Comments on: Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 4: Non Linear Story Telling

By: NFG

NFG — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:57:49 +0000

So.

Came across a list of ’10 podscasts for writers worth listening to.’ This, of course, was on the list, and that’s how I ended up here.

These podcasts have been the biggest help to me so far, second only to On Writing, which my wife bought for me back when I told her that I was serious about becoming a writer. I love the nature of the discussions, the way you toss ideas back and forth…it’s as if each podcast is an impromptu brainstorming session on the topic…which they are, in a way.

I’ve learnt a lot since I’ve started listening, and now I’m bouncing back and forth among the seasons, grabbing episodes as I go, listening, making notes and experimenting with different things as I perfect my process. I find it a pleasure to realise that a lot of the problems that I have aren’t specific to me, i.e., there’s nothing wrong with me as I try to write, I just need to work out the framework within which I’ll get my work done.

You guys have been a tremendous help, and your podcast is the most enjoyable one I’ve come across so far, bar none.

Please, keep up the good work!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:08:47 +0000

Good non linear = Reservoir Dogs – funny, interesting, suspenseful, character driven.
Bad non linear = Kill Bill – long, boring stories that have little to do with the plot and lead to flat characters.

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:56:03 +0000

I know I’m a few weeks behind on this, but it struck me as I was listening to the podcast that the summation of Brandon’s non-linear story unfolding as a man walked across a desert was awfully similar to “The Gunslinger,” by Stephen King. The first half of the book begins with the slow, methodical chase across the desert, and as that part of the story goes on, the gunslinger remembers the last person he’d seen and spent time with, on the edge of the desert. And while he was at the settler’s hut, the settler asks the gunslinger to tell him the story about Tull, the last town the gunslinger was in, which prompts a flashback to a point even further back before the beginning of the book.

It was very effective when King did it, because the scene in Tull was very high-action, culminating with powerful climactic shootout. But putting that at the beginning of the book, where it fit chronologically, might have clouded the character and setting King worked so hard to establish with the pursuit across the desert, and his interaction with the settler.

Just food for thought.

By: Mike Barker

Mike Barker — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:45:33 +0000

Not an iTunes user, but that’s pretty obviously the episodes in reverse chronological order. Season 2 ended with episode 33. So what you have is Season 3 Episode 4, 1 (due to the nonlinear presentation), then Season 2, Episodes 33-26.

By: Pyratheon

Pyratheon — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:50:42 +0000

Hi, I recently discovered this podcast, and I have to thank you for its awesomeness. I plan to become a writer in the future, so it’ll be very helpful!

However, I subscribed to the RSS feed in iTunes, and for some reason, I can only see Season 3 Episode 4, 1, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26 (in that order). I would like to listen to it from the start; so help would be appreciated.

Love your books.

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:38:34 +0000

I meant “Write or die,” of course.

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:37:56 +0000

Thanks, Jame and Raethe, for your feedback on “Write of die.”

By: Mike Barker

Mike Barker — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:44:47 +0000

Just a suggestion — don’t emphasize the flashback aspect. This is a new scene — you need to establish time, place, point of view, just like with any new scene. The fact that it takes place in the past relative to the rest of your plot is just a bonus.

By: CM

CM — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:14:53 +0000

Hey

I know I’m late again but I just wanted to add my ‘thank you’ for this pod cast.

Dose anyone have more info on stuff like this?

I just realized while listing to this cast that linear story telling, is a problem stopping me from writing a novel I have been playing with. It is Historic fiction so the reader already knows how it ends. I need a way to show how it led up to that and the more personal trials of it, including several flash backs that show how this person became who he became. I have flirted with a first person view point for this story, but haven’t had much practice with it so I feel completely lost. How do you do good flash backs without over using the ‘childhood dream’ or ‘distant memory’ thing. I am afraid it would be to distracting.

Thanks again one and all

By: Asadrean

Asadrean — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:32:24 +0000

question, maybe you all know this and i do not, but why does it go from ep. 1 to ep. 4?