Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.
Special guest Bree Despain of the Dark Divine trilogy joins us for a ‘cast on character quirks. A character quirk, avoiding the tautological definition, is something that makes your character memorable. We talk about good quirks, bad quirks, and how to tell the difference. We also laugh a lot because it…
The last of our three recorded-live episodes is also the last episode of Writing Excuses Season 4. We took questions from the audience, and answered them with ABSOLUTE APLOMB. Questions asked include: How did we, as beginning writers, manage to write while holding down day-jobs and/or going to school? What…
Brandon, Dan, and Howard start at the ending and work their way backwards for your enjoyment.
James Dashner and Julie Wright join Brandon and Dan at CONduit in Salt Lake City, and may end up wishing they hadn’t. Brandon throws sets of story concepts at the crew, and asks them to quickly frame serious stories with a solid settings and cool characters. The first set of…
Some new strategies for getting yourself published. Obviously we guarantee exactly none of them.
Sandra Tayler, Dawn Wells, and Kenny Pike take over the ‘cast with some coaching from Dan (and heckling from Howard) to talk about what it’s like to live with an artist. We cover the ups and the downs, and share embarrassing anecdotes because we know you want to hear them,…
A brainstorming session fueled by New Scientist’s “13 More Things We Don’t Understand” article.
How to write multiple viewpoints effectively, using the tool for the right reasons and avoiding pitfalls.
We’re going to wade into a recent e-brouhaha, but it’s not going to be the Amazon vs Macmillan one. No, this is the one where Dean Wesley Smith argued that authors do not need agents. But you don’t need to read that to appreciate this ‘cast. So… do you need…
If you want to write a good, heroic hero, this is the podcast for you. We’re not necessarily talking about the archetypical, classically-defined, capital-H “Hero” in this podcast, though. We’re talking about what makes readers stand up and cheer. And yes, this can be applied to the archetype, but let’s…
