Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard This episode focuses on the third person POV, and some variations on them, like omniscient and limited, and some sub-variants like cinematic and head-hopping. Credits: This episode was recorded aboard Oasis of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Homework:…
Your Hosts: Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard, with Sandra Tayler Piper J. Drake joins the cast for our week-four episodes, of which this is the first. This week we’ll be drilling down into hybrid viewpoints—blending 1st and 3rd person, framing stories, stories-within-stories, and unreliable narration—and how to best serve our work…
We’ve introduced the concept of Elemental Genre already. It’s time to start digging in to the elements themselves, beginning with the Element of Wonder. We started with this one because “sense of wonder” is a term that gets used to describe what makes some science fiction stories work. In this…
What’s the difference between intrigue, suspense, and mystery? We talk about this, and then drill down on intrigue.
If there’s a crowd with good questions, it’s the Out of Excuses Workshop and Retreat attendees. Given the trend toward moral ambiguity, is there still a place for an unquestionably evil character? Should you publish a first book that isn’t in the style or genre that you’re ultimately interested in?…
The fourth of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which Howard is stuck…
How do you describe water from the point of view of a fish?
Nancy Fulda joins the cast for a discussion of narrative versus character perceptions
Wes Chu joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard for a live audience Q&A at GenCon
How do you go about transitioning characters in relative prominence during a series of books?
