Writing Excuses

Today we’re taking a break from our Close Reading Series to discuss writing workshops and retreats! We dive into how to find and prepare to attend a workshop or a retreat and what to think about for organizing your own. 

Thing of the Week: Solo RPGs! (Strider Mode, Star Trek Adventures, Mythic Game Master) 

Homework: Go find 3 writing retreats you are interested in attending. 1 retreat-focused, 1 workshop-focused and 1 combination. Then think about what your expectations would be for each one.

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Next up is Tension! Starting September 1, we’ll be diving into Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark. Please note, this novella uses tools from the horror genre to add tension, and this can be intense for some readers! 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Sandra Tayler, and Sarah Sward. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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We sat down with CL Clark to talk about character—specifically, how they build different POV characters in the compressed space of a short story. We dive into plot processing (a tool CL Clark has learned from Mary Robinette!), how to specify the stakes of your world, and how to build distinct characters. 

Thing of the Week: Reasons Not To Worry: How to be Stoic in Chaotic Times by Brigid Delaney

Homework: “4 Scenes About Power” — Write four scenes: (1) a scene in which your protagonist does something to someone else, (2) a scene in which someone does something for someone else, (3) a scene in which your protagonist has something done to them, and (4) a scene in which your protagonist does something with someone else. 

Liner Notes: 

Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin 

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Next up is Tension! Starting September 1, we’ll be diving into Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark. Please note, this novella uses tools from the horror genre to add tension, and this can be intense for some readers! 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal and Erin Roberts. Our guest was CL Clark. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Today, we’re taking a higher view on the techniques we’ve been talking about over the last four episodes and focusing on how you can use our takeaways in your own writing. We’ll go over our final thoughts on C.L. Clark’s short stories (until next week’s episode, when we interview them!). We’ll also try to summarize the lessons we've learned from Clark and our favorite bits of their writing. 

Thing of the Week: Rude Tales of Magic (podcast) 

Homework: Write a character study in which two characters meet twice. Something momentous has happened in between the meetings. Imply it by the way those characters have changed.

Liner Notes: 

Axis of Power (available on Patreon) - Ability, Role, Relationship, Status

DREAM from Elizabeth Boyle - Denial, Resistance, Exploration, Acceptance, Manifestation

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Next up is Tension! Starting September 1, we’ll be diving into Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark. Please note, this novella uses tools from the horror genre to add tension, and this can be intense for some readers!

We have a theory that we want to work through on today’s episode: agency is the ability to take action, whereas choices are more about the interior life of the character. We use Mary Robinette’s talking cat, try-fail cycles, and C.L. Clark’s Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home in order to examine this theory and its underpinnings. 

Thing of the Week: Marginalia by Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny Magazine) 

Homework: Create a scene in which your character has very little agency, but still must make a choice. Do your best to make that choice still feel critical.

Liner Notes: 

Fluent pet buttons - Elsie the talking cat

“We Are the Mountain: A Look at the Inactive Protagonist” by Vida Cruz

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were DongWon Song and Erin Roberts. Our guest was Arkady Martine. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Our episode today focuses on C.L. Clark’s short story “You Perfect Broken Thing” for how the character's stakes shape the barriers facing her. We use this story to examine how to tell the difference between barriers versus stakes. We also examine how to do this in a compressed space– whether that’s a short story, a single scene, or a compressed timeline. 

Thing of the Week: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Homework: Write a short scene in which your character has to deal with a mundane obstacle, then rewrite it as if that small obstacle has life-or-death stakes. How did you shift it to make the stakes clearer?

Liner Notes: 

Sandra Tayler's new book, Structuring Life To Support Creativity. Preorder your copy today at sandratayler.com! 

And help fund Mary Robinette Kowal’s Silent Spaces, a collection of short stories on Kickstarter here: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mary-robinette/silent-spaces?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=silent%20spaces%20

(Or go to kickstarter.com and type in “Silent Spaces”) 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were DongWon Song and Erin Roberts. Our guest was Arkady Martine. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Today, we’re focusing on C.L. Clark’s  “The Cook,” as we explore external and internal expression. We chose this story because it's a remarkably physical and touchable story with myriad sensory details. While the audience gets very little information about what Clark’s characters are thinking, you can still understand their internal landscapes by what they seee and notice. How do these external indicators help us understand the internal worlds of the characters? 

We mention two infographics during the episode– “Intersections of Self (Trauma Points)" and “Axes of Power."  These are available on Patreon (they’re posted publicly, so anyone can view them!) Feel free to use them in your own writing, and let us know if you find them helpful! 

Thing of the Week: “Bodies” (on Netflix) 

Homework: Pick a major character in your story and write two short summaries of the character arc, one using your original motivation and goal, and a second with a different motivation but the same goal.

Liner Notes: 

Sandra Tayler's new book, Structuring Life To Support Creativity. Preorder your copy today at sandratayler.com! 

And help fund Mary Robinette Kowal’s Silent Spaces, a collection of short stories on Kickstarter here: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mary-robinette/silent-spaces?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=silent%20spaces%20

(Or go to kickstarter.com and type in “Silent Spaces”) 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were DongWon Song and Erin Roberts. Our guest was Arkady Martine. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Today we introduce our next close reading series—we’re focusing on character through the lens of three of C.L. Clark’s short stories:  “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home”. They are all hyperlinked above and available online for free through Uncanny Magazine. 

We are so excited to shift our focus to short stories! We love the compressed form, and C.L. Clark’s stories exemplify the freedom that exists within the genre itself. They masterfully combine light world-building with deep character development. We’re excited to dive into each story over the next five episodes, ending with an interview with C.L. Clark! 

We recommend reading these short stories ahead of time, but this episode is fine to listen to as a primer for why you should read them!  

Thing of the Week: Monster of the Week (a tabletop role-playing game) AND Sandra Tayler's new book, Structuring Life To Support Creativity. Preorder your copy today at sandratayler.com.

Homework: Write the sentence "[Character] is someone who...." with different endings for an entire page. Read them over and pick one that surprises or intrigues you, then write a short scene showcasing that trait.

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were DongWon Song and Erin Roberts. Our guest was Arkady Martine. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Today we are joined by the incredible falconer Krista Hong Edwards. Krista was kind enough to take our hosts out with her falcons, and we had the most amazing time! Krista sat down with us to talk about falcons, literature, and much more. Check out our liner notes (below) for all of the texts we reference! 

Thing of the Week: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey: A Novel Book by Kathleen Rooney

Homework: Look up your local falconry club and see if you can attend their next event!

Liner Notes: 

See more of Krista, her falcons, and her mission on Instagram at @kristafeather and @feathersforthought

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George 

“The Goshawk” by T.H. White

“H is for Hawk” by Helen McDonald

“Untethered Sky” by Fonda Lee

To find Krista’s Articles: Hawkchawk Magazine & Pursuit Falconry 

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Next up is Character! Starting July 7, we’ll be diving into three short stories by C.L. Clark. These are all available for free through Uncanny Magazine. 

Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (starting July 7) 

And a sneak peak on the rest of the year… 

Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (starting September 1) 

Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (starting October 13) 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Krista Edwards, Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, and Erin Roberts. Our guest was Arkady Martine. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Learning is great, but how do you translate it into doing without getting overwhelmed? What is the difference between learning in the classroom and executing when you're on your own?

Marshall, our incredible recording engineer, just finished an MFA program. Congrats, Marshall!! On today’s episode, we gril Marshall in order to understand his takeaways from the program. Specifically, we are interested in how he takes everything he learned in the classroom and turns it into actionable things he’s doing on the page. We talk community, motivation, and how to consistently make time for your writing. 

Thing of the Week: The Fall of the House of Usher, TV show created by Mike Flanagan

Homework: Take a turn being the teacher– how would you teach a group of people about a concept you’re struggling with in your own work, and what homework would you give them to better understand it? 

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Next up is Character! Starting July 7, we’ll be diving into three short stories by C.L. Clark. These are all available for free through Uncanny Magazine. 

Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (starting July 7) 

And a sneak peak on the rest of the year… 

Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (starting September 1) 

Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (starting October 13)

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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We've spent the last month talking about "A Memory Called Empire, and now, we are so excited to welcome the author, Arkady Martine, to the show! On today's episode, we talk with Arkady about the origins of her novel, and dive into how she navigated the dense and intricate world-building. Arkady gives us advice on what not to do, where to look for your first ideas, and what her writing process looks like. 

Thing of the Week: 

“The Shamshine Blind” By Paz Pardo

Homework:

Using the character and the story you are currently working on, look at the nearest building you can see out your window, and describe it from their point of view. What does that say about the world that you are in and the world that they are in? 

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Next up is Character! Starting July 7, we’ll be diving into three short stories by C.L. Clark. These are all available for free through Uncanny Magazine. 

Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (starting July 7) 

And a sneak peak on the rest of the year… 

Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (starting September 1) 

Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (starting October 13) 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were DongWon Song and Erin Roberts. Our guest was Arkady Martine. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Today, the gang talks about their final thoughts on Martine’s “A Memory Called Empire.” We conclude with some lessons we’ve learned through analyzing her work, and we share our favorite bits! 

Thing of the Week: Pasión de las Pasiones

Homework: Find a piece of world building that you love and come up with another way to use it in your work in progress. 

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Next up is Character! Starting July 7, we’ll be diving into three short stories by C.L. Clark. These are all available for free through Uncanny Magazine. 

Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (starting July 7) 

And a sneak peak on the rest of the year… 

Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (starting September 1) 

Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (starting October 13) 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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The imago technology lies at the heart of this novel thematically and narratively. How does this technology create a world, delineate Mahit's culture from Teixcalaan, and ask enormous questions about identity and empire?

Thing of the Week: “Rotten” (Documentary Series available on Netflix)

Homework: Come up with three technological or magical approaches that would raise questions about what it means to be you, to be an individual. Take one of these, and then write a scene wherein two characters argue about it.

For those of you just joining us, here's what our close reading series has covered, and what lays ahead!

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Voice: This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar (March 17) 

Worldbuilding: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (May 12) 

Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (July 7) 

Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (September 1) 

Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (October 13)

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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What cultural and worldbuilding information is embedded within the smallest of word choices? Today, we dive into three specific sections from throughout Martine’s “A Memory Called Empire”:  the word for empire, assimilation and naming, and learning the word for bomb. We unpack how Martine uses language to establish important principles of how the world works. 

Thing of the Week: 

The Gilded Age - Created and Written by Julian Fellowes  Julian Fellows (on HBO Max) 

Homework:

Write a scene that describes a fictional piece of literature— whether that's a poem, a song, or a story— that means something to the people in the story you’re telling.

Here’s a link to buy your copy of “A Memory Called Empire” if you haven’t already:

https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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How do you use language and scale to focus your writing? Today, we think about scale and movement across vast spaces. What do characters’ movements tell us about empires and also—force? We talk about Martine’s incredible work establishing an empire across time, not (just) space. We read aloud some of Martine’s writing, and try to understand exactly how they work, and what they’re doing to build the novel’s world. 

A refresher on why Worldbuilding is essential and some working definitions of how we want to talk about it. After the break, we discuss why we chose this book and highlight what it does well. As always in our close reading series, we distill each text’s elements into approachable steps for you to take in your own writing. 

Thing of the Week: 

Softboiled eggs in an instant pot: 1.5 cups of fridge-cold water. Add 2-6 eggs onto the little trey. Pressure cook for low on one minute, and then release the pressure after 90 seconds. Remove the eggs (use tongs!), and put them in a bowl of fridge-cold water for one minute. Now, try them! If thye’re too runny, then for your next bath, increase your wait time for pressure release by 5 seconds. If they’re too firm, reduce the wait time by five seconds. That one variable: how long you wait before releasing pressure, is the only one you need to worry about. (Does this resonate with our study of worldbuilding? Maybe? DM us on Instagram and tell us what the metaphor or analogy is for you! @writing_excuses ) 

Homework:

Take one of your works in progress, and write three paragraphs, each describing a different kind of scale: 

1. A scale of time

2. A scale of place/ space

3. Emotional scale (fear, joy, ambition, sadness)

Here’s a link to buy your copy of “A Memory Called Empire” if you haven’t already:

https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Why is worldbuilding is essential in your writing? Today, we answer this question and dive into some working definitions of how we want to talk about it. After the break, we discuss why we chose this book Arkady Martine’s “A Memory Called Empire” and highlight what it does well. We dive into the elements that help make Martine’s worldbuilding so accessible and effective. 

Thing of the Week: 

“Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman (think about what it teaches you about POV!)

Homework: 

Pick your favorite fictional worlds and for each write down three defining attributes that establish culture, legal systems, and physical spaces.

Here’s a link to buy your copy of “A Memory Called Empire” if you haven’t already:

https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Sometimes we know the action and themes of your story, but you don’t know how to build an economy that supports those. Well today, we explain just how to do that! What are some questions you can ask yourself about the worth of certain goods and services in the world you’re building? What would a post-scarcity world look like and ask of your characters and how would it shape their wants? We loved recording this episode, it brought up so many interesting questions for us, and we hope it does the same for you! 

Thing of the Week: 

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Homework: 

Come up with three catch phrases that someone who grew up in your economy would know. For example the difference between “There ain't no such thing as a free lunch” vs. “See it, fix it.”

A Reminder! 

That starting next week (May 12th!), we'll be focusing on Worldbuilding and reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. If you’re going to buy this book, we have this bookshop link available for you to do so! (If not, go support your local library!) https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar, Mary Robinette Kowal, and DongWon Song. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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How do you find the right size for your story? And speaking of size, what do novellas do differently than both short stories and novels? What even is the difference between a novel and a novella? How many characters do they usually have? How many subplots? How do you know if your story should take the form of a novella or a novel? We dive into all these questions (and…you guessed it… more!) in our conversation. 

A note on the structure of Season 19: in between our close reading series (six episodes where we dive into an element of craft through a close reading of a specific text), we’ll be doing two wild card episodes! These episodes are random topics that our hosts have been wanting to tell you about, we just didn’t know where they fit. So we MADE a place for them to fit! 

Thing of the Week: 

Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall (a collaborative, storytelling-based RPG)

Homework:

Take a short story that you either love or have written and write a list of things that could be added to expand it to novella length. Now do the same for a novel, but make it a list of things that might need to be cut.

A Reminder! 

That starting May 12th, we'll be focusing on Worldbuilding and reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. If you’re going to buy this book, we have this bookshop link available for you to do so! (If not, go support your local library!) https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar, Mary Robinette Kowal, and DongWon Song. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Today we get to talk to the inimitable Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar. Amal and Max are on the podcast to tell us about how they wrote a book together (hint: they didn’t write it together in the form of one voice.) They talk to us about the practice of writing letters, collaboration, and the revelation of friendship. They talk about the complexity, harmony, and cadence of two-author projects. We also talk about that voice in your head that criticizes your writing, and how to work with it and harness your authentic desire to tell a certain story.  

Thing of the Week: 

From Amal- Hollow Night 

From Max- Talking Man by Terry Bisson 

Homework:

From Max and Amal: Take a passage of something you’ve written and rewrite it in three different ways: as if it were being sung, as if it were being shouted, and as if it were being whispered. 

A Reminder! 

That starting May 12th, we'll be focusing on Worldbuilding and reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. If you’re going to buy this book, we have this bookshop link available for you to do so! (If not, go support your local library!) https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar, Mary Robinette Kowal, and DongWon Song. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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As we conclude our first deep dive of our close reading series, we want to explore how the evolution of voice helped carry readers throughout "This Is How You Lose The Time War." We also talk about the relationship between character arcs and language, learning and voice. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, where we interview Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar on what it was like to write “Time War” together! 

Thing of the Week: 

Princess Weekes

Homework:

Write a short outline of your work noting where the voice changes and evolves to reflect the character growth and change rather than focusing on the plot beats

A Reminder

That starting May 12th, we'll be focusing on Worldbuilding and reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. If you’re going to buy this book, we have this bookshop link available for you to do so! (If not, go support your local library!) https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

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https://writingexcuses.com

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Threads

What's epistolary writing? Well, it's writing through letters. But it's also a lot more than that. As we continue to dive into the concept of Voice, we want to explore the importance and power of the letters that Blue and Red write to each other throughout "This Is How You Lose The Time War." If you haven't already listened to our episodes introducing this novella, we recommend you go back and start with Episode 11 (of this season, Season 19)!

And if you’ve been reading along with us while listening to these episodes, please let us know on Instagram. Tag us in a post or comment @writing_excuses ! 

Thing of the Week: “clipping.” by Story 2 

Homework: Write a short note from one of your characters to another about something that’s important to them. Now rewrite it as a text message (change the format). Then rewrite it as a letter that will be screened before it gets to them by an outsider (change the context). And finally, write it as the final message they will get to send during their life (change the stakes).

You can buy this (and all the other books!) through our bookshop link-- this is linked in our bio in addition to right here:

https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Voice: This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar (March 17) 

Worldbuilding: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (May 12) 

Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (July 7) 

Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (September 1) 

Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (October 13) 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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On our third episode diving into Voice through the novella “This Is How You Lose The Time War,” we begin to explore the different voices that make up the two main characters in the story. Last episode we dove into Red’s voice– if you haven’t already, we recommend you listen to that first! 

Today, we are doing a close read of Blue at the tea shop and how voice establishes character, growth, and vulnerability. How do the authors make Blue’s voice distinct from Red’s? Is it in the tone, the structure, or something else completely? 

Thing of the Week: The Late Mrs. Willoughby By Claudia Gray

Homework: Write a short note from one of your characters to another about something important to them. Now rewrite it as a text message (change the format), as a letter that will be screened before it gets to them by an outsider (change the context), and as a final message they will get to send (change the stakes).

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Today, we are doing a very close read of Red's opening narration and how Red’s voice communicates both character and world in an effective and efficient way. We read several sections aloud and dive into what each sensory detail is doing. Also Mary Robinette talks about what she thinks is the most effective way to draw your readers attention to something. 

Thing of the Week: Planet Crafter 

Homework: Take a sentence from your work in progress and rewrite it to adjust the age of the character to make them a child. Do it again to make them from a different region. And again to give them a different profession.

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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The book that became a New York Times Bestseller because of a tweet. Well, it won LOTS of awards when it came out, but it was rediscovered by a Twitter account with a large following. So-- let's get into it!

On our first episode diving into Voice using the short novel "This Is How You Lose The Time War", we talk about why Voice is essential and some working definitions of how we want to talk about it. We also explain why we chose this book and highlight some of the things it's done well, and what you can learn from it!

Thing of the Week: Scavengers Reign

Homework: Take a sentence from a work you love that has a strong and clear voice. Write a scene based on that as a prompt, in the same tone and voice as the original.

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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You’ve probably seen us posting about our Close Reading Series, and in his episode, we finally officially introduce it! 

For most of the remainder of 2024, we’ll be diving into five core elements of writing by focusing on five different literary texts. We’ll spend five episodes on each one, and then we’re going to… drumroll please… interview the author(s)!

As you know, we’ve spent lots of time reading, writing, talking, and recording our thoughts about different elements of the craft. But this year, we wanted to ground our episodes in specific texts that you could read along– and analyze– with us!

Below is the schedule for each book or short story we’ll be diving into. The date on the right in parenthesis is the air date of the first episode in our series that will begin talking about that text. We highly recommend you read the book by that date, as we will be talking about the entirety of the text for all 5 episodes (including spoilers!) 

First up: This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

You can buy this (and all the other books!) through our bookshop link-- this is linked in our bio in addition to right here:

https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline

Voice: This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar (March 17) 

Worldbuilding: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (May 12) 

Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (July 7) 

Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (September 1) 

Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (October 13) 

Thing of the Week: SHINOBIGAMI: Modern Ninja Battle RPG

Homework: Take a scene from a work that you love and five highlighters/crayons/colored pencils - use one color to underline/highlight places where the voice comes through, one for great worldbuilding, one for character moments, one for any moments of tension, and one for moments that move the plot forward. What colors do you end up with? Where do they overlap? What are the colors of the moments you love the most? What would the colors of one of your scenes be?

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Hosts Erin and DongWon are joined by Fonda Lee and Mahtab Narsimhan for a special episode about creating traditions in your fictional writing. In this episode, we'll explore some of the following: 

-How do you build traditions and rituals in your fictional world (choosing what becomes a tradition or ritual and what doesn’t)? 

-How can you use rituals or traditions to advance a novel’s plot, give characters more depth, and create conflict? 

-What are the pitfalls to avoid (depiction of closed practices, over-ritualizing common traditions)?

Homework: 

Pick a ritual or tradition that you are very accustomed to and make it the center of a fictional scene. You can change its meaning or impact, but the content of the tradition should stay the same.

Thing of the Week: 

Shanghai Immortal by AY Chao (especially the audiobook version)

Liner Notes: 

This podcast episode idea was inspired by ReaderCon 2023, where Erin Roberts was a panelist.

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Fonda Lee and Mahtab Narsimhan. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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An agent, an editor, and a writer walk into a Zoom room and record a podcast... but really... that's (part of) what this episode is!

First off, a reminder that your agent, your editor, and you are all on the same team! They are all trying to make the same book (your book!) a better book. Whether you've published before or are just starting your first short story, we are so excited for you to dive into this episode.

For our final episode in our three-part series on revising your NaNoWriMo manuscript—or any other large writing project—we are diving into how to work with an editor! We wanted to show you a peek behind the curtain that is publishing and editing-- what does this relationship look like? How do you handle differences, conflicts, and priorities? What IS an edit letter?

Our guest for this series has been the inimitable editor Ali Fisher, who works at Tor. Thank you, Ali, for your advice, stories, and time!

Homework:

Take a work written by someone else (anyone else!) and come up with three questions you have for the author that would help them clarify their intention in the text.

This could be a movie you've seen, a project you're beta-reading for a friend, or a short story you've stumbled upon.

Then, apply these questions to your own work in progress!

Thing of the Week from Ali: 

Ali has two podcast recommendations for you!

Rude Tales of Magic

Oh These, Those Stars of Space!

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Ali Fisher. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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For our second episode in this three-part series on revising your NaNoWriMo novel—or any other larger project you have—we are diving into intentions with Tor editor Ali Fisher. We asked her how she helps writers figure out what their books are about, and how she helps set intentions for revisions.

Ali talks with us about how its important to be kind to yourself -- and your writing-- during the revision process. She also gives us advice for how you, as a writer, can lean into what you do well.

Homework: 

From editor Ali Fisher: write down what you like best about your book. Find a spot in your book where you can incorporate that element where it isn't now.

Thing of the Week: 

I Will Not Die Alone by Dera White, illustrated by Joe Bennett

A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape by Joe Pera; illustrated by Joe Bennett

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, and Ali Fisher. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Ali Fisher, editor at Tor Books and member of the podcast Rude Tales of Magic, joins us for a three-part series on editing.

First up: length! How do you edit your work—whether it's a book or a short story or a novella? Maybe you wrote a draft during NaNoWriMo, maybe you didn't-- either way, we want to help you figure out how to make your writing the perfect length.

Homework: Find two scenes next to each other from your writing. Remove the scene break and write bridging text between the two of them instead. Then, find a different scene that has that bridging text, and cut it into two different scenes so that you are removing it and creating new signposts. See what this does to length and your perception of the pacing.

Thing of the Week (from Ali Fisher): Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, and guest Ali Fisher. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Some writers love revisions and some would rather scrub the toilet than revise their writing. On this episode, we are joined by author Mahtab Narsimhan, who many will recognize as a host from past seasons! Mahtab talks with our hosts about how she thinks about revisions. How do you revise your writing? What is the difference between revising and rewriting? Mahtab describes her favorite techniques and provides tips to make it more manageable. 

Homework Assignment from Mahtab Narsimhan:

Take the first 3 chapters of your finished draft and distill it by 1) Chapter 2) Scenes 3) Key plot points per scene 4) POV 5) Setting 6) Time of day/timeline 7) How many pages per scene and/or chapter. 

Thing of the Week: 

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Liner Notes: 

The Revision Template that Mahtab mentions is a free resource on our Patreon! You can find it at www.patreon.com/writingexcuses

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Pacing is one of the most subjective and difficult aspects of storytelling to get right. What is pacing? How do you know what the right pace is for a story, and what techniques can you use to speed up or slow down your narrative?

Homework Assignment from Fonda Lee: 

Take a page of a work-in-progress project and experiment with the pacing. Ideally, this should be a page with some dialogue or tension between characters. First, try to speed it up: cut description, be tight with dialogue, move the scene quickly. Then do the opposite: rewrite the scene but this time slow it down. Include more context, character interiority, exposition, and scene building. Compare the two versions. Which serves your story better?

Thing of the Week: 

The Book of Witches

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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A few months ago, we were on a cruise ship in Alaska recording podcast episodes for 2024!

This live recording features a Q&A with cruise attendees, who were given the opportunity to ask questions to Marshall Carr, our audio engineer, and Emma Reynolds, our producer. In this episode, we talked about the benefits of MFA programs, astrology, and how to continue learning without being overwhelmed. 

Homework from Emma Reynolds: 

What homework would you give yourself as a writer today? What homework would you have given yourself a year ago? Let us know your answers on instagram, tag us @Writing_Excuses and we'll repost you!

Thing of the Week from Marshall Carr: 

A Necessary Chaos by Brent Lambert

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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We have a LIVE podcast recording from September 2023, when we were hosting one of our writing retreats on a cruise ship in Alaska! (To learn about our next WX Retreats, check out: https://writingexcuses.com/retreats/ 

Or apply for our scholarships by January 31 at https://writingexcuses.com/scholarships/

This episode features questions from our writers, and those who attended our 2023 WXR Cruise to Alaska! We answered questions about success, what happens after you’re a NYTimes bestseller, and how you can record your own audiobook. 

Homework: 

Go listen to the most recent episode of the podcast Just Keep Writing. 

Thing of the Week: 

Just Keep Writing is a podcast cohosted by Marshall, our incredible recording engineer. It’s a podcast for writers, by writers, to keep you writing. The podcast focuses on building community and lifting marginalized voices. Learn more at justkeepwriting.org, or listen wherever you get your podcasts!

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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In our first episode of 2024, we interviewed author and physician Abraham Verghese, who most recently published "The Covenant of Water." We talked with Verghese about how to convey technical information in fiction.

Verghese explains how he shares medical and world-building details in the most engaging way. We also asked Verghese how to make things feel real without overwhelming your reader, and how he has mastered conveying the passing of time. We also discussed verisimilitude, translation, point of view, and revision (we love revision!).

Homework: 

From Abraham Verghese: Write a landscape in three different moods. Imagine that someone dear to you has died and you are now gazing at the landscape. Describe it without any reference to this event in your life. The second time you write it as if you were experiencing a moment of great joy, and you're looking at that landscape. The third time, imagine you are in a terrible rage and you are describing this landscape. This allows you to explore how descriptions of the physical world can reflect the various moods of characters.

Thing of the Week: 

"How To Draw A Novel" by Martín Solares (recommended by Abraham Verghese)

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. Our guest was Abraham Verghese. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Rent isn't paid in words alone. How do all of us, in various stages of our careers, keep ourselves afloat as we go about the writing life? We're getting in the weeds with this one - tips, tricks, and tools. 

We share our thoughts on diversifying your income stream outside of traditional publishing? Let’s get creative. We’re talking about school appearances, copywriting, fellowships, consulting, and teaching. We also share advice about newsletters, Patreon, monetizing yourself, and how an agent can help you overcome your imposter syndrome,  

Homework: 

Write an artist statement for yourself. Think about who you are, what’s important to you, and what are you trying to put out in the world? 

Thing of the Week: 

Joyland directed by Saim Sadiq

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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"Your short story should definitely be a novel." It's something writers are often told when they write short stories. What tips and tricks can you use to keep your idea within the length of the story you're trying to tell? We dive into worldbuilding in miniature, pacing, and character development. We also think about where you can edit your writing down—whether it’s words, plot threads, or characters. 

Homework: 

Write a scene with two different endings - one that puts a button on the story (for short fiction) and one that asks a new question (for a novel). Identify what else would need to change for each to make those endings work.

Thing of the Week: 

Scenes From a Multiverse by Jon Rosenberg

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Are you interested in experimenting with different writing forms? Do you want to try an unusual or different way of writing? Well this week, we have an episode dedicated to non-traditional formats for writing. 

In this episode, we think about experimental short fiction from the point of view of publishing and writing. DongWon shares about the incredible success of their publishing of .. Why short stories might be the perfect place for new ideas. 

We talk about second-person narratives, epistolaries, footnotes, and stories written as research papers. When does it make sense to use a non-traditional format for a story, what should you know as you do it, and who exactly decided on those traditions anyway?

Homework: 

Take a scene from a story you've written or are working on (maybe from NaNoWriMo!) and put it into a new format. What did you learn in the process?

Thing of the Week: 

These Vital Signs: A Doctor's Notes on Life and Loss in Tweets by Sayed Tabatabai 

Liner Notes: 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Love, Death, and Robots (Netflix) 

Bite Size Halloween (Hulu)

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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All unreliable narrators aren't unreliable in the same way. How do they differ and how does that change the way that we write them? Erin shares her unified theory (look at the graphic below!) of unreliable narrators. 

Homework: 

Take an event that you're familiar with, and write about it as truthfully as possible. Then write about it from the point of view of someone who knows the basics, but not the whole truth, but who tries to tell the entire story anyway. For bonus points, tell the story a third time from the point of view of a lying liar with an agenda.

Thing of the Week: 

Lost Places by Sarah PInsker 

Liner Notes: 

Unreliable Narrator Graph

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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What does it mean if your writing is voice-y?  How do you give your character a natural voice? We approach this question from the high-level perspective of craft, and the granular level of word choice and sentence structure. Erin talks about the research she did about Appalachian English for her short story Wolfy Things. And Mary Robinette Kowal tells us what it’s like to be an audiobook narrator, and how this helps her bring characters to life on the page. 

Just a reminder that our final episodes of the year will be guided by three of host Erin Roberts’ short stories: Wolfy Things, Sour Milk Girls, Snake Season. Note: these books involve some darker themes. All of these short stories are available for free online and also have audio versions available. 

Homework: 

Listen to someone's voice (a person in a coffee shop, someone on a podcast, etc.) Now write a scene from your WIP trying to approximate the essence of that voice. 

Thing of the Week: 

“Exhalation” by Ted Chiang 

Liner Notes: 

“A House with Good Bones”by Ursula Vernon/ T. Kingfisher

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Welcome to the last week of National Novel Writing Month! It’s okay if you aren’t going to finish your book, and it’s also okay if you don’t have 50,000 words! You still did a thing—you created a story that didn’t exist 

We want to talk about endings. How do you even write the end of a book? How do you do NaNoWriMo? There’s no right way! But there are several elements that can help you figure out how to write the end of your book. Our hosts give you guidance for environment, pacing, inversions, character changes, and the denouement. 

DongWon tells us why writing an obvious ending is not a bad idea, and Mary Robinette gives us advice for writing the ending of a series. 

Also, Dan offers a wonderful reframe for November if you’re not near the end of your book, or you didn’t reach 50,000 words. (Spoiler: it’s okay. You did, in fact, succeed.) 

Homework: 

Aim towards the MICE elements you opened. We're talking about the big ones here. In an ideal world, you begin letting your character have simple Yes or No answers to the "does it work" to close out the major threads in the inverse order that you opened them. Nesting code.

Thing of the Week: 

A final pep talk from Mary Robinette! 

Liner Notes: 

Better Call Saul

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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It’s week four of NaNoWriMo! Or, National Novel Writing Month, which happens every year for the month of November. This week, we are talking about how to write climaxes, how to write resolutions, and what exactly the three-quarter mark is. 

How do you write a climax scene? How to keep your tension going while also finding some resolution. How do you keep track of what you promised your reader at the start of your book? Our hosts dive into these topics and share examples from their own published writing. We talk about how to write emotional resolutions before a novel’s climax. 

We also learn how Dan taught Mary Robinette to use the 7 point plot structure, and how you can use it while you’re writing your novel (or short story or general writing project). 

Homework: 

Read through what you wrote during your last session. You can make minor edits, but you can’t edit anything. Use brackets to make notes about things you want to plant earlier. But don’t make any of these changes! You’re just using this as a launching pad for yourself and your book. 

Thing of the Week: 

A pep talk from DongWon

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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We are now three weeks into NaNoWriMo—where writers are attempting to write a novel in the month of November. For this episode, our writers talk about how to raise the stakes in your story.  

To make something feel more threatening, you don’t have to make it bigger or flashier, but you do have to make it more personal to your character. Often, you don’t need to add an event or plot element, but simply ramp up your character’s connection and reaction.

We also talk about multi-thread plots, Star Wars, and getting your reader to be emotionally invested in your characters’ goals. Also—don’t forget to ask for help. (And surprise surprise, the same goes for your characters.) 

Homework: 

Pick an aspect of craft that you feel weak on and choose to focus on it during your next writing session.

Thing of the Week: 

A pep talk from Dan!

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Welcome to the first official week of National Novel Writing Month (or, almost the end of this week)! In this episode, we dive into how to write an inciting incident. 

What is an inciting incident? It is often the thing that goes wrong in your story. Within the first page, writers should have something go wrong. But what should this thing be? Our writers have some advice for questions you can ask yourself in order to understand your novel’s inciting incident. 

Also, Dan shares a recipe for an inciting incident that he learned from screenwriting, and Mary Robinette talks about the three “trauma attachment points.” 

Homework: 

What does failure look like for your character? Use this to direct your inciting incident. 

Thing of the Week: 

A pep talk from Erin! 

Liner Notes: 

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Welcome to National Novel Writing Month! For November, writers all over the world are trying to complete a novel, or write 50,000 words. In honor of NaNoWriMo, all of our November episodes are going to focus on writing a novel or big project. 

For our first week—starting! How do you start writing? What do you need to give your readers in at the beginning of your story? How much information is too much information? We answer all of these questions, and talk about how these factors will help shape your story, in our NaNoWriMo kickoff episode! 

You have a few days left to prepare! Think about when during the day you’ll be writing, and see if you can find some people to help hold you accountable. Do you have a friend who could join? A writing group online or in-person? Check out the NaNoWriMo website at https://nanowrimo.org. 

A note: all of our episodes for NaNoWriMo will feature a pep talk from a host in the middle of the episode! (These will be taking the place of “thing of the week,” but only for these 5 episodes.) 

This week, Howard tells us how our mindsets can help us realize we’ve already succeeded. 

Homework: 

Write two different openings. The first one should be action-driven, where your character is doing a thing. The second one can be anything. 

Thing of the Week: 

A pep talk from Howard!

Remember, ad-free versions of our podcast are available on our Patreon!

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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If you're writing short fiction, how much of your world do you even need to figure out? Should you have it all written out? Can you just wing it? This week on the podcast, we discuss how much of a world to build for a short story (and how). We provide some guiding questions that you can use to build the world of your novel or short story. We explore different narrative structures, DND worlds without police, and the reader's experience. 

Homework: 

Take a big world-building concept and pick one or two iconic elements that bring it to life. Take one and make it a key part of a short scene.

Get ready for NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month! For the month of November, writers all over the world are trying to complete a novel, or write 50,000 words. In honor of NaNoWriMo, all of our November episodes are going to focus on writing a novel or big project.

You don't need to write a whole book, though! We encourage you to work on a smaller project, or simply commit to writing every day.

Thing of the Week:

The Quiet Year (a map-drawing tabletop role-playing game)

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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How do you write about magic? How do you build a world with magic and spells and potions? We dive into the rules and laws behind magical worlds. We often think of magic as being with a system, but what if it's not? What opportunities and challenges do intrusive magic/emergent fantasy and fabulism create for writers and stories?

Our writers and publishers talk about cultural differences across magical systems, and how you can build a fantasy world that is believable. We also talk about surrealism, dream logic, and how sometimes the belief in magic is enough. 

Homework: 

Write a scene that brings an element of magic into a mundane place you know well (grocery store, bank, etc.), Try to make it impactful without explaining how it all works.

Thing of the Week: 

The World Wasn’t Ready For You by Justin C. Key

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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If you write short stories or enjoy speculative fiction, this episode is for you. Our host Erin Roberts has written short stories, interactive fiction, and has built worlds for tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). For the next 8 episodes, we’ll be diving into three of her short stories. This week, Erin explains how to write outside of traditional genre classifications. We talk about the importance of antagonists, tone, and the horror genre. And we discuss how to decide if your short story should become a novel. 

We highly recommend you read Erin’s three short stories to get the most out of these next 8 episodes! Read Erin’s short stories: Wolfy Things, Sour Milk Girls, Snake Season. Note: these books involve some darker themes. All of these short stories are available for free online and also have audio versions available. 

Homework: 

Take a line you've written a while ago that you absolutely love. Try rewriting it as the writer you are now.

Thing of the Week: 

Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap 

Liner Notes: 

Interview with Erin on the podcast Just Keep Writing

Wolfy Things by Erin Roberts 

Sour Milk Girls by Erin Roberts 

Snake Season by Erin Roberts 

Writing Wonder

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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 Or, The Business of the End of Schlock Mercenary

How did Howard start making money from his hobby of drawing and writing comics? How did he self-publish? We have a special guest on this episode! Sandra Tayler—Howard’s wife, the editor and publisher for Schlock Mercenary, and a published author—talks about starting their business. We dive into uncertainty, quality of life, and “manic optimism.” We learn about how to use pre-ordering, PayPal, and Kickstarter. Howard also shares about his experience with long covid, how to generate multiple income streams, and what comes next. 

Homework: 

Make a plan for how to monetize one aspect of your work. Start thinking like Sandra! This could be submitting a short story for publication or making a plan to submit your novel or making a plan for a paid newsletter. It doesn't have to be something you do today or tomorrow, but start thinking about what you can be doing to make this creative work part of your future income. 

Prepare for our next Deep Dive with Host Erin Roberts (starting next week)! Read Erin’s short stories: Wolfy Things, Sour Milk Girls, Snake Season. Note: these stories involve some darker themes. All of these short stories are available for free online and also have audio versions available. 

Thing of the Week: 

Fluent Pet buttons - go to fluent.pet and use code "elsiewant" for a discount!

Liner Notes: 

Sandra Tayler, who also offers one-on-one creative business consulting

Creative Community Classes

"Risk Assessment"—tthe Schlock Mercenary bonus story that Sandra wrote

The Alchemy of Creativity, Writing Excuses episode with Sandra 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Deep Dive: Sergeant In Motion

How do you write an ending to a book? How do you finish something you’ve been writing for over 20 years? Howard Tayler talks to us about writing the ending to his serialized webcomic and space opera, Schlock Mercenary. We dive into how to write a resolution, how to finish a book, and how to finish a series. And we dive into the art of leaning into the tropes without leaning ON them.

Homework: 

Write a one page outline for the ending of your current work in progress. 

Prepare for our next Deep Dive with Host Erin Roberts (starting in two weeks)! Read Erin’s short stories: Wolfy Things, Sour Milk Girls, Snake Season. Note: these books involve some darker themes. All of these short stories are available for free online and also have audio versions available. 

Thing of the Week: 

The Sexy Brutale (an adventure puzzle video game)

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Deep Dive: A Function of Firepower

How do you write the middle of a book? How do you write an ending to a story? For this week’s episode about writing, we focus on Book 19 of Schlock Mercenary, the penultimate book in Howard Tayler’s series. We discuss ways to make a book feel self-contained, rather than just something to keep the beginning and the ending further apart. 

For reference, A Function of Firepower is the 19th Schlock Mercenary Book. We highly recommend you read this first, because this episode contains spoilers and in-depth conversations about the book. 

Homework: 

Writing prompt: try to work these three words into your WIP (work in progress): expeditious, sock, and dragonfly. 

Thing of the Week: 

Kickstarter for Schlock Mercenary Book 18: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/howardtayler

(It's what Howard said, but "profile" is singular, not plural!)

Liner Notes: 

Fermi paradox

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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We talk with Howard Tayler about the story structure of a story with a BIG disaster in the middle - one which we don't recover from until the next book. We also talk about the weight of world-building, how to write for your ideal reader. And Howard considers the question, what is the cost of death if immortality exists? 

For reference, Mandatory Failure is the 18th Schlock Mercenary Book; 1st in the 3-book finale to the 20 book mega-arc. We highly recommend you read this first, because this episode contains spoilers and in-depth conversations about the book. 

Homework: 

Writing prompt: a major disaster has just occurred, write a scene in the aftermath. 

Thing of the Week: 

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 

Liner Notes: 

Book 18 Schlock Mercenary: Mandatory Failure 

Sandra Tayler

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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How do you write the middle of a book? How do you end your book? How do you know what to write next? This week, our hosts —who all work as a writers and publishers (and are sometimes teachers and puppeteers and many other things)— talk through how they have written the middle of their books.

The middle is where most of the story takes place. How do you keep track of your characters and plot? How do you bring it toward an end, and stick the landing? Well, we’ve got some ideas. And some advice to help you write the middle of your novel. Or short story. Or play. Or really… anything. 

Homework: 

Identify the point of the middle where you are delaying because you feel like your character needs to "earn" the cool thing. Where can you cut and where can you turn it into an escalation?

Also! Make sure to catch up on Schlock Mercenary if you haven’t already. Our next 3 episodes will dive into the details, and include some spoilers. 

Thing of the Week: 

The October Daye Series by Seanan McGuire

Liner Notes: 

Mass Effect 2

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Let’s talk about organization! This week, we’re talking about how and what to keep track of— characters, places, names, etc. How do you organize a book? How do you outline a novel? 

And don’t worry, we dive into the messy question, what is worth keeping track of in your writing? We also hear about how Howard and Mary Robinette have turned their planning tools (and research!) into money. 

Homework: 

Build a tool (spreadsheet, wiki, whatever) for tracking things in the universe of your writing. Start by thinking of three things to track—these could be character-driven, thematic, emotional. 

Thing of the week: 

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler MRK

Liner Notes: 

Scrivener 

AirTable

Obsidian 

Schlock Mercenary Shop

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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18.34: 17 Years of Foreshadowing

What can Normal Gossip teach us about foreshadowing and artful storytelling? 

Thinking about the 20 books that make up Howard Tayler’s Schlock Mercenary, our hosts discuss foreshadowing—our favorite examples, and our go-to tricks for structuring our own work. What does foreshadowing actually do for our work? Do we even need it? Well, yeah… it’s like invisible narrative scaffolding. But it’s also like a red herring. It’s so many things! Listen to us discuss the best ways to use it in your own work, in a way that sounds true to your own writerly voice and vision. 

Homework: 

Take a throwaway gag from one of your favorite things and outline a story or scene in which the throwaway turns out to have been foreshadowing. 

Thing of the Week: 

Babel by R. F. Kuang 

Liner Notes: 

Game of Thrones, Fonda Lee, Fermi paradox, Normal Gossip

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Bonus Episode! Our first ever half-numbered episode!

We are making some changes here on the podcast, and we wanted to talk to you about them. We hired a producer (Emma Reynolds), we have new interactive offerings on Patreon (office hours, livestreams, Q&A’s), and we are going to begin advertising! Don’t worry, you can subscribe to our Patreon to listen ad-free.

Homework: 

Go check out our Patreon, sign up for our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook! They are all linked below. 

Thing of the Week: 

​​Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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The first episode in our eight-episode Deep Dive into Howard’s weekly webcomic strip, Schlock Mercenary. We grill Howard on how he taught himself to draw, why he decided to self-publish (hint: his wife, Sandra Tayler, helped him), and how he managed to write an ending. 

Homework: 

The "How it should have ended" game: write your own ending(s) to one or more of your favorite things. (For reference, watch some of How It Should Have Ended.) 

Thing of the Week: 

The Expanse (DongWon) 

Mentioned Links: 

Schlock Mercenary

How It Should Have Ended

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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We have a special guest episode! Kirsten Vangsness, Criminal Minds star, joins us to talk about her experience as a writer, actor, and playwright. She taught us how she deals with imposter syndrome, and how she uses performance as a writing tool. We also talk about self-actualization, cats, and filling your metaphorical art well.

Homework:

From Kirsten: Record yourself, stream of consciousness, talking about one of the big questions that crops up in your work. Then write a scene that asks this question.

From us: Prepare for our next Deep Dive, by reading through Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary.

Thing of the Week:

Kirsten's Agenda Season 2

Blue by June Carryl

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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In our final episode diving into how and why Dan wrote “Dark One: Forgotten,” talk about how you can take something personal and mine it for fiction. We also tackle the complicated question—Why should you be the one to tell your story?  We think about the personal touches that you can add to your writing, and how people can hear when your story is personal. 

Homework:

2 things! 

1. Have you watched Criminal Minds? If you haven’t, you should! Next week, we have a special guest—Kirsten Vangsness who plays Penelope Garcia! Explore her other stuff (like her web series and podcast), and get ready for an INCREDIBLE conversation with her. 

2. What's the thing in your real life that you keep thinking about when you aren't writing? Can you give that feeling or theme to a character? ALSO, prepare for our next Deep Dive, by reading through Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary. And feel free to re-listen to our interview with Howard earlier this year, 

Thing of the Week:

Everything Everywhere all at Once 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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How do you slowly reveal the supernatural in an obviously supernatural story? How can you prepare your audience for a reveal without disclosing it too quickly? If someone is familiar with your writing, they know the genre and what to expect from it. We talk about how we work within these confines while also making space for surprises, magic, and the supernatural.

Homework:

Do a reread or rewatch of something with a big reveal (like the reveal in "Dark One: Forgotten.") Think about how your understanding of the story has changed since you have that information earlier.

Also prepare for our upcoming Deep Dive, by reading through Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary. And feel free to re-listen to our interview with Howard earlier this year, here.

Thing of the Week:

Nope, directed by Jordan Peele

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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What are the best practices for collaboration? How do you write in an established intellectual property (IP)? How do you write a new story in an established world? We dive into working with an individual or a group. We hear stories from our hosts about how they have navigated creative endeavors with different types of collaboration.

Homework:

Grab something on your TBR (to be read) pile and pick a random paragraph from it. Use that as the opening for a short story.

Also prepare for our upcoming Deep Dive (starting in two episodes), by reading through Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary.

Thing of the Week:

The Original by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal

Mentioned Links:

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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How do you write dialogue that sounds natural? We have some things to keep in mind when you write conversations between characters. When people converse, they do so with more than just words. Body language, tone of voice, and societal context all play a role in understanding what a person means. How do you convey that on the page or in audio?

Homework:

Take dialogue you've written. Delete every third line, and replace those lines with blocking.

Thing of the Week:

Cunk On Earth

Mentioned Links:

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Have you ever framed a story within a story? Are you looking for a way to add structure or tension to your story? In this episode, we contemplate the value that can be added to your writing by putting it into a framework. Our hosts discuss various frameworks in fiction—from Frankenstein to Dark One: Forgotten to The House of the Spirits. 

[“Dark One: Forgotten” Deep Dive Ep. 4] 

Homework:

Take something you’ve already written (or are currently writing), and add a frame story to it. Start with a prologue and an epilogue. Has this changed anything that happens in the middle of your story?  

Thing of the Week:

Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective, by Katy Siegel (Published on June 27!) 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Let’s talk about the things you can write that are not typically what we talk about—formats that aren't novels and short stories. In this episode, we’re thinking about scripts, RPG adventures, video game dialogue, etc. What other forms are out there, and how can you apply the skills you already have to a new form? 

[“Dark One: Forgotten” Deep Dive Ep. 3] 

Homework:

Take something that you’re working on, and identify two other formats that might work well for it (audio, video game, you name it). Think about how you would pitch—and tell— the story differently for each format.  

Thing of the Week:

Severance (2022 TV Series) 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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In our second episode on Dan Wells’ audio-only book, “Dark One: Forgotten,” we provide you with tools and advice to consider when deciding whether or not to have a narrator. We also talk about location-aware dialogue, or how you can have your characters info dump without it being an info dump.

Homework:

Take something that you’ve already written, and adapt it for audio. 

Thing of the Week:

Earbuds Podcast Collective, a curated list of podcasts 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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The team grills Dan on his audio-only book “Dark One: Forgotten,” which he co-wrote with Brandon Sanderson. We find out how he wrote a book that became a six-part audio series, and why exactly that form is important. *Please listen to “Dark One: Forgotten” before listening to this episode!*. 

Homework:

What's a thing you know, but everyone else has forgotten? Come up with a supernatural reason why this is.

Thing of the Week:

Zombies, Run! 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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“Show don’t tell” is probably the most famous advice given to writers. But. . . we don’t necessarily agree. In our final episode of our deep dive into publishing, we tackle advice: How do you give it? When do you not? Our hosts tell us about the advice they wish they followed and the things they don’t tell their students. Also: Mary Robinette teaches us a trick about puppet fingers. 

Homework:

1. Write a letter to yourself a year ago describing what kind of skills are they going to need in order to confront the challenges that are coming.
2. We've finished our 8 episode deep dive into Publishing Is Hard! Next week, we'll be diving into Dan's audiobook "Dark One: Forgotten." Please find this and listen to it! (It's only 6 hours long)

Thing of the Week:

Stone Soup - Newsletter by Sarah Gailey

Mentioned Links:

https://www.publishingishard.com/this-is-not-advice/

https://www.publishingishard.com/get-jigae-with-it/

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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How can we make publishing more inclusive? What role does mentorship play? And how can you reframe competition as collaboration? All this and more in this episode.

Homework:

What's one thing that you can do to make someone else's path easier? Can you take a step towards doing this this week?

Thing of the Week:

After Five - newsletters from Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Mentioned Links:

On Sending the Elevator Back Down by DongWon Song

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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The relationship between a writer and a publisher is… one that isn’t talked about enough. So we made an episode about rejection letters, email etiquette, and empathy. 

As a writer, how do you talk with a publisher? Well, luckily we have someone who knows all about the publishing world because they’re an agent at a large publishing house. DongWon offers advice on how to interact with publishers from the perspective of someone on the industry side. (If you’re new here: DongWon Song is an agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.) Then, we hear about our hosts’ experiences with rejection (spoiler alert: there’s been a lot.) 

Homework:

Write a professional and kind rejection letter for a piece you like.

Thing of the Week:

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

Mentioned Links:

“The Empathy Gap” by DongWon Song

Munchkin Starfinder 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Have you ever thought of being a publisher, but don't know if it's the right choice for you? In this episode, DongWon (an agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency) walks you through this world and gives you some tips for how to decide if publishing is the right career for you.

Homework:

Come up with a list of 3 things you've read. Think of things that can act as comp titles for your professional career and/or personal brand.

Thing of the Week:

Letters to a Writer of Color Edited by Deepa Anappara and Taymour Soomro

Mentioned Links:

So You Want to Work in Publishing by DongWon Song

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

In this episode, we unpack what the publishing industry is, what exactly it does, and why it does it. We also outline the first steps for preparing to talk to an agent or publisher.

Homework:

If you had to sit down with a publisher today and convince them that there's a market for you book, how would you start doing it? Make a list of 3-5 titles that your book is similar to, and describe your target audience.

Thing of the Week:

Kate McKean’s Agents and Books on Substack

Mentioned Links:

"The Publishing Question" by DongWon Song

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

It's 2023 and people still use email newsletters. For some reason they're more important than ever, so let's talk about building one.

An exploration of author branding and the social media tools we use. "Figure out who you are, and then do it on purpose" - Dolly Parton.

Publishing is hard. Also, Publishing is Hard is a newsletter from DongWon Song. In this episode we grill them about it.

Back in February, with Episode 18.8, we began exploring the process of writing a mystery story. That episode led us into a series of six episodes about tension, and the tools we use to create and manage it. And now, with this episode (and a toolbox full of tension) we're ready (we hope!) to revisit the creation of mystery stories. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Let's take all our tension tools and apply them in tiny ways. A big application of tension might be an argument between two characters about a course of plot-important action. Microtension might be those characters arguing about how long to boil eggs. In this episode we'll explore some favorite applications of microtension, and the ways in which it can be layered to ramp up the larger, plot-focused tension. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

In our ongoing exploration of tension, the time has come to examine conflict. It can be shaped and delivered in numerous ways, but you have to know the core conflict before you can make anybody feel tense about it. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Our continuing exploration of tension has taken us to a favorite technique: unanswered questions. Sure, this obviously applies to mysteries, but consider the question posed in romances: “will they get together?” In its simplest form, the unanswered question that forces a page-turn is "what happens on the next page?" In this episode we explore how to use unanswered questions to drive tension, and how to avoid some common pitfalls. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Our deconstruction and categorization of tension continues this week with an exploration of Juxtaposition, which is a contrast between two elements that supplies tension by allowing the reader to insert themselves. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Last week we talked about tension, and promised that we'd be breaking it down into more pieces. This week we're discussing one of those pieces: Anticipation. We sub-divided it as follows: Surprise Suspense Humor Promises We talk about how to create anticipatory tension well, where the pitfalls are, and how this fits into the creation of our stories. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

For the next several episodes we'll be talking about tension. That may seem like a lot of time to spend on just one word, but as we unpack the word 'tension' in this episode you'll see that there is plenty of material to work with.

After last week's deep dive into The Spare Man we're ready to talk more generally about mysteries, and the tools we use to write them. Obviously we can't cover all of that in just one episode, but don't worry. In upcoming episodes we'll explore more of these tools in detail. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Spoiler Alert! This week is our deep dive into Mary Robinette Kowal's The Spare Man. It's a sci-fi mystery novel often described as "The Thin Man in space." Deep dive episodes are necessarily full of spoilers because we ask all kinds of how and why questions specific to the writing of the work in question. If you haven't yet read The Spare Man, you might consider doing that before listening to this episode. We're not the boss of you, but we believe you'll get more out of this episode and the novel if you read the novel first. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler In this episode we interview Howard Tayler, one of the founding members of the podcast, and the creator of Schlock Mercenary. The first question: how did this twenty-year ride change you? And a later question: what comes next? Liner Notes: We'll eventually do a deep dive on the final three books of the Schlock Mercenary saga. You can read for free starting here. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler In this episode Howard Tayler conducts our interview with Mary Robinette Kowal, leading with a wide-open question: "Where did you even?" Mary Robinette talks to us about how she came to the world of writing, and some of the amazing things she picked up along the way. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler In this episode Erin Roberts very enthusiastically launches our interview with "OG" Dan Wells with a delightfully difficult question, paraphrased thusly: "is there advice you gave back in the early days that you still stand by today?" There are lots of other questions, including one about bacon! Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

As we announced in the first episode of the year (and in this press release), DongWon Song and Erin Roberts are joining us as permanent cast members. Today we're conducting an interview with Erin Roberts. She is newer to career writing than any of the rest of us, but her contributions to Writing Excuses have already been invaluable. In this episode we'll learn a bit more about why, and about what Erin will bring to the program going forward. Credits: 

This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler As we announced in last week's episode (and in this press release), DongWon Song and Erin Roberts are joining us as permanent cast members. In this episode we conduct an interview with DongWon Song, plumbing a few depths, and learning a bit more about what they can teach all of us. Liner Notes: DongWon Song's newsletter, Publishing is Hard, can be found at publishingishard.com. It's free, but paid subscriptions are available. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler We begin 2023 with some big changes, and in this episode we'll discuss those, starting with some changes to the core cast. DongWon Song and Erin Roberts are joining us as permanent cast members, and Brandon Sanderson is stepping aside with "emeritus" status. But the episode isn't just announcements. We each talk about where we are career-wise, what we're working on, and what we're excited to bring to the podcast this year. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson 

Your Hosts: Brandon, Dan, Mary Robinette, and Howard This Q&A session was recorded before a live audience aboard ship at WXR 2022, Here are some paraphrasings of the questions our attendees asked: How do you make your world feel big without infodumping? How do you balance a sense of progress with an unreliable narrator? How can I make two magic systems work in the same setting when one is underpowered, and the protagonist uses the weaker one? Have you ever based characters on yourself, or on people you know? What does the process of book adaptation look like Do you have any good convention recommendations? What are some methods for determining how much scientific detail you go into? How do you interact with an audience in order to grow it? Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Let's talk about burnout. It's been a long few years (with some of those years feeling like decades) so this may seem timely, but burnout can happen during otherwise ordinary times. Ignoring it or simply trying to "burn smarter, not harder" can have serious repercussions. In this episode we talk about why we burn out, how we recognize it, how we deal with it, and how we (eventually) recover from it.

Your Hosts: Dongwon Song, Piper J. Drake, Peng Shepherd, Marshall Carr, Jr., and Erin Roberts

Credits: This episode was recorded by Matthew Drake, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Howard Tayler, Dongwon Song, and Dan Wells Thanks to some last-minute schedule changes, we almost didn't have an episode for today. Only three cast members were able to make it to the session, and none of those three had the syllabus. But we forged ahead anyway, and recorded an episode about why we felt it was important to record an episode. That may sound like one too many layers of meta, but just wait until we add the layers in which this actually applies to writing! Liner Notes: Dongwon's newsletter is called "Publishing is Hard." Dan's newsletter doesn't have a name, but can be signed up for here. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler Let's put a stake in the ground here: disabilities do not grant magical powers. And yet that exact trope can be found in multiple genres, across multiple mediums. In this episode we talk about why this happens, and how we might better portray the magical awesomeness found in our bodies. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler Let's talk about pain. It hurts, yes, but we all experience it, so writing about it can be a great point of connection between the writer and the reader. Also, writing about it can hurt. Liner Notes: We referenced "No, I'm Fine," by Howard Tayler, and "The Visions Take Their Toll: Disability and the Cost of Magic," by Dominic Parisien Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler This is the "talking about how to talk about" talk. We begin by reviewing the difference between the medical model and the social model of disability. Liner Notes: This TikTok provides a nice explanation of the medical and social models of disability. There's also this essay, "The Linguistics of Disability" over at Fireside Fiction. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler Okay, before we start, you have homework: Please take a few minutes to read this essay by Fran Wilde entitled "You Wake Up Monstrous." That will give you context for our discussion, which is about how body horror and other monstrous-ness is a tool we should be employing with great care. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, C.L. Polk, Fran Wilde, and Howard Tayler Let's talk about technological body-modification! It's a common element in science fiction, but it's also an increasingly important part of the world we're living in right now. Liner Notes: In this episode we referenced "Happenstance," and Amy Purdy's quickstep from Dancing With The Stars. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, Fran Wilde, C.L. Polk, and Howard Tayler Let's talk for a bit about writing while disabled. This can mean anything from scheduling your craft around doctor's appointments, to learning to operate on a limited budget as defined by your body. You might be asking "I'm not disabled, so how does this pertain to me?" Well... you're not disabled currently. Eventually, as we age, we all experience disability. Liner Notes: Howard tweeted about his experience at the hand clinic. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette and Howard Tayler, with special guests Fran Wilde, C.L. Polk, and William Alexander Whether or not you're writing from your own experience, depicting disability in fiction is fraught. In this episode we'll talk about some of the dos and don'ts in order to provide you with guidelines for disability depiction. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson 

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette and Howard Tayler, with special guests Fran Wilde, C.L. Polk, and William Alexander For the next eight episodes we'll be talking about bodies, and how they don't all work the same way, and how this can be applied to our writing. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, and Howard Tayler, with special guest Seth Fishman Seth Fishman, author of seven picture books (as well as lots of longer-form stuff), joins us to talk about writing picture books, including some of the business and publication aspects. No-Context Pull Quote: "Your art is so bad we're going to hire someone to draw badly for you." Credits: This episode was recorded live by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, and Howard Tayler, with special guest Peng Shepherd Peng Shepherd joined us aboard Liberty of the Seas for WXR 2022, and returned with us to the topic of story structures. In this episode we answer questions from our live audience. The questions include: How do you make sure you've got the right number of plot threads? How do you spread the structure of a given plot line across multiple books? How do you avoiding having subplots distract readers from the main plot? What are some strategies you can use to better align character goals with the overall problem of the story? Are there clear dos and don'ts with regard to story structure? How do you prepare or color-code bits for running a role-playing game? More broadly: what organizational tools do you use for story structure? For the answers, you'll have to give the episode a listen... Credits: This episode was recorded live by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, Dongwon Song, Piper J. Drake, & Howard Tayler, with special guest K. M. Szpara CONTENT WARNING: this episode is about adult acts and adult bodies, and we won't be using euphemisms. K.M. Szpara joined us at WXR 2022 for this discussion of writing bodies and intimacy, with a particular focus on which kinds of words to use for things. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr. before a live audience aboard Liberty of the Seas. It was mastered by Alex Jackson. 

Your Hosts: Howard Tayler, C.L. Polk, Marshall Carr, Jr., and Mary Robinette Kowal Oh no! You've put the project down for long enough that you've lost your place in it! Whatever will you do? For starters, you can listen to this episode. We've been there, and one of us is there right now. We talk about the different problems you're likely facing, and how to overcome them in order to find the thread and get moving again. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Cady Coleman The fictional side of science and the scientific side of fiction are part of the discipline of science communication, often called SciComm. In this episode Cady Coleman joins us to talk about how science fiction fits into the field of SciComm, and how the stories we tell can affect the people who read them. Credits: This episode was recorded before a live audience by Rob Kowal, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Cady Coleman Chemist, USAF Colonel, and NASA Astronaut Cady Coleman joins us to talk about actual travel to actual space, and how that's a thing which is increasingly available to people who are not in the employ of government space agencies. Also, we discuss how the demographics of space travelers are changing, and how this is creating safer space travel for everyone. Credits: This episode was recorded before a live audience by Rob Kowal, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Maurice Broaddus, and Howard Tayler We wrap up our eight-episode dialog master class with a discussion of nuance, which is difficult to describe in a blurb because it's... well, nuanced. That may sound a bit recursive, but our discussion dives deep into the meta. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Maurice Broaddus, and Howard Tayler We begin this episode with a quick exploration of the terminology, and what we mean when we say "text," "context," and "subtext." Subtext exists between text and context. It's the information which isn't actually in the text, but which we are able to divine based on the context. And in this episode we talk about how to use context and text to provide subtext to the reader. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Maurice Broaddus, and Howard Tayler Tension! In this episode we discuss the ways dialog can build and/or maintain tension, especially when placed in context with the rest of the scene. Liner Notes: A great article about tension for those who (like Howard) may need a solid working definition -Toward a general psychological model of tension and suspense Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Maurice Broaddus, and Howard Tayler Everything is about conflict? Really? Well, yes. Maybe not in the action-movie sense, but conflict is everywhere, even among people whose goals, objectives, and methodologies are in alignment. This, of course, means that it exists among your cast of characters, and it will inform the way the talk to one another. Liner Notes: We mentioned this famous Monty Python sketch about wanting to have an argument. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Maurice Broaddus, and Howard Tayler We've mentioned "area of intention" earlier in this dialog master class, but now the concept gets the spotlight. If all of your characters have their own agendas, their own areas of intention, then the dialog between them should reflect that. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Maurice Broaddus, and Howard Tayler How well do you know your characters? Sure, you might know their age, nationality, and perhaps wardrobe, but how well do you know their internal characteristics? Do you know them well enough that you can write dialog that sounds like them? In this episode we discuss how you might approach this problem. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Maurice Broaddus, and Howard Tayler We're back with Maurice Broaddus for the second in our eight-episode mini-master-class on writing dialogue. This time around we're addressing the question of dialogue's "job." What's it for? Why is this particular bit of dialogue in this scene, this chapter, this book? Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Maurice Broaddus, and Howard Tayler Writer, teacher, and community organizer Maurice Broaddus joins us for an eight-episode mini-master-class on writing dialogue. In this episode he walks us through his three keys: pay attention to how people speak, write in a way that evokes how they speak, and write dialogue that makes individual characters distinctive. Liner Notes: We mention Descript transcription software in this episode. Here's a link! Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Your Hosts: Dan Wells, Zoraida Cordova, Kaela Rivera, and Howard Tayler In this, our final "ensemble masterclass" episode, we discuss the nuts-and-bolts, the tips and tricks, the tools of the trade. In short, we talk very specifically about how we do it. Color-coded sticky notes, index cards, spreadsheets, and more... Liner Notes: Howard's guest story for Dave Kellet's DRIVE compendium is now running online! It's called "History and Haberdashery." Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.