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  • 20.05: Lens 1 - Who
    2025/02/02

    Today we are introducing the “lens of who” – which means talking about characters. We try to break big character ideas down into their elements. For instance, what do terms like "relatability" or "depth" of character really mean?

    One of the main take-aways from this episode is that your characters each have different sets of experiences, which *should* mean they could each describe the same exact thing differently. And you should know how to write this.

    Homework: Interview two friends and yourself, asking them the questions below. Write down their answers (and yours) as completely as possible.

    1) The most pain they've had

    2) The happiest memory they think of first

    3) A description of a person and circumstance that positively and dramatically influenced them *before the age of 18*. Family member, teacher, boss at 1st job, etc.


    P.S. Want to come write with us in 2025?! Our retreat registration is open, and we are starting to fill up! We are going to unlock our creative processes in Minnesota and explore Story Refinement as we cruise down the Mexican Riviera! Learn more here.


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

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    25 分
  • 20.04: Metaphor 1 - Puppetry
    2025/01/26

    For our 20th season, we are focusing on this belief: that the lived experience that we all have affects the way we think about writing. We’ve all heard Mary Robinette talk about puppetry for seventeen (or so) seasons. Today, she dives into puppetry as a metaphor that helps her understand writing– specifically character, voice, and genre. And she invites you to start thinking about metaphors you can use and make in your own life to help you think about writing in a new way.

    Homework: Watch a puppet show.

    P.S. Want to come write with us in 2025?! Our retreat registration is open, and we are starting to fill up! We are going to unlock our creative processes in Minnesota and explore Story Refinement as we cruise down the Mexican Riviera! Learn more here.


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

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    33 分
  • 20.03: Polishing Your Writing Lens
    2025/01/19

    One of the most important tools that a writer brings to their work is their own personal lens. This is shaped by your hobbies, your job, your history, and your experiences. In this season, we're going to be looking at personal lenses as well as the narrative lens through which stories are told. We'll look at how the questions of Who, Where, When, and Why shape a story. Also, we're going to do a Deep Dive later in the year with the novel All The Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, in which we analyze it using the lens we've been talking about.

    Homework: What lenses from your non-writing life shape the way you see things?

    P.S. Want to come write with us in 2025?! Our retreat registration is open, and we are starting to fill up! We are going to unlock our creative processes in Minnesota and explore Story Refinement as we cruise down the Mexican Riviera! Learn more here.


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

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    22 分
  • 20.02: Q&A Aboard the Writing Excuses Cruise, with Mark Oshiro and Kate McKean
    2025/01/12

    This episode was recorded live at our 2024 Writing Excuses Cruise. (Did you know that we host a writing retreat on a cruise every year!?! You can learn more at https://writingexcuses.com/retreats/.)


    While on a boat in Mexico, we were joined by author Mark Oshiro and literary agent Kate McKean. In addition to our hosts, they answered questions that were asked by our cruise attendees. Our answers included things such as how much space a character should take up and how to find the balance between plot-focused and character-focused novels. We also tackled questions about worldbuilding, motivation, and deadlines.


    Homework: Ask someone a question about writing, either to learn more about what they're working on or to work through a project of your own.


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

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

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    25 分
  • 20.01: Welcome to 2025!
    2025/01/05

    For our 20th season, we are focusing on your toolbox. We’re going to be thinking about tools in terms of the lenses that we use to approach a story. We’re going to focus on the four lenses of: who, where, when, and why (don’t worry– what and how will be looked at in a later season, since they’re more about execution and less about lenses.) Our hosts talk about the lenses they’re adopting as they look towards 2025.


    At the end of this season, we’re going to take all these lenses and apply them to one work: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders.


    A note: we will now only have “thing of the week” occasionally, and not regularly!


    Homework: Make a list of the tools you already have in your toolbox. Now, as an intention, think of an area that you want a tool for. Over the course of this year, we’re going to try to help you find that tool.


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

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    23 分
  • 19.52: End of Year Reflections: Navigating Speedbumps
    2024/12/29

    Today, we’re reflecting on 2024. Individually, all of us went through a lot throughout the year—we encountered myriad speed bumps that slowed us down in different ways.. How do you balance your workload with your own personal life and its needs? How can you help make navigating these speedbumps easier by knowing your own limits and needs? We give you specific questions you can ask yourself in order to locate your problem points and figure out how to rearrange your life (and your stories about your own life) in order to not over-exhaust yourself.


    Thing of the Week: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga


    Homework: Once a day for the next week, identify and write down something that is causing you pain. At the end of your week, look through your list and identify the one that is causing the most pain, and try to bulldoze it.


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

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    Our Sponsors:
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    * Visit kinsta.com to get your first month free when you sign up today!


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    30 分
  • 19.51: And That Was That
    2024/12/22

    As the end of Season 19 approaches, we want to help you integrate what you’ve learned over the year. For December, we’ll be releasing episodes designed to help you make measurable progress on a writing project. So dust off your current work-in-progress, or pull out your brainstorming documents—we’re here to help you finish the year strong.


    Today, we’re thinking about endings—specifically, what endings have in common with beginnings. When you’re coming to your conclusion, you can revisit the start of your work in order to get clues for how you should end it. You can also revisit your favorite works of fantasy fiction, which we’ve noticed often wraps things up with big climactic moments that don’t lose track of smaller moments of impact. Additionally, we talk about surprising versus inevitable endings, what Toy Story got right, and Howard’s rule for the last third of a story.


    Thing of the Week: Chants of Sennaar


    Homework: Think of how what you’ve been writing recently is going to end. What might be the next scene you need to write? Write that.


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

    Join Our Writing Community!

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    Threads

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    Our Sponsors:
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    * Visit kinsta.com to get your first month free when you sign up today!


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    24 分
  • 19.50.5: An Interview with DIY MFA Founder Gabriela Pereira (BONUS EPISODE)
    2024/12/18

    We had the pleasure of sitting down with Gabriela Pereira, founder and instigator of DIY MFA, which is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Arts in Writing. Pereira has some incredible advice for how to put together a writing curriculum for yourself. Using the pillars of writing, reading, and community, she explains how she first came up with the idea for DIY MFA. We also talk about how to build a well-rounded craft, how to know what you don’t know, and what exactly it means to “write with focus.”

    Thing of the Week: DIY MFA Starter Kit

    Homework: Observe your own habits! Think about your writing time like a pie: 1 slice for writing, 1 slice for reading, and 1 slice for community. Draw a circle at the end of every day and map out how much time you spent doing each of these three things. Do this for several weeks, and watch the patterns that emerge!

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    Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. Our guest was Gabriela Pereira. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

    Join Our Writing Community!

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    Our Sponsors:
    * Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/WX
    * Visit kinsta.com to get your first month free when you sign up today!


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    31 分