20.21: The Lens of Context

20.21: The Lens of Context

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler May 25, 2025 Duration: 21:15
This week, we’re digging into context—what it is, why it matters, and how it can totally transform your storytelling. Whether you're working in fantasy, sci-fi, or anything in between, the details you choose to include (or leave out) can make your world feel rich, real, and emotionally resonant. We talk about using context to deepen conflict, sharpen stakes, and land those emotional beats. And yes, we also get into puppets, geology, and the perils of overbuilding your world. (Spoiler: nobody needs to know how many toes your goblins have. . . unless it really matters.) Homework: Take a context, some piece of world building that you've done, and come up with three different narratives that you could write that use that context. Then separately, make a narrative that you have written and come up with three new contexts in which that narrative would succeed. Show Notes: Learn more about how Campfire can help you outline your novel, organize your world building, and publish your story! P.S. Want to come write with us in 2025?! Our retreat registration is open, and we are starting to fill up! We are going to unlock our creative processes in Minnesota and explore Story Refinement as we cruise down the Mexican Riviera! Learn more here. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Erin Roberts, and DongWon Song. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson. Join Our Writing Community! Writing Retreats Newsletter Patreon Instagram Threads Bluesky TikTok YouTube Facebook 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
12.20: Retrofitting Structure into a First Draft [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:25
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley We're speaking again, at least in part, to discovery writers. In this case, we're talking about how to take a non-outlined work and apply a structure to it in revisions. C…
12.19: Structure on the Fly [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:31
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard This episode is for you discovery writers, especially those of you for whom our current season of structure seems to be locking you down, or pointing up methods which you just d…
12.18: Gendered Dialect, with J.R. Johansson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:03
Your Hosts: Howard, Mary, and Dan, with guest-host Susan Chang, and special guest J.R. Johannsen J.R. Johannson joined Howard, Mary, Dan, and guest-host Susan Chang at LTUE 2017 for a discussion of gendered dialect. We l…
12.17: Q&A on Style, Diction, and Paragraphing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:13
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]

Duration: 19:59
Brian Keene joined Dan and Howard at the World Horror Convention to talk about writing crime fiction, including how he goes about getting readers to feel the things he wants them to feel to drive the story forward. Liner…
12.15: Pacing With Chapters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:26
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley What makes a chapter? WHY is a chapter? How do we chapter, and do we always chapter the same way? Should our chapters be this many parts of speech? This episode will answe…
12.14: Controlling Pacing with Structure [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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]

Duration: 22:35
Your Hosts: Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard The rising, golden sun crested the snowcapped eastern mountains, its first morning rays pouring like molten lemon through the window to glisten and gleam from the chrome grille…
12.12: Words as Words, with Linda Addison [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:09
Your Hosts: Howard and Dan, with Special Guest Linda Addison Linda Addison joined us at the World Horror Convention in 2016 for a discussion of the shapes and sounds of words as seen from the perspective of the poet, and…
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…