David Weber joined us at NASFIC to talk about the importance of risking failure on any path (especially a writer’s path) to success–whether you’re risking rejection in the submission process, or the possibility that the book you write won’t be the amazing thing you’ve been imagining.

If you’re currently feeling the need to be out of excuses, this episode might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Credits: This episode was recorded live at NASFIC by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:39 — 18.4MB)

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Go home and roll up a character.

The Gordian Protocol, by David Weber and Jacob Holo

Archive Seasons 11-15, Guest, Season 12, Theory and Technique

12.38: What Do Editors Really Want, with Toni Weisskopf and Cat Rambo

September 17, 2017 Howard Tayler 2 Comments

Your Hosts: Dan and Howard

Toni Weisskopf and Cat Rambo joined Dan and Howard to discuss what it is that editors “really want.”

Question To Help You Decide Whether Or Not To Send Your Editor Bad News: “Will this news get better if I wait?”

Credits: this episode was recorded at GenCon Indy 2016, and mastered by Alex Jackson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:13 — 11.9MB)

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Do something completely new. Write by hand, or outdoors. Also, listen to actual people talking, and write down what is being said.

Through Fire, by Sarah Hoyt, and Neither Here Nor There, a collection from Cat Rambo

Archive Seasons 11-15, Guest, Live Audience, Season 11, Theory and Technique

11.41: The Editor’s Wish List, with Navah Wolfe

October 9, 2016 Howard Tayler 9 Comments

Navah Wolfe, an editor at Saga Press, joined us to talk about the manuscripts she would really like to see. Ordinarily we don’t encourage people to write to the market, but Navah asked specifically for the opportunity to tell our listeners what she’s looking for. As it happens, tracking Navah’s wish list as you write is unlikely to send you haring after the latest trend—you’re far more likely to develop some new writing skills that will make your work more enjoyable, more fulfilling, and ultimately easier to sell.

Spoiler Warning: In three weeks we’ll be doing a Project in Depth on Ghost Talkers, by Mary Robinette Kowal. If you want to get the most out of that episode, you have three weeks to acquire and read the book.

Credits: This episode was recorded aboard Oasis of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:02 — 13.8MB)

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Write two different “this meets that” pitches, once with a focus on the emotional heart, and once with a focus on set dressing.

The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, edited by Navah Wolfe (available October 18th, 2016. No audio version available yet.)

Archive Seasons 7-10, Career and Lifestyle, Guest, Live Audience, Q&A, Season 10

Writing Excuses 10.51: Q&A on Showing Your Work, with Daniel José Older

December 20, 2015 Howard Tayler 4 Comments

Daniel José Older joins us for a Q&A on showing your work around. Here are the questions, which were submitted by attendees at the Out of Excuses workshop:

What’s the best way to meet editors and agents at conventions?
How do you write a good query letter?
What do you mention as credentials in your query letter?
You didn’t cover self publishing at all this month. Self publishing is legit, right?
Can you submit the same work to more than one agent or editor at a time?
Can you re-submit a revised work to an agent who previously rejected the piece?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:50 — 15.7MB)

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Write a query letter for a book that you love, but did not write. Then write a query letter for your own work.

Mystic, by Jason Denzel, narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal

Archive Seasons 7-10, Career and Lifestyle, Guest, Live Audience, Season 10

Writing Excuses 10.49: What Do I Do With This Thing Now?

December 6, 2015 Howard Tayler 3 Comments

We’re at the end of our Season Ten Master Class, and if you’ve been diligent about the homework, you may very well have a finished manuscript in your hands. What do you do with it?

Daniel José Older joins us for a bit of reminiscence. We talk about some of our first submissions, and what we did right, wrong, and weirdly. We cover our criteria for selecting publishers to whom we’d like to send our stuff, and we include the shiny intangibles in that list.

This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered in an abandoned missile silo by Alex Jackson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:19 — 14.0MB)

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Research the market for that thing you’ve written. Find things that are similar to what you wrote, and read up on who published them. Find out who the editors were. Then make a list of places where you’d like to submit your work.

Half-Resurrection Blues: Bone Street Rumba, Book 1, written and narrated by Daniel José Older.

Archive Seasons 7-10, Career and Lifestyle, Q&A, Season 09, Theory and Technique

Writing Excuses 9.33: Microcasting

August 10, 2014 Writing Excuses 6 Comments

Microcasting!

It’s our Q&A format, in which each answer is like its own, tiny little podcast, only without its own unique URL, intro, writing prompt, or any of the other trappings that would actually make it different from a Q&A session.

Right. So, it’s basically just a Q&A.

Listen to the podcast for the answers… Here are the questions:

Are there biases against non-English writers submitting manuscripts in English?
What is the most difficult thing Howard experienced when first creating Schlock Mercenary?
Are you ever too old to try to get published?
What are some pointers for keeping a milieu story focused on the setting?
No, you can’t have a sample of our DNA. None of you.
If you were to rewrite your early work, what would you change?
How do you improve your proofreading and copy editing?
How much time do you spend writing each day? Does it matter WHAT you write during that time?
Do you add foreshadowing in the editing stage, or are you just that good?
How do you improve your craft as a writer?
I don’t have time to ask a question, I’m washing my dog.
Do you have any writing exercises that you do regularly?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:08 — 11.8MB)

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Introduce a random element–dice, coin-tosses, the i ching–and write a story in which you (the writer) commit to letting the random element make the decisions.

Attack the Geek, by Michael R. Underwood, narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal

Archive Seasons 7-10, Career and Lifestyle, Q&A, Season 09, Theory and Technique

Writing Excuses 9.22: Microcasting

May 25, 2014 Writing Excuses 9 Comments

Microcasting! It’s a Q&A, with each question serving as its own little micro-podcast. This week’s questions:

Should you include your prologue as one of the three chapters you send in a submission packet?
How do you get out of the spot where your protagonist has no motivation?
What’s the best way to prove to a spouse that your writing is more than a hobby?
How do you get back into a project after taking a break from it?
Where do you start research for historical fiction?
Let’s say you sold your first book. How do you tackle book 2 in a series?
How do you go about writing an overarching setting, like Brandon’s “Cosmere?”
What part about being a writer do you most enjoy, besides the actual writing?

Those are the questions. You’ll have to listen for the answers. Fortunately they’re not hidden or anything. We just come right out and say them.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:30 — 13.4MB)

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Look around, identify an everyday object, and then create a post-apocalyptic setting in which that object is currency.

The Fall of the Kings, by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, narrated by Ellen Kushner, Nick Sullivan, Neil Gaiman, Simon Jones, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Richard Ferrone, and Tim Jerome

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