20.25: Writing Confrontation (LIVE Aboard the WX Cruise)

20.25: Writing Confrontation (LIVE Aboard the WX Cruise)

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler June 22, 2025 Duration: 21:13

Our hosts explore how to write compelling confrontations—whether physical fights or emotional arguments—in a live episode recorded on the Writing Excuses Cruise. Building off Dan Wells' class Why Your Fight Scene Is Boring, our hosts break down reactions into four elements: focus, physicality, thought, and action. The discussion dives into how newness, character history, and anticipation shape these moments, and how effective confrontations reveal both character and motivation. Plus: sword fighting, puppetry, and driving on black ice. 

Thing of the Week: Death and Other Details (on Hulu)

Homework: Watch an action scene in a movie—something that you really like. Then, to underline how different books are as a medium, transcribe it— blow for blow, step for step, and see how long you can get into that before you tear your own hair out because it becomes incredibly boring. Then, after you've proven that the blocking and the blow-by-blow doesn't work, rewrite that scene in a way that does, in a way that translates to and uses the medium of prose.  

P.S. Our 2025 writing retreat (on a cruise! In Mexico!) is over 50% sold out! Learn more and sign up here

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, 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: 100

Writing Excuses
Podcast Episodes
20.17: An Interview with Christopher Schwarz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:47
This season, we’ve been exploring different approaches to writing through the lens of other crafts and their respective toolkits. We had the pleasure of speaking with furniture-maker, writer, and publisher Christopher Sc…
20.16: Second Person [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:43
People often think of first person POV as the most intimate voice. But in a way, we think second person might be more intimate. With second person, you’re forcing the reader’s subjectivity into the fiction itself. You ar…
20.15: Third Person Omniscient [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:28
With today’s episode, we are continuing our discussion on proximity by focusing on another POV: third person omniscient. In omniscient POV, the narrator can see all and move into any character's head. It's sometimes seen…
20.14: Third Person Limited [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:35
Third person limited is one of the most popular storytelling lenses. Yet it is often understood differently by various authors and readers. So today we’re diving into the complexities, intricacies, and beautiful constrai…
20.13: First Person [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:22
We’re now going to have a few episodes focusing on the lens of proximity—specifically, how close you are to a character. Today, we’re talking about first person. First person seems like it would be one of the most natura…
20.12: Fashion as a Writing Metaphor [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:02
Today, we’re returning to different personal metaphors for how we all think about writing and storytelling. In this episode, we’re talking about how DongWon uses fashion as a helpful metaphor to think about storytelling.…
20.10: Interview with Chuck Tingle: Breaking the Rules [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:52
Today we have the pleasure of talking with author (and longtime listener!) Chuck Tingle. We invited him on the podcast to talk about breaking the rules—both in terms of how to publish and what to publish. Chuck told us a…
20.09: The Reaction of Who?! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:30
What do emotional beats and action scenes have in common? Well, they both need to land with your audience in order for your story not to fall flat. On today’s episode, we’re talking about the importance of reaction. Ever…
20.08: Character Stakes and Fears [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:36
This week, we’re continuing our conversation about the lens of who. On last week’s episode we talked about a character’s motivation and goals. Now, we’re starting to think about tension in the form of a character’s stake…