Writing Excuses

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Writing Excuses 10.5: What Do You Mean My Main Character is Boring? Feb 02, 2015

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Does your draft have a boring main character? You're not alone! Also, the problem can be solved.

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Writing Excuses 10.4: Q&A on Ideas Jan 25, 2015

Show notes

At the Out of Excuses Workshop and Retreat we premiered the Season 10 concept, and we invited our attendees to give us the questions we need this month. (They'll also be the ones providing our questions for February, but we'll cast our net wide for questions in March.) Ideas are hard! Is it ever acceptable for inexperienced writers to write derivative works? How do you keep from being discouraged when something similar to your idea comes out? How do you know when your idea is a novel, vs. when it's a short story? Should you only write for themed anthologies if you already have an idea ready in that theme? How can you practice description when your idea is set someplace completely unfamiliar to you? When should you abandon an idea you love? Liner Notes: We talked about novel-length vs short-story-length ideas in Season 6, Episode 10 when we covered the M.I.C.E. quotient, and again in Season 8, Episode 20, when Mary talked about short story structure. Also, the anthology into which Howard was drafted on the basis of a spur-of-the-moment idea is Shared Nightmares, and his story is called "U.I."

2015 Hugo Award Eligibility – SHADOWS BENEATH Jan 21, 2015

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Don't forget to nominate for the 2015 Hugo Ballot, and if you like Writing Excuses, please consider nominating Shadows Beneath for Best Related Work.

Writing Excuses 10.3: Lovecraftian Horror Jan 20, 2015

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Cherie Priest joins us for a discussion of Lovecraftian horror.

Writing Excuses 10.2: I Have an Idea; What Do I Do Now? Jan 12, 2015

Show notes

Writing Excuses Season 10, the podcasted master-class, continues with this exploration of that critical second step: what do do once you've got an idea that has story-legs. (Note: When we say "two weeks ago" over and over, that's just bad math. You haven't missed an episode.) We talk about our various approaches to this, many of which center around finding the person or people who are most affected by the thing our idea conjures into their world, but that's really only the very beginning of it.

Writing Excuses 10.1: Seriously, Where Do You Get Your Ideas? Jan 05, 2015

Show notes

Brandon, Howard, Mary, and Dan offer useful answers to that age-old question: "Where do you get your ideas?"

Writing Excuses 9.54: Capstone to Season 9 Dec 29, 2014

Show notes

As 2014 draws to a close we say goodbye to Season 9, and talk a bit about what we've each learned this year. Howard explained the surprising changes that came with a change in his work space Mary told us how she reached a new understanding of pacing Brandon talked about how recent time pressures have informed his writing process Dan learned why he is writing Hopefully our discussions of how we've changed as writers this year will offer you some insight into how your own writing has developed, and how you might take steps to develop it in the future. We also talk about how Season 10 is coming, and is going to be a bit different than seasons past. Thing We Failed To Do: get a picture of the possum. It turns out that those things are sneaky, and none of us a very good photographers. Can of Already Open Worms: Writing for fun. "Didn't you guys just talk about that?" Yes, we did, in an episode that was recorded 3 months later, but which aired just last week.

Writing Excuses 9.53: Writing For Fun Dec 22, 2014

Show notes

You know what's fun? WRITING! Writing is fun. And that, more than anything else, is why we do it. Or at least it's why we decided to do it. Making sure that it is still fun is kind of tricky. Also tricky? Writing for nothing more than the fun of it. And this episode is about that. Missing from this episode: Mary. For contractual reasons we found ourselves in need of 54 episodes during Season 9, and that meant an emergency recording session while Mary was on the road. It also meant you got 54 weekly episodes this year!

Writing Excuses Season 9.52: From the Page to the Stage Dec 15, 2014

Show notes

Allison W. Hill and C. Austin Hill joined us at the Out of Excuses Retreat to talk about turning A Night of Blacker Darkness, by Dan Wells, into a stage play. "From the page to the stage" is a thing that theater people actually say to describe this, so the process is one that has a lot of precedent behind it. We talk about the guiding principles behind adaptation, and then dive into the challenges that our guests face with this particular project. (Note: We may be tweaking the audio on this episode in the future to remove the "Season 10" references right at the end. They're confusing, and you don't need that.)

Writing Excuses 9.51: Q&A At The Retreat Dec 08, 2014

Show notes

If there's a crowd with good questions, it's the Out of Excuses Workshop and Retreat attendees. Given the trend toward moral ambiguity, is there still a place for an unquestionably evil character? Should you publish a first book that isn't in the style or genre that you're ultimately interested in? Is it possible to write epic fantasy with a single POV? Of all of the myriad talents of the literary agents you work with, what's the one that makes you stick with your agent? How do you maintain your writing chops when you're buried in the research phase of a project? What are some issues a short story writer should be aware of when tackling a novel? How do you go about discovery writing characters? When you build a story, does the foreshadowing go in during the first pass, or in later edits? Our sponsor, Audible, is giving away Legion: Skin Deep, by Brandon Sanderson between now and December 24th. Follow that link and get a free audio book!

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