Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard discuss creativity — how to learn it, how to teach it, and how to get better at it.
Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.
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…
Writing Excuses Season 4 has been nominated for a “Best Related Work” Hugo.
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…