20.38: An Interview with Charlie Jane Anders

20.38: An Interview with Charlie Jane Anders

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler September 21, 2025 Duration: 35:03
We had the absolute joy of sitting down with Charlie Jane Anders, the author of the book we’ve focused on for our last four episodes (All the Birds in the Sky). We talked with Anders about POV, tone, and how she played around with humor —partly by occasionally using an omniscient POV! Anders also explained how to incorporate humor and whimsy, and what it feels like to take risks as an author in today’s literary landscape. Thing of the Week: Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders Homework from Charlie Jane Anders: Take a scene you’ve already written and add five or six narrative asides that are providing information that the characters in the scene couldn’t possibly know. Ads: If you’re interested in the Whodunit Murder Mystery cruise (which you heard a teaser for at the start of this episode)—you can visit whodunitcruises.com to learn more! The next cruise is February 6th, 2026 and leaves from Los Angeles! For 20% off Scrivener, you can the code “EXCUSES” for at www.literatureandlatte.com. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal and DongWon Song. Our guest was Charlie Jane Anders. 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
18.41: Deep Dive: Erin's Short Fiction Extravaganza [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:11
If you write short stories or enjoy speculative fiction, this episode is for you. Our host Erin Roberts has written short stories, interactive fiction, and has built worlds for tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). For th…
18.39: How To Write An Ending [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:37
Deep Dive: Sergeant In MotionHow 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 spac…
18.38: How Do You Write A Series With Books That Stand Alone? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:20
Deep Dive: A Function of FirepowerHow do you write the middle of a book? How do you write an ending to a story? For this week’s episode about writing, we focus on Book 19 of Schlock Mercenary, the penultimate book in How…
18.37: Mandatory Failure [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:34
We talk with Howard Tayler about the story structure of a story with a BIG disaster in the middle - one which we don't recover from until the next book. We also talk about the weight of world-building, how to write for y…
18.35: How to Organize Your Writing, or Managing the Mega-Arc [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:33
Let’s talk about organization! This week, we’re talking about how and what to keep track of— characters, places, names, etc. How do you organize a book? How do you outline a novel? And don’t worry, we dive into the messy…
18.34: Seventeen Years of Foreshadowing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:47
18.34: 17 Years of ForeshadowingWhat can Normal Gossip teach us about foreshadowing and artful storytelling? Thinking about the 20 books that make up Howard Tayler’s Schlock Mercenary, our hosts discuss foreshadowing—our…
18.33.5:  State Of The Podcast [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:58
Bonus Episode! Our first ever half-numbered episode! We are making some changes here on the podcast, and we wanted to talk to you about them. We hired a producer (Emma Reynolds), we have new interactive offerings on Patr…
18.33: Deep Dive: The Schlock Mercenary Finale [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:43
The first episode in our eight-episode Deep Dive into Howard’s weekly webcomic strip, Schlock Mercenary. We grill Howard on how he taught himself to draw, why he decided to self-publish (hint: his wife, Sandra Tayler, he…