Podcasts by Writing Excuses
Fifteen minutes long, because you
Further podcasts by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
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Writing Excuses 10.52: Moving On, with Ellen Kushner from 2015-12-27T23:00:43
Ellen Kushner joins us for the last episode of Season 10. Per the title, folks, it’s time to be done. What does “done” mean? How do you go about declaring a project “finishe...
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Writing Excuses 10.51: Q&A on Showing Your Work, with Daniel José Older from 2015-12-20T23:51:10
Daniel José Older joins us for a Q&A on showing your work around. Here are the questions, which were submitted by attendees at the Out of Excuses workshop: What’s the best way to meet edi...
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Writing Excuses 10.50: How to Hand-Sell Your Manuscript to Agents and Editors, with Michael Underwood and Marco Palmieri from 2015-12-13T23:00
Marco Palmieri and Michael Underwood took the stage with Howard and Dan at GenCon Indy 2015 to discuss hand-selling manuscripts. Marco Palmieri is a senior editor at Tor, and Michael Underwood is a...
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Writing Excuses 10.49: What Do I Do With This Thing Now? from 2015-12-06T23:00:15
We’re at the end of our Season Ten Master Class, and if you’ve been diligent about the homework, you may very well have a finished manuscript in your hands. What do you do with it? Dani...
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Writing Excuses 10.48: Project in Depth, The Devil’s Only Friend from 2015-11-29T23:00:23
Spoiler Alert! We'll be discussing the latest John Cleaver book from Dan Wells with author, podcaster, and unrepentant bacon-lover Dan Wells! If you haven't read it, and you want to be surprised by...
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Writing Excuses 10.47: Q&A on Revision from 2015-11-22T23:00:30
And now for your questions about revision. Or rather, questions from the WXR attendees, who were aboard the Independence of the Seas with us (the answers to these questions are secreted away in the...
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Writing Excuses 10.46: How Do I Make This Pretty? from 2015-11-15T23:00:31
The microphones again find us aboard the Independence of the Seas*, to talk about how terribly ugly this manuscript is, and what we can do to make it pretty. In this episode we drill down on line-b...
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Writing Excuses 10.45: Q&A at the GenCon Writing Symposium, with Kameron Hurley, James L. Sutter, and Michael Underwood from 2015-11-08T23:00:23
Dan and Howard are joined by Kameron Hurley, James L. Sutter, and Michael Underwood for an anything-goes Q&A at the GenCon Indy Writing Symposium. We had reached the end of our two-hour block, ...
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Writing Excuses 10.44: How Do I Fix What is Broken? from 2015-11-01T23:00:51
November is “Revision” month here in the Writing Excuses Season 10 Master Class, so while many of you may be tempted by NaNoWriMo, there’s a different kind of work to be done̷...
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Writing Excuses 10.43: Q&A on Endings, with Delia Sherman from 2015-10-25T22:00:17
Delia Sherman joined us aboard the Independence of the Seas for our question-and-answer installment on endings. The questions came from the attendees at the Writing Excuses Workshop, which was, les...
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Writing Excuses 10.42: How In The World Do I Tie All This Together? from 2015-10-18T16:11:47
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 diagnose...
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Writing Excuses 10.41: Your Character’s Moral Pendulum from 2015-10-11T22:06:14
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. ...
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Writing Excuses 10.40: What’s the Difference Between Ending and Stopping? from 2015-10-04T22:00:36
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...
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Writing Excuses 10.39: Q&A on Plot Twists with Kevin J. Anderson from 2015-09-27T22:00:33
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...
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Writing Excuses 10.38: How Does Context Shape Dialog? from 2015-09-20T22:00:05
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 ...
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Writing Excuses 10.37: Being a Good Panelist and a Great Moderator, with Susan J. Morris and Marc Tassin from 2015-09-13T22:00:21
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 ...
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Writing Excuses 10.36: How Does Context Shape Plot Twists? from 2015-09-06T22:00:34
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 mea...
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Writing Excuses 10.35: Breaking In, With Charlie N. Holmberg from 2015-08-30T22:32:34
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 ...
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Writing Excuses 10.34: Q&A on Pacing from 2015-08-23T22:00:34
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 indi...
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Writing Excuses 10.33: Combat, with Marie Brennan from 2015-08-16T22:00:18
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, bring...
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Writing Excuses 10.32: How Do I Control the Speed of the Story? from 2015-08-09T22:00:14
Words take time to read, but that's not the same amount of time that the words communicate...
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Writing Excuses 10.31: How Do I Control the Reader’s Sense of Progress? from 2015-08-02T22:00:40
Are we making progress? How do we communicate that to the reader?
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Writing Excuses 10.30: Q&A on Middles, with Marie Brennan from 2015-07-26T23:43:47
Marie Brennan joins us again, this time to help us field your questions about middles. Here are the questions we collected from the various social media feeds: How do you maintain interest without ...
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Writing Excuses 10.29: Why Should My Characters Fail Spectacularly? from 2015-07-19T23:56:57
Character failure is a big part of making the middle of a story work. We talk about why, and offer tips about how to make this work well for you.
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Writing Excuses 10.28: Polytheism in Fiction, with Marie Brennan from 2015-07-12T21:58:10
Marie Brennan joins us for a discussion of polytheism (and really any belief system) in our fiction.
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Writing Excuses 10.27: Why Can’t I Just Jump to the Ending? from 2015-07-05T22:00:31
Lots of people struggle with the middles of their books. One way to look at the middle is that it’s the point where you’re no longer working on that new project that has you excited, bu...
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Writing Excuses 10.26: Q&A on Scenes and Description from 2015-06-28T22:00:40
How do you "show, don't tell" a character's thoughts? We answer this question, and more!
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Writing Excuses 10.25: What Makes a Scene? from 2015-06-21T22:00:18
We talk about how we define and structure scenes in our writing, and we make reference to Scene/Sequel format, the MICE quotient, and pacing.
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Writing Excuses 10.24: Hooking Younger Readers from 2015-06-14T23:00:37
Media Specialist Kiley Snyder joins us to talk about hooking young readers.
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Writing Excuses 10.23: Can You Tell Me How To Show? from 2015-06-07T22:00:40
Instead of saying "show, don't tell," we say "here's how to show."
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Writing Excuses 10.22: Project-in-Depth—Of Noble Family from 2015-05-31T22:00:12
Spoilers ahead! We dig into Of Noble Family, by Mary Robinette Kowal, focusing on language, culture, and the extensive research Mary did.
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Writing Excuses 10.21: Q&A on World Building from 2015-05-24T21:17:25
We answer questions about consistency, alternate histories, and the Great Spoke Plague of '77
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Writing Excuses 10.20: How Do I Write a Story, Not an Encyclopedia? from 2015-05-17T22:02:07
You’ve done piles of world building. How do you convey this world to reader without infodumping? We talk about the different skill levels involved, and then the techniques that you’ll b...
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Writing Excuses 10.19: Intrigue from 2015-05-10T22:00:43
What's the difference between intrigue, suspense, and mystery? We talk about this, and then drill down on intrigue.
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Writing Excuses 10.18: Build an Entire World? Are You Crazy? from 2015-05-03T22:00:22
This one's for all you folks who like to do some world building on-the-fly.
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Writing Excuses 10.17: Q&A on Beginnings from 2015-04-26T22:00
We've talked beginnings all month. Now we take your questions about them.
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Writing Excuses 10.16: What Do I Do With All This Blank Space? from 2015-04-19T22:00:46
Let's get that first page written in a way that will bring the reader to all the rest of the pages.
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Writing Excuses 10.15: Worldbuilding Wilderness with Wes Chu from 2015-04-12T22:00:40
Wes Chu, author and adventurer, recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and has some things to say about all the wilderness trekking that our characters do in the books we write, and how we often forge...
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Writing Excuses 10.14: How Much of the Beginning Needs to Come First? from 2015-04-05T22:00:14
How do you know which bits of your story have to come first?
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Writing Excuses 10.13: Where is My Story Going? from 2015-03-30T04:12:34
Any discussion of story structure must necessarily take a look at that big, long bit between the beginning and the end, that piece where almost everything actually happens. In this episode we talk ...
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Writing Excuses 10.12: Story structure Q&A, with Special Guest Wesley Chu from 2015-03-23T03:05:39
Wes Chu joins us again for a Q&A about this month’s topic: story structure! Here are the questions: Do you make a conscious decision about how to structure your story before you begin wri...
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Writing Excuses 10.11: Project In Depth:“Parallel Perspectives” from 2015-03-15T18:48:39
If you haven’t yet read “Parallel Perspectives,” from Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel, we have a PDF for you to download and read before you start listening to this episode....
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Writing Excuses 10.10: Q&A with the I Ching from 2015-03-08T22:00:07
Wesley Chu joins us for a literal shake-up of our structure for one episode. We had loads of fun with this one. The I Ching is a collection of poems which you consult with numbered sticks. You ask ...
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Writing Excuses 10.9: Where is My Story Coming From? from 2015-03-02T04:05:43
This month’s syllabus topic is story structure, and we’ll be starting with the part we start with. And that part usually isn’t the beginning — that’s where the story s...
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Writing Excuses 10.8: Q&A on Character from 2015-02-22T23:00:54
It’s time for a Q&A on characters! The questions for this episode were provided by the attendees at the 2014 Out of Excuses Workshop and Retreat: How do you have a character grow in power...
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Writing Excuses 10.7: Who Are All These People? from 2015-02-16T03:18:48
Our character-focused month continues with an exploration of the challenges involved in building a cast for your story. Whether you’re building a large or small cast, you need to know why you...
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Writing Excuses 10.6: The Worldbuilding Revolves Around Me (“The Magical 1%”) from 2015-02-09T01:58:03
In which Max Gladstone introduces us to the concept of the Magical 1%
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Writing Excuses 10.5: What Do You Mean My Main Character is Boring? from 2015-02-02T05:11:54
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 from 2015-01-25T23:00:58
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 ou...
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Writing Excuses 10.3: Lovecraftian Horror from 2015-01-20T16:32:36
Cherie Priest joins us for a discussion of Lovecraftian horror.
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Writing Excuses 10.2: I Have an Idea; What Do I Do Now? from 2015-01-12T03:01:22
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...
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Writing Excuses 10.1: Seriously, Where Do You Get Your Ideas? from 2015-01-05T02:32:54
Brandon, Howard, Mary, and Dan offer useful answers to that age-old question: "Where do you get your ideas?"
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Writing Excuses 9.54: Capstone to Season 9 from 2014-12-29T17:51:40
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 ...
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Writing Excuses 9.53: Writing For Fun from 2014-12-22T01:21:46
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 t...
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Writing Excuses Season 9.52: From the Page to the Stage from 2014-12-15T04:46:02
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 stage̶...
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Writing Excuses 9.51: Q&A At The Retreat from 2014-12-08T02:09:21
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...
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Writing Excuses 9.50: Writing for the Enfranchised Reader from 2014-12-04T17:30:58
Recorded live in front of the Out of Excuses students, a crowd of savvy readers if ever there was one, we talk about how to effectively write for readers who are familiar with the genre or story st...
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Writing Excuses 9.48: Neurobolics of Characters from 2014-12-01T01:23:47
As authors we spend a lot of time trying to make our readers care about the characters we create. We have a wide variety of techniques at our disposal to accomplish this. But do we ever ask ourselv...
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Writing Excuses 9.49: Hiding the Open Grave from 2014-11-24T03:01:30
So, you’re planning to kill somebody, but you don’t want anyone to see it coming. How do you make that happen? We begin by talking about the hints that writers inadvertently drop, and w...
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Writing Excuses 9.47: Conversation With a Bookseller from 2014-11-18T01:24:38
Sara Glassman joins us to talk about back cover copy, covers, query letters, signings, and what booksellers look for on page one.
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Writing Excuses 9.46: Disability in Narrative from 2014-11-09T23:00:25
Charlie Harmon, one of the luminaries of Utah area fandom, joined us to talk about disability in narrative. She’s been going blind gradually since she was a child, and these days while she ca...
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Writing Excuses 9.45: Tools for Writing from Oral Storytelling from 2014-11-03T00:27:32
M. Todd Gallowglas is a writer and a storyteller who has spent years doing traditional oral storytelling at renaissance fairs. He joined us at FantasyCon/Westercon 67 before a live audience and tal...
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Writing Excuses 9.44: Getting in the Writer’s Mindset with Peter Beagle from 2014-10-27T02:06:18
We were thrilled to have Peter Beagle join us for an episode, recorded live at Westercon 67. We talked about the writer’s mindset, and how to get into it. Peter schooled Brandon before the ep...
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Writing Excuses 9.43: Writing Mysteries from 2014-10-20T00:00:24
Live from Westercon 67 and Fantasy Con, Mette Ivie Harrison and J.R. Johannson join us to talk about writing for the mystery genre. We begin by talking about the key differences between thrillers a...
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Writing Excuses 9.42: The Convention-Author Relationship, with Deirdre Saoirse Moen from 2014-10-12T22:00:51
Deirdre Saoirse Moen, who organizes fan-run literary cons and schedules programs for them, joins us to talk about programming from the convention's point of view.
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Writing Excuses 9.41: Fan Writing, with Christopher J. Garcia from 2014-10-05T22:00:34
Christopher J. Garcia, publisher and editor of The Drink Tank, joins us for a discussion of fan writing.
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Writing Excuses 9.40: Understanding Royalties, with Paul Stevens from 2014-09-28T22:00:03
Paul Stevens, an editor at Tor, joined us in front of a live audience at Westercon 67 to talk about royalties.
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Writing Excuses 9.39: Publicity for Books from 2014-09-22T03:29:55
Patty Garcia, Director of Publicity at Tor, joins us to discuss publicizing books
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Writing Excuses 9.38: Q&A at Westercon from 2014-09-15T02:17:38
Peter Orullian joins us in front of a live audience at Westercon 67 for a Q&A. The questions include: As a writer, how do you handle reviewing other people’s books? How do you compartment...
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9.37: Training A Critique Group, with Kathleen Dalton Woodbury from 2014-09-08T01:39:04
Kathleen Dalton Woodbury, the forum moderator at the Hatrack River writers group joined us at Westercon 67 to talk about critique groups. We cover how critiques should be offered, as well as import...
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Writing Excuses 9.36: Writing Instruction from 2014-09-01T01:03:15
David Farland joins, along with a live audience at Westercon 67, for a discussion on writing instruction.
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Writing Excuses 9.35: What to do when you disagree with your editor from 2014-08-24T23:11:57
Peter Orullian joins us to discuss managing the author-editor relationship when things go wrong.
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Writing Excuses 9.34: Science Fiction as Science Education from 2014-08-17T22:00:37
Brad "Doctor Zombie" Voytek talks to us about making science accessible and attractive through science fiction.
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Writing Excuses 9.33: Microcasting from 2014-08-10T22:00:11
Q&A in which we cover proofreading, writing time, career stuff, and no, you can't have any of our DNA.
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Writing Excuses 9.32: Adjusting Character Proactivity from 2014-08-03T22:00:56
We talk about how to make characters more or less proactive in the stories we tell.
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Writing Excuses 9.31: Critiquing“An Honest Death” from 2014-07-27T23:36:47
The fourth of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which Howard is stuck...
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Writing Excuses 9.30: Critiquing A Fire in the Heavens from 2014-07-20T22:00:54
The third of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which Mary schools us with Milford...
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Writing Excuses 9.29: Part 2 of 2, Critiquing Sixth of the Dusk from 2014-07-13T22:00:17
The second of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which we thrash on a new Cosmere story from Brandon Sanderson so that he can fix it. Part 2 of 2.
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Writing Excuses 9.28: Part 1 of 2, Critiquing Sixth of the Dusk from 2014-07-06T22:00:27
The first of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which we thrash on a new Cosmere story from Brandon Sanderson so that he can fix it. Part 1 of 2.
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Writing Excuses 9.27: Pre-writing from 2014-06-30T01:47:57
Pre-writing: It's like pre-cooking, only with more abandoned prologues and fewer refried beans.
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Writing Excuses 9.26: Adjusting Character Competence from 2014-06-23T03:40:23
In which we discuss adjusting how competent our characters appear...
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Writing Excuses 9.25: Adjusting Character Sympathy from 2014-06-16T02:34:23
In which we discuss adjusting how sympathetic the reader is toward a particular character...
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Writing Excuses 9.24: Side Quests from 2014-06-09T16:45:54
Side quests come in a couple of forms — they may be something inside the book that takes the characters away from the main plotline, or they may be adventures that take place outside of the b...
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Writing Excuses 9.23: World Building Without Breaking Viewpoint from 2014-06-02T00:20:09
How do you describe water from the point of view of a fish?
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Writing Excuses 9.22: Microcasting from 2014-05-26T00:57:52
Prologues, motivations, and research, oh my!
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Writing Excuses 9.21: Sanderson’s 3rd Law from 2014-05-19T01:26:27
When building your world, go deep rather than going wide.
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Writing Excuses 9.20: Creator vs Creation from 2014-05-12T00:06:27
How do we interact with readers who find meaning in our works that we don't recall putting in there?
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Writing Excuses 9.19: Showing Emotion from 2014-05-05T00:00:12
How to go about showing a character's emotions without them seeming emo.
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Writing Excuses 9.18: Microcasting from 2014-04-28T02:50:53
We answer questions on tropes, narrative styles, editing, rule-breaking and more.
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Writing Excuses 9.17: Microcasting from 2014-04-21T04:49:31
A Q&A episode with Eric James Stone
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Writing Excuses 9.16: Coming up with a New Ending Halfway Through from 2014-04-16T14:55:04
What to do when you discover your planned ending isn't actually going to work...
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Writing Excuses 9.15: Becoming a Writer—Full Disclosure from 2014-04-07T01:29:57
Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard talk about the unpleasant surprises their careers dropped on them.
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Writing Excuses 9.14: How to have an Opinion as a Public Figure from 2014-04-04T03:11:22
We talk about expressing controversial opinions on the Internet. And just talking about it might be controversial...
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Writing Excuses 9.13: Three Pronged Character Development from 2014-03-30T23:11:59
We explore a three-value model for troubleshooting characters: Competence, Proactivity, and Sympathy
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Writing Excuses 9.12: Microcasting! Twice in a row! from 2014-03-24T03:30:24
A Q&A covering editing, rule-breaking, writing the other, gift-giving, and more.
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Writing Excuses 9.11: Microcasting from 2014-03-17T03:48:29
Eric James Stone joins us to answer questions about editors, pitching, pantsing, and encouragement.
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Writing Excuses 9.10: Engaging Characters from 2014-03-10T01:58:03
What makes characters engaging, and how is that different from them being sympathetic?
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Writing Excuses 9.9: What to do When Truth is Stranger than Fiction from 2014-03-03T01:37:03
How do you put true stuff in your books when the truth is just too strange?
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Writing Excuses 9.8: When is your Handwavium Good Enough? from 2014-02-24T05:10:14
What is handwavium? How does it work? What happens when it doesn't work?
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Writing Excuses 9.7: Last Pass Revisions with Eric James Stone from 2014-02-16T23:00:01
Eric James Stone joins us for a discussion of revision, and what the final pass process looks like.
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Writing Excuses 9.6: The Experience of Time from 2014-02-10T02:33:22
Time passes, and we have lots of ways to tell readers how quickly that's happening.
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Writing Excuses 9.5: Hijacking the Knowledge You Already Have, with Mette Ivie Harrison from 2014-02-03T04:35:47
Mette Ivie Harrison joins us to talk about how to "hijack" the knowledge you already have in order to make you a better writer.
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Writing Excuses 9.4: Artificial Intelligence with Nancy Fulda from 2014-01-27T02:47:03
Nancy Fulda talks Artificial Intelligence with Brandon, Mary, and Howard.
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Writing Excuses 9.3: Character Perception vs. Narrative Perception with Nancy Fulda from 2014-01-19T21:00:38
Nancy Fulda joins the cast for a discussion of narrative versus character perceptions
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Writing Excuses 9.2: Hard Science Fiction with Eric James Stone from 2014-01-13T01:32:48
Eric James Stone joins us for a discussion of hard science fiction -- what it is, what it isn't, and how to do it well.
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Writing Excuses 9.1: Chronology of a Book Deal with Eric James Stone from 2014-01-06T03:24:27
Eric James Stone joins us to talk about the book deal chronology for UNFORGETTABLE.
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Writing Excuses 8.52: You Think You Don’t Have Time to Write, with Mette Ivie Harrison from 2013-12-30T05:37:55
Mette Ivie Harrison joins us to talk about the reasons you think you don't have time to write.
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Writing Excuses 8.51: Creative non-fiction with Mette Ivie Harrison from 2013-12-23T02:59:17
Mette Ivie Harrison joins us to discuss creative non-fiction, the genre in which the tools of creative writing are applied to factually accurate narratives.
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Writing Excuses 8.50: Q&A with Mercedes Lackey from 2013-12-15T23:00:48
Mercedes Lackey joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard to field listener questions at GenCon Indy.
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Writing Excuses 8.49: Hard Social Science Fiction with Joel Shepherd from 2013-12-08T23:20:41
Joel Shepherd joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard to talk about hard social science.
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Writing Excuses 8.48: Long-Form Storytelling with Sam Logan from 2013-12-01T22:01:04
Sam Logan of "Sam and Fuzzy" talks long-form storytelling with Brandon, Mary, and Howard
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Writing Excuses 8.47: Roguishness with Scott Lynch from 2013-11-25T00:02:37
Scott Lynch, author of The Republic of Thieves, joins Brandon, Howard, and Mary before a live audience at GenCon Indy to talk about roguishness. Why do we like rogues? What can a roguish character ...
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Writing Excuses 8.46: Editing with Aeryn Rudel from 2013-11-17T23:53
Aeryn Rudel from Privateer Press and Skull Island X joins us at GenCon Indy to talk about editing.
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Writing Excuses 8.45: Gencon Q&A With Wesley Chu from 2013-11-11T01:13:41
Wes Chu joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard for a live audience Q&A at GenCon
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Writing Excuses 8.44: Talking Publishing with Tom Doherty from 2013-11-03T21:27:05
Tom Doherty, president and founder of Tor books, joins us at GenCon to talk publishing.
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Writing Excuses 8.43: Realistic Melee Fighting with Wesley Chu from 2013-10-27T21:56:08
Wesley Chu joins us at GenCon Indy for a discussion of realistic melee fighting.
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Writing Excuses 8.42: The Internal Heckler vs. The Internal Editor from 2013-10-20T22:00:37
"Silence your internal editor" may not be very good advice. We talk about why.
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Writing Excuses 8.41: Out of Excuses Retreat Microcasting from 2013-10-14T07:03:39
Microcasting... it's what we call Q&A. Beta readers, IP issues, discovery writing, chapter length, and more.
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Writing Excuses 8.40: Publishing with Bill Schafer from 2013-10-07T02:12:39
Bill Schaefer of Subterranean Press talks publishing with us.
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Writing Excuses 8.39: Dystopian Fiction with Cherie Priest from 2013-09-30T01:38:11
Cherie Priest joins the cast for a discussion of dystopian fiction before a live audience.
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Writing Excuses 8.38:Out of Excuses Retreat Q&A #2 from 2013-09-23T00:41:31
The cast talks about self publishing, our early career difficulties, Easter Eggs, and more...
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Writing Excuses 8.37: When Fail Happens in Your Career from 2013-09-16T01:37:40
How do you respond to bad reviews, publisher errors, or other possible "career fail" situations?
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Writing Excuses 8.36: Transitioning Characters in Prominence from 2013-09-08T22:00:44
How do you go about transitioning characters in relative prominence during a series of books?
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Writing Excuses 8.35: Digging Yourself Out of Holes with Jeph Jacques from 2013-09-01T21:00:29
Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content joins us to talk about discovery writing, and how he digs himself out of holes when he writes himself into them.
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Writing Excuses 8.34: Survivorship Bias from 2013-08-26T00:22:14
The cast talks about their survivorship bias, and how to pay attention to that bias so that listeners can extract advice from us that might actually work for you
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Writing Excuses 8.33: Making Non-Human Characters Relatable from 2013-08-18T22:00:26
How do you help your readers relate to the non-human characters in your fiction?
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Writing Excuses 8.32: Microcasting from 2013-08-11T23:00:03
Q&A covering workflow, contests, lantern-hanging, word counts, and more
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Writing Excuses 8.31: Combining Dialogue, Blocking, and Description from 2013-08-04T21:02:59
The cast talks about making dialogue, blocking, and description work together for exposition and story-telling.
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Writing Excuses 8.30: Writing Reluctant Characters from 2013-07-29T00:00:43
The cast discusses how to make reluctant, non-proactive, non-go-getting characters interesting to read about.
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Writing Excuses 8.29: Out of Excuses Retreat Q&A #1 from 2013-07-22T00:00:58
The cast answers questions about publishing, formatting, process, and the Evil Nemesis John Scalzi.
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Writing Excuses 8.28: Your First Contract from 2013-07-14T23:46:47
The team talks about contracts, and what you as an author staring at a contract should be considering.
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Writing Excuses 8.27: Chapter Breakdowns from 2013-07-07T23:51:45
How do we break our books into chapters, and how to we build those chapters to begin with?
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Writing Excuses 8.26: Space Opera from 2013-06-30T23:55:27
What does "space opera" mean, and how might you go about writing it?
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Writing Excuses 8.25: Middle Grade with E.J. Patten from 2013-06-23T22:00:42
E.J. Patten joins us again, this to discuss the particulars of writing middle-grade fiction.
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Writing Excuses 8.24: Project in Depth–Kiss Me Twice from 2013-06-16T22:00:37
Mary walks Brandon, Dan, and Howard through the processes for writing "Kiss Me Twice," her Hugo-nominated novella
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Writing Excuses 8.23: Microcasting from 2013-06-09T22:00:38
Brandon, Dan, Mary, Howard, and guest E.J. Patten answer a slew of questions about writing and the business of writing.
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Writing Excuses 8.22: Pre-writing with E.J. Patten from 2013-06-02T23:20:09
E.J. Patten joins us to talk about pre-writing -- all that work that gets done before the prose happens.
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Writing Excuses 8.21: What the Avengers did Right from 2013-05-26T14:56:07
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard loved "The Avengers," and would like to tell you what they think the film did right.
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Writing Excuses 8.20: The Short Story, with Mary Robinette Kowal from 2013-05-19T21:47:58
Mary Robinette Kowal walks us through writing short stories.
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Writing Excuses 8.19: Writing and Convention Culture from 2013-05-12T23:25:47
Writing Excuses tackles water from the perspective of the fish. Also? The culture surrounding writers.
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Writing Excuses 8.18: Blocking from 2013-05-06T00:00:52
Blocking! What is it, why is it important, and how can you do it well?
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Writing Excuses 8.17: Microcasting from 2013-04-28T23:31:32
The Writing Excuses Crew fields questions about crossed genres, literary fiction, magical realism, and more.
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Writing Excuses 8.16: Brainstorming with Brandon Again from 2013-04-22T05:03:58
Mary, Dan, and Howard help Brandon brainstorm a story, this time featuring psychic birds.
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Writing Excuses 8.15: Narrative Rhythm from 2013-04-15T00:58:25
We begin with an audio glitch and a jumbling of our usual intro. Why? Because it breaks rhythm, and sometimes you may actually want to do that. Narrative rhythm is the pattern of story elements and...
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Writing Excuses 8.14: Brainstorming with Brandon from 2013-04-07T23:28:26
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard brainstorm a science-fiction short story featuring artificial intelligence
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Writing Excuses 8.13: Fake It Till You Make it from 2013-04-01T01:38:26
Mary, Howard, Dan, and Brandon talk about the things we do to feel like professionals.
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Writing Excuses 8.12: Project in Depth—Deus ex Nauseum from 2013-03-24T21:57:51
The cast grills Howard about "Deus ex Nauseum," the bonus story from Emperor Pius Dei
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Writing Excuses 8.11: Abnormal Psychology from 2013-03-18T02:55:41
Robison Wells discusses writing mentally ill characters with Brandon, Mary, and Dan.
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Writing Excuses 8.10: Brainstorming With Howard Again from 2013-03-11T00:07:35
Howard brainstorms with Brandon, Mary, and Dan on a Schlock Mercenary bonus story.
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Writing Excuses 8.9: Brainstorming with Howard from 2013-03-04T00:48:03
The team helps Howard brainstorm a story about big Pharma and Death...
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Writing Excuses 8.8: Writing and Personal Health from 2013-02-25T03:03:29
Robison Wells joins Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard to talk about health -- especially the mental kind.
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Writing Excuses 8.7: Cliffhangers and Icebergs with Robison Wells from 2013-02-17T21:08:21
Robison Wells joins the 'cast to talk to us about cliffhangers.
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Writing Excuses 8.6: Retellings and Adaptations from 2013-02-11T02:08:50
Why would you retell a story that has already been told? Now, how would you go about doing it well?
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Writing Excuses 8.5: Breaking the Rules from 2013-02-04T04:35:57
They're not rules, they're guidelines. Right? Let's talk about breaking "rules" of writing.
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Writing Excuses 8.4: Side-Character Arcs from 2013-01-28T03:20:14
Do you need arcs and development for side-characters?
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Writing Excuses 8.3: Pets from 2013-01-21T18:43:48
How do you give a personality to the animal or animals in your story? How do you do it without being a crazy cat lady?
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Writing Excuses 8.2: Hero’s Journey from 2013-01-13T23:00:41
Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary talk about the Hero's Journey. Finally.
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Writing Excuses 8.1: Microcasting from 2013-01-06T23:38:05
We're back for the New Year, and we start by answering all your questions. Or at least eight of them.
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Writing Excuses 7.54: Four Ways the Industry is Changing from 2012-12-31T01:20:17
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard each take a look at some changing aspect of the industry, and how they're reacting to that change.
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Writing Excuses 7.53: Secret History from 2012-12-26T20:28:09
How is "Men in Black" like "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?" This week on Writing Excuses we talk about Secret History, and how to do it well.
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Writing Excuses 7.52: Microcasting from 2012-12-17T01:58:24
A fast-paced Q&A covering discouragement, magic systems, ideas, and our embarrassing early projects.
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Writing Excuses 7.51: Brainstorming with Mary from 2012-12-12T17:06:05
Mary invites Brandon, Dan, and Howard to brainstorm a story with her.
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Writing Excuses 7.50: Outlining the Mary Way from 2012-12-10T05:20:15
Mary Robinette Kowal schools Brandon, Dan, and Howard with her outlining system.
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Writing Excuses 7.49: Beginnings Revisited from 2012-12-03T02:53:12
We've talked about where to start. Now Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about how to start -- what goes "in" when you're going "in late, out early."
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NaNoWriMo 2012: Bonus Episode 4, with Mary&Brandon from 2012-11-29T15:21:59
Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal provide last-minute writing advice to you NaNoWriMo'ers out there...
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Writing Excuses 7.48: Pixar Rules for Writing a Compelling Story from 2012-11-26T02:44:55
Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary review some of Emma Coats' "Pixar Rules" for storytelling
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NaNoWriMo 2012: Bonus Episode 3, with Howard from 2012-11-23T16:24:09
Howard Tayler gives NaNoWriMo participants a pep-talk on their way into the last week of the month.
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Writing Excuses 7.47: Raising the Stakes from 2012-11-19T02:19:27
What are the things that matter to your characters? What things matter to your readers? After we get the obligatory ambiguity out of the way, we settle into talking about the "stakes" and the escal...
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NaNoWriMo 2012: Bonus Mini-Episode 2, with Dan&Rob from 2012-11-15T02:33:13
Dan Wells and Robison Wells give you a pep talk for the second week of NaNoWriMo.
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Writing Excuses 7.46: Project in Depth The Emperor’s Soul from 2012-11-12T03:23:15
Brandon talks in depth about his novella "The Emperor's Soul"
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NaNoWriMo 2012: Bonus Mini-Episode 1, with Brandon&Mary from 2012-11-08T15:52:05
Brandon and Mary take time out from World Fantasy to encourage everyone participating in NaNoWriMo.
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Writing Excuses 7.45: Microcasting from 2012-11-05T08:37:50
It’s microcasting time! This week we take a crack at the following listener questions: What percentage of a rough draft makes it into print? What are the pitfalls of jumping from novels to sh...
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Writing Excuses 7.44: Writing for Comics with Jim Zub from 2012-10-29T00:25:03
Jim Zub talks writing comics with Brandon, Howard, and Mary at GenCon Indy
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Writing Excuses 7.43: Tie-in Fantasy Fiction with James L Sutter from 2012-10-22T03:33:09
James L. Sutter, Pathfinder editor with Paizo, talks to us about tie-in fiction.
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Writing Excuses 7.42: Contemporary YA Fiction from 2012-10-15T02:47:51
Janci Patterson joins us to talk about contemporary YA , her debut novel "Chasing the Skip," and writing from a pitch.
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Writing Excuses 7.41: Seven-Point Story Structure from 2012-10-07T22:38:43
Dan Wells walks us through the seven-point story structure format he uses, and then we demonstrate by brainstorming this on a sample story.
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Writing Excuses 7.40: Writing the Other from 2012-10-01T00:52:49
Maurice Broaddus joins us to talk about "writing the other" -- writing other cultures, races, genders -- basically anybody who isn't much like you.
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Writing Excuses 7.39: Death from 2012-09-23T23:57:19
Killing characters for all the right reasons, and knowing what the wrong ones are.
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Writing Excuses 7.38: Writing Love Scenes from 2012-09-16T22:29:34
Shanna Germain joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard for a frank discussion of love scenes.
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Writing Excuses 7.37: Pantsing from 2012-09-10T01:39:43
Pantsing! What are we even talking about? We’re talking about discovery writing, but apparently some folks think it’s more fun to call it “seat-of-your-pants” writing. In th...
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Writing Excuses 7.35: Brainstorming with Dan from 2012-09-02T22:00:37
Dan needs help writing a short story, so Brandon, Mary, and Howard endeavor to help him. Hopefully this will be educational for the rest of you.
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Writing Excuses 7.36: Writing Gaming Fiction with Monte Cook from 2012-08-27T01:10:23
RPG Luminary Monte Cook joins us at GenCon Indy 2012 to talk about writing for games, and the perils of trying to adapt game play back into prose.
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Writing Excuses 7.34: How to Start the Next One from 2012-08-19T22:00
Finishing one project means it's time to start the next one. And no, it's not necessarily going to get easier...
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Writing Excuses 7.33: Authentic Emotion from 2012-08-13T00:34:52
Emote! Now do it authentically! In this episode we'll explain how we do it, and hopefully help you do it better.
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Writing Excuses 7.32: Astronomy 101 for Writers from 2012-08-06T02:02:36
Eric James Stone joins the cast to talk astronomy as a tool for world-building
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Writing Excuses 7.31: Project in Depth—Hollow City from 2012-07-30T01:07:39
Spoilers galore as we discuss "Hollow City," in depth, with author Dan Wells
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Writing Excuses 7.30: Micocasting…Again! from 2012-07-23T00:00:35
The crew fields questions about criticism, suspension of disbelief, tension, and more.
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Writing Excuses 7.29: The Villain Problem from 2012-07-15T15:28:26
What do you do when your villain is more interesting and engaging than your hero? The first step? Admit that this is a problem...
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Writing Excuses 7.28: Project in Depth–Glamour in Glass from 2012-07-09T02:48:58
Mary Robinette Kowal talks in depth about her novel Glamour In Glass, fielding questions from Brandon, Dan, and Howard.
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Writing Excuses 7.27: The Problem of Originality from 2012-07-02T15:34:54
Do we value originality too much? What does it mean to be original, and how can we, as authors, write wonderful things when all of the good ideas have already been used?
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Writing Excuses 7.26: Q&A at UVU part 2 from 2012-06-25T00:23:22
Recorded live at Utah Valley University, here’s another Q&A episode from the LTUE Symposium! The questions: What was Brandon’s plan with Mistborn and the themes regarding establishm...
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Writing Excuses 7.25: Writing Capers from 2012-06-17T23:33:48
Capers and Heists as a plot form, with lots of movies cited as examples.
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Writing Excuses 7.24: Project in Depth—Way of Kings from 2012-06-10T23:00:20
Brandon answers "The Way of Kings" questions from Mary, Howard, and Dan.
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Writing Excuses 7.23: Time Travel from 2012-06-03T21:45:24
Recorded live, our regular 'casters discuss time travel, and somehow manage not to become any of their own parents, or even uncles.
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Writing Excuses 7.22: Microcasting from 2012-05-27T23:27:33
A microcast is our word for an asynchronous Q&A episode: you ask us tons of questions online, either through twitter or facebook or our listenermail account (on the sidebar), and we want to ans...
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Writing Excuses 7.21: Project In Depth—Force Multiplication from 2012-05-21T03:35:01
Howard answers questions about "Force Multiplication," (the 12th Schlock Mercenary book) as posed by Brandon, Dan, and Mary.
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Writing Excuses 7.20: Cathartic Horror from 2012-05-14T04:26:12
Michael R. Collings and Michaelbrent Collings discuss cathartic horror with Brandon, Dan, and Mary in front of a live audience at UVU.
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Writing Excuses 7.19: Q&A at UVU from 2012-05-07T03:33:16
A Q&A with James Dashner covering paragraph edits, plotting, writing prequels to existing series, and more.
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Writing Excuses 7.18: Discovering your Voice from 2012-04-30T00:22:36
What is your "voice" and how do you identify it? James Artimus Owen joins us for this discussion before a live audience at Life, The Universe, and Everything at Utah Valley University.
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Writing Excuses 7.17: Guns and Fiction from 2012-04-23T04:30:28
Guest and gun-nut Larry Correia joins the Writing Excuses crew to talk firearms, fiction, and common mistakes.
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Writing Excuses 7.16: Continuing with Mary’s Outline from 2012-04-16T00:29:17
In this second part a VERY SPECIAL two-part session of Writing Excuses Brandon, Dan, and Howard continue to tear into Mary's first novel outline.
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Writing Excuses 7.15: Editing Mary’s Outline from 2012-04-09T01:20:44
In this outlining demonstration Mary reads from an early outline, then Brandon, Dan, and Howard brutally dissect it.
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Writing Excuses 7.14: Writing Excuses from 2012-04-01T15:00
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard tell you all the reasons why you shouldn't actually be writing, and why, especially at this time of the year, these writing excuses are so critically important to you...
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Writing Excuses 7.13: Man Vs. Nature from 2012-03-25T23:00:06
Brandon and Mary school Howard on "Man vs. Nature." They might school the rest of us, too.
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Writing Excuses 7.12: Writing the Omniscient Viewpoint from 2012-03-18T23:00:49
Brandon, Mary, and Howard talk about the strengths of the omniscient POV, how to use it well, and what pitfalls to avoid.
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Writing Excuses 7.11: More Microcasting from 2012-03-12T00:43:09
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard field seven questions in fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds: a new land-speed record!
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Writing Excuses 7.10: Importance of Criticism, with David Brin from 2012-03-05T02:45:10
David Brin joins Mary and Dan for a discussion of the importance of criticism.
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Writing Excuses 7.9: Microcasting from 2012-02-27T01:48:34
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard field questions from Twitter, including what to do if you don't like your characters, keeping your plot on track, and how grounded in real geography your urban fantas...
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Writing Excuses 7.8: The City as a Character from 2012-02-20T00:48:46
Sarah Pinborough joins Mary and Dan at World Fantasy for a very writerly discussion of London. Also, they discuss using a city as a character.
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Writing Excuses 7.7: Historical Fantasy from 2012-02-13T03:15:32
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about Historical Fantasy (differentiating it from Alternate History), its popularity, and how you might go about beginning to write it.
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Writing Excuses 7.6: Behind the Marshmallow from 2012-02-06T03:43:14
In this particularly self-indulgent episode of Writing Excuses we take you behind the marshmallow. We explain the origins of the 'cast, and offer you rare insight into what makes this show what it ...
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Writing Excuses 7.5: Sensory Writing from 2012-01-30T02:00:02
Sam Sykes joins Dan Wells and Mary Robinette Kowal for a discussion of sound, smell, taste, and touch in prose.
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Writing Excuses 7.4: Brevity from 2012-01-23T00:00:02
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard help you keep it short and simple.
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Writing Excuses 7.3: Fauna and Flora from 2012-01-16T00:45:06
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard tackle worldbuilding flora and fauna again, this time through negative examples, pizza-trees, and a can of worms.
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Writing Excuses 7.2: World Building Flora and Fauna from 2012-01-09T05:13:56
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about fictional ecologies.
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Writing Excuses 7.1 When Good Characters Go Bad from 2012-01-02T01:35:37
How do you take a good character and make them evil? And why would you want to do this? Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard answer that second question first, and then walk you through the process of do...
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