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

Help make the Writing Excuses Website better

Hey all, Jordan here. Howard and I have discussed ways to make the site better, such as adding tagging to posts so you guys can group content, and I thought I’d go ahead and ask you all on feed back on the site. Now keep in mind that this is…

Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 12: Subplots

Meanwhile, several side-characters found themselves looking for a sub-plot in the tavern. Something funny, or perhaps romantic to take the load off of the main story, but still tense enough to keep the pace going. Or maybe something that will let them introduce important elements to the main plot without…

Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 11: Trimming

Let’s talk “trimming.” Why do it? Well… because your manuscript is longer than it needs to be. Yes, we’re talking to you. AND you. And you, too. None of you are exempt! (Well… maybe YOU are, but you can’t be allowed to believe it.) So… what do you trim? We’ve…

Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 7: Genre Blending

You’ve seen it done… “Zombie Apocalypse in Space.” “Perry Mason in the Armed Forces.”  It’s genre blending, where the author takes themes prevalent in two different genres and combines them to create something new. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. We call down a few examples of both, and offer…

Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 6: Dramatic Breaks

What are dramatic breaks? We open this episode with Howard very genuinely playing Doctor Watson to Brandon’s Holmes, which is amusing because as it turns out, Howard uses dramatic breaks every day. Simply put they are the points in the narrative, typically at the end of a chapter, where we…

Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 5: How to Take Criticism

How do you take criticism? How do you react, if you even do react? Does criticism cause you to change the way you work? Criticism can come from your peers in a writing group, from editors sending you rejection letters, and from those one-star Amazon reviewers who are out there…

Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 3: Stumping Howard at Conduit

Howard here… I’ve learned that it’s a really bad idea to run out for a bio-break between podcasts. When I returned to the packed panel room I could tell that everyone’s attitude towards me was subtly different. It wasn’t until we started recording that I realized Brandon had turned our…