fantasy-novel-genre-tropes-and-character-arc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/13\/editing-your-sci-fi-fantasy-novel-genre-tropes-and-character-arc\/","title":{"rendered":"Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HTWTF-Episode-213-Blog-images-2.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30642 size-full\" title=\"Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HTWTF-Episode-213-Blog-images-2.png\" alt=\"Image of papers and post it notes for Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HTWTF-Episode-213-Blog-images-2.png 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HTWTF-Episode-213-Blog-images-2-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HTWTF-Episode-213-Blog-images-1.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30643 size-full aligncenter\" title=\"Quote from Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HTWTF-Episode-213-Blog-images-1.png\" alt=\"Quote from Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HTWTF-Episode-213-Blog-images-1.png 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HTWTF-Episode-213-Blog-images-1-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"notion-enable-hover\" data-token-index=\"0\">Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc &#8211; How To Write the Future podcast, episode 213<\/span><!-- notionvc: afb065b1-a6a3-4513-8120-0fc64c03811d --><\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIdentify in your own book what are the tropes that you&#8217;re using that are identifiable by any reader. And notice if they&#8217;re all working for you.\u201c <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; Beth Barany\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this How To Write the Future podcast episode, \u201c<\/span><b>Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d host Beth Barany explains why the \u201cEdit Your Novel Checklist\u201d is a great resource for writers who have finished their rough draft, encourages you to think about your reader and genre expectations, and provides an example and walk-through of a story showing you how to problem solve issues with your character arc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This episode also includes discussion of book tropes; how to hone in on the biggest problem in your story; the next stages of your story writing; and whether that stage includes beta readers or an editor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Platforms the podcast is available on: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/213-editing-your-sci-fi-fantasy-novel-genre-tropes\/id1641025914?i=1000776556720\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061\/episodes\/19483888-213-editing-your-sci-fi-fantasy-novel-genre-tropes-and-character-arc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Buzzsprout<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/4JKnzk8kMug1u1PgJKVTop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a>| <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/WE_Ef8SG27c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WE_Ef8SG27c?si=6y84Tjoi11auvZCy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><script type='text\/javascript' charset='utf-8' src='https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061.js?container_id=buzzsprout-large-player&#038;player=large'><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RESOURCES\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support the podcast! <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/bethbarany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/bethbarany<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get the workbook: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/world-building-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/world-building-resources\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Join the Edit Lab! <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bethbarany.com\/editlab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/bethbarany.com\/editlab<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About the How To Write the Future podcast\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How To Write The Future<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers. This podcast is for readers too if you\u2019re at all curious about the future of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This podcast is for you if you have questions like:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; How do I figure out what&#8217;s not working if my story feels flat?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; How do I make my story more interesting and alive?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This podcast is for readers, too, if you\u2019re at all curious about the future of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transcript for episode 213 &#8211; Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Editing Checklist Next Steps\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Recently, one of my students in the Edit Lab asked for more clarification about how to edit their manuscript. Now, they already had the Edit Your Novel checklist, which I encourage you to go get, which is a high level review of your book. It encourages you to read your book, and make notes, and score yourself based on all the different parts of editing your novel, from the high level down to story, plot, structure, character development, and even punctuation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you have that score, now what? This is what I think she was asking, now what? How do you dig deeper into editing your novel?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[00:45] Genre And Reader Expectations<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I always go back to the starting point, which is what kind of story are you writing? Meaning, what is your genre?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, I&#8217;m talking to science fiction and fantasy writers. I assume you have a rough understanding of your genre, whether you&#8217;re writing science fiction, whether you&#8217;re writing fantasy or some kind of, some people call it science magic, or a fantasy, like fantasy romance, fantasy adventure, fantasy mystery.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Same with science fiction. Maybe you&#8217;re writing science fiction mysteries, like I do, or science fiction thrillers, which are very popular, or science fiction adventure, or fantasy adventure, which is also very popular, what we might also call epic fantasy. Maybe you&#8217;re writing a saga. Maybe you&#8217;re writing a cozy science fiction or a cozy fantasy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So as you can see, I&#8217;m talking about genre and subgenre, and what do all these terms mean? They are basically reader expectations. And it goes with trends, we have put names to the kinds of stories we&#8217;re talking about<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, these things are trendy. They change with the times. Some things stand the test of time, and that&#8217;s all relative, right? Like, what span of time are we talking about?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[01:57] Tropes And Comp Titles\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So for today, for this month, this year, the last few years, look at your genre and sub-genre and sub-sub-genre and see if you can identify what are the tropes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are tropes? Tropes are things that reoccur again and again. If I were to tell you that I was writing a story about an orphan going on an adventure to reclaim their throne.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okay, right away you start to piece all that together and you have a kind of story. I&#8217;ve just told you some main elements of that story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What I haven&#8217;t yet told you is the kind of world we&#8217;re in, whether it&#8217;s a fantasy or a science fiction or a contemporary or historical. So those things can come in some more. Maybe I said there&#8217;s a magic sword and a secret pertaining to this orphan&#8217;s power, and there were magical pirates and wizards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right away, all those things I just said place that story inside of a fantastical world, a fantasy. So when it comes time to think about, well, now, now that I&#8217;ve done a high level analysis of my book, how do I figure out what to do next?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I&#8217;m gonna say it again, here&#8217;s where you wanna really understand your genre and maybe study and look at the other books in your genre, which are called comps or complementary titles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify in your own book what are the tropes that you&#8217;re using that are identifiable by any reader. And notice if they&#8217;re all working for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[03:40] Fixing The Character Arc\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have a main character who&#8217;s an orphan, which is a very common trope, what is the change arc this orphan is gonna go through?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We all read for character transformation, I believe, in, in the genres, and literary can be a whole other conversation, and that&#8217;s not my specialty. So if you have a character who&#8217;s an orphan, by the end of the book, we want some kind of resolution to have happen, especially if being an orphan is what drives that character in some way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So now we&#8217;re talking about internal character arc, and this is usually the first place I go when I start editing my story, and also my clients&#8217; stories, is I&#8217;m like, is it clear what is the character changing starting at, and then a new place, they&#8217;re ending up at? So that&#8217;s one thing to look at. Is that change clear? And if it&#8217;s not clear, now what? Let&#8217;s make it clear at the beginning. I always come back to the beginning of the story. What is their starting point, their starting question? And now we start to get into questions of character development, and really being clear about what this character wants and needs, how they think of themself, how they think of the world, and what, from over here as the author position, the, the God position, do we know they&#8217;re missing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They don&#8217;t know necessarily what&#8217;s missing. They might feel off or off-kilter in some way, but they don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s missing. But we as the author do.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[05:11] Wounds Lies And Identity\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And some people call that the wound. Some people call that the lie. I don&#8217;t like to call it those two things because, well, actually, the wound is good, &#8217;cause we&#8217;re often driven by our wounds, and I self-identify with them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like I am my wound. And I say we &#8217;cause human beings, right? We base our characters on real people, are walking around with a wound that we identify as who we are. But somewhere deep down, we crave a change, and we crave to identify ourselves in a different way. So for example I am an orphan is an identity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But what if, and I&#8217;m working on a story like this, what if my main character realizes halfway through that they weren&#8217;t orphaned by, by, from the beginning, that they actually have parents, and the memories of their parents start to come back to them?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what if the change arc for my character is at the beginning she thinks, &#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m just an orphan, and I was in an orphanage, and then I left the orphanage,&#8221; and then by the end of the story, what if she&#8217;s realizes, well, actually, this big thing, this big tragedy happened, and I was orphaned. I was with my parents and they died because of this big conflict, and actually, I have a heritage that I come from, a lineage, and I can claim the lineage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before she doesn&#8217;t know her lineage, she just thinks she was p- plucked off the street, and put into the orphanage, but then she finds out later on that she actually has a lineage, and she is not an orphan anymore really. And by the end of the story, she could be thinking about actually, I belong to this long lineage, and who I really am is someone different, and then I, whatever that difference is, I would have her, I&#8217;m gonna have her declare that and say, &#8220;Oh, I am blah, blah, blah now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am a daughter of this lineage,&#8221; and I would make it be very specific.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[06:58] Hone In On Biggest Problem\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what I&#8217;ve done right now is I&#8217;ve honed in on one specific problem to fix in the story. And what I&#8217;m often doing in revisions is after I do my analysis and I, ch- check it out, see if this works for you, take the Edit Your Novel Checklist, do your read-through, analyze your story, score yourself, s- your story, and then hone in on the biggest problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For me, it&#8217;s always a character issue. For some writers, it&#8217;s plot. It really depends. You&#8217;re gonna have to try if you&#8217;re not sure.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[07:33] Beta Readers And Editors\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you&#8217;ve fixed your character arc, and by fixed, I mean you&#8217;ve done your brainstorms, you&#8217;ve made your notes, you&#8217;ve made your changes in your story, now what? At this point, it depends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Either you&#8217;ve taken the story as far as you can go and you&#8217;re pretty happy with the plot, you like your new character changes, you&#8217;ve cleaned up the manuscript as best you can with char- you know, with, with commas and punctuation and spelling. Now what? The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to start to bring it out to critique partners and beta readers, and maybe hire an editor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I myself don&#8217;t edit manuscripts just by themselves. I actually teach people how to become better editors of their own work, and I do that through my group mastermind for science fiction and fantasy writers. And that is a very small group, and you have to apply to that, and it&#8217;s really a place where you learn how to improve as a writer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I&#8217;m not the kind of person who will take your manuscript, edit it, and hand it back. There&#8217;s lots of great other editors out there who can help you with that, and if you need recommendations, just reach out to me. I know a lot of people.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[08:41] Wrap Up And Farewell\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So that&#8217;s all I&#8217;m gonna talk about this week. If this,provoked, evoked any questions for you, let me know so that I can make a new episode on it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I really believe that editing a novel is a very fruitful and wonderful endeavor, and it really pays for you to understand how to edit your own novel. Even if an editor does it for you, you still have to go in and make decisions. So making those decisions is our work as writers, and I know you can do that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All right, that&#8217;s it for this week, everyone. Write long and prosper. And I hope you enjoyed that little clip with Rocket the Cat. Ciao for now.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here:\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><b>Need instructions on how to leave a review?<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/leave-a-podcast-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Support our work for creatives: leave a tip: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/bethbarany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/bethbarany<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ABOUT BETH BARANY\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/BETH-BARANY_2023_300px_01-e1692481023683.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27411 size-full alignleft\" title=\"Beth Barany\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/BETH-BARANY_2023_300px_01-e1692481023683.png\" alt=\"Beth Barany\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beth Barany is an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. They help novelists write, revise, and publish stories that matter\u2014blending practical craft guidance with a big-picture commitment to imagination, meaning, and possibility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn more about Beth Barany at these sites:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/author.bethbarany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Author site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/bethbarany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coaching site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/baranyschooloffiction.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">School of Fiction<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.writersfunzone.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Writer\u2019s Fun Zone blog<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CONNECT\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contact Beth: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/#tve-jump-185b4422580\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/#tve-jump-185b4422580<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email: beth@bethbarany.com<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bethbarany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bethbarany\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IG: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bethbarany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bethbarany\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TT: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@bethbarany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@bethbarany\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FB: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bethbarany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bethbarany<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">X: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BethBarany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/BethBarany<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CREDITS<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EDITED WITH DESCRIPT:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.descript.com?lmref=_w1WCA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/www.descript.com?lmref=_w1WCA <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Refer-a-Friend link)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MUSIC CREDITS : Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/uppbeat.io\/t\/soundroll\/fuzz-buzz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/uppbeat.io\/t\/soundroll\/fuzz-buzz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> License code: UMMKDRL02DFGKJ0L. \u201cFuzz buzz\u201d by Soundroll. Commercial license:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/musicvine.com\/track\/soundroll\/fuzz-buzz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/musicvine.com\/track\/soundroll\/fuzz-buzz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/?referrer_id=1994465\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/?referrer_id=1994465<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Refer-a-Friend link)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EDITORIAL by Iman Llompart\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">c 2025 BETH BARANY<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bethbarany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/bethbarany.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For more \u201cHow To Write the Future\u201d episodes, go <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019d like to invite Beth onto your podcast, drop her a note <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/contact-beth\/#contactbeth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2705 Like the work we do? Tip us! <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/bethbarany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/bethbarany<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editing Your Sci-Fi\/Fantasy Novel: Genre, Tropes, and Character Arc &#8211; How To Write the Future podcast, episode 213 *** \u201cIdentify in your own book what are the tropes that you&#8217;re using that are identifiable&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":30642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[5099],"tags":[2541,140,8052,8057,1029,4918,8054,8053,146,2208,4607,5160,74,5708,2590,2010,8055,2688,2872,5163,5183,5162,5164,1490,5165,8056],"class_list":["post-30640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-write-the-future-podcast","tag-beta-readers","tag-beth-barany","tag-book-tropes","tag-brainstorm","tag-character-development","tag-comp-titles","tag-edit-lab","tag-edit-your-novel-checklist","tag-editing","tag-editors","tag-fiction-writing-tips","tag-futuristics","tag-genre","tag-genre-writing","tag-manuscript","tag-problem-solving","tag-reader-expectation","tag-story-arc","tag-story-telling","tag-story-world-building","tag-strategic-foresight","tag-tips-for-fiction-writers","tag-write-the-future","tag-writing-coaching","tag-writing-teaching","tag-writing-your-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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