Writing Excuses

In this episode Brandon, Mary, and Dan help Howard brainstorm a story for a comic! Howard begins with an uplift-related setting, and a couple of characters, and then the group takes off on a delightf...

11 Mar 201320min

In this episode Howard pitches three story ideas to the group, and they pick one to brainstorm. The selection process is itself educational (which is good, because it runs for a third of the 'cast...)...

4 Mar 201321min

Robison Wells joins us again to talk about personal health, and his brother Dan joins us from the couch where (as of this recording session) he's suffering from the recent removal of a body part. Eeew...

25 Feb 201320min

Double the Wells brothers for double the fun! Robison Wells joins us for a discussion of cliffhangers. Rob and Dan can be found together on another podcast called Do I Dare to Eat a Peach. Rob's firs...

17 Feb 201319min

Retellings are pretty popular right now. Game of Thrones is a retelling the War of the Roses. The Thirteenth Warrior is a retelling of Beowulf, and The Lion King is a retelling of Hamlet. Why do we wr...

11 Feb 201316min

Oh yeah, it's time to break some rules! We've said that you've got to learn the rules before you break them, but here, eight seasons in, you probably already know them. So let's make with the breaking...

4 Feb 201319min

Who needs a character arc? Do your side characters, your non-POV characters need some sort of development during the story? We cover what we mean by "arc," and we lay down some guidelines for who mig...

28 Jan 201317min

We called it "Pets" because it's pithy, but what we're really talking about here is how to give your story's animals -- horses, dogs, cats -- a personality. Why is this important? Why might it be usef...

21 Jan 201317min