Writing Season 2 Episode 2: How to Write for Children with Brandon Mull

Writing Excuses Episode 6: Flaws vs Handicaps: Is there a difference between the two? How do you use each appropriately in your writing? And how lovable can a group of mercenaries be? by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 8: Sci-Fi Genre: In the first of our series on genres, we discuss why people write Sci-Fi, what you need to know to write Sci-Fi, and how much we all love unicorns. by Writing Excuses

14 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 3: Killing your Darlings: How do you make your novel better? Sometimes you have to cut out the part you like best. Don't believe me? Before I posted this I had attached an image of a chimp wearing a tux. - Brandon's Deleted Scenes - Howard's Original Time-Travel Outline by Writing Excuses

17 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 11: The Business of Writing: So... you're ready for the big-time. You're a writer, and the writing is almost paying the bills. Hurray! - Now, how do you balance your life so that you can make the jump to writing full-time? How do you manage your time? by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 1: Brainstorming: Brandon, Howard and Dan discuss where their ideas come from and Howard tells us a little too much about his love of Pepsi. - wikidPad Home Page by Writing Excuses

17 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 15: Costs and Ramifications of Magic: This week the Writing Excuses team discusses magic again, this time focusing on the cost of magic. Whether or not your magic system has internally-consistent rules your readers can follow (per Sanderson's First Law and last week's 'cast) you need to co... by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 7: Villains: Are flaws necessary for villains? What traits make for a really good (err... evil?) villain? What's the difference between Sauron and Gollum? ("That's the LAST time I send you out shopping for Gollums, son...") - Liner Notes: The Evil Overlord List, by Writing Excuses

14 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 22: Doing The Unpopular: As a writer it's sometimes difficult to decide between doing things the readers want, and things that are right for the story. But as Dan says, writers can get away with doing things to readers that readers would never do to themselves. - Beware! by Writing Excuses

17 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 19: Plot Twists: Michael Stackpole, author and podcaster, joined us at CONduit, and the four of us tackled plot twists in front of a live audience. Whether you write from a solid outline or discover your plot as you go, we've got tricks and tools for you. by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Bonus Episode 1: Remembering Gary Gygax: Brandon, Howard and Dan talk about their first exposure to RPG games, Gary Gygax and the influence he had on them and the industry. by Writing Excuses

7 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 9: Sci-Fi Sub-Genre: This week we continue our discussion on Science Fiction with a discussion of various Sub-genres, why they're different, and what you can do to make sure you know your audience. - Sub-genres covered: Space Opera, Military, Hard SF, and Cyberpunk. - by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 5: Heroes and Protagonists: What makes a good hero? Why is Dirk Pitt so cool? Why do people like Superman? And why does Howard-with-a-chest-cold start to sound like Barry White? Some of these questions are answered in this episode while others are better left unexplained. - by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 9: Romance, with Dave Wolverton: This week (and for the following two weeks) the Writing Excuses crew is joined by author Dave Wolverton, who also writes under the name David Farland. This week's topic? ROMANCE. What can four adult males possibly have to say about the subject? by Writing Excuses

17 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 27: World-Building Religion: The Writing Excuses team sits down to talk about religion as a world-building device: your characters probably believe in something, so what is it? How does it affect their lives? How does it change their thoughts and motivations (and swear words)? by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Bonus Episode 2: Rules of Writing Excuses: If you're new to Writing Excuses, or if you're just curious about some of the terminology we use, let us break it down for you. These are the rules/tricks that we use to keep ourselves on task. by Writing Excuses

3 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 4: Beginnings: The first line of any story is the most important. - People get drawn in to a book because of the first line. - Brandon, Howard and Dan talk about how to start a book and what's important about the first line. by Writing Excuses

15 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 2: Blending the Familiar and the Original: How do you know when your setting of high school kids solve supernatural mysteries becomes cliché? Brandon, Howard and Dan discuss how you create unique concepts by blending familiar topics with something new and original and how to avoid possible pit... by Writing Excuses

15 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 17: This Sucks and I’m a Horrible Writer: The Writing Excuses crew tackles writer's block again, this time approaching the "This Sucks And I'm A Horrible Writer" mindset. Dan relates his Neil Gaiman anecdote, Brandon explains why he'd written so many books before getting published, by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 10: Pacing: Pacing... it's all about keeping the tension up, keeping things snappy, and keeping the reader interested. This week the Writing Excuses crew delivers some tips, tricks, and tools you can use to get your story flowing in all the right ways. - Also, by Writing Excuses

15 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 12: Submitting to Editors Part 1: This week, special guest Stacy Whitman joins us from Mirrorstone books (an imprint of Wizards of the Coast). Stacy works there as an editor, and helps us understand the submission process, including acting like a professional, doing your research, by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 14: Magic Systems and their Rules: Does magic need rules? Sometimes yes and sometimes no; our intrepid podcasters talk about how to know which situation is which, and explore the pros and cons of each method. We'll also yak for a while about the differences between Superman and Gandalf,... by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 16: Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard: Howard kicks this off with his own sure-fire cure for Writers' Block, "BIC HOK:" Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard. The Writing Excuses team takes off from there, discussing the different kinds of Writers' Block, and how to overcome each of them. by Writing Excuses

15 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 13: Submitting to Editors Part 2: In part two of our chat with editor Stacy Whitman, we discuss more about how to interact with editors: how to approach them at cons, how to inquire about work you've already submitted, and how to butter them up by asking about their current projects. by Writing Excuses

15 min listen

Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 12: Theme: For the first time in eleven episodes, we have a "normal" one. No special guests, no special locations, and no new format tricks. This episode grows out of Howard's ignorance - remember back in Episode 10 when Howard called "can of worms" on "theme? by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 21: Humor by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 28: Writing for Webcomics with Phil and Kaja Foglio: This is the first of five episodes recorded on location at WorldCon 66 in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Brandon, Dan, and Howard are joined by Phil and Kaja Foglio, and we discuss writing for webcomics... no, wait... by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 24: Research: How much research do you do? Howard's answer: "Just enough to get by." In this podcast we talk about why we research, how we research, and when we feel like we've researched enough. We also discuss hiding a lack of knowledge, by Writing Excuses

17 min listen

Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 7: Using Writing Formulas with Bob Defendi: Howard, Dan, and guest Bob Defendi open this episode with some high literary humor. Bob fills in for Brandon as we discuss formulas writers use in crafting stories. But how do we prevent those stories from feeling formulaic? by Writing Excuses

17 min listen

Writing Season 2 Episode 2: How to Write for Children with Brandon Mull: Kids these days with their long hair and their love of reading. It's like, get off my lawn, am I right? But in other news, kids (meaning anything from chapter books to mature YA) read a TON, and somebody has to write those books, by Writing Excuses

20 min listen

Writing Excuses Episode 26: Horror: What is horror? Why is it scary? HOW is it scary? Forced by their grandfather's will to spend an entire night in his spooky mansion, our podcasters gather to discuss the nuts and bolts of what horror is (and isn't) and how it works behind the scenes. by Writing Excuses

16 min listen

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Writing Season 2 Episode 2: How to Write for Children with Brandon Mull

Writing Season 2 Episode 2: How to Write for Children with Brandon Mull

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