Writing Excuses

Brandon and Mary are back to offer you some last-minute help. Are you stuck? We have a tip to get you un-stuck. Is it being difficult? We will help you approach the difficulty differently, in a way ...

29 Nov 20123min

A while back one of the former storyboard artists at Pixar, Emma Coats, (@lawnrocket on Twitter) started tweeting the "22 Pixar Storytelling Rules" And now the cast of Writing Excuses reviews them, an...

26 Nov 201218min

You were expecting to hear from Howard on Wednesday, right? HAH! That deadline just FLEW by. But Howard is here for you now. It's Black Friday, November 23rd, 2012, and you've probably been counting ...

23 Nov 20122min

What are the things that matter to your characters? What things matter to your readers? After we get the obligatory ambiguity out of the way, we settle into talking about the "stakes" and the escalati...

19 Nov 201217min

Week two is over. You might be asking yourself if it's worth it. Is it worth it? Hey! Dan Wells and his brother Rob are here to tell you why this is worth it. And then, in the spirit of distracting ...

15 Nov 20124min

Spoiler alert! We're going to talk in depth about The Emperor's Soul, which just came out, and if you haven't yet read it but want to, we'd rather not spoil it for you. The e-book is available here. ...

12 Nov 201223min

You're doing NaNoWriMo, right? Well, Brandon and Mary took time out from World Fantasy to record this special message for you. Is it a pep-talk? Sage advice? Or is it just a pronunciation pointer? You...

8 Nov 20122min

It's microcasting time! This week we take a crack at the following listener questions: * What percentage of a rough draft makes it into print? * What are the pitfalls of jumping from novels to shor...

5 Nov 201218min