20.49: Using Tone and Mood

20.49: Using Tone and Mood

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler December 7, 2025 Duration: 25:54
Writing Excuses
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This week, Mary Robinette pulls back the curtain on some of fiction’s sneakiest power tools: tone and mood. Drawing from a recent craft class she taught for her Patreon, Mary Robinette breaks down how these elements shape a reader’s emotional experience—and why they deserve as much attention as plot or structure. DongWon, Erin, and Howard jump in to poke at the definitions, debate where tone and mood collide, and explore how contrast, character reactions, and even sentence rhythm can totally change a scene. Expect examples ranging from Wizard of Oz to Mike Flanagan as we dig into practical ways to use tone and mood to supercharge your storytelling. Homework: Take a five-part mystery structure (crime → investigation → twist → breakthrough → conclusion) and write a story that uses that structure but is not obviously a mystery. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Last Annual Cruise The final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September 2026—don’t miss your chance to be part of it. Learn more and sign up here. *Scholarship applications for our cruise are open now until December 31st, 2025. You can learn more and apply here. Call for Writing Breakthroughs Have you had a breakthrough in your writing because of Writing Excuses? If so, we want to hear about it. Fill out this Writing Breakthroughs Google Form for a chance to be featured in a WX Newsletter! Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Erin Roberts, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, 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

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12.10: Developing Your Own, Personal Style [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:14
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard We're not talking about character voice here. We're talking about your voice as a writer, your authorial style, and the aesthetics you employ, and how this is an expression uniq…
12.9: Q&A on Viewpoint [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:04
Your Hosts: Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard You had questions about viewpoint. Here they are! * Do you have tips and tricks for making 3rd-person omniscient compelling? * How do you make 3rd-person limited compelling? *…
12.8 Short Stories as Exploration, with Tananarive Due [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:27
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard Tananrive Due, whose short-fiction expertise is exemplified in her collection, Ghost Summer, joined us on the Oasis of the Seas to talk about how to use short stories to explore…
12.7: Description Through the Third Person Lens [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:29
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley The third-person POV lens can be used for simultaneously describing the world to the reader and describing the character. In this episode we'll talk about where we deploy…
12.6: Variations on Third Person [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:15
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard This episode focuses on the third person POV, and some variations on them, like omniscient and limited, and some sub-variants like cinematic and head-hopping. Credits: This epis…
12.5: Literary Fiction [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:20
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley This week we talk about the genre of Literary Fiction. Our first hurdle is the word "literary" whose use in this context can imply that all other genres are somehow not li…
12.4: Hybrid Viewpoints [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:12
Your Hosts: Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard, with Sandra Tayler Piper J. Drake joins the cast for our week-four episodes, of which this is the first. This week we'll be drilling down into hybrid viewpoints—blending 1st a…
12.3: Project in Depth, “Risk Assessment,” by Sandra Tayler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:45
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard, with Sandra Tayler This Project in Depth episode contains spoilers for "Risk Assessment," which is included in Force Multiplication: Schlock Mercenary Book 12. The story was wr…
12.2: How to Nail Character Voice in First Person [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:29
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley This week we talk about character voice, and how to get it right in First Person. This POV is a strong tool for developing memorable characters. We cover sentence structur…

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