Writing Excuses

Sarah Pinborough joins Mary and Dan at World Fantasy for a very writerly discussion of London. Also, they discuss using a city as a character.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about Historical Fantasy (differentiating it from Alternate History), its popularity, and how you might go about beginning to write it.

In this particularly self-indulgent episode of Writing Excuses we take you behind the marshmallow. We explain the origins of the 'cast, and offer you rare insight into what makes this show what it is. We talk about how the show evolved, how our equipment came to be "borrowed," and how Mary came to be involved.

Sam Sykes joins Dan Wells and Mary Robinette Kowal for a discussion of sound, smell, taste, and touch in prose.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard help you keep it short and simple.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard tackle worldbuilding flora and fauna again, this time through negative examples, pizza-trees, and a can of worms.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about fictional ecologies.

How do you take a good character and make them evil? And why would you want to do this? Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard answer that second question first, and then walk you through the process of doing this.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk endings, and how to troubleshoot common problems writers have with them.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about using character foils in building a story.

Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman from the Interstitial Arts Foundation join Mary Robinette Kowal and Dan Wells to talk about the gaps between genres.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard brainstorm some fantasy setting elements for you. Need a magic system on the cheap? How about a political power structure?

Howard brings NaNoWriMo home with a final pep-talk for you. Short version: you're still out of excuses. Don't stop writing.

Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard talk about plotting a good mystery, especially as part of a non-mystery-genre book.

This your third week of NaNoWriMo, and Dan's here to tell you your wordcount should be at around 38,000. He also tells us how NaNoWriMo helped him write faster and keep to a schedule, and that you (yes YOU) are awesome.

Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary talk about making characters do dumb things for smart reasons.

Mary Robinette Kowal offers encouragement to the 2011 NaNoWriMo crowd.

Andrew P. Mayer joins Howard, Mary, and Dan to talk about taking silly ideas and making seriously awesome stuff out of them.

Brandon Sanderson offers a quick pep-talk for NaNoWriMo participants.

Jonathan Maberry joins Howard, Dan, and Mary to discuss pigeonholes -- specifically, not ending up in one.