Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.

19.07: NaNoWriMo Revision with Ali Fisher: Intention

For our second episode in this three-part series on revising your NaNoWriMo novel—or any other larger project you have—we are diving into intentions with Tor editor Ali Fisher. We asked her how she helps writers figure out what their books are about, and how she helps set intentions for revisions.…

19.06: NaNoWriMo Revision with Ali Fisher: Length

Ali Fisher, editor at Tor Books and member of the podcast Rude Tales of Magic, joins us for a three-part series on editing. First up: length! How do you edit your work—whether it’s a book or a short story or a novella? Maybe you wrote a draft during NaNoWriMo, maybe you…

18.48: NaNoWriMo Week 5 – Writing Endings

Welcome to the last week of National Novel Writing Month! It’s okay if you aren’t going to finish your book, and it’s also okay if you don’t have 50,000 words! You still did a thing—you created a story that didn’t exist  We want to talk about endings. How do you…

18.47: NaNoWriMo Week 4 – Climaxes, or OH MY GOD NO

It’s week four of NaNoWriMo! Or, National Novel Writing Month, which happens every year for the month of November. This week, we are talking about how to write climaxes, how to write resolutions, and what exactly the three-quarter mark is.  How do you write a climax scene? How to keep…

18.46: NaNoWriMo Week 3 – Raising the Stakes

We are now three weeks into NaNoWriMo—where writers are attempting to write a novel in the month of November. For this episode, our writers talk about how to raise the stakes in your story.   To make something feel more threatening, you don’t have to make it bigger or flashier, but…

18.45: NaNoWriMo Week 2 – Inciting Incident

Welcome to the first official week of National Novel Writing Month (or, almost the end of this week)! In this episode, we dive into how to write an inciting incident.  What is an inciting incident? It is often the thing that goes wrong in your story. Within the first page,…

18.44: NaNoWriMo Week 1- Getting Started

Welcome to National Novel Writing Month! For November, writers all over the world are trying to complete a novel, or write 50,000 words. In honor of NaNoWriMo, all of our November episodes are going to focus on writing a novel or big project.  For our first week—starting! How do you…

NaNoWriMo 2018 Bonus Episode, with Mercedes Lackey

Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard, with special guest Mercedes Lackey NaNoWriMo 2018 is half-way over today. Are you stuck? Do you need to get unstuck? Mercedes Lackey joined us at GenCon Indy back in 2017 to talk about writer’s block, and how it’s very likely a symptom…

NaNoWriMo 2018 Mini-Episode 2

Your Mini-Episode Hosts: Amal El-Mohtar and Maurice Broaddus, with Special Asides from Mary Robinette Kowal We’re a week in to NaNoWriMo. If you’re scared of it, Amal is here to tell you that it’s okay to feel that way, Maurice is here with the encouraging words “consequence-free.” Homework: Relax! The…