Writing Excuses

Latest Episodes:

15.26: Taking the Chance, with David Weber Jun 28, 2020

Show notes

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: This episode was recorded live at NASFIC by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson

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15.25: Using the MICE Quotient for Conflict Jun 21, 2020

Show notes

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 Meacham, and mastered by Alex Jackson

15.24: Keeping it Fresh, with Jim Butcher Jun 14, 2020

Show notes

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 Jackson

15.23: Serialization Jun 07, 2020

Show notes

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 Jackson

15.22 Writing For Children, with Shannon and Dean Hale May 31, 2020

Show notes

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 writing ABOUT children last week.

15.21: Writing About Children, with Shannon and Dean Hale May 24, 2020

Show notes

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 children next week!

15.20: Mental Wellness and Writing May 17, 2020

Show notes

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.

15.19: As You Know, This Episode Is About Exposition May 10, 2020

Show notes

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 Jackson

15.18: Finding a Community, with Shauna Hoffman May 03, 2020

Show notes

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 remotely³, using a variety of VOIP tools, and was mastered by Alex Jackson. ¹ Larissa Helena is joining us as a guest host. She has worked as a literary agent, a translator, and a rights manager, and we look forward to hearing more from her this season. ² Yes, the irony of this being the first of our recorded-during-sparkling-isolation episodes is something we're leaning into. ³ This is the first airing of a Writing Excuses episode in which the participants not physically present in the same room. We suspect it won't be the last, and that we'll get better at it.

15.17: Asexual Representation Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

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 recorded by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson

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