15.08: Q&A on a Ship

15.08: Q&A on a Ship

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler February 24, 2020 Duration: 26:39
Your Hosts: Dan, Mary Robinette, DongWon, and Howard

At WXR 19 we recorded live, and took audience questions aboard the ship. Here they are! (You'll have to listen to the episode for the answers.)

* What have you learned in the past year that has improved your craft?
* When you're having trouble, how do you know if it's "I don't feel like writing" or "there's a problem with the manuscript?"
* How far ahead do you plan your careers?
* How do you tell when a fight/battle/showdown is going on for too long?
* How do you continue to learn and improve on your craft?
* How do you manage and prioritize your time when you're working on multiple projects?
* How do you feel about multiple first-person POVs in a single book?
* What are the most important elements to include on the last page of your book?
* What are some things we can do to strengthen our voice when writing in third person?
* How do you decide who to have as alpha and beta readers?
* In secondary world stories, how do you decide whether to call a horse a horse?
* How much leeway will an editor or agent give a story when it's not ready, but it shows promise?

Liner Notes: "Sometimes Writer's Block is Really Depression"
Credits: This episode was recorded by Bert Grimm, 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
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12.18: Gendered Dialect, with J.R. Johansson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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12.17: Q&A on Style, Diction, and Paragraphing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Your Hosts: Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard We fielded some questions on style, diction, and paragraphing: * Is it okay to have pretty prose in a straightforward adventure story? * How do author voice and character voice…
12.16: Writing Crime Fiction with Brian Keene [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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12.15: Pacing With Chapters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Duration: 20:27
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard Let's talk about the structural tools we use to control pacing. These include sentence length and punctuation. Also, white-space. Liner note: Here is the Feb 12, 2017 Schlock Me…
12.13: Beautiful Prose, Purple Prose [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Duration: 21:09
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12.11: Diction [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:59
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley Let's talk about word choice. And when we say "let's" we mean "we're going to talk to you about it. You don't actually get to talk back." So maybe "let's" wasn't the best…