21.16: Tension and Release as Call and Response

21.16: Tension and Release as Call and Response

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler April 19, 2026 Duration: 21:19

Today, we’re talking about tension and release as a kind of call and response, and how that dynamic can guide your reader through a story. It explores how different types of tension—conflict, unanswered questions, anticipation, and microtension—can be balanced with moments of release to shape pacing and keep readers engaged. The conversation also looks at how resolving one kind of tension while sustaining another creates forward momentum, and how varying those patterns prevents a story from feeling flat or repetitive. Along the way, it examines how genres like horror and humor use this rhythm especially well, and how techniques like contrast, modulation, and layering multiple plotlines can sharpen emotional impact and control the reader’s experience.

Homework:

Look at a scene you’ve already written and identify what creates tension within it. If nothing stands out, add a source of tension—such as a question, juxtaposition, or anticipation. If tension is already present, try changing or swapping it for a different type and observe how that affects the scene.

Final WXR Cruise! 

Our final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September 2026—get your tickets here!


Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, 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
18.51: So You Wanna Play With Format? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:47
Are you interested in experimenting with different writing forms? Do you want to try an unusual or different way of writing? Well this week, we have an episode dedicated to non-traditional formats for writing. In this ep…
18.50: The Unreliable Narrator [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:40
All unreliable narrators aren't unreliable in the same way. How do they differ and how does that change the way that we write them? Erin shares her unified theory (look at the graphic below!) of unreliable narrators. Hom…
18.49: Giving Your Story A Voice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:09
What does it mean if your writing is voice-y? How do you give your character a natural voice? We approach this question from the high-level perspective of craft, and the granular level of word choice and sentence structu…
18.48: NaNoWriMo Week 5 - Writing Endings [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:09
Welcome to the last week of National Novel Writing Month! It’s okay if you aren’t going to finish your book, and it’s also okay if you don’t have 50,000 words! You still did a thing—you created a story that didn’t exist…
18.47: NaNoWriMo Week 4 - Climaxes, or OH MY GOD NO [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:22
It’s week four of NaNoWriMo! Or, National Novel Writing Month, which happens every year for the month of November. This week, we are talking about how to write climaxes, how to write resolutions, and what exactly the thr…
18.46: NaNoWriMo Week 3 - Raising the Stakes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:54
We are now three weeks into NaNoWriMo—where writers are attempting to write a novel in the month of November. For this episode, our writers talk about how to raise the stakes in your story. To make something feel more th…
18.45: NaNoWriMo Week 2 - Inciting Incident [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:28
Welcome to the first official week of National Novel Writing Month (or, almost the end of this week)! In this episode, we dive into how to write an inciting incident. What is an inciting incident? It is often the thing t…
18.44: NaNoWriMo Week 1- Getting Started [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:19
Welcome to National Novel Writing Month! For November, writers all over the world are trying to complete a novel, or write 50,000 words. In honor of NaNoWriMo, all of our November episodes are going to focus on writing a…
18.43: Worldbuilding in Miniature [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:07
If you're writing short fiction, how much of your world do you even need to figure out? Should you have it all written out? Can you just wing it? This week on the podcast, we discuss how much of a world to build for a sh…
18.42: Creating Magic Outside of a System [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:55
How do you write about magic? How do you build a world with magic and spells and potions? We dive into the rules and laws behind magical worlds. We often think of magic as being with a system, but what if it's not? What…