Yesterday, I had breakfast with Dan and Howard at The Original Pancake House, which it turns out is a chain. But a tasty treat nonetheless with giant, giant portions. Then we came down to Brandon’s house and locked ourselves into the basement for several hours to record Writing Excuses. The episodes are only fifteen minutes […]
Locked in a basement for HOURS Read More »
Writing Excuses this week covers a topic that I find very, very interesting. I had this conversation informally with Lou in a bar and it blew my mind. This week, on writing excuses, we get him to sit down and talk in depth about the Hollywood Formula. Lou Anders, Hugo-winning editorial director from Pyr books, joins
Writing Excuses 6.18: Hollywood Formula » Writing Excuses Read More »
Peter Ahlstrom, assistant to Brandon Sanderson, and Valerie Dowbenko, assistant to Pat Rothfuss, join Brandon and Dan to talk about what they do for “their authors.” While this may seem like an incredible luxury — most of you listeners aren’t going to rush out and hire an assistant — there are things that can be
Writing Excuses 6.17: Writing Assistants Read More »
Keffy Kehrli joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard in front of a live audience at WorldCon 69 in Reno. He’s a Writers of the Future winner, a short story writer, and a female-to-male transsexual. Mary leads us into this discussion, starting with how gender roles and gender identity lie along a continuum, defying the convenient descriptors
Writing Excuses 6.16: Gender Roles–Black, White, and Gray » Writing Excuses Read More »
In our second WorldCon 69 episode we’re joined by Lauren Beukes, whose novels Moxyland and Zoo City are excellent case studies for writing in other cultures. It’s a difficult subject, and anybody venturing down the actual path in practice should be aware of the metaphorical minefield ahead of them. But perhaps it’s not as bad
Writing Excuses 6.15: Writing Other Cultures » Writing Excuses Read More »
Patrick Rothfuss joins Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard at WorldCon 69, where we recorded before a live, enthusiastic audience. The topic? Suspension of disbelief, specifically, how to get your readers to do this. Patrick leads us off with verisimilitude, and how the reader will accept the fantastic if you’re presenting the mundane in a believable
Writing Excuses 6.14: Suspension of Disbelief » Writing Excuses Read More »
I’m on my way to Utah to spend the weekend locked in a basement with the Writing Excuses guys. So far, Friday the 13th has interacted with travel karma to produce zero lines and an upgrade to first class. I’m waiting for the doom to descend.
Off to Utah and it’s Friday the 13th Read More »
I participated in yet another Writing Excuses episode while I was in Utah. Why? Because they are fun. This talks about using holidays in fantasy and science fiction, which led to Howard suggesting that a good holiday would be “Bone Puppet Day.” This was not my fault. Dave Wolverton/David Farland was on hand to talk about
Writing Excuses Episode 5:23 — Life Day! Read More »
While I was in Utah I joined Dan Wells and Howard Tayler, of Writing Excuses, for a conversation with Dave Wolverton about movie considerations and formulas. Dave explained the three-act structure to us, and we talked about how this applies for transitioning stories to the screen. As always, you can listen to this at Writing Excuses
Writing Excuses 5.22: Film Considerations Read More »
The lovely men at Writing Excuses invited me to stick around and record another episode with them at World Con. They’ve just posted it the Writing Process Q & A. Brandon, Dan and Howard answer a wide range of questions and I tag along for the ride.
Writing Excuses, Season 3 Episode 15 Read More »
While I was at WorldCon, Howard Tayler asked me to swing by and participate in the Writing Excuses podcast panel. He described it as a bunch of fifteen minute podcasts in front of a live audience, which, I must say, was great fun. Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler and Dan Wells are very engaging hosts and
The principles of puppetry as related to fiction Read More »