Writing Excuses

Writing Excuses Episode 13: Submitting to Editors Part 2

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:11:21 +0000

In part two of our chat with editor Stacy Whitman, we discuss more about how to interact with editors: how to approach them at cons, how to inquire about work you’ve already submitted, and how to butter them up by asking about their current projects. To cap it off, we ask Stacy about her current projects.

This week from our sponsor, Tor: The Wolfman , by Nicholas Pekearo

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Writing Excuses Episode 12: Submitting to Editors Part 1

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:28:47 +0000

This week, special guest Stacy Whitman joins us from Mirrorstone books (an imprint of Wizards of the Coast). Stacy works there as an editor, and helps us understand the submission process, including acting like a professional, doing your research, following submission guidelines, and all sorts of things NOT to do with your submissions. Stacy also shares her story about Holes, and how you have to know the rules to break them.

Liner Notes:

We’ve got a lot of links for you this week. First of all, Stacy keeps a blog on LiveJournal (slwhitman.livejournal.com), and she works for Mirrorstone, whose submission guidelines can be found here.

Mentioned in the podcast: Kristen Nelson’s Blog (You Know You Have Tired YA When…), the Hallowmere series, and Hallowmere’s author Tiffany Trent.

And this week from our sponsor Tor, Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow

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Writing Excuses Episode 11: The Business of Writing

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:39:00 +0000

So… you’re ready for the big-time. You’re a writer, and the writing is almost paying the bills. Hurray!

Now, how do you balance your life so that you can make the jump to writing full-time? How do you manage your time? How do you keep your artistic side from accusing you of selling out? The Writing Excuses Crew answers these questions and more, as we explore the business side of writing.

Also if you listen closely you’ll hear Smart Howard somewhere in this podcast. We think he’s like Howard’s evil twin.

And this week from Tor, The SFWA European Hall of Fame

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Writing Excuses Episode 10: Pacing

admin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:18:31 +0000

Pacing… it’s all about keeping the tension up, keeping things snappy, and keeping the reader interested. This week the Writing Excuses crew delivers some tips, tricks, and tools you can use to get your story flowing in all the right ways.

Also, on Sunday The Salt Lake Tribune posted an article about Podcasting in Utah. Jordan Sanderson and Howard Tayler were interviewed for this article. You can read it here. Writing Excuses, with quotes from Howard, is mentioned near the end of the article.

And this week from Tor, The Hidden World, by Paul Park

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Writing Excuses Episode 9: Sci-Fi Sub-Genre

admin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:56:53 +0000

This week we continue our discussion on Science Fiction with a discussion of various Sub-genres, why they’re different, and what you can do to make sure you know your audience.

Sub-genres covered: Space Opera, Military, Hard SF, and Cyberpunk.

Sub-genres not covered: Dystopia, Steam-punk, and whatever it is Philip K. Dick writes.
Ad: Tor Book Of the Week Keeper Of Dreams

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Writing Excuses Episode 8: Sci-Fi Genre

admin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:40:51 +0000

In the first of our series on genres, we discuss why people write Sci-Fi, what you need to know to write Sci-Fi, and how much we all love unicorns.

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Writing Excuses Bonus Episode 2: Rules of Writing Excuses

admin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:04:58 +0000

If you’re new to Writing Excuses, or if you’re just curious about some of the terminology we use, let us break it down for you. These are the rules/tricks that we use to keep ourselves on task.

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Writing Excuses Episode 7: Villains

admin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:19:17 +0000

Are flaws necessary for villains? What traits make for a really good (err… evil?) villain? What’s the difference between Sauron and Gollum? (”That’s the LAST time I send you out shopping for Gollums, son…”)

Liner Notes: The Evil Overlord List, a handy reference for tropes to avoid (or, as the case may be, exploit…)

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Comment Moderation back on

admin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:40:28 +0000

They say it takes one person to ruin it for the rest of us and in this case it’s cheap pharmaceuticals to blame, we’ve been getting too much spam lately so I’m turning back on comment moderation.

If you’ve already got a comment on the site you should hopefully have your comments auto-published, I’m not sure how this works but it probably helps to have your e-mail and website in the form.

For the rest of you please bear with us. Even those of us WITHOUT real jobs (Brandon and Howard, represent!) are quite busy, which means that comment approval will probably come in bulk once or twice a day.

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Writing Excuses Episode 6: Flaws vs Handicaps

admin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:36:33 +0000

Is there a difference between the two? How do you use each appropriately in your writing? And how lovable can a group of mercenaries be?

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