Howard, Dan, and guest Bob Defendi open this episode with some high literary humor. Bob fills in for Brandon as we discuss formulas writers use in crafting stories. But how do we prevent those stories from feeling formulaic? Can the formulas themselves help? We discuss (at a high level) the three-act format, the hero’s journey, the romance, the two-act format, try-fail cycles, and others.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the podcast audiobook Death by Cliché, by Robert J. Defendi. We didn’t plug it very hard in the episode itself, but oh, MAN you need to listen to it. Howard hasn’t laughed that hard in a long time.

Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 7: Using Writing Formulas with Bob Defendi [ 16:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10126)

Episode 6, recorded live at Dragon’s Keep opens with monkey noises and greeting-card pith, and ends with… well, we’ll just let you listen. Is it a storybook ending? What IS a storybook ending? What is a whiz-bang ending? Is the ending the ending, or is the ending followed by a denouement? How important is a good ending?

Writing Prompt: Take whatever you’re working on right now, look at the ending you have planned now and then come up with two other endings and write all three.

This week Writing Excuses is brought to you by Geek at Play Studio.

Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 6: Endings [ 16:08 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10429)

The halfway point: by the end of today you should have 25,000 words. How are you doing? Are you ahead? Behind? Are you completely and utterly delighted by the exciting world of writing, and you want to do it more and more every day for the rest of your life? Me too.

Also: we are pleased to announce the existence of the (fan created) Reading Excuses forum, a message board designed for you to meet and coordinate with other writers, to share your work, and to give comments. We (Brandon, Dan, and Howard) are not going to police this, it’s purely a sandbox for your guys to play in. Enjoy!

So you’ve got a fantastic idea for a book or a short story, but where do you go from there? Who can give the incentive to write, the support to keep going when it gets hard, and the tough love to let you know when it sucks? The answer: a writing group.

Writing groups can be difficult to put together and manage, but when everything clicks the rewards can be invaluable. This week we discuss all the ins and outs of how to find fellow writers, organize your group, interpret their advice, and overcome the common pitfalls that might get in the way.

This week’s Writing Excuses is brought to you by Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 5: Writing Groups [ 17:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (8888)

We’ve had just over a week of work: how’s it going? Week two is a lot harder than week 1, and might actually be the hardest of all, because the fun stuff is over and the work has begun, and you’re still thousands of words away from finishing. Tell us all about your victories, your setbacks, and your grandiose plans for the coming days of writing.

Writing Excuses has donated an ad to the Whitney Awards, a program designed to recognize and support Mormon writers. That ad is now for sale on ebay: the winner will get an ad in an upcoming podcast heard by fives of thousands of people. If you want to advertise your book/website/podcast/etc., while helping out a good cause, this is a great way to do it.

Eric James Stone joins us for our final Mountain-Con episode. This Q&A covers writing part-time (and Dan disqualifies himself from answering this question in future episodes), setting deadlines for yourself, writing plot twists, and providing character description within that character’s viewpoint.

Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 4:View point, Plot Twists and Being a Part-Time Writer with Eric James Stone [ 17:29 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10914)

November 1 is the first day of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. The basic idea is to write an entire novel of 50,000 words or more completely during the month of November. It’s a fantastic program, a great way to get yourself writing, and comes with a vast, ready-made support group. How many of you are doing NaNoWriMo this year? What are you writing about? How can the rest of our Writing Excuses community help?