Writing Excuses

Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary discuss communications technology, and how the ability for characters to communicate is a critical piece of your world-building, whether you're writing science-fiction, fantasy, or pretty much anything else.

"The wind rushed across his skin at several hundred miles per second, and registered as an itch." Brandon, Dan, and Mary tear into Howard's two-decade-old manuscript with an eye towards descriptions.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard approach writing descriptions from several different angles and at least five disciplines in order to help you get more done with less purple.

Mary walks Brandon, Dan, and Howard through the Milieu, Idea, Character, and Event (M.I.C.E.) quotient from Orson Scott Card, and then they retell the Billy Goats Gruff four times.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard take questions from the Twitterverse ranging from outlining, character creation, and plot-hole repair to skill development and writing groups.

Howard Tayler and Dan Wells interview literary agent Sara Crowe about what agents do for authors, and why having an agent might be the right thing for your career.

Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary brainstorm a cyberpunk story using concepts pulled at random from a mythology textbook.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard take a high-level look at cyberpunk (the literary genre) for writers considering creating something along those lines.

Sara Crowe, literary agent with Harvey Klinger, joins Dan and Howard for a discussion of query letters.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard field questions from the Twitterverse -- commercial publishing, finding balance, structuring stories, defining moments, and more.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about SFWA, NCS, and other professional organizations for writers and creators.

Brandon, Mary, Dan, & Howard discuss putting character motivations on the page in support of plot, character arcs, and the story in general.

Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard discuss creativity -- how to learn it, how to teach it, and how to get better at it.

Tom Smith joins Howard and Brandon at Penguicon for a discussion of Filk and some delightfully improvised music.

John Scalzi joins Brandon and Howard for a discussion of dialog and how genre fiction writers can learn to do a better job with it.

Jim Hines suffers abuse from Howard and Brandon as the three of them discuss parody, satire, and humor in front of a live audience at Penguicon.

Saladin Ahmed, Nebula- and Campbell-award nominee joins Brandon and Howard for a discussion of setting -- specifically, setting an epic fantasy in something besides the traditional, Western European middle ages.

Brandon, Dan, and Howard brainstorm an urban fantasy set in a big-box store in Park City, Utah.

Let's talk about bibles. Specifically, story bibles. What are they, why do we use them, why might we NOT use them, and what tools are working for us? Howard again plugs wikidpad, which he converted Brandon to, and which Dan Wells just couldn't bring himself to love. Dan uses several different Open Office files. The important thing, though, is that when we need to store information about the book in someplace besides the book itself, we write it down in our story bibles. Dan talks about his new project, how important the story bible was for that, and what sorts of things absolutely have to go in there. Howard talks about the sorts of Schlock-tech that often end up Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Freakonomics, by Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner, narrated by Stephen J. Dubner. Writing Prompt: Someone is a were-animal. Pick an animal that hasn't been done. Were-banana-slug, perhaps? 9:40 through 10:10: Yes, we went kind of quiet there. Somebody kicked a cable, maybe? This episode of Writing

Writing Excuses Season 4 has been nominated for a "Best Related Work" Hugo.