Writing Excuses

Character failure is a big part of making the middle of a story work. We talk about why, and offer tips about how to make this work well for you.

Marie Brennan joins us for a discussion of polytheism (and really any belief system) in our fiction.

Lots of people struggle with the middles of their books. One way to look at the middle is that it's the point where you're no longer working on that new project that has you excited, but haven't yet gotten to the cool ending that has you excited. We talk about why the middle is important, and how you can make it enjoyable not just for the reader, but for you.

How do you "show, don't tell" a character's thoughts? We answer this question, and more!

We talk about how we define and structure scenes in our writing, and we make reference to Scene/Sequel format, the MICE quotient, and pacing.

Media Specialist Kiley Snyder joins us to talk about hooking young readers.

Instead of saying "show, don't tell," we say "here's how to show."

Spoilers ahead! We dig into Of Noble Family, by Mary Robinette Kowal, focusing on language, culture, and the extensive research Mary did.

We answer questions about consistency, alternate histories, and the Great Spoke Plague of '77

You've done piles of world building. How do you convey this world to reader without infodumping? We talk about the different skill levels involved, and then the techniques that you'll be using as you get better and better at what is probably the most critical skill unique to genre fiction writers.

What's the difference between intrigue, suspense, and mystery? We talk about this, and then drill down on intrigue.

This one's for all you folks who like to do some world building on-the-fly.

We've talked beginnings all month. Now we take your questions about them.

Let's get that first page written in a way that will bring the reader to all the rest of the pages.

Wes Chu, author and adventurer, recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and has some things to say about all the wilderness trekking that our characters do in the books we write, and how we often forget to say anything about sleeping on inclines, altitude sickness, or packing toilet paper. The salient point: we need to remember that our characters are experiencing these wilderness treks, and they have interesting opinions about them.

How do you know which bits of your story have to come first?

Any discussion of story structure must necessarily take a look at that big, long bit between the beginning and the end, that piece where almost everything actually happens. In this episode we talk about the middles of stories, and how formulaic structures will help you get them to do all of the things that you need for them to do, and this can be done without the story feeling formulaic. We got things a bit out of order here -- this was supposed to be the SECOND episode of March, rather than the fifth. When Brandon says "two weeks ago" he means "four weeks ago." Sorry for the confusion.

Wes Chu joins us again for a Q&A about this month's topic: story structure! Here are the questions: Do you make a conscious decision about how to structure your story before you begin writing? Is it necessary to use multiple structures (three-act, Hollywood formula, etc) in order to ensure that your story works? What tools do you use to view your story's structure? What do you think about cliffhangers? How do you come up with plot twists for your stories? (Answer: A blast from the past with Michael Stackpole! Season 1, Episode 19!) What structures should I use to add variety to my writing? Is there a specific amount of time you should spend on your introduction before getting to the inciting incident? What do you do when you're halfway through with a story before you realize the structure is wrong?  

If you haven't yet read "Parallel Perspectives," from Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel, we have a PDF for you to download and read before you start listening to this episode. It's a 33mb file in a public DropBox folder. Parallel Perspectives PDF for Writing Excuses listeners Got the file? Done reading? Okay, let's go... This week is a Project in Depth episode focusing on a 13-page graphic story ("comic book") found at the end of Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel, and our focus this week will be story structure. It's fun, because the process of structuring a bonus story begins much differently than most projects, and the structure was laid in support of a four-creator collaboration. The creators? Howard Tayler, Brenda Hickey, Travis Walton, and Keliana Tayler. (If you'd like your own hard-copy of Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel, you can get it from Amazon.com or directly from the publisher.)

Wesley Chu joins us for a literal shake-up of our structure for one episode. We had loads of fun with this one. The I Ching is a collection of poems which you consult with numbered sticks. You ask a question, shake a random stick from the cup, and the corresponding poem holds your answer. In writing The Man in the High Castle, Phillip K. Dick used the I Ching to make plot decisions at crucial points. We decided to turn that, and our format, on its head, so we used the I Ching to ask us questions.  Understanding exactly what the I Ching was asking was at least as much fun as answering the questions we inferred. Here are the I Ching's questions. Although he reached a great position, Wise Liu did not care for earthly things. He brewed instead the pills of heaven, forging immortality in his earthly crucible. Marriage is a blessed union indeed, when done in accordance with Yin and Yang. The dragon and the phoenix coil together, uniting in a sweet dream of love. All names in Heaven are unique, and even ea