Writing Excuses artwork

Writing Excuses

208 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 12 years ago - ★★★★★ - 115 ratings

Fifteen 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Ellen 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Andrew 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 MB

Jonathan 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 MB

Mur 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Lou 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Lou 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 MB

Peter 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 MB

Keffy 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 MB

Lauren 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 MB

Patrick 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 MB

Brandon, 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 Byte

Brandon, 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 MB

Mary 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Howard 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Sara 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Tom 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 MB

John 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 MB

Jim 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 MB

Saladin 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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

Let’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 MB

Brandon, 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 MB

We 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 MB

Sarah 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 MB

Dan 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 MB

We 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 MB

David 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 MB

Sherrilyn 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 MB

Sherrilyn 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 MB

So, 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 MB

Kevin J. Anderson discusses author productivity with Brandon, Dan, and Howard.

Writing Excuses 5.23: Life Day!

February 07, 2011 04:00 - 10.5 MB

Mary 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 MB

Mary 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 MB

Mary 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 MB

Brandon, Dan, and Howard critique some dialog-only writing exercises from listeners.

Guests

Brandon Mull
2 Episodes
Scott Westerfeld
2 Episodes
Tracy Hickman
2 Episodes
John Scalzi
1 Episode
Sherrilyn Kenyon
1 Episode