Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.
Delia Sherman joined us aboard the Independence of the Seas for our question-and-answer installment on endings. The questions came from the attendees at the Writing Excuses Workshop, which was, lest anyone forget, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The questions: Why do more short stories than novels end on tragic notes? How do…
Kevin J. Anderson joined us at Sasquan/WorldCon 73 to take questions about plot twists. Here are the questions that came in from our live audience: Genre Twists: good, bad, or ugly? Can you compare and contrast a good plot twist with a bad one? What is the biggest mistake professional…
We wrap up this month’s discussion of pacing with a Q&A. Here are the questions we pulled out of the virtual hat (read: Twitter) for answering during the episode: What are some early indications of a pacing problem? How do you chart pacing so that it remains even? Can you control pacing…
Marie Brennan joins us again, this time to help us field your questions about middles. Here are the questions we collected from the various social media feeds: How do you maintain interest without having something explode every other chapter? In short fiction, how do you prevent try-fail cycles from bloating the…
How do you “show, don’t tell” a character’s thoughts? We answer this question, and more!
We answer questions about consistency, alternate histories, and the Great Spoke Plague of ’77
We’ve talked beginnings all month. Now we take your questions about them.
Wes Chu joins us again for a Q&A about this month’s topic: story structure! Here are the questions: Do you make a conscious decision about how to structure your story before you begin writing? Is it necessary to use multiple structures (three-act, Hollywood formula, etc) in order to ensure that…
Wesley Chu joins us for a literal shake-up of our structure for one episode. We had loads of fun with this one. The I Ching is a collection of poems which you consult with numbered sticks. You ask a question, shake a random stick from the cup, and the corresponding…
It’s time for a Q&A on characters! The questions for this episode were provided by the attendees at the 2014 Out of Excuses Workshop and Retreat: How do you have a character grow in power and/or expertise without needing to ridiculously overpower the villains? How do you give a flawed…
