Lex Out Loud is a podcast for writers, readers and all lovers of speculative fiction. I’m writing my third novel, and I’m taking you along for the journey. Whether you’re a writer or game master, or you’re just curious about the creative writing process, this show is for you! I discuss my writing process, and I share the insights I learn, as my experience grows.
As writers there’s only so much we can do to perfect our manuscript on our own. Ultimately, we’ll need someone else’s eyes on it to find issues we’ve missed, preferably before sending it off to an agent or publisher. Writing groups, alpha readers and beta readers are way we can get this invaluable feedback. In this first of a series of episodes, we’ll talk about finding or creating the right writing group for you.
Today I talk about how writing can be an emotional rollercoaster. Personally, I’ve found I have a lot of emotional highs and lows while writing a novel, and “good writing days” often seem to follow “bad writing days” and vice versa. I also talk about how the difference between good and bad writing is often subjective. Finally, I share how I’ve discovered some themes emerging in the book I’m currently writing.
Today I answer listener-submitted questions.
Today I’m going to talk about the importance of keeping your novel, or other writing project, fresh in your mind. The ideal is writing every day, and this is the simplest, best solution. But if that isn’t possible, the next best thing is keeping it fresh in your mind, so your subconscious continues to work on it in the background, even when you’re not consciously thinking about it.
Today I’d like to put some of my previous discussions into context and remind you that I may not know what I’m talking about.
Today I’m going to talk about some of the prewriting I did for these stories. I’ll talk about why I started writing a prequel before I wrote the main story, and why that ended up being the perfect approach for me to take with this project.
Today I talk about how consistency is the key to finishing a novel, and how if you want writing to be a part of your life, your best path to success lies in making writing a daily habit.
Today I talk about a brute force writing hack to get you started or get you past a point where you’re stuck—a conversation between two characters. I also talk a bit about my philosophy on the writing and revising process, and I point out some of the pitfalls of having too many point-of-view characters in a story.
Today I ponder the question, “Is less realistic sci-fi more approachable?”
Today I’m going to talk a bit about where I think I fall on the spectrum between discovery writing vs. planned writing. I’m starting to feel like I’m somewhere in the middle, so I’ll talk about how I’m approaching this book now and how that’s going. I’m trying to find a blend of the two approaches that works for me.
I thought the perfect way to wrap up our first season on worldbuilding would be to answer the rest of your questions about the setting. Today I’ll talk a bit about the state of the Earth in the setting, jobs in space and how education will differ in the future.
This week I share what I’m reading, watching and playing. If you’re looking for a good mundane/hard sci-fi, I recommend Stowaway . I very quickly go over some exciting developments in space exploration and technology lately. I also revisit the topic of novel word counts in different genres.
Today I tell you about an easy and free way to get access to ebooks & audiobooks from your library without ever having to leave your house!
Today I ponder the point at which reading about writing or listening to someone else talk about writing becomes less useful than actually writing. I also consider the length and frequency of this podcast’s episodes and ask for your feedback.
This week I talk about brute force writing and how I used it to get started on this project when I felt a little stuck. If you’re stuck, whether at the beginning of a project or in the middle of it, maybe this method will work for you too. I also talk a bit about creating one of my main characters and searching for a good situation to kick off the novel.
I’m finally ready to start writing the first book! This is an exciting, and yes, slightly terrifying, time! Today I’ll talk about my approach and strategy for beginning the book. I’ve received a great deal of inspiration and help from one of the best writers of our time, Stephen King, and his book, On Writing . I’ll share some of these insights and how they’ve helped me decide how to approach this book.
Aspiring writers and new writers often have some romanticized views of writing. Among these views is the idea that writing is easy, or that it should be easy, at least. This is patently false. Writing is hard.
Today I’ll answer some listener question about how society will be different in my future setting. I also talk a bit about the difficulties of writing during a pandemic and some of the things I really like to see in a story that I hope to do in my own.
Today I’m going to do my best to answer some of the questions you’ve submitted about the setting. I discuss how the large orbital space stations are built and how many there are.
Today I’m going to do my best to answer some of the questions you’ve submitted about the setting. I share some thoughts about differences between the subgenres of fantasy & sci-fi: sci-fi-fantasy/space fantasy, space opera & mundane sci-fi. Then I talk about how I was surprised in my research to learn that some things are far more plausible and imminent than I thought, while other things are far less plausible than I thought. Finally I talk about aliens, robots & AI in the setting an...
Today I’m going to talk about animals in space. Turns out, there’s a bit of a debate to be had here. Whether you’ve ever thought about this or not, chances are you have assumptions that put you on one side or the other. Let’s examine and challenge some of these assumptions and see if we can answer the question, “Will we really take animals to live with us in space?”
First, I gush about Douglas Adams and share some of his great writing advice. Then I’ll give you an update on where I’m at on this project. I’ll also share some thoughts I’ve been having about what I want to do and say with this project. I’ll also share some insights I’ve had about some big differences between this book and the last book I wrote.
I’ve talked quite a bit about the overall setting for the books. Lately I’ve been working more on zeroing in on the specific setting I’ll use for the first book. Today I’ll talk a bit about some exciting recent events in space exploration. Then I’ll discuss where I’m at in the worldbuilding and my ideas for the cylinder habitat that will be the stage for the first story.
One of the major features of my setting are rotating cylinder-shaped habitats for living in space. Ultimately these will be located in orbit of Earth, the Moon, Mars and beyond. I’ve done a lot of work fleshing these out, and today I’ll share some details with you. If you’re in the future, and you’re a reader of my books wanting to know more about these Cylinder Cities, then this is for you! For present day listeners, this will bring us up to date on where I’m at in the worldbuilding of these ha...
Whether you’re a writer or a game master, your job becomes much easier once your setting comes to life in your mind. You’re able to much more easily improvise new setting elements on-the-fly that fit into your overall concept. Lex shares how he’s found visualization to be a key skill to help him develop his setting and know when it’s ready to go.
Lex continues the series on Future Earth History with a discussion of the Moon, Mars & beyond!
Lex continues his exploration of the future history of Earth. This week he looks into goals to better utilize cislunar space, using the Roadmap to Space Settlement published by the National Space Society as a guide. Lex focuses in on how space solar power, especially, will change life on Earth for the better and make the rest of what we want to do not only possible, but easier and cheaper.
Lex discusses some of what he's been working on in the past week. He goes over some of the everyday technology people will be using in the setting. He then goes over some high concepts and ideas he's interested in exploring through the plots and conflicts. He discusses some research questions he'll be tackling in the future and gives an update on where he's at in the worldbuilding process. Finally he shares some informative resources he's found in his research.
Lex begins an exploration of the future history of Earth, starting at the present day and moving forward, with a focus on the expansion of humanity into the rest of the solar system. The first foundational step in this journey is fully utilizing low Earth orbit (LEO). Only with the necessary infrastructure in place in LEO will we be able to move to other parts of the solar system.
Lex explores some of his ideas for the cities of his story, which are great rotating cylinders in geostationary orbit around Earth, connected to the Earth by space elevators. To aid in this discussion, Lex explores some real-world designs of orbital habitats, including the O’Neill Cylinder, the McKendree Cylinder and Kalpana One. He also touches on arcologies and graphene.
