Robert E. Howard didn't tell Conan the Barbarian's life in chronological order. One story might find Conan as a young thief, another as an older adventurer, and another somewhere entirely different-- and somehow those gaps make his world feel bigger rather than incomplete.

In this episode, I'm joined again by writer and editor Matt Click to talk about what Conan can teach fiction writers about writing stories and series out of order.

We explore an approach I'm calling modular continuity: creating stories that work independently while still belonging to the same character, world, and larger continuity. Instead of filling in every step of a character's life, you can establish important anchors, leave open space between them, and write the adventures that interest you.

Along the way, we talk about Robert E. Howard and pulp storytelling, why the Hyborian Age feels so enormous, Conan's surprising humanity and intelligence, The Tower of the Elephant, Savage Sword of Conan, Frank Frazetta-- and the extremely important question that started this entire conversation: Why does Conan rip so hard?

Questions this episode explores:
Can you write a fiction series out of chronological order-- and do it well?
How do you keep continuity while leaving gaps in a character's timeline?
What is modular continuity?
How can standalone stories still feel like part of a larger series?
Can leaving parts of your fictional world unexplained actually make it feel bigger?
Why has Conan the Barbarian remained such a compelling character?
What can fiction writers learn from Robert E. Howard's approach to serialized storytelling?