Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler discuss writing techniques in a fast-paced format. A weekly podcast about the craft and business of writing.
https://redcircle.com/shows/writing-excuses2130
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 11 days 21 hours 2 minutes
episode 10: 18.10: Anticipation is More Than Just Making Us Wait
Last week we talked about tension, and promised that we'd be breaking it down into more pieces. This week we're discussing one of those pieces: Anticipation. We sub-divided it as follows: Surprise Suspense Humor Promises -
episode 11: 18.11: Turning Up the Contrast With Juxtaposition
Our deconstruction and categorization of tension continues this week with an exploration of Juxtaposition, which is a contrast between two elements that supplies tension by allowing the reader to insert themselves. -
episode 12: 18.12: The Long Shadow of Unanswered Questions
Our continuing exploration of tension has taken us to a favorite technique: unanswered questions. Sure, this obviously applies to mysteries, but consider the question posed in romances: “will they get together?” In its simplest form,
episode 13: 18.13: Finding the Core Conflict
In our ongoing exploration of tension, the time has come to examine conflict. It can be shaped and delivered in numerous ways, but you have to know the core conflict before you can make anybody feel tense about it. -
episode 14: 18.14: Heavy Lifting with Microtension
Let's take all our tension tools and apply them in tiny ways. A big application of tension might be an argument between two characters about a course of plot-important action. Microtension might be those characters arguing about how long to boil eggs.
episode 15: 18.15: Building a Mystery, Now With More Tools
Back in February, with Episode 18.8, we began exploring the process of writing a mystery story. That episode led us into a series of six episodes about tension, and the tools we use to create and manage it. And now,
episode 16: 18.16: Deep Dive: Publishing is Hard, by DongWon Song
Publishing is hard. Also, Publishing is Hard is a newsletter from DongWon Song. In this episode we grill them about it.
episode 17: 18.17: Build Your Author Brand, 2023 Edition
An exploration of author branding and the social media tools we use. "Figure out who you are, and then do it on purpose" - Dolly Parton.
episode 18: 18.18: Launching an Author Newsletter
It's 2023 and people still use email newsletters. For some reason they're more important than ever, so let's talk about building one.
episode 19: 18.19: What is Publishing For, Anyway?
In this episode, we unpack what the publishing industry is, what exactly it does, and why it does it. We also outline the first steps for preparing to talk to an agent or publisher.
Homework:
If you had to sit down with a publisher today and convince them that there's a market for you book, how would you start doing it? Make a list of 3-5 titles that your book is similar to, and describe your target audience...