Episodes
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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 donât know, and what exactly it means to âwrite with focus.â
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.
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As the end of Season 19 approaches, we want to help you integrate what youâve learned over the year. For December, weâll 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 documentsâweâre here to help you finish the year strong.
How do you have multiple plot threads moving at the same time? Today, weâre talking about complex plot structuresâfocusing on space opera and epic fantasy. Some of the questions weâre tackling are: how do you escalate existing problems, how do you juggle multiple climaxes at once, and what are the cascading effects of each? We ask each host about their unique approaches to writing larger projects. We talk about the utility of multiple POVs and what fast food can teach you about escalating problems (somebodyâs gonna get burnt buns).
Thing of the Week: Laboratory Conditions
Homework: Take a piece of technology youâve already introduced to your work. Find out a new, cool way you can use it in the next scene that youâre writing.
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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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Episodes manquant?
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As we wrap up our Close Reading Series, weâre shifting our focus towards helping you integrate what youâve learned. For December, weâll 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 documentsâweâre here to help you finish the year strong.
What can we learn from romances? Today weâre talking about using elements of romance in your story (even if you have no romance in your current WIP!) Character relationships and dynamics are often at the heart of our stories, so what can we learn from the romance genre?
Weâre thinking about the power of one character putting another one at ease, a character dismissing another (âIâll never be interested in you!â), or two characters finding a commonality between themselves. Mary Robinette also introduces us to her familyâs theory of compatibility, which measures these M-words: mind, money, morals, manners, monogamy, and mirth.
Thing of the Week: Ancient History Fangirl (podcast)
Homework: In the scene youâre working on, what is one thing your character finds attractive about the other character in the scene? Also, what does your own character think is their own least attractive trait, and how can you make them more anxious about that right now?
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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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As we wrap up our Close Reading Series, weâre shifting our focus towards helping you integrate what youâve learned. For December, weâll 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 documentsâweâre here to help you finish the year strong.
Today, weâre focusing on beginnings. The titular phrase âbeginning with a thrill,â doesnât have to mean a burst of action or violence, but more so refers to how you hook your reader within the first few pages of whatever youâre writing. A great example of this is Toy Story, which we dive into at the end of this episode. Dan encourages us to shift our focus from starting with tension to starting with a thrill. How do you introduce conflict into your work while taking into consideration your genre? How do you establishâand then breakâ the ânormalâ in your world? DongWon talks about micro-tropes, and encourages us to steal and borrow from various genres. Also on this episode: meat cubes versus meet cutes. Theyâre different, even though they sound (phonetically) the same.
Thing of the week: The Favourite (movie)
Homework: What breaks ânormalâ for your character right now? Now, 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.
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What does it mean to be building a career as an author in this day and age? We talk with author and speaker Andrew Buckley about everything from author brands to conferences while we ask Andrew to give us advice on how to get comfortable talking about yourself. In addition to hosting the StoryCentric podcast and speaking at conferences, Andrew is a speculative fiction author, with a focus on paranormal fantasy for young adult readers. He also has a background in marketing and business.
Thing of the Week: Fallout (TV show on Amazon Prime) & âThe Watchersâ by A.M. Shine
Homework: Try something that scares you.
Special Offer: Do you want 20% off a signed special edition copy of The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin? You can order The Orbit Gold Edition set at orbitgoldeditions.com, and use the code âexcusesâ for 20% off!
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal,Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. Our guest was Andrew Buckley. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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We reminisce on when we were on a writing retreat on a cruise in 2023, planning this close reading series. We have loved how this series grounded our conversations, allowing us to dive into works that were complex in specific ways. We have loved wading into the waters of voice, world-building, character, tension, and structure while talking about these phenomenal works of science fiction and fantasy.
Thank you, listeners, for reading along with us. It has been powerful to read the same books, and to feel connected to you all through the Patreon, Discord, Instagram, and emails.
Thing of the Week: Forget Protagonists: Writing NPCs with Agency
Homework: Get a group of friends together, and pick a book you love. Discuss and unpack what makes the book work. Then, tell us what it is by tagging us on Instagram, @writing_excuses.
Special Offer: Do you want 20% off a signed special edition copy of The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin? You can order The Orbit Gold Edition set at orbitgoldeditions.com, and use the code âexcusesâ for 20% off!
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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We had the pleasure of sitting down with N.K. Jemisin to talk about the structures and processes that helped create The Fifth Season. We talk about outlines, multiple plotlines, and planets as characters. Jemisin lets us into her writing processâranging from the influence of poetry in her work to her process of writing âtest chapters.â She also gives us advice on writing multiple POVs, the power of parallelism, and the intersection of mental health and storytelling.
Thing of the Week: Alan Wake II (N.K. Jemisinâs recommendation)
Homework: Imagine you are in a game where you are presented with 3 different attitude-oriented choices. Take your protagonist from your current work in progress and put them through these attitudinal-flavored choices. What happens if you continue your character does the diplomatic thing? What happens if you have them snap? Explore!
Learn more about our retreats:
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. Our guest was P. DjĂšlĂ Clark. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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Weâve loved doing our close reading series throughout 2024, and The Fifth Season has been no different. Today, weâre reflecting on what we learned in our episodes focusing on N.K. Jemisinâs incredible work. We reflect on POV as structure, parallelism, and finding the beating heart of your manuscript.
Thing of the Week: I Saw the TV Glow
Homework: Reverse engineer an outline for your work in progress. Then, try to add one parallel.
ï»żDo you want a signed special edition copy of The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin? Preorder The Orbit Gold Edition set before November 19th to get 20% off! Visit orbitgoldeditions.com to order.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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Today weâre zooming out to see where N.K. Jemisinâs The Fifth Season fits into the canon of fantasy literature. How does Jemisin interact with magic, words, and the expectations of the genre? And what expectations do the readers bring themselves?
How does Jemisin repurpose parts of the heroâs journey while creating something fundamentally different? Does this work start a new lineage for epic fantasy? We think so! We talk about what other works this book is in conversation with, and what it even means to be in conversation with something.
Thing of the Week: Family Reservations by Liza Palmer
Homework: Make a list of the books that you consider the antecedents to the book that youâre working on now. What other works are your book in conversation with? Are you following in and building upon their foundation, or are you disrupting and disputing their legacy?
Do you want a signed special edition copy of The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin? Preorder The Orbit Gold Edition set before November 19th to get 20% off! Visit orbitgoldeditions.com to order.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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The structure of The Fifth Season features both mirroring and inversion. How do these structural shifts interact with the three POVs? On todayâs episode, we talk about the parallelism of the perspectives and the linguistic references to seasons. This leads us to the question, how many things need to work in sync in order for readers to feel the cyclical nature of the plot (and life)? How does N.K. Jemisin use structural arcs, beats, and elements to create upheaval? And finally, how can you create overlapping emotional states and narrative rhyming in your own writing? (And what is narrative rhyming you may ask? Donât worry, we define it for you!)
Thing of the Week: Who Lost, I Found by Eden Royce
Homework: Take a look at one of your main character's arcs, and then try to rework another character's arc to match similar beats and structure to the first one.
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Structure and POV (point of view) are often intertwined. In N.K. Jemisinâs The Fifth Season, we see this in the myriad perspective shifts. In this episode, we talk about the importance of these shifts on the structure of the book. How does the narrator talk directly to us, and what purpose does this second-person perspective serve? DongWon shares one of their theories with us on the relationship between author, reader, and POV.
P.S. Do you want a signed special edition copy of The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin? Preorder The Orbit Gold Edition set before November 19th to get 20% off! Visit orbitgoldeditions.com to order.
Thing of the Week: Kurzgesagt â In a Nutshell
Homework: Think about the main character of your story, and carve their life up into three different pieces. Have one of those pieces/ perspectives write to another piece, using second perspective.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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Just a reminder that we will be talking about a lot of spoilers, so if you havenât read The Fifth Season, go and do so now! As we dive into N.K. Jemisinâs The Fifth Season, we wanted to tell you why we chose this work to examine the importance of structure. The structure of the book is the device through which we are understanding this world, in a way that feels radical in relation to what we normally see in fiction. We chose this novel because the structure is visible and active in a way that many other works arenât. Jemisinâs structurally audacious novel is punctuated by perspective shifts, parallelism, and innovative approaches to the forward movement inherent in stories. How does the structure affect the way we take in narrative, and what can you learn from this?
P.S. Do you want a signed special edition copy of The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin? Preorder The Orbit Gold Edition set before November 19th to get 20% off! Visit orbitgoldeditions.com to order.
Thing of the Week: Rest In Pieces
Homework: Look at the Table of Contents of The Fifth Season and, without opening the book again, write down the one important thing you remember from that chapter. As we talk through things, refer back to this list and see what you need to add.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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We sat down with the author of Ring Shout, P. DjĂšlĂ Clark, in order to wrap up our close reading of tension. We talked with Clark about his influences, which ranged from Birth of a Nation to Beyonceâs âFormation.â We dive into contextual vs. narrative tension, why food is the unsung hero of worldbuilding, and Clarkâs unconscious desires that helped this novella come to fruition.
Thing of the Week: The Terror (on Netflix)
Homework: Watch Midnight Mass on Netflix. Notice how it builds various areas of tension. How did this happen? What were the different areas of tension, and how were they distinct from each other? Now use this in your own writing.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. Our guest was P. DjĂšlĂ Clark. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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This episode, weâre talking about how important tension is in creating a world where your readers feel fully immersed. We talk about the importance of using tropes and techniques while also using variation in order to make your story less predictable. We dive into the difference between tension and conflict, and talk about how you can use the former to help the ladder. Tension can be found in movement, but also in inaction. We touch on tension's effect on try-fail cycles, inverted pyramids, and worldbuilding.
Thing of the Week: The Night Guest by Hildur Knutsdottir (a novella translated by Mary Robinette Kowal)
Homework: Take a look at your outline and move one of the major conflict points to a different act forward, and then try and move it to a later act. Consider how this changes the pacing and tension.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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When youâre subverting your readersâ expectations, do you need to do the exact opposite of what theyâre anticipating? Today, we dive into this question, using various examples of books and movies. We then examine how P. DjĂšlĂ Clark does this throughout Ring Shoutâ does he subvert our expectations completely? Not always. In fact, sometimes he does the opposite.
Thing of the Week: White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
Homework: Write a scene listening to three different piece of music that move you in different ways.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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Today, weâre using music as an entry-point for tension. Howard introduces us to the power of the half-step, and other musical metaphors that can help you to incorporate tension in a new way to your writing. And then DongWon updates the metaphor with an electronic dance music analogy.
We also dive into questions you can ask as you weave tension into your work in progress, such as, âwhat does your character have to gain by withholding their secret?â
Thing of the Week: Clueless (the movie!)
Homework: Write a scene three times. Same scene, and make sure to write it from scratch three times. But listen to different music each time.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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Today, weâre talking about the tension that is actually happening on the page, and the contextual tension is what the reader is bringing to the table. Ring Shout lives in a place of contextual tension and we are excited to dive into how you can use both types of tension in your own writing. Your readers will always bring their own context to your work; and if you think about this, you can use tension in both big and small ways in your work.
Thing of the Week: Random Friday - Solar Fields (Album)
Homework: Take a scene youâre working on, and put a piece of information at the start that is only meant for the reader. Then, revise the scene, believing that the reader has that information.
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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Compared to This is How You Lose The Time War, which we read earlier this year, Ring Shout deals with a very real world. This discordance, where authors make their audience uncomfortable by creating things that shouldnât go together, is part of the power of this novella, and part of the reason we chose to dive into tension! Our favorite metaphor about tension from this episode comes from Howard: potential movement (imagine a rock at the top of a hill).
Note: this novella uses tools from the horror genre to add tension, and this can be intense for some readers!
Thing of the Week: Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix)
Homework: Take a movie or a book you've read that you find highly suspenseful and write an outline covering the major plot beats. Look at where tension is created and where it is released, and build a map of how it evolves over the course of the story
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, 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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Today we have a wildcard episode for you! We are talking about all the different ways you can sustain your writing career. Our host, Erin Roberts, has done an incredible job of applying for grants, fellowships, and residencies. So, we put her on the spot and got her to dole out advice and insights to help you sustain and develop your writing.
Thing of the Week: âExtreme Economies: What Life at the World's Margins Can Teach Us about Our Own Futureâ by Richard Davies
Homework: Write a one-paragraph personal artistic statement.
Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline
Next up is Tension! Starting September 1, weâll be diving into Ring Shout by P. DjĂšlĂ Clark. Please note, this novella uses tools from the horror genre to add tension, and this can be intense for some readers!
Liner Notes:
Resources related to grants and fellowships:
Creative Capital's monthly list of Artist Opportunities: https://creative-capital.org/category/artist-opportunities/
Philanthropy News Digest's lists of RFPs, which can be filtered to just those for Arts & Culture: https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/rfps
â Link to the filtered list here: https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/rfps/(search)/?tags_interest[]=arts+%2F+culture
The Create Daily's Opportunity Roundup Newsletter (requires a sign up at the link below): https://www.thecreatedaily.com/community
For residency opportunities, the Open Calls list from Artist Communities Alliance: https://artistcommunities.org/directory/open-calls
Profellow list of fellowships:
https://www.profellow.com
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, and Erin Roberts. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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Today weâre taking a break from our Close Reading Series to discuss writing workshops and retreats! We dive into how to find and prepare to attend a workshop or a retreat and what to think about for organizing your own.
Thing of the Week: Solo RPGs! (Strider Mode, Star Trek Adventures, Mythic Game Master)
Homework: Go find 3 writing retreats you are interested in attending. 1 retreat-focused, 1 workshop-focused and 1 combination. Then think about what your expectations would be for each one.
Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline
Next up is Tension! Starting September 1, weâll be diving into Ring Shout by P. DjĂšlĂ Clark. Please note, this novella uses tools from the horror genre to add tension, and this can be intense for some readers!
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Sandra Tayler, and Sarah Sward. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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