18.39: How To Write An Ending

18.39: How To Write An Ending

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler September 24, 2023 Duration: 28:37

Deep Dive: Sergeant In Motion

How do you write an ending to a book? How do you finish something you’ve been writing for over 20 years? Howard Tayler talks to us about writing the ending to his serialized webcomic and space opera, Schlock Mercenary. We dive into how to write a resolution, how to finish a book, and how to finish a series. And we dive into the art of leaning into the tropes without leaning ON them.

Homework

Write a one page outline for the ending of your current work in progress. 

Prepare for our next Deep Dive with Host Erin Roberts (starting in two weeks)! Read Erin’s short stories: Wolfy Things, Sour Milk Girls, Snake Season. Note: these books involve some darker themes. All of these short stories are available for free online and also have audio versions available. 

Thing of the Week: 

The Sexy Brutale (an adventure puzzle video game)

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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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
19.39: A Close Reading on Tension: Tying It All Together [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:54
This episode, we’re talking about how important tension is in creating a world where your readers feel fully immersed. We talk about the importance of using tropes and techniques while also using variation in order to ma…
19.38: A Close Reading on Tension: Anticipation and Subversion [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:35
When you’re subverting your readers’ expectations, do you need to do the exact opposite of what they’re anticipating? Today, we dive into this question, using various examples of books and movies. We then examine how P.…
19.37: A Close Reading on Tension: Movement and Resolution [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:27
Today, we’re using music as an entry-point for tension. Howard introduces us to the power of the half-step, and other musical metaphors that can help you to incorporate tension in a new way to your writing. And then Dong…
19.36: A Close Reading on Tension: Narrative vs. Contextual [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:41
Today, we’re talking about the tension that is actually happening on the page, and the contextual tension is what the reader is bringing to the table. Ring Shout lives in a place of contextual tension and we are excited…
19.35: A Close Reading on Tension: An Overview and Why Ring Shout [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:53
Compared to This is How You Lose The Time War, which we read earlier this year, Ring Shout deals with a very real world. This discordance, where authors make their audience uncomfortable by creating things that shouldn’t…
19.34: Grants and Fellowships [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:52
Today we have a wildcard episode for you! We are talking about all the different ways you can sustain your writing career. Our host, Erin Roberts, has done an incredible job of applying for grants, fellowships, and resid…
19.33: Workshops and Retreats [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:55
Today we’re taking a break from our Close Reading Series to discuss writing workshops and retreats! We dive into how to find and prepare to attend a workshop or a retreat and what to think about for organizing your own.…
19.32: An Interview on Character with CL Clark [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:08
We sat down with CL Clark to talk about character—specifically, how they build different POV characters in the compressed space of a short story. We dive into plot processing (a tool CL Clark has learned from Mary Robine…
19.31: A Close Reading on Character: Tying it All Together [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:04
Today, we’re taking a higher view on the techniques we’ve been talking about over the last four episodes and focusing on how you can use our takeaways in your own writing. We’ll go over our final thoughts on C.L. Clark’s…
19.30: A Close Reading on Character: Agency vs. Choices [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:03
We have a theory that we want to work through on today’s episode: agency is the ability to take action, whereas choices are more about the interior life of the character. We use Mary Robinette’s talking cat, try-fail cyc…