19.01: Interview with Abraham Verghese

19.01: Interview with Abraham Verghese

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler January 7, 2024 Duration: 27:32

In our first episode of 2024, we interviewed author and physician Abraham Verghese, who most recently published "The Covenant of Water." We talked with Verghese about how to convey technical information in fiction.


Verghese explains how he shares medical and world-building details in the most engaging way. We also asked Verghese how to make things feel real without overwhelming your reader, and how he has mastered conveying the passing of time. We also discussed verisimilitude, translation, point of view, and revision (we love revision!).

Homework

From Abraham Verghese: Write a landscape in three different moods. Imagine that someone dear to you has died and you are now gazing at the landscape. Describe it without any reference to this event in your life. The second time you write it as if you were experiencing a moment of great joy, and you're looking at that landscape. The third time, imagine you are in a terrible rage and you are describing this landscape. This allows you to explore how descriptions of the physical world can reflect the various moods of characters.

Thing of the Week: 

"How To Draw A Novel" by Martín Solares (recommended by Abraham Verghese)


Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. Our guest was Abraham Verghese. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Join Our Writing Community! 

Patreon

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Twitter

Sign up for our newsletter: 

https://writingexcuses.com




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
13.27: Characters as Foils [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:53
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Amal, and Maurice A foil is a character who serves as a contrast to another character. The foil might be a sidekick, an antagonist, a romantic interest, or really any other character who gets e…
13.26: Character Relationships [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:24
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard Our characters become far more interesting when they begin interacting with each other. These interactions—these relationships—are often how our stories get told. In this episod…
13.25: Our Journey With Character [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:26
Your Hosts: Brandon, Valynne, Dan, and Howard Brandon wanted to ask us how our perspectives on character have changed since the very beginning of our writing. It's a difficult question to answer, and a very soulful sort…
13.23: Internal Conflicts [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:46
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Amal, and Maurice Internal conflicts, simply put, are problems your characters have with themselves. In this episode we address the ways in which writers can build stories and subplots around i…
13.22: Character Arcs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:10
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard When Mary says we could do fifteen different episodes on character arcs, she's being conservative. Notwithstanding, we set out to talk meaningfully about character arcs in one e…
13.21: Q&A on Character Depth and Motivation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:08
Your Hosts: Brandon, Valynne, Dan, and Howard Our listeners submitted some great questions! * How do you fairly and even-handedly write a deeply compelling character you deeply dislike? * What's the best way to discuss a…
13.20: Fear and Writing, with Emma Newman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:42
Your Hosts: Dan, Mary, Aliette, and Howard, with special guest Emma Newman Emma Newman, author, audio book narrator, and podcaster, joined us on the Baltic sea for WXR 2017, where, six days after a brilliant presentation…
13.19: Backstories [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:33
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Amal, and Maurice Character backstories: these are the tales that describe how the characters in your story became who they are by the time they arrive in the book. How much backstory needs to…
13.18: Naturally Revealing Character Motivation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:02
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard What motivates us? What really motivates us? Why? (Note: our motivations are probably not in service of some overarching plot.) How can we use this information to believably mot…