Writing Excuses

Brandon, Dan, and Howard discuss avoiding unnecessary offense as writers. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Sup...

Brandon, Dan, and Howard critique some tagless dialog submissions. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Support th...

Late last season we took a look at Brandon's first novel and did some line-editing and critiquing. It was so much fun we decided that Dan needed to take a turn in the dunking booth. He totally gets wet. In the course of dunking Dan we cover beginnings, descriptions, character development, pacing, and viewpoint as we tear into the first couple of pages of this novel. Brandon and Howard argue a...

Brandon, Dan, and Howard each offer sage advice to their earlier selves. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Supp...

Scott Westerfeld joins Brandon and Howard for a discussion of Steampunk. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Supp...

Scott Westerfeld joins Brandon and Howard for a discussion of the visual components of novels. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://...

John Brown joins Brandon, Dan, and Howard for a discussion of second novels, sequels, and the trick to doing it again. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX fo...

We sta ... ...ising but inev... ... pendently wealthy, tha... [NO CARRIER] Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Su...

Brandon, Dan, and Howard field questions about doing bad things to characters, soliciting feedback, creature design, and outlining. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkia...

The now cancer-free John Brown joins us again, this time for a discussion of the creative process. John has presented a seminar on this subject in the past, the focus of which is to teach people to unlock their creativity. At the core of this is the problem-solving we all engage in at some point. You have a problem, so you sit down and try to solve it. BAM. Creativity. With John's help we set...

This bonus episode is what happens when there are two things we want to plug, and we decide to try and blend them in a single PSA. Here's the Amazon link for the paperback release of John Brown's first novel, Servant of a Dark God. There is no Amazon link for going out and voting, but what if there were? There. There's your writing prompt: "Election services offered online via an A...

John Brown joins us this week for a discussion of plot threads specific to characters. These can be the main plot thread, interesting sub-plots, or just things that shape characters. Sometimes they're things we do deliberately, and sometimes we discovery-write our way into these arcs. We talk about how we do this, and how we know when it is (and isn't!) working well. We ran a little long,...

What are the excuses you make when you're not writing? Brandon, Dan, and Howard examine these, and offer advice for getting the writing done anyway. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry a...

Melodrama. What is it? What do people mean when they say something is too melodramatic? Usually they do NOT mean "it's too much like a classical melodrama," but it helps if we start with that definition: a melodrama is a story in which each character only expresses one emotion, and/or only has one trait. When we refer to melodrama, we're usually complaining about over-acting. So......

Brandon, Dan, and Howard discuss Flash Fiction in less time than it took you to read this excerpt. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: http...

Fast-paced Q&A with Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Suppo...

Brandon, Dan, and Howard discuss "Write what you DON'T know." Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Sup...

Brandon, Dan, and Howard accept their 2010 Parsec Award a bit late, and offer an apology for missing the ceremony. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a...

Suspense! What is it? What isn't it? What is the relationship between suspense and mystery, and for that matter horror, humor, and adventure? This 'cast is chock full of pithy quotes, useful advice, and anecdotal examples. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass...

Bree Despain joins Brandon, Dan, and Howard for a discussion of writing in the 1st-person Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.t...

Special guest Bree Despain of the Dark Divine trilogy joins us for a 'cast on character quirks. A character quirk, avoiding the tautological definition, is something that makes your character memorable. We talk about good quirks, bad quirks, and how to tell the difference. We also laugh a lot because it was late and we were punchy. We also discuss ways in which stereotype-breaking quirks can b...

We've talked about point of view before, but only in general terms: this time we delve into third-person limited in detail, explaining how to use it and when to use it and why. We apologize for the lateness of the post, and the lameness of this episode description: this is what happens when all three of us go to conventions on the same weekend. Expect a cooler update soon. [ONE WEEK LATER] So....

The last of our three recorded-live episodes is also the last episode of Writing Excuses Season 4. We took questions from the audience, and answered them with ABSOLUTE APLOMB. Questions asked include: How did we, as beginning writers, manage to write while holding down day-jobs and/or going to school? What is the process for getting published? How do you portray the various dynamics of an ensemble...

Recorded live at Dragons & Fairy Tales, this episode is for anybody who has a novel or two (or more) sitting in the bottom of their trunk. What are the best ways to re-use old material you've set aside? We talk about rewriting entire novels, repurposing plots or characters, and moving stories from one place to another. Sometimes we do this because an idea is just too good to let sit, but t...

Recorded live at Dragons & Fairy Tales in Eagle Mountain, Utah, this episode features the work of several brave souls who submitted their first paragraphs to us for critique. We are not American Idol -- we're not out to rip these to shreds. We offer constructive criticism, highlight the good we find, and point out where improvements could be employed. Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Desert...