PODCAST

Writing Excuses

Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.

fiction careers

All Episodes

16:52

15.29: Barbie Pre-Writing, with Janci Patterson and...

Writing Excuses ·

2020/07/19

Your Hosts: Brandon, Dan, and Howard, with special guests Janci Patterson and Megan Walker Janci Patterson and Megan Walker joined us to talk about their pre-writing process, which involves role-playing in a room full of dioramas with Barbie dolls. As pre-writing processes go, this one was completely new to us, and we very quickly decided that we love it. Credits: this episode was recorded live at NASFIC by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson Support this podcast at —

en-US

16:37

15.28: Small Evils

Writing Excuses ·

2020/07/12

Your Hosts: Brandon, Victoria, Dan, and Howard Small evils? Yes, please! This episode isn't about writing the big villainy of world domination, but about focusing on the more relatable villainy of small evils—the little crimes, the minor antagonisms—which can be the key to connecting the reader to the book. Liner Notes: The deadly nightshade incident Howard described is something he mentioned on Twitter as well. If you need a concrete example of a small evil and/or an external cost, there it is

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22:25

15.27: Alternate History, with Eric Flint

Writing Excuses ·

2020/07/05

Your Hosts: Brandon, Dan, and Howard, with special guest Eric Flint Eric Flint joined us at SpikeCon (host of the 2019 NASFIC) to talk about creating alternate histories. His Ring of Fire book series is enormous in scope, and has many, many more people working on it than just Eric Flint. We get a bit of a peek behind the scenes, and a lot of great information about writing alternate histories of our own. Credits: This episode was recorded by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this

en-US

25:41

15.26: Taking the Chance, with David Weber

Writing Excuses ·

2020/06/28

Your Hosts: Brandon, Howard, and Dan with special guest David Weber David Weber joined us at NASFIC to talk about the importance of risking failure on any path (especially a writer's path) to success--whether you're risking rejection in the submission process, or the possibility that the book you write won't be the amazing thing you've been imagining. If you're currently feeling the need to be out of excuses, this episode might be exactly what you're looking for. Credits:

en-US

20:38

15.25: Using the MICE Quotient for Conflict

Writing Excuses ·

2020/06/21

Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard The MICE quotient is a tool for categorizing story elements—Milieu, Idea, Character, and Event—and we've talked about it quite a bit in the past. When a listener asked how we might use the MICE quotient to create, inform, manage, and otherwise help us "do" conflict in our stories, we were excited to start recording, and a bit bewildered that we'd somehow not already done this episode. Credits: This episode was recorded by Joseph

en-US

17:05

15.24: Keeping it Fresh, with Jim Butcher

Writing Excuses ·

2020/06/14

Your Hosts: Brandon, Howard, and Dan, with special guest Jim Butcher Jim Butcher joined us at NASFIC for a discussion about how we can keep long-running serials engaging after numerous books. Credits: this episode was recorded before a live audience by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

en-US

17:48

15.23: Serialization

Writing Excuses ·

2020/06/07

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, Lari, and Dan, with special guest Jenn Court Let's talk about serials. Jenn Court, whose work includes lots of writing for TV (IMDB link), joins us for the discussion. What are the elements that get us, as readers or viewers, to come back for episode after episode, and how do we, as writers, identify those elements and set about synthesizing them? Credits: This episode was mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this podcast at —

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23:28

15.22 Writing For Children, with Shannon and Dean Hale

Writing Excuses ·

2020/05/31

Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, and Dan, with Shannon and Dean Hale Shannon and Dean Hale join us again, this time to discuss how to effectively and convincingly write for¹ children. Children have their own unique sets of expectations for the books they read (as do their parents), and in this episode we talk about how to meet (or subvert) those. Credits: This episode was recorded by Joseph Meacham, and mastered by Alex Jackson ¹ "For," not "about." Shannon and Dean discussed

en-US

18:48

15.21: Writing About Children, with Shannon and Dean...

Writing Excuses ·

2020/05/24

Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, and Dan, with Shannon and Dean Hale Shannon and Dean Hale join us to discuss how to effectively and convincingly write about¹ children. We cover dialog tools, point-of-view elements, stakes, and character 'quirks' that can help signal to the reader that a character is a child. Credits: This episode was recorded by Joseph Meacham, and mastered by Alex Jackson ¹ "About," not "for." Shannon and Dean join us again to discuss writing FOR

en-US

23:39

15.20: Mental Wellness and Writing

Writing Excuses ·

2020/05/17

Your Hosts: Brandon, Victoria, Dan, and Howard In this episode we'll be talking about the things we do to stay creative, productive, healthy, and happy. For the purposes of this discussion, "mental wellness" is not about coping with mental illness, it's about self-care. Liner Notes: Here's the gridded lifestyle tracker for the homework, lifted directly from Victoria's Twitter feed. Credits: This episode was recorded by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.Support this

en-US

17:47

15.19: As You Know, This Episode Is About Exposition

Writing Excuses ·

2020/05/10

Your Hosts: Brandon, Victoria, Dan, and Howard "As you know, Bob..." is the trope-tastic line we use to refer to expository dialog which has no function beyond exposition. We get lots of listener questions about how to use dialog for exposition without making it feel like we're using dialog for exposition. And as Bob already knows, this episode is about answering those questions. Credits: This episode was recorded by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this podcast at —

en-US

19:24

15.18: Finding a Community, with Shauna Hoffman

Writing Excuses ·

2020/05/03

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, Dan, and Lari¹, with special guest Shauna Hoffman Many Writing Excuses listeners (especially WXR alumni) already know Shauna Hoffman. She joins us to talk about how to deal with the fact that we, as authors, often feel isolated. The listener question that sparked this episode: "How do you keep the pressure off when you feel alone?" How indeed? If this feels timely, well, some of that is coincidence. And some, of course, is not². Credits: This episode was recorded

en-US

17:11

15.17: Asexual Representation

Writing Excuses ·

2020/04/26

Your Hosts: Dan, Tempest, Mary Robinette, and Howard Generally speaking, asexuality is a sexual orientation or identity typified by the absence of a desire to have sex. It's *way* more complicated than that, however, and in this episode Tempest helps us unpack it so that asexual characters can be written more effectively. Liner Notes: Want to dig deeper? Over at Writing The Other there's a master class on writing asexual characters taught by Lauren Jankowski. Credits: This episode was

en-US

19:21

15.16: Balancing Plot and Character

Writing Excuses ·

2020/04/19

Your Hosts: Brandon, Victoria, Dan, and Howard We're often asked how to balance character arcs with the intricacies of the plots we create. In this episode we talk about the various ways in which we do this. Credits: This episode was recorded by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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17:41

15.15: Dialog

Writing Excuses ·

2020/04/12

Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard Listener questions drove this episode, and there are only two of them but they were pretty good drivers. Here they are: Is it a problem that all my dialog ends up as logic-based debates between characters? What can I do to create more variety in my dialog structure? Credits: This episode was recorded by Joseph Meacham, and mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-contentAdvertising

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21:16

15.14: Agent Query Trenches

Writing Excuses ·

2020/04/05

Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard The title of this episode comes to us from listener questions along the lines of "what do you do when you're 'in the trenches' querying agents?" Our answers, predictably, have almost nothing to do with actual trenches. Credits: This episode was recorded by Joseph Meacham, and mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries:

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16:23

15.13: Using Elections in Stories

Writing Excuses ·

2020/03/29

Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard, with special guest Daniel Friend Daniel Friend, who edits SF/F, has worked in election offices, has run for office, and has participated in campaigns. In this episode we talk about the ways elections can be worked into our stories. Credits: This episode was recorded by Joseph Meacham, and mastered by Alex Jackson.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries:

en-US

22:32

15.12: Writing the Other—Being an Ally

Writing Excuses ·

2020/03/22

Your Hosts: Piper, Tempest, DongWon, with special guest Erin Roberts What can we do to be allies to members of marginalized groups? Many of us want to find ways to help others have safe, comfortable places within our communities, but worry about coming across the wrong way. In this episode, our hosts talk about how we can do this well as writers, as members of writing communities, and in society at large. Credits: This episode was recorded by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this

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26:03

15.11: Digital is Different, with Cory Doctorow

Writing Excuses ·

2020/03/15

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, Piper, Howard, and special guest Cory Doctorow "How do you break in?" is one of those questions we always get asked in some form or another, and it's also one for which those of us who "broke in" more than a couple of years ago are increasingly unqualified to answer. The path "in" is always changing, and it seems to be changing faster as time goes on. With the obligatory disclaimer out of the way, in this episode we'll talk about how

en-US

20:27

15.10: Evaluating Ideas

Writing Excuses ·

2020/03/08

Your Hosts: Brandon, Victoria, Dan, and Howard We've talked in the past about how ideas are cheap, and that it's execution upon those ideas which is what really matters. In this episode we'll talk about how we evaluate things over there on the side of the equation where things are cheap and plentiful. Because while we have no shortage of ideas, they vary quite a bit in their value to us. Credits: This episode was recorded by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex JacksonSupport this podcast

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