Comments on: Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 17: Characters & Worldbuilding Q&A with Mary Robinette Kowal

By: Jeremiah

Jeremiah — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:00:48 +0000

So… It cuts off between 8 and 9 minutes… I’d really like to hear the rest of this one.

By: Mike Barker

Mike Barker — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:50:51 +0000

A bit slow this week, but we have a transcript…

http://mbarker.livejournal.com/124358.html

By: Clifton Hill

Clifton Hill — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:10:53 +0000

How different people write is fascinating, and I think educational for us to hear on it from the pros. Thanks for another great podcast. I’ll agree that the Brandon photo is less than stellar, and definitely squinty. I’m not sure it requires derision, but I’m sure everyone is just concerned that Brandon put his best “face” forward.

By the way I got my first rejection on a short sent to F & SF. Woot! Taking Brandon’s advice, I mailed a very short thank-you letter. I will probably frame the rejection at some point – it is after all on a conveniently small sized piece of paper.

By: Peej

Peej — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:07:13 +0000

@ Ed: Hehe, you’re right! Brandon’s current pic looks kinda like a mugshot! Howard, is Schlock behind him with his cannons?

How about the trio doing a podcast on titles? Book titles, series titles, etc.?

By: Howard Tayler

Howard Tayler — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:20:23 +0000

Hah! Fixed.

By: Turmith

Turmith — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:32:23 +0000

Ellyn,

I’m surprised no one else has noticed. Especially since the Title of the podcast on the writing excuses website is wrong too. It’s not just Itunes.

I guess it shows how much of us pay attention to detail. Were just eager to get to the good stuff in the podcast.

One wonders however if this slip up was intentional?

Maybe next weeeks podcast is about the importance of writing groups(podcast groups?) in editing your work?

By: Matthew Watkins

Matthew Watkins — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:18:25 +0000

On the subject of characters taking over the story, I really identified with what Dan said. Here is my policy when it comes to characters taking a new tack on the story, “I can’t throw away anything that I haven’t already written.” So, if the story is going somewhere I didn’t expect, I just write it and see what happens. A lot of the time, this is even better than what I had imagined. Sometimes it is garbage. But the point is that if I hadn’t written it, I never would have known its quality.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:46:45 +0000

Fantastic podcast as usual. Can we have Mary every month?

I googled her and discovered she was the creator of this:

http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/the-kowal-portable-typewriter-and-adding-machine/

So obviously attention to detail is another one of her many talents.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:23:45 +0000

By the way, on a technical note; when we post, there is a redirect that tries to locate us at our posting, with a URL ending like so: http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/09/20/writing-excuses-episode-3-season-17-characters-worldbuilding-qa-with-mary-robinette-kowal/comment-page-1/#comment-36527

However, the that would make that function correctly looks like it’s been deleted from the PHP file. I think that because the source code for my comment above on this page says this:

September 21, 2009 @ 8:17 pm (newline)

– note the unmatched . Perhaps it’s intentional, but I am guessing not.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:17:51 +0000

I think that there was twelve of these monkeys.

Re Brandon’s picture, I noticed and agreed with Alan, but didn’t see fit to comment. You should probably just revert to the previous pic, which made him look like he was actually happy to be on the website.

By: AlanHorne

AlanHorne — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:03:23 +0000

I’m surprised someone else picked up on Brandon’s picture, because last week I brought it up and then no one commented on it

I imagine the predestined monkeys as having little Schlock-tech antennas coming out of their heads, so all their thoughts and actions are being controlled by some outside force; hence the name “Predestined Monkeys”.

By: Adam Goucher » Blog Archive » Why Diversity in Background Matters

Adam Goucher » Blog Archive » Why Diversity in Background Matters — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:58:47 +0000

[...] they are going to notice what colour the walls are and if the paintings are crooked. That is from this week’s Writing Excuses (by Mary Robinette Kowal specifically). Bringing it back to testing. If a scripter tests a [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:41:04 +0000

I think Predestined Monkeys created about 99% of Usenet.

By: Howard Tayler

Howard Tayler — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:14:32 +0000

Brandon needs new headshots is what Brandon needs. The current picture is a photoshopped convention snap in which the distracting background bits have been removed. I think this is a placeholder until new headshots are have been taken.

By: Evergreen

Evergreen — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:30:28 +0000

Brandon needs to change his picture on the site, he looks really bizarre, kind of stoned.

By: June

June — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:39:18 +0000

Chucky needed his diaper changed. He was being quiet, however. The squishy feeling was kind of nice.

He heard the door open. His mother was trying to be quiet as well, but it would help if she had father oil the squeaky bottom hinge. She woke him up all the time coming to fuss over him. Not this time, however.

She climbed up the side of his crib with two legs and one hand. Her index finger and thumb were over her nose. Soft hair brushed his forehead.

“Poor little Lightbringer,” she cooed, “So good you never even fling your leavings.”

Throw it around? Chucky had never thought of that. Maybe next time.

By: Ellyn

Ellyn — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:23:42 +0000

If I attended any con with you guys speaking, I know the question I’d ask: Why are you so good at podcasting?!

You misnamed the podcast in the itunes directory though. It was like another time-travel one: “Writing Excuses Episode 3 Season 17.” My first reaction was “What? What have I missed?”

By: Matthew Whitehead

Matthew Whitehead — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:42:18 +0000

You forgot picking off each other’s fleas.

By: WEKM

WEKM — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:06:05 +0000

You mean there’s more to life than that? What have I been missing out on?

It is always great when I get a podcast before bedtime. Even better than getting it before work.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:33:22 +0000

Monkey’s seem predestined to find themselves in front of keyboards eventually, Other than that, eating bananas and flinging poop seem to be the whole of their lives.