Your Hosts: Howard and Dan, with special guests Bill Fawcett and Carrie Patel Bill and Carrie both have extensive experience writing for games, and they joined us at GenCon Indy to talk about writing for an interactive story, like a tabletop RPG, or a video game. Narrative Bumper Pool: This term comes to us from Tracy Hickman's XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery. Narrative Bumper Pool from X-TREME DUNGEON MASTERY, used with permission Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Ch...
May 21, 2017•20 min•Season 12Ep. 21
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley We're speaking again, at least in part, to discovery writers. In this case, we're talking about how to take a non-outlined work and apply a structure to it in revisions. Credits: This episode was recorded by Andrew Twiss, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: https://Talkiatry.com/WX * If you’re struggling with OCD...
May 14, 2017•21 min•Season 12Ep. 20
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard This episode is for you discovery writers, especially those of you for whom our current season of structure seems to be locking you down, or pointing up methods which you just don't like to use. We talk about how these methods, these structural principles, these mechanical advantages in the mental toolbox can be applied during the discovery writing process. Credits: this episode was recorded in Cosmere House Studios by Dan Dan the Audioman Thompson, and...
May 07, 2017•20 min•Season 12Ep. 19
Your Hosts: Howard, Mary, and Dan, with guest-host Susan Chang, and special guest J.R. Johannsen J.R. Johannson joined Howard, Mary, Dan, and guest-host Susan Chang at LTUE 2017 for a discussion of gendered dialect. We lead with a quick introduction to the Genderlect theory, by Deborah Tannen, which uses a very broad brush to describe key differences between the ways men and women in western societies communicate. We then explore the way some of the individual voices we're familiar with have bee...
Apr 30, 2017•19 min•Season 12Ep. 18
Your Hosts: Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard We fielded some questions on style, diction, and paragraphing: Is it okay to have pretty prose in a straightforward adventure story? How do author voice and character voice differ? How do you prevent paragraphs from rambling? I feel like my writing is derivative of the writers whose work I read. How can I find or develop my own voice? How much does diction play into genre fiction? Is it okay to write in a natural speaking voice? During which part of th...
Apr 23, 2017•23 min•Season 12Ep. 17
Brian Keene joined Dan and Howard at the World Horror Convention to talk about writing crime fiction, including how he goes about getting readers to feel the things he wants them to feel to drive the story forward. Liner Notes: The Horror Show with Brian Keene Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: https://Talkiatry.com/WX * If you’re struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD...
Apr 16, 2017•20 min•Season 12Ep. 16
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley What makes a chapter? WHY is a chapter? How do we chapter, and do we always chapter the same way? Should our chapters be this many parts of speech? This episode will answer these questions and more, except for that last question, to which the answer is "probably not." Credits: This episode was recorded by Andrew Twiss, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://mast...
Apr 09, 2017•21 min•Season 12Ep. 15
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard Let's talk about the structural tools we use to control pacing. These include sentence length and punctuation. Also, white-space. Liner note: Here is the Feb 12, 2017 Schlock Mercenary strip mentioned around the 18-minute mark. Credits: this episode was recorded in Cosmere House Studios by Dan Dan the Audioman Thompson, and mastered aboard a fleeing generation-ship by Alex Jackson Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check ou...
Apr 03, 2017•20 min•Season 12Ep. 14
The rising, golden sun crested the snowcapped eastern mountains, its first morning rays pouring like molten lemon through the window to glisten and gleam from the chrome grille of the studio microphone. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: https://Talkiatry.com/WX * If you’re struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: http...
Mar 26, 2017•23 min•Season 12Ep. 13
Your Hosts: Howard and Dan, with Special Guest Linda Addison Linda Addison joined us at the World Horror Convention in 2016 for a discussion of the shapes and sounds of words as seen from the perspective of the poet, and how this approach can inform our prose. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: https://Talkiatry.com/WX * If you’re struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD...
Mar 19, 2017•21 min•Season 12Ep. 12
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley Let's talk about word choice. And when we say "let's" we mean "we're going to talk to you about it. You don't actually get to talk back." So maybe "let's" wasn't the best of the possible openers. Our discussion covers what we want to say, how specific we need to be, and what we want to evoke in the reader. Sometimes the wrong word is the right one, and the right word is the wrong one. Credits: This episode was recorded by Andrew Twiss, and mastere...
Mar 12, 2017•20 min•Season 12Ep. 11
Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard talk about authorial voice, and how to stop being afraid of examining how you "sound" when you write. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: https://Talkiatry.com/WX * If you’re struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: https://learn.nocd.com/wx Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/...
Mar 05, 2017•19 min•Season 12Ep. 10
Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard answer listener questions on viewpoint. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: https://Talkiatry.com/WX * If you’re struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: https://learn.nocd.com/wx Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://...
Feb 26, 2017•25 min•Season 12Ep. 9
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard Tananrive Due, whose short-fiction expertise is exemplified in her collection, Ghost Summer, joined us on the Oasis of the Seas to talk about how to use short stories to explore aspects of the craft. We discuss the importance of allowing ourselves to fail, and how we can learn from those failures, and continue to push our own limits. We also talk about how we go about pushing those limits, and what we do in order to most effectively explore new techniqu...
Feb 19, 2017•14 min•Season 12Ep. 8
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley The third-person POV lens can be used for simultaneously describing the world to the reader and describing the character. In this episode we'll talk about where we deploy these tools, where the pitfalls are, and how to do it well. Credits: This episode was recorded by Andrew Twiss, who heard the AC turn back on, and mastered by Alex Jackson, who was happy to not need to digitally filter the AC out of the mix. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: h...
Feb 12, 2017•20 min•Season 12Ep. 7
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard This episode focuses on the third person POV, and some variations on them, like omniscient and limited, and some sub-variants like cinematic and head-hopping. Credits: This episode was recorded aboard Oasis of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: https://Talkiatry.com/WX * If you’re struggling wi...
Feb 05, 2017•19 min•Season 12Ep. 6
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley This week we talk about the genre of Literary Fiction. Our first hurdle is the word "literary" whose use in this context can imply that all other genres are somehow not literature. In that vein, then, we're talking about mainstream, or "non-genre" fiction which is crafted with close attention to the finer points of the prose. After framing our discussion, we dive into the nuts and bolts of writing in the Literary Fiction genre. Credits: This episo...
Jan 29, 2017•20 min•Season 12Ep. 5
Your Hosts: Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard, with Sandra Tayler Piper J. Drake joins the cast for our week-four episodes, of which this is the first. This week we'll be drilling down into hybrid viewpoints—blending 1st and 3rd person, framing stories, stories-within-stories, and unreliable narration—and how to best serve our work with these techniques. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: ht...
Jan 22, 2017•19 min•Season 12Ep. 4
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard, with Sandra Tayler This Project in Depth episode contains spoilers for "Risk Assessment," which is included in Force Multiplication: Schlock Mercenary Book 12. The story was written by Sandra Tayler, and illustrated by Natalie Barahona. Howard handled the writing and illustrating for the framing story, but this episode isn't about that part. Risk Assessment is a romance wrapped up in an adventure, and is very different from most of the rest of Schlock ...
Jan 15, 2017•24 min•Season 12Ep. 3
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley This week we talk about character voice, and how to get it right in First Person. This POV is a strong tool for developing memorable characters. We cover sentence structure, linguistic tweaks, accents, and much more, as well as some exercises you can try out to develop these tools. This week is also your introduction to our Chicago cast. You've already heard from Brandon and Mary; the new voices belong to Mary Anne Mohanraj and Wesley Chu. Credits...
Jan 08, 2017•21 min•Season 12Ep. 2
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard We're beginning a new season, and during 2017 we will be focusing our topics on structure. We are also going to shake things by expanding our cast a bit. You'll be hearing some new voices soon! They belong to: Wesley Chu Piper J. Drake Mary Anne Mohanraj We'll post more on that in a few days, but we've already begun updating our "About" page. This week your hosts are Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. We spend a few m...
Jan 01, 2017•24 min•Season 12Ep. 1
Claudia Gray joined us aboard Oasis of the Seas to answer our attendees questions about the Elemental Ensemble. Here are the questions: Can you fit an ensemble into a short story? What the minimum size for an ensemble? Is there a perfect length? Can you put a traitor into an ensemble story? How do I give my ensemble characters equal emotional weight if I only tell the story from a single POV? How do you introduce your ensemble without infodumping? If an ensemble is about falling in love with a g...
Dec 24, 2016•25 min•Season 11Ep. 52
Lynne M. Thomas joins us to continue our discussion of the Elemental Ensemble, which is one of our favorite elemental tools. It's not just for heists. It adds interest, emotion, and lots of plot possibilities to everything from sense of wonder to the hard-hitting issue. Credits: This episode was recorded aboard Oasis of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Ch...
Dec 18, 2016•17 min•Season 11Ep. 51
Michael R. Underwood has talked to us about hand-selling books before, but that was about pitching to agents and editors. This time around he's talking about placing your product in the hand of your customer, the reader. With Michael's help, we cover some specific sales techniques, guidelines for convention displays, and strategies for bookstore appearances, with an eye toward helping you make that sort of activity effective. Credits: This episode was recorded aboard Oasis of the Seas by Bert Gr...
Dec 11, 2016•24 min•Season 11Ep. 50
Michael Damien Thomas, co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of Uncanny Magazine, joined us for a discussion of the elemental genre that contains most of the stories we refer to as "heists." It's all about a well-rounded cast in which the group relationship is what's pulling us forward. Credits: This episode was recorded aboard Oasis of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.c...
Dec 04, 2016•24 min•Season 11Ep. 49
Elizabeth Bear and Scott Lynch joined Howard and Dan at GenCon Indy to talk about fantasy food, and how we engage our readers' appetites with our fiction. We talk economics, logistics, sensory engagement, and we goof off quite a bit in the process. We might have been hungry at the time. There is good fun to be had here, and plenty of (pun intended) food for thought. Credits: This episode was mastered by Alex Jackson, and was made possible by the generous support of the GenCon Indy Writer’s Sympo...
Nov 29, 2016•18 min
DongWon Song, literary agent with HMLA, joins us for a Q&A on the elemental genre of "Issue." Here are the questions, which were submitted by the attendees at WXR '16: Can only certain people tackle certain issues in certain stories? Science Fiction often explores issues by changing the context. Why does this work? How would you handle an issue story in short fiction? How do you make sure to research the issue enough without paralyzing yourself with the fear that you cannot do it justice? Ho...
Nov 27, 2016•22 min•Season 11Ep. 48
Steven Barnes joins us to tackle Elemental Issue, round two, in which we look at how to address it as a sub-element. He describes the thesis/antithesis approach, and we move then to logical frameworks, and how to avoid making our stories dogmatic. Credits: This episode was recorded aboard Oasis of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/EXCUSES * Check out Talkiatry: http...
Nov 20, 2016•24 min•Season 11Ep. 47
Our listeners have been asking for an in-depth, "crunchy" episode on colonialism, and related issues like cultural appropriation, for a couple of years now. Our voices, however, are not the ones our listeners should be hearing on the subject. Finding the right voices has not been easy, but it has been worth it. This episode runs for over 25 minutes. Steven Barnes, K. Tempest Bradford, DongWon Song, and Shveta Thakrar discuss colonialism with Mary Robinette Kowal. Brandon, Dan, and Howard simply ...
Nov 13, 2016•27 min•Season 11Ep. 46
For November, our elemental genre is "Issue," and we were joined by actor, writer, and comedian Desiree Burch. The Elemental Issue is similar to the Elemental Idea, but the type of idea being explored is a point of social conflict, like racism, teen pregnancy, or corporate greed. Authors writing Elemental Issue stories raise questions for the readers. We talk about how to go about writing these without sounding preachy, and without writing polemics. Soundbite Moment: "The more specific a work ge...
Nov 06, 2016•25 min•Season 11Ep. 45
