We’re back for the New Year, and we start by answering all your questions. Or at least eight of them.
What does SFPA stand for?
A Memory of Light: Wheel of Time, Book 14, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary talk about the Hero’s Journey. Finally.
Take Goldilocks and the Three Bears, apply the Campbellian Monomyth, and give us a short story.
At the time we recorded this, Hero With a Thousand Faces was available on Audible. It’s not anymore. So… go find something else educational?
How do you give a personality to the animal or animals in your story? How do you do it without being a crazy cat lady?
Write a human interacting with an alien, and the alien has a conspicuous companion animal who is critically important to the alien’s life.
Making Money, by Terry Pratchett narrated by Stephen Briggs
Do you need arcs and development for side-characters?
The Hero of the Most Boring Story Ever—your job is to make it interesting.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, by Philip K. Dick, narrated by Tom Weiner
They’re not rules, they’re guidelines. Right? Let’s talk about breaking “rules” of writing.
Here is a rule for rule-breaking: The best format for experimenting with rule-breaking is the short. So! Pick your three favorite rules and break all three in a short story.
Holes, by Louis Sachar, narrated by Kerry Byer
Why would you retell a story that has already been told? Now, how would you go about doing it well?
Do a retelling of a Bible story in a science fiction space setting.
Cinder, by Marissa Meyer, narrated by Rebecca Soler
Robison Wells joins the ‘cast to talk to us about cliffhangers.
Write the story of the scary, scary shade from Phantom of the Opera.
Robison Wells joins Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard to talk about health — especially the mental kind.
Take an outline, and make a list of the questions you are going to ask your readers at the beginning of the book. Then make a (hopefully shorter) list of the questions you leave unanswered by the end of that book.
Our pick, Imagine, by Jonah Lehrer, has been pulled from Audible because the author made some stuff up! So not only can you not believe everything you read, you can’t believe everything you listen to.
The team helps Howard brainstorm a story about big Pharma and Death…
Pick a major event in history, and then write a secret history in which Death returns to take over.
Feedback, by Robison Wells, narrated by Michael Goldstrom
Howard brainstorms with Brandon, Mary, and Dan on a Schlock Mercenary bonus story.
An uplifted creature wants to get his/her entire species downlifted.
Fragments, by Dan Wells, narrated by Julia Whelan
Robison Wells discusses writing mentally ill characters with Brandon, Mary, and Dan.
Take Rob’s explanation of what it feels like to be him, and write a character from that POV.
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, by David Eagleman, who also narrates.
The cast grills Howard about “Deus ex Nauseum,” the bonus story from Emperor Pius Dei
Take one story and discard every other page. Use that as framing material for a second story.
The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, edited by John Joseph Adams with stories by Robert J. Sawyer, Christopher Roden, Michael Moorcock, Anne Perry, Neil Gaiman, Anthony Burgess, and Laurie R. King, narrated by Simon Vance and Anne Flosnik.
Mary, Howard, Dan, and Brandon talk about the things we do to feel like professionals.
This is a submission prompt! Submit a story to a high-level market that you think you’ll never sell to.
A History of Warfare, by John Keegan, narrated by Ian Stuart
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard brainstorm a science-fiction short story featuring artificial intelligence
Come up with a better resolution for this story than we did.
Dragonsinger: Harper Hall Trilogy Volume 2, by Anne McCaffrey, narrated by Sally Darling
We begin with an audio glitch and a jumbling of our usual intro. Why? Because it breaks rhythm, and sometimes you may actually want to do that. Narrative rhythm is the pattern of story elements and associated structures that help drive the reader’s pace through a book. Consciously managed, narrative rhythm is a a critical … Continue reading Writing Excuses 8.15: Narrative Rhythm
Re-write a classic fairy-tale, first with nothing but rising action, and then with the addition of some falling action.
The Book of Three: The Prydain Chronicles, Volume 1, by Lloyd Alexander
Mary, Dan, and Howard help Brandon brainstorm a story, this time featuring psychic birds.
Come up with an animal that both swims and flies. But not a duck.
A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin, narrated by Rob Inglis
The Writing Excuses Crew fields questions about crossed genres, literary fiction, magical realism, and more.
“Kittenpunk.”
Blocking! What is it, why is it important, and how can you do it well?
Write a fight scene. Bonus points if it’s got four people in it. We don’t know what you’ll spend those points on.
Monster Hunter Alpha, by Larry Correia, narrated by Oliver Wyman
Writing Excuses tackles water from the perspective of the fish. Also? The culture surrounding writers.
Neil Gaiman is the Mentor character in your Hero’s Journey.
White Sands, Red Menace, by Ellen Klages, narrated by Julie Dretzin
Mary Robinette Kowal walks us through writing short stories.
Being “bi-textual” is a controversial lifestyle choice…
The Language of Moths, by Christopher Barzak, narrated by Paul Michael Garcia
Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard loved “The Avengers,” and would like to tell you what they think the film did right.
Take an ensemble cast, and have them fighting each other as a prelude to fighting what needs to be fought. Alternatively? “Hulk smash.”
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon, narrated by David Colacci
E.J. Patten joins us to talk about pre-writing — all that work that gets done before the prose happens.
Kids get magical powers from their Halloween costumes…
E.J. Patten’s books aren’t available on Audible, but if you’re looking for Cthulhu that isn’t for kids, H.P. Lovecraft’s classics “Call of Cthulhu” and “Reanimator” can be found in H.P. Lovecraft, Volume 2, narrated by Garrick Hogan.
Brandon, Dan, Mary, Howard, and guest E.J. Patten answer a slew of questions about writing and the business of writing.
Two words: “Flying Caldecott.”
Red Storm Rising, by Tom Clancy, narrated by Michael Prichard
Mary walks Brandon, Dan, and Howard through the processes for writing “Kiss Me Twice,” her Hugo-nominated novella
Pick your favorite actor or actress, gather your favorite quotes from them in their films, and string them together in a single character’s voice in a new context.
Empire State, by Adam Christopher, narrated by Phil Gigante
E.J. Patten joins us again, this to discuss the particulars of writing middle-grade fiction.
Write a Middle Grade book with a four-year-old protagonist.
The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan, narrated by Kevin R. Free and Katherine Kellgren
What does “space opera” mean, and how might you go about writing it?
Posit a faster-than-light drive that nobody else has thought of. Or at least that you haven’t heard of.
The Warrior’s Apprentice, by Lois McMaster Bujold, narrated by Grover Gardner
How do we break our books into chapters, and how to we build those chapters to begin with?
Outline a two-character plot arc, and then break it into chapters. Experiment with big blocks and little blocks of POV in this chapter-chopped outline, and consider how this will affect the arc.
Promise of Blood, by Brian McClellan, narrated by Christian Rodska
The team talks about contracts, and what you as an author staring at a contract should be considering.
Write, as part of whatever story you’re working on, a contract that is both horrible and magical.
Without a Summer, by Mary Robinette Kowal, narrated by Mary herself
The cast answers questions about publishing, formatting, process, and the Evil Nemesis John Scalzi.
Someone is doing a puppetry move so extreme they end up hospitalized.
The Human Division, by John Scalzi, narrated by William Dufris. (We were told that Wil Wheaton would be narrating this, but according to Audible the narrator is William Dufris.)
The cast discusses how to make reluctant, non-proactive, non-go-getting characters interesting to read about.
Create a character who is either weak or reluctant, determine why they are weak or reluctant, and then write the decision point.
Celebromancy, by Michael R. Underwood, narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal, who gets to make a light-saber noise as part of the narration…
The cast talks about making dialogue, blocking, and description work together for exposition and story-telling.
(Which is Actually Homework) Write description for half an hour. A full half hour. Set a timer! Try to use all five senses. Now write a single paragraph in which we establish a single character in that setting. Finally, write three sentences that convey the character, the description, and the character’s emotional state. Want more exercises like this one? Here you go! (courtesy of Mary.)
Bloody Jack, by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren
Q&A covering workflow, contests, lantern-hanging, word counts, and more
Keep track of your hourly word count for a day’s writing. Then set goals to beat that word count in subsequent sessions.
The Madman’s Daughter, by Megan Shepherd, narrated by Lucy Rayner
How do you help your readers relate to the non-human characters in your fiction?
Depict a conversation between members of a non-human species who do something besides talk.
Thief of Time: Discworld, Book 26, by Terry Pratchett, narrated by Stephen Briggs
The cast talks about their survivorship bias, and how to pay attention to that bias so that listeners can extract advice from us that might actually work for you
A very successful author or artist has a fan who decides to emulate that creator’s life in crazy, cargo-cult detail in an effort to become similarly successful.
We plugged Michael Moorcock’s Elric series for you, but those are no longer available on Audible. You might consider Moorcock’s Blood: A Southern Fantasy instead.
Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content joins us to talk about discovery writing, and how he digs himself out of holes when he writes himself into them.
Go back to whatever you wrote most recently and come up with a different solution for the scene, changing the emotional beat of the scene.
The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks, narrated by Peter Kenny
How do you go about transitioning characters in relative prominence during a series of books?
Take a minor character from a story you’ve already completed, and tell their story.
The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Michael Kramer
How do you respond to bad reviews, publisher errors, or other possible “career fail” situations?
Write a character who really screws up, and then take them to the moment where they realize they need to apologize.
The Blinding Knife, by Brent Weeks, narrated by Simon Vance.
The cast talks about self publishing, our early career difficulties, Easter Eggs, and more…
Where would Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard have ended up if Writing Excuses hadn’t brought them together?
Troubletwisters, by Garth Nix and Sean Williams, narrated by Miriam Margolyes
Cherie Priest joins the cast for a discussion of dystopian fiction before a live audience.
Base a dystopia on breakfast cereal…
Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest, narrated by Kate Reading.
Bill Schaefer of Subterranean Press talks publishing with us.
Your main character is a small-press publisher, and his storeroom has been flooded.
Legion, by Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Oliver Wyman
Microcasting… it’s what we call Q&A. Beta readers, IP issues, discovery writing, chapter length, and more.
“Neon sniper gnome.”
Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake, narrated by August Ross.
“Silence your internal editor” may not be very good advice. We talk about why.
Oh no! We forgot to give you a writing prompt! Fine… Your internal heckler turns out to be a real person/entity/being/whatever. Not everybody’s internal heckler—yours. Why?
The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, an anthology edited by John Joseph Adams, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Mary Robinette Kowal, Justine Eyre
Wesley Chu joins us at GenCon Indy for a discussion of realistic melee fighting.
Write a scene in any world where a pirate actually can beat a ninja.
The Lives of Tao, by Wesley Chu, narrated by Mikael Naramore
Tom Doherty, president and founder of Tor books, joins us at GenCon to talk publishing.
Write a story about a publisher trying to predict the next trend, and the technology he’s using to do it.
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison. As Tom points out during the cast, it’s unusual for a book to make The New York Times Best Sellers list twenty-eight years after its publication.
Wes Chu joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard for a live audience Q&A at GenCon
Revoke your right to use “thought” verbs, then communicate thoughts, knowledge, and awareness in your POV character. The original challenge for this prompt came from this blog post by Chuck Palahniuk.
Chimes at Midnight, by Seanan McGuire, narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal
Aeryn Rudel from Privateer Press and Skull Island X joins us at GenCon Indy to talk about editing.
Hell’s copyeditor.
The Blade Itself: The First Law: Book One by Joe Abercrombie, narrated by Steven Pacey
Scott Lynch, author of The Republic of Thieves, joins Brandon, Howard, and Mary before a live audience at GenCon Indy to talk about roguishness. Why do we like rogues? What can a roguish character accomplish in terms of story purposes? Can the rogue accomplish things a more classically moral character cannot? Most importantly, what do authors … Continue reading Writing Excuses 8.47: Roguishness with Scott Lynch
For research purposes… okay, no. Forget that. Complicate a scene or story by adding an unexpected injury or illness.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, narrated by Michael Page
Sam Logan of “Sam and Fuzzy” talks long-form storytelling with Brandon, Mary, and Howard
Go for a walk. Think about what you’re writing while you walk. Don’t do that Facebook or Twitter thing while you walk. Just walk, and think.
Feed, by M. T. Anderson, narrated by David Aaron Baker
Joel Shepherd joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard to talk about hard social science.
Pick two people on the same side of a conflict, but give them completely different motivations for fighting on that side.
Crossover: Cassandra Kresnov Book 1, by Joel Sheperd, narrated by Dina Pearlman
Mercedes Lackey joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard to field listener questions at GenCon Indy.
Eavesdrop on a conversation at the coffee shop, then go home and write the end of that conversation.
Bastion: Collegium Chronicles Book 5, by Mercedes Lackey, narrated by Nick Podehl.
Mette Ivie Harrison joins us to discuss creative non-fiction, the genre in which the tools of creative writing are applied to factually accurate narratives.
Try your hand at creative non-fiction. Takes something that is ordinary to you, but which may be unusual or extraordinary for other people, and write about it in a way that evokes wonder.
Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Macleod Andrews
Mette Ivie Harrison joins us to talk about the reasons you think you don’t have time to write.
Come up with a reason why the writer in your story absolutely cannot write, then have your writer manage to write anyway.
Metatropolis: Green Space, in which Mary has a story. Lots of writers, lots of narrators. Go have a look!