Writing Excuses

We were thrilled to have Peter Beagle join us for an episode, recorded live at Westercon 67. We talked about the writer's mindset, and how to get into it. Peter schooled Brandon before the episode even began, and then proceeded to school all the rest of us. Peter is an absolute delight to listen to. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.  

Live from Westercon 67 and Fantasy Con, Mette Ivie Harrison and J.R. Johannson join us to talk about writing for the mystery genre. We begin by talking about the key differences between thrillers and mysteries, and then move into how this understanding can drive our story structures. We discuss how characters with arcs and iconic characters drive different types of stories, and how each of us go about building these kinds of things.

Deirdre Saoirse Moen, who organizes fan-run literary cons and schedules programs for them, joins us to talk about programming from the convention's point of view.

Registration is now open for the 2015 Out of Excuses Writing Workshop and Retreat. For the last two years the event has had a very limited size, and as a result has sold out very quickly. For 2015 we have moved to a new venue, removed the attendance limit, and increased the amount of instructor interaction—all without raising the price. The 2015 Out of Excuses Writing Workshop and Retreat will be held from September 20th through the 27th on the Independence of the Seas. It's a cruise ship. [UPDATE: We have sold through our original block of rooms. The cruise has provided us with additional rooms, but the rate is higher for these. The updated rates are now reflected on the registration page, and in the numbers provided below] The base price of $1300 covers the full week of intensive seminars, writing exercises, and free writing time, plus meals, double-occupancy lodging, and a cruise to four different Caribbean destinations. Attendees will also be invited to submit questions for some of the episodes o

Christopher J. Garcia, publisher and editor of The Drink Tank, joins us for a discussion of fan writing.

Paul Stevens, an editor at Tor, joined us in front of a live audience at Westercon 67 to talk about royalties.

Patty Garcia, Director of Publicity at Tor, joins us to discuss publicizing books

Peter Orullian joins us in front of a live audience at Westercon 67 for a Q&A. The questions include: As a writer, how do you handle reviewing other people's books? How do you compartmentalize your writing to prevent that obsession from displacing everything else? (Here are the signs we talked about) How do you create frightening, unique creatures? What are the basics about networking at a convention? Is there a yield for the average story idea? What rules do you follow and what rules do you break when writing epic fantasy? What can you do in critique groups to teach craft if you're avoiding prescriptive critique? How strongly do you believe that the audience won't remember what you've told them, but will remember how you said it?  

Kathleen Dalton Woodbury, the forum moderator at the Hatrack River writers group joined us at Westercon 67 to talk about critique groups. We cover how critiques should be offered, as well as importance of receiving critiques graciously and without defense, and we reflect on lots of the good and bad writing groups and critique groups we've been a part of. This is hard to get right, but once you do get it right your critique group can become the team that helps you turn your work into something outstanding.  

David Farland joins, along with a live audience at Westercon 67, for a discussion on writing instruction.

Peter Orullian joins us to discuss managing the author-editor relationship when things go wrong.

Brad "Doctor Zombie" Voytek talks to us about making science accessible and attractive through science fiction.

Q&A in which we cover proofreading, writing time, career stuff, and no, you can't have any of our DNA.

We talk about how to make characters more or less proactive in the stories we tell.

The fourth of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which Howard is stuck...

The third of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which Mary schools us with Milford...

The second of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which we thrash on a new Cosmere story from Brandon Sanderson so that he can fix it. Part 2 of 2.

The first of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which we thrash on a new Cosmere story from Brandon Sanderson so that he can fix it. Part 1 of 2.

Pre-writing: It's like pre-cooking, only with more abandoned prologues and fewer refried beans.

In which we discuss adjusting how competent our characters appear...