Important Suggestions for Writing House Opera – How To Write the Future podcast, episode 156
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“In fact, you wish to consider what they need, the aim, why they need it, the motivation; what’s of their method, the battle, but in addition their strengths and in addition their secrets and techniques.” – Beth Barany
On this episode of How To Write The Future, “Important Suggestions for Writing House Opera,” podcast host Beth Barany will get interviewed by her husband and fellow creator Ezra Barany about what an area opera is and clarify how one can create that sort of story. Beth shares how she was impressed to write down her Janey McCallister sci-fi thriller sequence, shares the best way to construct advanced interstellar societies.
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In regards to the How To Write the Future podcast
The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who wish to write constructive futures and efficiently carry these tales out into {the marketplace}. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cowl suggestions for fiction writers.This podcast is for readers too in the event you’re in any respect interested by the way forward for humanity.
This podcast is for you when you’ve got questions like:
– How do I create a plausible world for my science fiction story?
– How do I work out what’s not working if my story feels flat?
– How do I make my story extra attention-grabbing and alive?
This podcast is for readers too in the event you’re in any respect interested by the way forward for humanity.
ABOUT EZRA BARANY
Ezra Barany loves riveting readers with thrillers, however by order of the Division of Motor Autos he should place a warning on each guide cowl, “Don’t learn whereas driving.” His first two books in The Torah Codes sequence have been award-winning worldwide bestsellers. The second two books within the 4-book sequence wowed readers too! In his free time, he has eye-opening discussions on the artwork of writing novels along with his spouse and guide coach Beth Barany. A highschool physics instructor, Ezra lives in Oakland along with his beloved spouse and two cats engaged on the subsequent guide in The Torah Codes sequence. Ezra, not the cats. For a free brief story in The Torah Codes sequence, “The Mourner’s Kaddish,” do please go to http://www.thetorahcodes.com/.
Transcript for 156. Important Suggestions for Writing House Opera
[00:00] Introduction and Host Background
BETH BARANY: Hello everybody. Beth Barany right here with a laughing husband.
Beth Barany right here with Find out how to Write The Future Podcast. And I’m right here at this time with my husband, Ezra Barany.
EZRA BARANY: Hello.
BETH BARANY: Yay.
We’re experimenting with a bit sequence of episodes the place he asks me questions and I reply them, and he’ll chime in along with his solutions, I hope.
So that is How To Write The Future Podcast. We’re right here to help science fiction and fantasy writers and anybody who cares in regards to the future that will help you envision and write tales that I hope will likely be constructive and optimistic variations of humanity, of what we will turn out to be. And each Ezra and I are working writers and we’re right here to enlighten and lighten the load, have some enjoyable, provide you with some suggestions, and naturally, we’re right here additionally in your questions.
[00:54] Your questions, our solutions
BETH BARANY: So when you’ve got questions, you should definitely ask us these questions within the feedback part of wherever you’ll be able to put up feedback or instantly contact me by the best way to write the longer term.com.
And keep tuned to the top the place I’m gonna share a method that you may get much more details about serving to you write your science fiction or fantasy novel.
Alright, let’s take it away.
[01:17] At present’s Matter: House Operas
BETH BARANY: At present’s subject is:
EZRA BARANY: House Operas.
BETH BARANY: House Operas.
EZRA BARANY: So right here’s my query.
BETH BARANY: Yeah.
EZRA BARANY: So when individuals sing and carry out the place there’s no environment out in house, is {that a} house opera?
BETH BARANY: Completely.
EZRA BARANY: Okay. Subsequent query.
BETH BARANY: Oh, I had individuals performing outdoors the house station in my Janey McCallister, science fiction thriller sequence. I can’t speak. Within the official identify is Janey McCallister thriller sequence. She’s an area station investigator and he or she works in a elaborate house station.
EZRA BARANY: They usually have been dancing in that one, proper?
BETH BARANY: Sure. Sure. and within the first 4 books, she works at a lodge on line casino. Assume Bellagio in house. Yeah.
EZRA BARANY: Nice.
[02:02] Defining House Operas
EZRA BARANY: So what’s an area opera?
BETH BARANY: Okay. What’s an area opera?
So I envision an area opera as a really dramatic sequence of tales that happen in house, typically on spaceships that contain energy struggles, household dynamics, interpersonal dynamics.
It has a broad scope and it’s dramatic and it entails personalities. Let me consider one. Elizabeth Moon has some house operas and it’s like an area transport household. And each guide has some massive journey involving some members of the family and there’s forces performing in opposition to them.
And so that you’ve bought your drama and also you’ve bought your journey, and you then’ve bought this sense of a saga and it’s often involving societies on totally different planets or in numerous spaceships, that type of factor.
EZRA BARANY: Nice. Right here’s one other query that’s proper off the highest of my head.
[02:52] Constructing Complicated Interstellar Societies
EZRA BARANY: Simply out of the skinny air. What are the important constructing blocks wanted to make a posh interstellar society really feel genuine and coherent to readers?
BETH BARANY: Simply off the highest of your head.
EZRA BARANY: simply off the highest.
BETH BARANY: Sure. We did put together forward of time. Sure. So just like any type of story you write, you’re gonna wanna have your totally different factions and your totally different teams. And truly, Ezra did a fantastic episode on desirous about the totally different teams in your society.
You’re gonna have your hierarchies, your energy constructions, so suppose faith, economics, provide chain, training. So if you wanna create a posh society, you’re not gonna create one priest or one instructor or one captain, they’re gonna be a part of a higher group. So then they’re gonna have competing ideologies, competing philosophies and worldviews.
So that you’ll wanna take into consideration all of these, together with individuals affected by the larger choices of societies. Like making a world for any type of story in science fiction or fantasy, it’s gonna have totally different sorts of individuals doing totally different sorts of issues with totally different agendas.
I do know that’s very common. Find out how to make it extra particular? I consider Star Wars. Star Wars is an effective instance, y’all of an area opera, proper? You don’t simply have your fighter pilot, Luke Skywalker’s not only a fighter pilot. He will get educated, there’s commanders, in fact there’s opposing forces, that type of factor.
EZRA BARANY: Yeah. So really main from that is part of making it so epic. All these totally different philosophies, etcetera.
[04:26] Creating Emotionally Invested Characters [
EZRA BARANY: So how do you make that epic feeling of a space opera be so intimate with the characters? How do you focus? How do you keep the readers emotionally invested?
BETH BARANY: Yeah, good question. Yeah. So what you wanna do is, and this is I think my specialty, huh? and how I write and also how I help writers is really develop your character to be fully realized. Of course, you wanna think of what they want, the goal, why they want it, the motivation; what’s in their way, the conflict, but also their strengths and also their secrets.
We love teaching about the secrets.
And also you might wanna think about the worldview, their philosophy, and how that came to be so. Some of the other things I like to think about is how they perceive and feel about their relationships, their core relationships. You learn a lot about someone thinking about those things.
What else? Their secret. I’m gonna come back to secret. The thing that’s in their heart of hearts that they yearn for, that maybe they don’t tell anyone. What they prioritize in their environment. That is actually something I consider important, like in their home space, what’s important; in their workspace what’s important, in their vehicle what’s important, and hobbies.
Hobbies also shape how we view the world. And lastly, something that’s really fun to pull out, and Elizabeth Moon does this really well, is what is your main character’s or point of view character’s favorite story, fairytale motif, hero from storyland. This allows you to bring in–some people call it the imaginal–their imagination, their favorite stories.
‘Cause that tells us what they love and how they were shaped.
And so it’s not an institution versus an institution. That’s not an interesting story.
But if you’ve got a pilot. And she’s gotta deal with her commanding officer and her fellow pilots and the mechanics. And then she’s, I’m thinking of, uh, of Starbuck in, Battlestar Galactica.
EZRA BARANY: Yes.
BETH BARANY: Battlestar Galactica, right? Starbuck isn’t–so none of your characters are in a vacuum. They’re interacting with others all the time. The powers that be, the people who clean their clothes, the cooks, their parents, their friends who aren’t doing what they’re doing. Create a well-rounded character and write the story from their perspective.
And now you’re gonna have something that’s emotionally relatable in this vast epic scale of the story world that you’re creating.
EZRA BARANY: I also think, the character of the main character in Dune, how there are these expectations imposed on him. And we see him grow up with these expectations, his talents that are supposed to be fulfilled and his training, and his desire to get away from those expectations. We see the epicness of the story in that manner.
BETH BARANY: Absolutely. I love that. And their expectations, the expectations that he’s carrying, that he has to respond to fight against, the prophecy that’s on him. How does he respond to that? And it’s all channeled through him. His actions, his words, his deeds, his interactions with everyone.
EZRA BARANY: Great.
BETH BARANY: Yeah. Good.
[07:44] Conclusion and Sources
BETH BARANY: Any extra questions for us on this subject? In any other case, we’re gonna wrap it up.
EZRA BARANY: That’s it.
BETH BARANY: Nice. So We’re gonna wrap it up for at this time.
If you need extra help along with your world constructing, then I like to recommend that you simply try our World Constructing Workbook for Fiction Writers, the place I ask you a bunch of questions, provide you with a bunch of prompts, and you should use that as a information to dig into your story world.
And that’s it. oh. You’ll want to contact us when you’ve got any questions at the best way to write the longer term.com or depart a touch upon YouTube or on the weblog put up the place we put this up or wherever else you’ll be able to depart a remark, tag me on social media.
EZRA BARANY: Be at liberty to mail us a pizza.
BETH BARANY: There you go. That’s proper. All proper, everybody. Write lengthy and prosper.
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ABOUT BETH BARANY
Beth Barany teaches science fiction and fantasy novelists the best way to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, instructor, marketing consultant, and developmental editor. She’s an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and runs the podcast, “How To Write The Future.”
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