Writing Excuses

What do you do when "take a break" isn't the answer? We’ve all ahd that feeling, "I’m just too tired to concentrate." This can be because you're worn out from work, or due to chronic fatigue or pain. This week, our hosts talk about working with the brain and body you actually have instead of expecting every writing day to look the same. We explore queuing up tasks for our t...

What if a character arc had a structure you could actually map? This week, our hosts break down the DREAM arc: denial, resistance, exploration, acceptance, and manifestation. We look at how characters move through these stages—and why stopping at acceptance can make an arc feel incomplete. From Casablanca and Avatar: The Last Airbender to Parasite and Kylo Ren, we explore how the structure can cre...

Your life is probably weirder—and more useful to your writing—than you think. This week, our hosts explore how to turn lived experience into fiction, from borrowing sensory details and emotional reactions to reshaping real people and events. We dive into the feelings wheel, specificity, and the layers of belief, feeling, thought, and action that can make characters feel human. Plus, how journaling...

Today, we’re celebrating Erin’s birthday by talking about a topic of her choice. Which means we’re flipping “tools, not rules” its head. Our hosts revisit the Turkey City Lexicon, a snarky collection of writing “rules” that circulated widely among speculative fiction writers in 1988, and ask what still holds up—and what happens when useful terminology turns into rigid prescription. From “show, don...

How do you keep writing when the world is on fire? This week, our hosts talk about protecting our narrative energy when the news, social media, or our own lives feel overwhelming. We explore boundaries, boredom, intentional information consumption, and why sometimes the most useful thing a writer can do is log off. We also look at how writing can become a place to process what’s happening around u...

A great twist shouldn’t just surprise us—it should make us rethink everything that came before. This week, our hosts explore reader expectations, misdirection, and hiding clues in plain sight. We look at twists from The Sixth Sense , The Matrix , Ocean’s Eleven , and O. Henry, and ask why some twists make a story even better on a reread.  Homework : If your work in progress has a twist, write out...

This week, our hosts explore kishōtenketsu, an Asian story structure that appears under different names in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Unlike the Western three-act structure, it isn’t built around conflict. Instead, it moves through four stages: introduction, development, twist, and conclusion. We dig into how stories like Parasite and The Tatami Galaxy create tension through discovery, cont...

How close is your reader to the story? Should they be closer? Today, our hosts get nerdy about narrative distance: the space between reader, narrator, character, and world. We talk POV, sensory detail, and familiarity—and how each can zoom a reader in or pull them back. From The Lord of the Rings to Severance , we look at what changes when we experience one person’s pain up close versus an entire...

A story doesn’t always need the same tools from beginning to end. In this episode, we talk about recognizing when it’s time to shift gears—and how to make those changes feel intentional rather than abrupt. Our hosts look at transitions between action, dialogue, and tone, while exploring ways to signal those shifts to the reader. We also discuss how to use your own writing environment to help you c...

There never seems to be enough time to write—but is time really the problem? Our hosts explore the reality of working within limited hours, changing life circumstances, and competing priorities. We share practical strategies like time blocking, micro writing sessions, and the Pomodoro Technique that do and don’t work for us. We hope this conversation helps you build systems that support your writi...

Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder was published in 2005 and is widely popular because it offers a reliable, repeatable storytelling framework. Today we are joined by guest Margaret Dunlap as we attempt to answer: why Save the Cat is such an influential story structure and why so many writers have strong opinions about it. Our hosts break down Blake S...

A lot of times people want to know what the "ideal length" is for a chapter. But chapters can range from one sentence, to a single scene, all the way up to Terry Pratchett who doesn't use chapters at all. Our hosts explore chapters as a pacing tool rather than a fixed unit of length, discussing how chapter breaks shape reader momentum, create natural pauses, and influence the experienc...

What makes a scene feel like a scene ? This week, we unpack one of storytelling's most basic building blocks. Our hosts explore where scenes begin and end, how they differ from beats, and why framing and narrative purpose matter more than rigid definitions. We also explore practical prompts for troubleshooting scenes that aren't working and discuss how structure and instinct can work toget...

How do you move readers from one scene to the next without losing momentum? Our hosts dig into different types of transitions—from scene breaks and interruptions to brief “through scenes” that bridge time and space. Along the way, we compare prose techniques to music, film editing, and game design, exploring how transitions can carry emotion, maintain tension, and signal intention. We also discuss...

How can exposition be used as a pacing tool, and not just a way to convey information? We attempt to answer this question on today’s episode! Our hosts discuss how exposition naturally slows a story down, creating space for readers to process events, build tension, and deepen their understanding of the world. We give specific examples for successful exposition (i.e. that won’t bore your reader). W...

Our hosts explore the many tools writers can use to control pacing. We discuss how cadence, transitions, tone, sentence structure, and white space can all speed up or slow down a reader’s experience. And remember, fast is not inherently better than slow! This conversation highlights the importance of contrast—pairing fast and slow moments, tension and calm, or different emotional states—to make pa...

In this episode, our hosts explore how writers control their readers’ attention with the metaphor of a bouncing ball. We break down techniques for guiding focus on the page, including POV choice, selective description, rhythm, and where details appear within sentences and paragraphs. The discussion highlights how structure often matters more than individual word choice, with emphasis on primacy/re...

Dan Wells joins our conversation as we break down the seven-point plot structure! Using examples from Star Wars , Toy Story , and other films, we discuss how each point creates conflict, drives character growth, and moves a story forward. We explore the difference between plot points that move characters toward their goals and pinch points that place obstacles in their way. We also examine how the...

In this episode, our hosts explore one of the most persistent barriers to writing: interruptions. From family members and pets to emails, meetings, fatigue, and neurodivergence, they discuss how disruptions can derail creative focus—and how writers can build systems to work with them instead of against them. The conversation touches on hyperfocus, ADHD, task-switching, and the emotional cost of be...

*Time-Sensitive* Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here ! This week, we are talking about the order in which we present information to the reader as contrasted with the order in which events actually progressed in the universe of this story and why those things might be completely different. We are joined by Margaret Dunlap as we explore nonlinear timeli...

*Time-Sensitive* Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here ! Today, we’re continuing the conversation on sequencing by focusing on rhythm—how the musicality of language shapes pacing, emphasis, and emotional impact. Our hosts explore how sentence length, stress patterns, sound, negative space, repetition, and even page layout influence the way readers move...

Today, we explore why writers place information in the order they do. From broad-to-narrow framing and cause-and-effect to repetition, rhythm, and surprise, we discuss how sequencing shapes the pacing, emotion, and clarity of your story. We discuss everything from “windowpane prose” and garden path sentences to recency-primacy effects and the ways readers naturally recognize patterns. Along the wa...

Today, our hosts discuss how to make every part of your story feel connected through causal chains, thematic resonance, and reader pattern recognition. We take the idea that each action in a story should lead naturally to the next and pair it with how readers instinctively search for meaning and connection (even in randomness). Along the way, our hosts discuss concepts like Edgar Allan Poe’s “unit...

Today, we are joined by Margaret Dunlap as we dive into the three-act structure. This traditional framework—setup, confrontation, and resolution—is a tool to use rather than a formula to follow. We break down each act, exploring the defining questions, try/fail cycles, and emotional shifts that shape a story. We also highlight the importance of identifying your central dramatic question while exam...

Today we zoom out from moment-to-moment tension and look at how escalation and de-escalation shape a story at the structural level—how raising stakes, lowering pressure, and shifting focus can control pacing, reader emotion, and narrative momentum. Our hosts explore what happens when stakes escalate too quickly (and lose meaning), and how de-escalation can be used intentionally through humor, dist...