Shows / Writing Excuses
Episodes
Writing Excuses20.26: Gaming as a Writing Metaphor
What separates the way we experience a game versus the way we experience a prose narrative? Erin Roberts has written for many games, and she loves games…
Writing Excuses20.25: Writing Confrontation (LIVE Aboard the WX Cruise)
Our hosts explore how to write compelling confrontations—whether physical fights or emotional arguments—in a live episode recorded on the Writing Excuses…
Writing Excuses20.24: An Interview with Charles Duhigg
How can listening inform the way you write? We decided to ask Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author—best known for The…
Writing Excuses20.23: The Lens of the Senses
How does a room sound? Does your childhood have a taste? What is the smell of summer? In this episode, we dive into the sensory layers that anchor…
Writing Excuses20.22: The Lens of Time
Time isn't just a backdrop—it’s a powerful tool in storytelling. In this episode, we explore how time shapes narratives, beyond just plot structure. From…
Writing Excuses20.21: The Lens of Context
This week, we’re digging into context—what it is, why it matters, and how it can totally transform your storytelling. Whether you're working in fantasy…
Writing Excuses20.20: The Lens of Where and When
Today we’re talking about setting, which in speculative fiction is often called worldbuilding. But once you’ve finished building the world, how do you convey…
Writing Excuses20.19: Cooking as a Writing Metaphor
What does cooking have to do with writing? In this episode, we explore how the creative choices we make in the kitchen—whether it’s improvising with missing…
Writing Excuses20.18: LIVE: The Art of Teaching
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…
Writing Excuses20.17: An Interview with Christopher Schwarz
This season, we’ve been exploring different approaches to writing through the lens of other crafts and their respective toolkits. We had the pleasure of…
Writing Excuses20.16: Second Person
People often think of first person POV as the most intimate voice. But in a way, we think second person might be more intimate. With second person, you’re…
Writing Excuses20.15: Third Person Omniscient
With today’s episode, we are continuing our discussion on proximity by focusing on another POV: third person omniscient. In omniscient POV, the narrator can…
Writing Excuses20.14: Third Person Limited
Third person limited is one of the most popular storytelling lenses. Yet it is often understood differently by various authors and readers. So today we’re…
Writing Excuses20.13: First Person
We’re now going to have a few episodes focusing on the lens of proximity—specifically, how close you are to a character. Today, we’re talking about first…
Writing Excuses20.12: Fashion as a Writing Metaphor
Today, we’re returning to different personal metaphors for how we all think about writing and storytelling. In this episode, we’re talking about how DongWon…
Writing Excuses20.11: Kit Lit. Q&A Aboard the WX Cruise, with Mark Oshiro, Kate McKean, and Sandra Tayler
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…
Writing Excuses20.10: Interview with Chuck Tingle: Breaking the Rules
Today we have the pleasure of talking with author (and longtime listener!) Chuck Tingle. We invited him on the podcast to talk about breaking the rules—both in…
Writing Excuses20.09: The Reaction of Who?!
What do emotional beats and action scenes have in common? Well, they both need to land with your audience in order for your story not to fall flat. On today’s…
Writing Excuses20.08: Character Stakes and Fears
This week, we’re continuing our conversation about the lens of who. On last week’s episode we talked about a character’s motivation and goals. Now, we’re…
Writing Excuses20.07: Motivation and Goals
Do you know what your characters want? And is there a deeper desire underneath that one? A character's motivations can help make them "relatable,"…
Writing Excuses20.06: History and Community
Have you ever wondered how much you need to know about a specific character before you start your story? Do you need to have an entire outline of their…
Writing Excuses20.05: The Lens of Who
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…
Writing Excuses20.04: Puppetry as a Writing Metaphor
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…
Writing Excuses20.03: Polishing Your Writing Lens
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…
Writing Excuses20.02: Q&A Aboard the Writing Excuses Cruise, with Mark Oshiro and Kate McKean
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…
Writing Excuses20.01: Welcome to 2025!
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…
Writing Excuses19.52: End of Year Reflections: Navigating Speedbumps
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…
Writing Excuses19.51: And That Was That
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…
Writing Excuses19.50.5: An Interview with DIY MFA Founder Gabriela Pereira (BONUS EPISODE)
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 Excuses19.50: All Systems Go
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…
Writing Excuses19.49: Getting to Know You
As we wrap up our Close Reading Series, we’re shifting our focus towards helping you integrate what you’ve learned. For December, we’ll be releasing episodes…
Writing Excuses19.48: Beginning With A Thrill
As we wrap up our Close Reading Series, we’re shifting our focus towards helping you integrate what you’ve learned. For December, we’ll be releasing episodes…
Writing Excuses19.47.5: Interview with Andrew Buckley of the StoryCentric podcast (BONUS EPISODE)
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…
Writing Excuses19.47: Final Thoughts on Our Close Reading Series
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…
Writing Excuses19.46: An Interview on Structure with N.K. Jemisin
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…
Writing Excuses19.45: A Close Reading on Structure: Tying It All Together
We’ve loved doing our close reading series throughout 2024, and The Fifth Season has been no different. Today, we’re reflecting on what we learned in our…
Writing Excuses19.44: A Close Reading on Structure: Tradition and Innovation
Today we’re zooming out to see where N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season fits into the canon of fantasy literature. How does Jemisin interact with magic, words…
Writing Excuses19.43: A Close Reading on Structure: Parallelism and Inversion
The structure of The Fifth Season features both mirroring and inversion. How do these structural shifts interact with the three POVs? On today’s episode, we…
Writing Excuses19.42: A Close Reading on Structure: Whose Perspective is it Anyways?
Structure and POV (point of view) are often intertwined. In N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, we see this in the myriad perspective shifts. In this episode, we…
Writing Excuses19.41: A Close Reading on Structure: An Overview and Why Fifth Season
Just a reminder that we will be talking about a lot of spoilers, so if you haven’t read The Fifth Season, go and do so now! As we dive into N.K. Jemisin’s The…
Writing Excuses19.40: An Interview on Tension with P. Djèlí Clark
We sat down with the author of Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark, in order to wrap up our close reading of tension. We talked with Clark about his influences, which…
Writing Excuses19.39: A Close Reading on Tension: Tying It All Together
This episode, we’re talking about how important tension is in creating a world where your readers feel fully immersed. We talk about the importance of using…
Writing Excuses19.38: A Close Reading on Tension: Anticipation and Subversion
When you’re subverting your readers’ expectations, do you need to do the exact opposite of what they’re anticipating? Today, we dive into this question, using…
Writing Excuses19.37: A Close Reading on Tension: Movement and Resolution
Today, we’re 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…
Writing Excuses19.36: A Close Reading on Tension: Narrative vs. Contextual
Today, we’re 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…
Writing Excuses19.35: A Close Reading on Tension: An Overview and Why Ring Shout
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…
Writing Excuses19.34: Grants and Fellowships
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…
Writing Excuses19.33: Workshops and Retreats
Today we’re 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…
Writing Excuses19.32: An Interview on Character with CL Clark
We sat down with CL Clark to talk about character—specifically, how they build different POV characters in the compressed space of a short story. We dive into…
Writing Excuses19.31: A Close Reading on Character: Tying it All Together
Today, we’re taking a higher view on the techniques we’ve been talking about over the last four episodes and focusing on how you can use our takeaways in your…
Writing Excuses19.30: A Close Reading on Character: Agency vs. Choices
We have a theory that we want to work through on today’s episode: agency is the ability to take action, whereas choices are more about the interior life of the…
Writing Excuses19.29: A Close Reading on Character: Barriers vs. Stakes
Our episode today focuses on C.L. Clark’s short story “You Perfect Broken Thing” for how the character's stakes shape the barriers facing her. We use this…
Writing Excuses19.28: A Close Reading on Character: Internal vs External Identity
Today, we’re focusing on C.L. Clark’s “The Cook,” as we explore external and internal expression. We chose this story because it's a remarkably physical and…
Writing Excuses19.27: A Close Reading on Character: An Overview and Why We Chose C.L. Clark's Stories
Today we introduce our next close reading series—we’re focusing on character through the lens of three of C.L. Clark’s short stories: “You Perfect, Broken…
Writing Excuses19.26: Bringing Falconry into Writing
Today we are joined by the incredible falconer Krista Hong Edwards. Krista was kind enough to take our hosts out with her falcons, and we had the most amazing…
Writing Excuses19.25: From the Classroom to the Page
Learning is great, but how do you translate it into doing without getting overwhelmed? What is the difference between learning in the classroom and executing…
Writing Excuses19.24: An Interview on Worldbuilding with Arkady Martine
We've spent the last month talking about "A Memory Called Empire, and now, we are so excited to welcome the author, Arkady Martine, to the show! On today's…
Writing Excuses19.23: Tying It All Together (A Close Reading on Worldbuilding)
Today, the gang talks about their final thoughts on Martine’s “A Memory Called Empire.” We conclude with some lessons we’ve learned through analyzing her work…
Writing Excuses19.22: Technology and Identity (A Close Reading on Worldbuilding)
The imago technology lies at the heart of this novel thematically and narratively. How does this technology create a world, delineate Mahit's culture from…
Writing Excuses19.21: Language as a Tool (A Close Reading on Worldbuilding)
What cultural and worldbuilding information is embedded within the smallest of word choices? Today, we dive into three specific sections from throughout…