Comments on: Writing Excuses Episode 22: Doing The Unpopular

By: Jacob

Jacob — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:26:45 +0000

Let me just point out that the Millennium Falcon story is a Star Wars urban myth. No such scene was ever shot.

The relevance of pointing this out two years later is strikingly low, but there you are anyway. :p

By: Tor Tion'Me'Ru'Manda Uliik'Ad Diryc'Goyust

Tor Tion'Me'Ru'Manda Uliik'Ad Diryc'Goyust — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:13:02 +0000

Let me attempt to get as many Star Wars g33k points as possible with limits (1) no looking stuff up in the movies, books, on wookieepedia, or anywhere else out of my head; and, (2) only dealing with the RotJ scene from the podcast.

Millennium Falcon: Max Hyperdrive Speed=.5
Model=Corellian YT-1300 (Heavily Modified of course)
The forks are clamps for cargo and between them is a Concussion Missile (or Boomer) Launcher.
Cockpit varies from YT-1300 to YT-1300 from right to centre to left.
Han won ship from Lando in Sabaacc game on Bespin
Nien Numb is a Sullustan employed by the SoroSuub Corp. and has an excellent sense of direction.
X-Wing: Max Hyperdrive Speed=1; Max Accel=3700Gs
Pilot of the Falcon’s wingman=Wedge Antilles
X-Wings have 2 Proton Torpedo Launchers with capacities of 3 Bangers each.
In Episode 4 the in cockpit camera shots show the S-Foils in the open position at all times, causing a completely meaningless continuity error.
Death Star II: Diameter varies geratly by source, but generally 160 or 900 kilometers.
The Superlaser is improved with 9 instead of the old 8 sub-lasers, far enhanced precision, and 1/500th the recharge time over the previous model.
Luke’s escape shuttle was the Emperor’s personal Sienar Fleet Systems Lambda class shuttle.
Oh, and the noise in space there was simulated by the ship according to a deleted scene for a more multisensory near-collision-and-control-feedback-system (like a video game controller’s rumble effect).

and now it is 4 in the morning (search that on ted.com for a laugh) so I’m going to move on to the next podcast, read the new Schlock, and then read some George R. R. Martin while I simmer over character deaths and Tyrion tinkers with alchemy.

By: Josh E

Josh E — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:47:48 +0000

The answer to the common question “What’s selling now” is not simply “good writing.” I think what’s selling now in novels and short genre fiction is strong voice.

I realized after listening to this that I’ve already written my undead soldier story… how sad is that?

By: ~Chris~

~Chris~ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:25:26 +0000

I thought about making mine religious as well, I ended up making each limp re-animate at a different time. So he keeps getting into trouble because half of his body dose not work.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:27:41 +0000

Re: Dan’s ending prompt about the grunt in an undead army.. I think it would be great if he were “religious” and his re-re-re-animation kept getting in the way of that.

Unfortunately, I don’t write short fiction (or horror or humor), so I’m going to just end it there.

By: Dan Wells

Dan Wells — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:38:00 +0000

No, that’s pretty much it.

Also: we apologize for the delay in today’s podcast. It will be posted shortly.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:56:30 +0000

The more that I listen to this podcast, which is a lot, the more i find myself trying to picture what the scene looks like, as you are recording. The first thing I imagined, was the three of you sitting in a circle, on the floor around jordo, who was holding a fisher price microphone/cassette recorder. I think a few pictures of your recording lair during a podcast would be fun.

By: B. Byron Whitten

B. Byron Whitten — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:49:29 +0000

I always try to remember that what the audience asks for is not necessarily what the audience wants. Laurel K. Hamilton’s readers said they wanted sex, she delivered, and some of her later books (The Anita Blake series) have become borderline soft core porn and lowered sales reflected this.

I think I’ll call ‘can of worms’ on ‘What the Audience wants VS What the audience is asking for.’

In my small writing experiences it becomes obvious about keeping the promise made at the beginning, also that the promise can be broken if the reason is well dressed. Which means the audience must be satisfied with the overall story. Look at Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for examples. Luke is maimed, his girlfriend is out of reach (Always was, as we find out later) and Han is a coffee table. Not a victory by any standard in that one but it’s the favorite of many a fan.

IMHO, all good stories require some good drama (Except comedies, where the first and darn near only rule is “Make the audience laugh”), and you don’t get that by handing happy endings out on a silver platter. The hero must work for them, work hard in fact and take losses. And sometimes the hero loses or has a Pyrric (sp?) victory at best. Without the possibility of losing all, winning is empty. And empty stories don’t sell.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:22:35 +0000

Would doing the unpopular also include themes covering controversial issues?

By: Dan Wells

Dan Wells — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:46:51 +0000

1. I don’t use bandaids on my owies–just real strips of bacon.
2. Your wish is my command.
3. Because I am greedy.