21.21: Rhythm and Words

21.21: Rhythm and Words

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler May 24, 2026 Duration: 23:34
*Time-Sensitive* Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here! Today, we’re continuing the conversation on sequencing by focusing on rhythm—how the musicality of language shapes pacing, emphasis, and emotional impact. Our hosts explore how sentence length, stress patterns, sound, negative space, repetition, and even page layout influence the way readers move through a story. They discuss poetic meter (iambs, trochees, spondees), examples from Shakespeare, hip-hop, comics, and modernist literature. They posit that rhythm is not just for poetry: it’s a powerful storytelling tool that can create emotion, draw attention, and increase readability. Homework: Choose a piece of music you love and pay close attention to its rhythm: where does it speed up or slow down? What gets emphasized, and how does the pattern shape emotion? Then take a piece of your own writing and experiment with using that same rhythmic structure in a descriptive passage to see how it changes the feel and movement of the prose. 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
14.31: Cultural Setting as Conflict [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:19
Your Hosts: Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mahtab In this episode we talk about how to put characters in conflict with their setting, and how to structure our work so that these conflicts arise organically rather than feeling…
14.30:  Eating Your Way to Better Worldbuilding [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:23
Your Hosts: Piper, DongWon, Amal, and Maurice We like food, and we like to talk about food. Our hosts this week talk about how this influences their fiction, (not to mention how incredibly complex [and interesting, and d…
14.29: Field Research [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:13
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Margaret, and Howard So, you're going to go someplace and learn something you can't learn in any other way. Maybe it's location research for setting. Maybe you're off to interview an…
14.28: Warfare and Weaponry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:43
Your Hosts: Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mahtab How do you write about warfare in your stories when you've never fought in a war? How do you describe brilliant tactics when you're completely untrained in military movements?…
14.27: Natural Setting as Conflict [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:14
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard In this episode we stories with the "Person-vs-Setting" structure. These are stories where nature fills the role of antagonist, and may also be what governs the pacing…
14.26: Lessons from Aristotle, with Rob Kimbro [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:04
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, and Dan, with special guest Rob Kimbro Rob Kimbro joins us this week to talk about Aristotle's elements of tragedy, and how they might be applied to our writing. The six elements are…
14.25: Choosing Your Agent [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:07
Your Hosts: Howard, Mary Robinette, Dan, and DongWon Guest-host Dongwon Song joined us at WXR 2018 as an instructor, and gave great advice regarding the business side of working as an author. In this episode he takes us…
14.24: Political Intrigue [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:07
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Margaret, and Howard Political Intrigue stories are less about "politics" (as colloquially defined by pop culture) and more about mysteries. Per Mary Robinette, they're often like hei…
14.23: Governments Large and Small [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:55
Your Hosts: Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mahtab What kinds of governmental systems do you live within? What kinds do you implement? Answering these questions can help you with the worldbuilding of political power structures…
14.22: Characters out of Their Depth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:51
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard Sherlock Holmes has his Watson for a reason. Readers need a character to whom some things must be explained. In this episode we talk about how we create these gateway…