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
13.36: Confronting the Default [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:19
Your Hosts: Brandon, Amal, Mary, and Maurice If you live in the northern hemisphere, inland, perhaps above the 40th parallel, you are probably quite sure that there are four distinct seasons. There are, however, many, ma…
13.35: Cliché vs. Archetype [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:31
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard Tropes, archetypes, and even cliches are tools in our toolboxes. There's no avoiding them, but there are definitely ways to use them incorrectly. In this episode we'll talk abou…
13.34: Q&A on Character Arcs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:18
Your Hosts: Brandon, Valynne, Dan, and Howard You had questions. We came up with answers. The questions are below: * How do you fulfill promises about character arcs without being cliché? How do you subvert character tro…
13.b1: Bonus Episode — Elephants and Death, with Lawrence Schoen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:11
Your Hosts: Howard and Dan, with special guest Lawrence Schoen Lawrence Schoen, clinical psychologist, cognitive hypnotist, small press publisher, Klingon language expert, and novelist, joined us at GenCon Indy for a bon…
13.33: Reading Outside the Box [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:42
Your Hosts: Dan, Mary, Aliette, and Howard, with Kristie Claxton Kristie Claxton joined us at WXR 2017 to talk about reading outside of the spaces where we're comfortable and familiar. Specifically, we focused on how to…
13.32: How To Handle Weighty Topics [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:02
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Amal, and Maurice How can we, as writers, best handle weighty matters? This is our year on character, so we'll approach this with a focus on character creation, depiction, and dialog? This topi…
13.31: Learning to Listen as a Writer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:47
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard "Write what you know" gets misapplied a lot. In this episode we'll talk about how to know things by listening well. In particular, we're looking at writing interesting character…
13.30: Project in Depth, THE CALCULATING STARS, with Kjell Lindgren [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:25
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, and Dan, with Kjell Lindgren Spoiler Alert! If you haven't yet read The Calculating Stars: A Lady Astronaut Novel, by Mary Robinette Kowal, you may wish to rectify that prior to listening. In t…
13.29: Iconic Heroes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:34
Your Hosts: Brandon, Valynne, Dan, and Howard The term "iconic hero" allows us to differentiate between different kinds of heroes who appear in series. Nancy Drew and Conan the Barbarian are iconic, but Leia Organa and A…
13.28: What Writers Get Wrong, with Wildstyle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:07
At GenCon Indy 2017 we were joined by Wildstyle (@MrWildstyle on Twitter), who wears many hats, and many of the hats he wears are donned in service of producing hip-hop. One of the most interesting revelations (especiall…