21.07: Deep Dive- “With Her Serpent Locks”

To celebrate Mary Robinette’s birthday today (!!), she is taking us inside the craft (and emotional engine) of her short story “With Her Serpent Locks,” using it as a case study in beginnings, control, and creative “leveling up.” Our hosts dig into grounding the reader through myth, pattern, and delayed information, and how a familiar framework can make readers feel both clever and cared for. The conversation unpacks how intentional choices—like withholding names, structuring scenes around question words, and planting details early—create trust and momentum. Along the way, we talk honestly about what it feels like when craft skills become internalized and a story finally clicks into ease. Homework: Take a strong emotion you’ve felt recently and describe it as a metaphor. Then use that metaphor as a writing prompt. 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 Marshall Carr, Erin Roberts, DongWon Song, and Mary Robinette Kowal. 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 MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/excuses for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com * Check out Tin Can and use my code tincan.com/WX for a great deal: https://tincan.kids Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(1014)

21.45: Mirror, Mirror on the Plot

People respond really well to symmetry in stories. This can range from having an object from the beginning reappear at the end to having the entire plot mirrored. But why does symmetry work so well, a...

8 Marras 26min

21.44: Why Are You Stopping? You’re Almost There!

Very often, writers get to the two-third or three-quarter mark of work and get stuck, sometimes abandoning it to move on to something shinier. Why does this happen? Well, it’'s a place at which we mov...

1 Marras 24min

21.43: The Not-Final Word on Endings

Today we're focusing on the mechanics of writing endings: what needs to be resolved, what can be left dangling, and how to give your reader a sense of what has changed. We talk about symmetry between ...

25 Loka 28min

21.42: Deconstructing the Heroine’s Journey

Psychotherapist Maureen Murdock invented the Heroine's Journey in response to Joseph Campbell's monomyth Hero's Journey. He reportedly said, "Women don’t need to make the journey, they are the place t...

18 Loka 23min

21.41: Barrier Breaking- Physical Fatigue

What do you do when "take a break" isn't the answer? We’ve all ahd that feeling, "I’m just too tired to concentrate." This can be because you're worn out from work, or due to chronic fatigue or pain. ...

11 Loka 24min

21.40: The DREAM of a Structured Character Arc

What if a character arc had a structure you could actually map? This week, our hosts break down the DREAM arc: denial, resistance, exploration, acceptance, and manifestation. We look at how characters...

4 Loka 20min

21.39: Write What You Feel

Your life is probably weirder—and more useful to your writing—than you think. This week, our hosts explore how to turn lived experience into fiction, from borrowing sensory details and emotional react...

27 Syys 26min

21.38: Rules, Tools, and History’s Fools

“Tools, not rules” gets flipped on its head this week. Our hosts revisit the Turkey City Lexicon, a snarky collection of writing “rules” that circulated widely among speculative fiction writers in 198...

20 Syys 23min