Writing Excuses

Today, we’re returning to different personal metaphors for how we all think about writing ... more

Brandon, Dan, and Howard discuss what an alpha reader is, is not, and where one might find... more

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, Cassandra Khaw, Dan Wells, James L. Sutter, and Howard T... more

Learning is great, but how do you translate it into doing without getting overwhelmed? Wha... more

This episode was recorded live at our 2024 Writing Excuses Cruise. (Did you know that we h... more

Today we have the pleasure of talking with author (and longtime listener!) Chuck Tingle. W... more

What do emotional beats and action scenes have in common? Well, they both need to land wit... more

This week, we’re continuing our conversation about the lens of who. On last week’s episode... more

Do you know what your characters want? And is there a deeper desire underneath that one?  ... more

Have you ever wondered how much you need to know about a specific character before you sta... more

Today we are introducing the “lens of who” – which means talking about characters. We try ... more

For our 20th season, we are focusing on this belief: that the lived experience that we all... more

One of the most important tools that a writer brings to their work is their own personal l... more

This episode was recorded live at our 2024 Writing Excuses Cruise. (Did you know that we h... more

For our 20th season, we are focusing on your toolbox. We’re going to be thinking about too... more

Today, we’re reflecting on 2024. Individually, all of us went through a lot throughout the... more

As the end of Season 19 approaches, we want to help you integrate what you’ve learned over... more

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Gabriela Pereira, founder and instigator of [DIY ... more

As the end of Season 19 approaches, we want to help you integrate what you’ve learned over... more

As we wrap up our Close Reading Series, we’re shifting our focus towards helping you integ... more

As we wrap up our Close Reading Series, we’re shifting our focus towards helping you integ... more

What does it mean to be building a career as an author in this day and age? We talk with a... more

We reminisce on when we were on a writing retreat on a cruise in 2023, planning this close... more

We had the pleasure of sitting down with N.K. Jemisin to talk about the structures and pro... more

We’ve loved doing our close reading series throughout 2024, and The Fifth Season has been ... more

Today we’re zooming out to see where N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season fits into the canon o... more

The structure of The Fifth Season features both mirroring and inversion. How do these stru... more

Structure and POV (point of view) are often intertwined. In N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Seaso... more

Just a reminder that we will be talking about a lot of spoilers, so if you haven’t read Th... more