Season 05 – Writing Excuses: Recent Episodes
Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
Tom Smith joins Howard and Brandon at Penguicon for a discussion of Filk and some delightfully improvised music.
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.
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.
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.
Brandon, Dan, and Howard brainstorm an urban fantasy set in a big-box store in Park City, Utah.
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 important thing, though, is that when we need to store information about the book in someplace besides the book itself, we write it down in our story bibles.
Dan talks about his new project, how important the story bible was for that, and what sorts of things absolutely have to go in there. Howard talks about the sorts of Schlock-tech that often end up
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Freakonomics, by Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner, narrated by Stephen J. Dubner.
Writing Prompt: Someone is a were-animal. Pick an animal that hasn't been done. Were-banana-slug, perhaps?
9:40 through 10:10: Yes, we went kind of quiet there. Somebody kicked a cable, maybe?
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Brandon, Dan, and Howard discuss what an alpha reader is, is not, and where one might find these marvelous creatures.
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 us how he set about writing the John Cleaver books, which certainly qualify as Urban Fantasy, Howard tackles the burning question of where one might start in the project of building a mythos, and Brandon explains his own Urban Fantasy projects, including one failure from which we can all learn an important lesson.
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Dresden Files Book One: Storm Front, by Jim Butcher, narrated by James Marsters.
Writing Prompt: . Give us an Urban Fantasy in which the point of origin for your crossover is big box store retail spaces which somehow breach the boundary between our world and the magical one.
This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership. Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please!
Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.
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 do it wrong, because nothing is as much fun to talk about as bad romance. It's also educational.
More importantly (and more usefully) we talk about formulas for doing romance correctly. One of the most practical is to pair characters up by finding emotional needs that these characters can meet for each other. We look at examples from each of our work: Sarah's The Kiss of a Stranger, Dan's I Don't Want To Kill You, Howard's The Sharp End of the Stick, and Rob's Variant.
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: I Don't Want To Kill You, by Dan Wells, narrated by Kirby Heyborne. It's true, this book has some great romance in it. Also, murder.
Writing Prompt: Create a character, and then create a complementary character who both meets a need and provides unwelcome challenge.
Everybody's Lisp: Brought to you by the noise reduction software we used. Sorry about that. It won't happen again.
The Bonus Game: Bad Romance! Enjoy!
This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership. Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please!
Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.
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.
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.
Sherrilyn Kenyon joins Brandon, Dan, and Howard for a discussion of persevering as a writer.
Sherrilyn Kenyon tells us all how to make readers fear for the characters in her books.
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.
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 see them at the solstices and the equinoxes, planting and harvest, and commemorations of important events. We talk about all of these, and how to work them into your own writing without sounding like you're just filing the serial numbers off of Christmas, Halloween, and Mardi Gras. So of course we also talk about how to do this wrong. Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: METAtropolis: Cascadia, by Jay Lake, Mary Robinette Kowal, Elizabeth Bear, Ken Scholes, Karl Schroeder, and Tobias Buckell, and narrated by Rene Auberjonois, Kate Mulgrew, Wil Wheaton, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and Jay Lake. Writing Prompt: Make up a holiday that isn't based on anything you've seen. Exclamation Howard Thought He'd Never Use: Bone Puppet Day! This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership. Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please! Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.
Mary Robinette Kowal and Dave Wolverton join Dan and Howard for a discussion of movie considerations and formulas.
Mary Robinette Kowal and Eric Flint join Howard and Dan for a discussion of Alternate history - what, why, and how.
Brandon, Dan, and Howard give examples of making, keeping, and breaking promises to your readers.
Late last season we took a look at Brandon's first novel and did some line-editing and critiquing. It was so much fun we decided that Dan needed to take a turn in the dunking booth.
He totally gets wet.
In the course of dunking Dan we cover beginnings, descriptions, character development, pacing, and viewpoint as we tear into the first couple of pages of this novel. Brandon and Howard argue a bit over stylistic approaches, and of course Dan doesn't get a say in things because he drowned. (Note: Dan does get a say in things, but mostly because he is not defending his old work at all.)
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs
Writing Prompt: Take an idiomatic expression and make it literal (not as a pun.) For instance, "the crack of dawn" as an actual crack in the sky through which dawn's light shines.
Word That Is Not A Word But Totally Should Be: Discontiguity: [dis-kon-ti-gyoo-i-tee] - noun. A break in a series of things in continuous connection. A severance of contact.
Word That Isn't In The Book, But Brandon Totally Put It There: Scrumptiously.
This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership. Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please!
Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.
Scott Westerfeld joins Brandon and Howard for a discussion of the visual components of novels.
John Brown joins Brandon, Dan, and Howard for a discussion of second novels, sequels, and the trick to doing it again.
Brandon, Dan, and Howard field questions about doing bad things to characters, soliciting feedback, creature design, and outlining.
The now cancer-free John Brown joins us again, this time for a discussion of the creative process. John has presented a seminar on this subject in the past, the focus of which is to teach people to unlock their creativity. At the core of this is the problem-solving we all engage in at some point. You have a problem, so you sit down and try to solve it. BAM. Creativity.
With John's help we set out to de-mystify creativity, showing how everybody has to be creative on a regular basis, and how this skill set can be broadened through certain types of behavior, and immersion in particular domains. We explore strategies for developing what feels like a good idea, tactics for getting un-stuck when we're bogged down, and finally figuring out when we're done.
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Marguerite Gavin
Writing Prompt: A person gets surgery so in order to imitate He Who Never Sleeps...
This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership. Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please!
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John Brown joins us this week for a discussion of plot threads specific to characters. These can be the main plot thread, interesting sub-plots, or just things that shape characters. Sometimes they're things we do deliberately, and sometimes we discovery-write our way into these arcs. We talk about how we do this, and how we know when it is (and isn't!) working well.
We ran a little long, but there were four of us, and we put LOTS of nuts-and-bolts stuff in this 'cast.
Writing Prompt: Your cast of characters is trapped on an emotionally-responsive roller-coaster that mimics their own emotional arcs. How do they use this knowledge?
This Tuesday: John's first novel, Servant of a Dark God, is out in paperback!
ALSO This Tuesday: The polls are open for you, you citizens of the United States! Go vote!
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1, by Jonathan Stroud, read by Simon Jones.
This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership. Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please!
Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.
What are the excuses you make when you're not writing? Brandon, Dan, and Howard examine these, and offer advice for getting the writing done anyway.
Melodrama. What is it? What do people mean when they say something is too melodramatic?
Usually they do NOT mean "it's too much like a classical melodrama," but it helps if we start with that definition: a melodrama is a story in which each character only expresses one emotion, and/or only has one trait. When we refer to melodrama, we're usually complaining about over-acting.
So... how do we avoid it? How do we create characters in conflict without overdoing the conflict or the characterization. In many ways it comes back to something we say over and over (and over and over) again: make your characters into real people.
But we're not going to leave it at that. We're not just going to repeat what we've been telling you for three years now. No, we've got good tools you can use for writing powerful, emotional moments without your readers whining about melodrama.
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Tomb: Repairman Jack #1, by F. Paul Wilson
Writing Prompt: Write a story in which you take a cliched, angsty hero in a completely new direction, so that it doesn't feel cliched.
Dramatic Reading: Stick around after the 'cast for Howard's reading of Mike O's response to our "magical ink" writing prompt.
This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership. Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please!
Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.
Brandon, Dan, and Howard discuss Flash Fiction in less time than it took you to read this excerpt.
Suspense! What is it? What isn't it? What is the relationship between suspense and mystery, and for that matter horror, humor, and adventure? This 'cast is chock full of pithy quotes, useful advice, and anecdotal examples.
Bree Despain joins Brandon, Dan, and Howard for a discussion of writing in the 1st-person
Special guest Bree Despain of the Dark Divine trilogy joins us for a 'cast on character quirks.
A character quirk, avoiding the tautological definition, is something that makes your character memorable. We talk about good quirks, bad quirks, and how to tell the difference. We also laugh a lot because it was late and we were punchy.
We also discuss ways in which stereotype-breaking quirks can be employed without delivering humor, and reasons why we might do this.
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
Regarding That "No Spoilers" Shouting-Match: If you haven't seen Avatar: The Last Airbender (animated) in its entirety yet, it's possible Bree gave something away in the last two minutes of the 'cast.
Writing Prompt: A physical attribute that in some way influences the character's religion
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We've talked about point of view before, but only in general terms: this time we delve into third-person limited in detail, explaining how to use it and when to use it and why.
We apologize for the lateness of the post, and the lameness of this episode description: this is what happens when all three of us go to conventions on the same weekend. Expect a cooler update soon.
[ONE WEEK LATER]
So... yeah, that original post pretty much sums it up. Why should you employ third-person limited, as opposed to first-person, or third-person omniscient, or third-person cinematic? What are the pitfalls, and how can you avoid them?
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Soulless by Gail Carriger. Vampires, werewolves, and parasols in a steamy, punky, bodice-rippy, alternate-history London.
Writing Prompt: Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Producer Jordo all walk through a room, and each of us sees the room differently.
This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible.
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*Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please!
Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.