Tomorrow night we go live at 7pm MDT (Denver) on Ask an Anthropologist About Worldbuilding with Dr. Yasmine Musharbash, an Anthropologist and Expert on Monsters across cultures. So if you have a question about what makes a really effective monster, or you just want to get into that spooky season vibe, join us for the conversation. You can put your question here in the comments, or in the livestream.
anthropology and worldbuilding
Ask an Anthropologist About Worldbuilding: What Your Fictional Species Gets Wrong ft. Kyra Wellstrom
Kyra Wellstrom, forensic anthropologist and co-author of Build Better Worlds, joined Michael for a live Q&A on what biological anthropology can teach worldbuilders. Topics include what a skeleton can actually tell you, building nonhuman species from the ground up, how biology drives culture, and why disease matters more than most fiction acknowledges.
Watch the full episode:
Next up April 15th: Dr. Jeana Jorgensen on folklore, fairy tales, and worldbuilding. 6:30pm Mountain Time. Don’t forget to bring your questions for the livestream, or put them in the chat in advance!
Ask an Anthropologist: How Much Worldbuilding Do You Really Need?
Next Edition of Ask An Anthropologist About Worldbuilding Live Q&A – February 3rd 2026
Submit your questions before the stream in the comments section by clicking here
What’s the right amount of worldbuilding for your story? Maps, architecture, magic, religion, language, myth? The answer… it depends.
In this clip from our last episode of the Ask an Anthropologist About Worldbuilding livestream, I break down how to decide what’s essential for your story, whether you’re writing a 6,000-word short or the first book in a multi-volume epic.
Want help with your worldbuilding? Join us on February 3rd and I’ll field your questions. Can’t make it that day? Put your questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to address them. Click here for the next livestream episode (or watch the replay if you’re seeing this after February 3rd)
Live Tonight: How Anthropology Makes Your Worldbuilding Feel Real
Tonight at 7pm (Denver, CO Time), I’ll be livestreaming and fielding questions about how to use Anthropology to build fictional worlds.
If you’re a writer or creative struggling with worldbuilding or, if something in your fictional world doesn’t quite fit, this is the place to bring all your questions. You can join live and ask questions in real time, or if you can’t make it, drop a question the comments ahead of time, and I’ll do my best to address them during the livestream.
Watch live here: As an Anthropologist about Worldbuilding
Some possible avenues of discussion include:
• Building believable cultures and societies
• Using anthropology in fantasy and science fiction
• Worldbuilding through dialogue and character interaction
• Power, resistance, and social systems in fiction
• Avoiding shallow or stereotypical cultures
• Making fictional societies feel real without exposition dumps
This livestream is about all of you. Quite of few of you have followed my work over the years, and I wanted to do something to give back. And, if people find this useful, I’d love to do a recurring thing.
Hope to see you tonight!
Michael
Loridian's Laboratory 