Writing Excuses22 Okt 2023

18.43: Worldbuilding in Miniature

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 short story (and how). We provide some guiding questions that you can use to build the world of your novel or short story. We explore different narrative structures, DND worlds without police, and the reader's experience.

Homework:

Take a big world-building concept and pick one or two iconic elements that bring it to life. Take one and make it a key part of a short scene.

Get ready for NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month! For the month of 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 novel or big project.

You don't need to write a whole book, though! We encourage you to work on a smaller project, or simply commit to writing every day.

Thing of the Week:

The Quiet Year (a map-drawing tabletop role-playing game)

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Join Our Writing Community!

https://writingexcuses.com

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

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(995)

21.26: Setting the Pace

Our hosts explore the many tools writers can use to control pacing. We discuss how cadence, transitions, tone, sentence structure, and white space can all speed up or slow down a reader’s experience. ...

28 Jun 24min

21.25: Follow the Bouncing Ball

In this episode, our hosts explore how writers control their readers’ attention with the metaphor of a bouncing ball. We break down techniques for guiding focus on the page, including POV choice, sele...

21 Jun 25min

21.24: Deconstructing the Seven Point Plot Structure

Dan Wells joins our conversation as we break down the seven-point plot structure! Using examples from Star Wars, Toy Story, and other films, we discuss how each point creates conflict, drives characte...

14 Jun 35min

21.23: Barrier Breaking: Interruptions

In this episode, our hosts explore one of the most persistent barriers to writing: interruptions. From family members and pets to emails, meetings, fatigue, and neurodivergence, they discuss how disru...

7 Jun 29min

21.22: The Order of the Telling

*Time-Sensitive* Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here! This week, we are talking about the order in which we present information to the reader as contra...

31 Mai 27min

21.21: Rhythm and Words

*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 o...

24 Mai 23min

21.20: Sequencing from Mega to Micro

Today, we explore why writers place information in the order they do. From broad-to-narrow framing and cause-and-effect to repetition, rhythm, and surprise, we discuss how sequencing shapes the pacing...

17 Mai 33min

21.19: Getting Everything Connected

Today, our hosts discuss how to make every part of your story feel connected through causal chains, thematic resonance, and reader pattern recognition. We take the idea that each action in a story sho...

10 Mai 24min