14.46: Unusual Resources

14.46: Unusual Resources

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler November 18, 2019 Duration: 19:18
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Margaret, and Howard

Among science fiction and fantasy plot devices, the "uncommon resource" trope is common enough to almost seem cliché. Fortunately (?), the economic principle of scarcity is ubiquitous enough in real life that most of us don't even blink when presented with the idea in fiction.

So how do we keep it fresh? How do we roll scarcities into the economies we create, and the worlds we build?

Credits: This episode was recorded by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It’s a common piece of advice: if you want to be a writer, you should write. But what happens when you’re staring at the blank page, or when the business side of publishing feels like a maze? That’s where Writing Excuses comes in. Each week, hosts Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler gather not just to talk about writing, but to dissect it. They move quickly, respecting your time while packing episodes with actionable discussions on technique, from character voice to plot structure. But this podcast understands that a writing life isn’t just about craft-it’s also a career. So conversations naturally pivot to the practicalities of the business, navigating careers, and sustaining creativity in a demanding field. You’ll hear five distinct professional perspectives blending into a single, focused conversation designed to get you past excuses and back to your work. It’s like a regular, invigorating workshop session delivered directly to you, meant to equip you with tools for both your manuscript and your professional path.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 500

Writing Excuses
Podcast Episodes
18.52: Writing Inside The Box [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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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 tel…
18.51: So You Wanna Play With Format? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:47
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18.50: The Unreliable Narrator [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:40
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. Hom…
18.49: Giving Your Story A Voice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:09
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18.48: NaNoWriMo Week 5 - Writing Endings [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:09
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18.47: NaNoWriMo Week 4 - Climaxes, or OH MY GOD NO [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:22
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18.46: NaNoWriMo Week 3 - Raising the Stakes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:54
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 th…
18.45: NaNoWriMo Week 2 - Inciting Incident [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:28
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 t…
18.44: NaNoWriMo Week 1- Getting Started [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:19
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…
18.43: Worldbuilding in Miniature [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:07
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 sh…