Writing Excuses
208 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 12 years ago - ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsFifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.
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Episodes
Writing Excuses 6.30: Help! I Can’t End My Book!
December 26, 2011 01:58 - 20 minutes - 14.3 MBBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk endings, and how to troubleshoot common problems writers have with them.
Writing Excuses 6.29: Character Foils
December 19, 2011 05:49 - 15 minutes - 10.7 MBBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about using character foils in building a story.
Writing Excuses 6.28: Interstitial Art
December 12, 2011 00:49 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBEllen Kushner and Delia Sherman from the Interstitial Arts Foundation join Mary Robinette Kowal and Dan Wells to talk about the gaps between genres.
Writing Excuses 6.27: Fantasy Setting Yard Sale
December 04, 2011 23:54 - 17 minutes - 11.9 MBBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard brainstorm some fantasy setting elements for you. Need a magic system on the cheap? How about a political power structure?
Writing Excuses 6.26: Mystery Plotting
November 28, 2011 01:42 - 17 minutes - 11.7 MBBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about plotting a good mystery, especially as part of a non-mystery-genre book.
Writing Excuses 6.25: When Characters do Dumb Things
November 21, 2011 01:44 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBBrandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary talk about making characters do dumb things for smart reasons.
Writing Excuses 6.24: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
November 14, 2011 01:24 - 18 minutes - 12.8 MBAndrew P. Mayer joins Howard, Mary, and Dan to talk about taking silly ideas and making seriously awesome stuff out of them.
Writing Excuses 6.23: Pigeon Holes
November 07, 2011 00:02 - 17 minutes - 11.9 MBJonathan Maberry joins Howard, Dan, and Mary to discuss pigeonholes -- specifically, not ending up in one.
Writing Excuses 6.22: Continuing Education for Writers
October 31, 2011 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.1 MBMur Lafferty joins Howard, Mary, and Dan to talk about ways in which writers can continue their education.
Writing Excuses 6.21: Brainstorming From Story Seeds
October 24, 2011 01:00 - 16 minutes - 11.1 MBBrandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard each crank out the beginnings of a story from the same set of story seeds.
Writing Excuses 6.20: Endings
October 17, 2011 01:11 - 18 minutes - 13 MBLou Anders joins Dan, Howard, and Mary for a discussion of endings.
Writing Excuses 6.19: Pitching
October 10, 2011 01:53 - 17 minutes - 12.3 MBBrandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary talk about pitching -- a critical skill for new and established authors alike.
6.18: The Hollywood Formula, with Lou Anders
October 02, 2011 23:35 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBLou Anders joins Mary, Dan, and Howard at Dragon*Con for a discussion of the Hollywood Formula.
Writing Excuses 6.17: Writing Assistants
September 25, 2011 23:13 - 21 minutes - 14.5 MBPeter Ahlstrom, assistant to Brandon Sanderson, and Valerie Dowbenko, assistant to Pat Rothfuss, join Brandon and Dan to talk about what they do for "their authors."
Writing Excuses 6.16: Gender Roles–Black, White, and Gray
September 19, 2011 01:42 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBKeffy Kehrli joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard at WorldCon 69 for a discussion of gender roles, gender identity, and transsexualism with the objective of being able to write these things believably and accurately.
Writing Excuses 6.15: Writing Other Cultures
September 12, 2011 01:00 - 18 minutes - 13 MBLauren Beukes joins the 'cast for a discussion of writing cultures that you're not personally a part of.
Writing Excuses 6.14: Suspension of Disbelief
September 05, 2011 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.6 MBPatrick Rothfuss joins the crew at WorldCon 69 for a discussion of how to get readers to suspend their disbelief.
Writing Excuses 6.13: World Building Communications Technology
August 29, 2011 01:46 - 16 minutes - 11.3 MBBrandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary discuss communications technology, and how the ability for characters to communicate is a critical piece of your world-building, whether you're writing science-fiction, fantasy, or pretty much anything else.
Writing Excuses 6.12: Revising For Description
August 22, 2011 01:00 - 17 minutes - 11.7 MB"The wind rushed across his skin at several hundred miles per second, and registered as an itch." Brandon, Dan, and Mary tear into Howard's two-decade-old manuscript with an eye towards descriptions.
Writing Excuses 6.11: Making Your Descriptions Do More Than One Thing
August 15, 2011 00:00 - 1 ByteBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard approach writing descriptions from several different angles and at least five disciplines in order to help you get more done with less purple.
Writing Excuses 6.10: Scott Card’s M.I.C.E. Quotient
August 08, 2011 00:00 - 17 minutes - 12.3 MBMary walks Brandon, Dan, and Howard through the Milieu, Idea, Character, and Event (M.I.C.E.) quotient from Orson Scott Card, and then they retell the Billy Goats Gruff four times.
Writing Excuses 6.9: Microcasting 2 Electric Boogaloo
July 31, 2011 15:29 - 17 minutes - 12.2 MBBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard take questions from the Twitterverse ranging from outlining, character creation, and plot-hole repair to skill development and writing groups.
Writing Excuses 6.8: What an Agent Does
July 25, 2011 01:10 - 18 minutes - 12.4 MBHoward Tayler and Dan Wells interview literary agent Sara Crowe about what agents do for authors, and why having an agent might be the right thing for your career.
Writing Excuses 6.7: Brainstorming a Cyberpunk Story
July 18, 2011 00:07 - 19 minutes - 13.2 MBBrandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary brainstorm a cyberpunk story using concepts pulled at random from a mythology textbook.
Writing Excuses 6.6: Cyberpunk
July 11, 2011 00:56 - 16 minutes - 11.5 MBBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard take a high-level look at cyberpunk (the literary genre) for writers considering creating something along those lines.
Writing Excuses 6.5: Query Letters
July 04, 2011 01:00 - 21 minutes - 14.7 MBSara Crowe, literary agent with Harvey Klinger, joins Dan and Howard for a discussion of query letters.
Writing Excuses 6.4: Microcasting
June 27, 2011 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.2 MBBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard field questions from the Twitterverse -- commercial publishing, finding balance, structuring stories, defining moments, and more.
Writing Excuses 6.3: Professional Organizations
June 20, 2011 02:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBBrandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about SFWA, NCS, and other professional organizations for writers and creators.
Writing Excuses 6.2: Internal Motivations
June 13, 2011 02:00 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBBrandon, Mary, Dan, & Howard discuss putting character motivations on the page in support of plot, character arcs, and the story in general.
Writing Excuses 6.1: Can Creativity be Taught?
June 06, 2011 00:00 - 18 minutes - 13 MBBrandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard discuss creativity -- how to learn it, how to teach it, and how to get better at it.
Writing Excuses 5.39: Filking and Writing Music with Tom Smith
May 30, 2011 01:00 - 17 minutes - 12.4 MBTom Smith joins Howard and Brandon at Penguicon for a discussion of Filk and some delightfully improvised music.
Writing Excuses 5.38: Dialog with John Scalzi
May 23, 2011 01:21 - 17 minutes - 12.2 MBJohn Scalzi joins Brandon and Howard for a discussion of dialog and how genre fiction writers can learn to do a better job with it.
Writing Excuses 5.37: Parody and Satire with Jim Hines
May 16, 2011 02:16 - 17 minutes - 11.9 MBJim Hines suffers abuse from Howard and Brandon as the three of them discuss parody, satire, and humor in front of a live audience at Penguicon.
Writing Excuses 5.36: Non-Traditional Settings with Saladin Ahmed
May 09, 2011 02:37 - 17 minutes - 12.2 MBSaladin Ahmed, Nebula- and Campbell-award nominee joins Brandon and Howard for a discussion of setting -- specifically, setting an epic fantasy in something besides the traditional, Western European middle ages.
Writing Excuses 5.35: Brainstorming Urban Fantasy
May 02, 2011 01:00 - 18 minutes - 12.6 MBBrandon, Dan, and Howard brainstorm an urban fantasy set in a big-box store in Park City, Utah.
Writing Excuses 5.34: Story Bibles
April 24, 2011 22:42 - 18 minutes - 12.8 MBLet’s talk about bibles. Specifically, story bibles. What are they, why do we use them, why might we NOT use them, and what tools are working for us? Howard again plugs wikidpad, which he converted Brandon to, and which Dan Wells just couldn’t bring himself to love. Dan uses several different Open Office files. The … Continue reading Writing Excuses 5.34: Story Bibles →
Writing Excuses 5.33: Alpha Readers
April 17, 2011 23:55 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBBrandon, Dan, and Howard discuss what an alpha reader is, is not, and where one might find these marvelous creatures.
Writing Excuses 5.32: Urban Fantasy
April 10, 2011 22:27 - 17 minutes - 11.8 MBWe begin our discussion of Urban Fantasy with a discussion of definitions, which quickly devolves into an argument over what we are actually supposed to be talking about. Moving right along, we explore what sorts of things we find in an Urban Fantasy, and what sorts of rules these stories usually abide by. Dan tells … Continue reading Writing Excuses 5.32: Urban Fantasy →
Writing Excuses 5.31: Writing Romance
April 04, 2011 04:59 - 16.6 MBSarah Eden and Robison Wells join Dan and Howard at LTUE to talk about writing romance. Sarah writes in the romance genre, but we’re not focusing on the genre — we’re talking about writing romance within the context of whatever else we might happen to be putting on the page. We lead with how to … Continue reading Writing Excuses 5.31: Writing Romance →
Writing Excuses 5.30: Writing Action
March 28, 2011 02:08 - 12.9 MBDan and Howard are joined by Larry Correia and Robison Wells, and with the enthusiastic support of a live audience at LTUE they discuss writing action.
Writing Excuses 5.29: Rewriting
March 21, 2011 00:00 - 12.8 MBWe were fortunate enough to record two episodes with Tracy Hickman and Dave Wolverton at Life, The Universe, and Everything XXIX. In this second installment these masters of the craft school us on the subject of rewrites.
Writing Excuses 5.28: E-publishing
March 14, 2011 01:18 - 12.4 MBDavid Farland and Tracy Hickman discuss electronic publishing with Dan and Howard.
Writing Excuses 5.27: Perseverance, with Sherrilyn Kenyon
March 07, 2011 01:00 - 11.7 MBSherrilyn Kenyon joins Brandon, Dan, and Howard for a discussion of persevering as a writer.
Writing Excuses 5.26: Scared for the Characters
February 28, 2011 05:11 - 11.8 MBSherrilyn Kenyon tells us all how to make readers fear for the characters in her books.
Writing Excuses 5.25: Writing in Other People’s Universes
February 21, 2011 01:46 - 12.5 MBSo, you want to write a Star Wars book? Kevin J. Anderson joins Brandon, Dan, and Howard to tackle writing in other people's universes.
Writing Excuses 5.24: The Author’s Responsibility to the Reader
February 14, 2011 03:14 - 12.1 MBKevin J. Anderson discusses author productivity with Brandon, Dan, and Howard.
Writing Excuses 5.23: Life Day!
February 07, 2011 04:00 - 10.5 MBMary Robinette Kowal and Dave Wolverton again join Dan and Howard, and this time we’re talking about holidays in fantasy and science-fiction. This ‘cast was recorded at Superstars Writing Seminars, and Moses Siregar III of Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing captured us on video as we recorded. What sorts of things result in holidays? Historically we … Continue reading Writing Excuses 5.23: Life Day! →
Writing Excuses 5.22: Film Considerations
January 31, 2011 01:12 - 9.91 MBMary Robinette Kowal and Dave Wolverton join Dan and Howard for a discussion of movie considerations and formulas.
Writing Excuses 5.21: Alternate History
January 24, 2011 02:00 - 22 minutes - 15.6 MBMary Robinette Kowal and Eric Flint join Howard and Dan for a discussion of Alternate history - what, why, and how.
Writing Excuses 5.20: More Dialog Exercises
January 17, 2011 01:00 - 16.6 MBBrandon, Dan, and Howard critique some dialog-only writing exercises from listeners.