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

20:32

11.08: Wonder as a Subgenre

Writing Excuses ·

2016/02/21

If the Element of Wonder is the driving force behind "sense of wonder" science fiction and fantasy, then that same element can be used to give wondrous flavor to stories whose driving force lies among the other elemental genres. We talk about how to use wonder at smaller scales, how to create it with context, and how you might use it in support of the other themes of your story.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries:

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18:33

11.07: The Convention Survival Kit, with Gail Carriger

Writing Excuses ·

2016/02/14

Gail Carriger joins us to talk about her Convention Survival Kit, which is full of things most of us wish we'd known to pack with us years ago.Support 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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18:16

11.06: The Element of Wonder

Writing Excuses ·

2016/02/07

We've introduced the concept of Elemental Genre already. It's time to start digging in to the elements themselves, beginning with the Element of Wonder. We started with this one because "sense of wonder" is a term that gets used to describe what makes some science fiction stories work. In this episode we expand upon the word "wonder" a bit, making the shorthand of "elemental wonder" more useful, not to mention more descriptive. We then go on to detail some methods

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17:11

11.05: Writing and World Building for Role Playing Games

Writing Excuses ·

2016/01/31

Michelle Lyons McFarland, Monica Valentinelli, and Shanna Germain join Howard and Dan at GenCon, and talk about the craft of world building for role playing games.Support 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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19:18

11.04: Newton’s Laws of Writing

Writing Excuses ·

2016/01/24

Let's map Newton's Laws of Motion onto writing. Because a wordcount at rest tends to remain at rest...Support 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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18:42

11.03: Layering The Elemental Genres

Writing Excuses ·

2016/01/17

Elemental Genre becomes particularly useful when you start blending the elements for sub-plots, character arcs, or even mash-ups.Support 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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19:50

11.2: How To Get The Most Out Of A Conference, with...

Writing Excuses ·

2016/01/10

What's the difference between a conference and a convention? How do we, as writers, get the most out of them?Support 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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16:53

Writing Excuses 11.1: Introduction to Elemental Genre

Writing Excuses ·

2016/01/03

The word "genre" has a lot of weight to it. Arguments about whether a particular work is, or is not, part of a given genre are long, and tedious. Season Eleven will not be engaging in those arguments. We're giving all that a wide miss by adding an adjective, and defining a new term: Elemental Genre. During 2016 we are going to explore what we write, why we write, and how we write in much the same way as previous seasons have, but our guidepost this year will be this concept of Elemental

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21:56

Writing Excuses 10.42: How In The World Do I Tie All...

Writing Excuses ·

2015/10/18

Nalo Hopkinson joins us again, at sea, for our second Master Class installment on endings. We cover some of the reasons why an ending might not be working, and then talk about the sorts of diagnoses that will help you solve the problem. You'll likely need to dig deep in your toolbox. Our episodes covering the MICE quotient, promises made to the readers, and the Hollywood formula may be worth reviewing in this process.Support this podcast at —

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16:17

Writing Excuses 10.41: Your Character’s Moral Pendulum

Writing Excuses ·

2015/10/11

Brad Beaulieu and Jaym Gates join us from the GenCon Indy Writing Symposium to talk about good versus evil, and how your character might swing between the two. And it's all about that swing. Moral grey areas are more interesting if we move through them. We talk about how we swing the pendulum, what difficulties we encounter, and what sorts of things we want to have happen to our reader when it moves.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-contentAdvertising

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18:39

Writing Excuses 10.40: What’s the Difference Between...

Writing Excuses ·

2015/10/04

Nalo Hopkinson joins us for this episode, which we recorded before a live audience of Out Of Excuses Workshop & Retreat attendees. October's master class episodes focus on endings, and in this first installment we talk about what an ending really is. It's obviously the last part of the book, but the gestalt of "ending" is so much more than just "The End," and it's important that we understand all that before committing ourselves to being done writing it. (Note: You

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17:15

Writing Excuses 10.39: Q&A on Plot Twists with Kevin...

Writing Excuses ·

2015/09/27

Kevin J. Anderson joined us at Sasquan/WorldCon 73 to take questions about plot twists. Here are the questions that came in from our live audience: Genre Twists: good, bad, or ugly? Can you compare and contrast a good plot twist with a bad one? What is the biggest mistake professional authors make with regarding plot twists? Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out:

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21:52

Writing Excuses 10.38: How Does Context Shape Dialog?

Writing Excuses ·

2015/09/20

Our second installment for the Master Class's month of context covers the way dialog between characters may change meaning depending upon the context you create for them. This context may be the setting or genre, and it may also be the "beats" in which you describe what a person is doing while speaking. We talk about how to make this work for you, how to avoid some of the common pitfalls in writing dialog. Liner Notes: Howard mentioned episode 10.11: Project-in-Depth: "Parallel

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18:22

Writing Excuses 10.37: Being a Good Panelist and a...

Writing Excuses ·

2015/09/13

This month's wildcard episode comes to you from the 2015 GenCon Indy Writers' Symposium, where Dan and Howard had the opportunity to interview Susan J. Morris and Marc Tassin. Susan is one of the finest moderators the symposium has ever seen, and Marc directs the event, building the schedule around good panelists and great moderators. Their advice is insightful, fresh, and spot-on. If you ever find yourself scheduled to speak on, or moderate, a panel, this episode is a great listen for

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19:47

Writing Excuses 10.36: How Does Context Shape Plot...

Writing Excuses ·

2015/09/06

We've talked about plot twists before. This episode covers the way in which the type of plot twist is dependent on, or signaled by, the context of the story. Getting plot twists right may mean surprising the reader, but it's just as important to have the twist surprise the character. SPOILER ALERT: Avengers: Age of Ultron, and The Sixth Sense, among others. It's hard to talk about plot twists without talking about some really good ones. This month's master-class topic is

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16:16

Writing Excuses 10.35: Breaking In, With Charlie N....

Writing Excuses ·

2015/08/30

Charlie N. Holmberg, who was recently signed by Amazon's 47 North imprint, joined us in front of a live audience it Sasquan (the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention) to talk about breaking in to the industry. Brandon and Dan broke in a decade ago, and Howard never actually bothered breaking in. This episode is brought to you by David Farland's writing workshops at mystorydoctor.com, whose URL completely escaped Howard during the episode. Here are two coupon codes: August50 gets $50 off any

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19:41

Writing Excuses 10.34: Q&A on Pacing

Writing Excuses ·

2015/08/23

We wrap up this month's discussion of pacing with a Q&A. Here are the questions we pulled out of the virtual hat (read: Twitter) for answering during the episode: What are some early indications of a pacing problem? How do you chart pacing so that it remains even? Can you control pacing using scene/sequel format? How do you handle character progression during travel without making it choppy? It feels like new authors are required to deliver breakneck pacing. Is this true?Support this podcast

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19:02

Writing Excuses 10.33: Combat, with Marie Brennan

Writing Excuses ·

2015/08/16

Marie Brennan joins us again, this time for a discussion about writing combat. She's studied fencing, combat choreography, and is *this close* to having a black belt in shotokan karate, bringing a valuable perspective to the discussion. Also, she's written an ebook called Writing Fight Scenes, so she knows how to talk about this stuff. We discuss some of our favorite fight scenes in movies and in books, why they work well, and how we can go about creating those sorts of things ourselves

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19:09

Writing Excuses 10.32: How Do I Control the Speed of...

Writing Excuses ·

2015/08/09

Words take time to read, but that's not the same amount of time that the words communicate...Support 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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18:58

Writing Excuses 10.31: How Do I Control the Reader’s...

Writing Excuses ·

2015/08/02

Are we making progress? How do we communicate that to the reader?Support 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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