Writing Excuses

James L Sutter  joins us before a live audience at GenCon Indy for a discussion of tie-in fiction. James is a writer and editor, and is one of the co-creators of the Pathfinder system. He is the autho...

22 Okt 201216min

Debut author Janci Patterson joins us to talk about contemporary young adult fiction. Her first book, Chasing the Skip, hit the streets October 2nd, 2012, and while Janci writes fantasy, this tale has...

15 Okt 201216min

If you've ever had difficulty outlining something, this episode might be a perfect fit for you. We discuss the Seven-Point Story Structure, an outlining system Dan uses in which the story moves forwar...

7 Okt 201219min

Maurice Broaddus joins us to talk about "writing the other" -- writing other cultures, races, genders -- basically anybody who isn't much like you. We talk about common pitfalls, including resorting ...

1 Okt 201219min

Death! DEATH!! Let's talk about killing characters. Howard starts by relating a time when he did it poorly, and why he feels like it didn't work. Brandon discusses the academic, clinical aspect of t...

23 Sep 201218min

Shanna Germain joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard in front of a live audience at GenCon Indy to talk about writing love scenes. They're not easy to get right, and they can be even more difficult to talk ...

16 Sep 201217min

Pantsing! What are we even talking about? We're talking about discovery writing, but apparently some folks think it's more fun to call it "seat-of-your-pants" writing. In this cast we cover this exhi...

10 Sep 201217min

Dan needs to write a military thriller. It's just a short story, but still, it's a bit outside his area of expertise, and he needs help. So in this episode Brandon, Mary, and Howard will endeavor to h...

2 Sep 201217min