Writing Excuses » Research

Writing Excuses 6.15: Writing Other Cultures

Writing Excuses — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 01:00:04 +0000

In our second WorldCon 69 episode we’re joined by Lauren Beukes, whose novels Moxyland and Zoo City are excellent case studies for writing in other cultures. It’s a difficult subject, and anybody venturing down the actual path in practice should be aware of the metaphorical minefield ahead of them.

But perhaps it’s not as bad as all that. Fundamentally, we’re talking about writing from the mind-set of characters who are not like us in some key way, which writers have to do all the time. Lauren walks us through her process and her approach, and Dan, Brandon, Mary, and even Howard have interesting and useful things to contribute.

It’s a great discussion. We learn what a “fixer” is in South African parlance.

Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Fangland, by John Marks, narrated by Ellen Archer, Simon Vance, Todd McLaren, and Michael Prichard.

Writing Prompt: Take some aspect of your neighborhood and twist it around, perhaps in the same way District 9 twisted the township of Soweto into an alien reservation.

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Writing Excuses 5.25: Writing in Other People’s Universes

Writing Excuses — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:46:21 +0000

Kevin J. Anderson joins us for a discussion of writing in other people’s universes. After the opening shots (and an obligatory Jar-Jar joke), we tackle the question “how do you get to write a Star Wars book?”

Our discussion ranges from the general to the practical, and presses the Fanfic hotbutton more than once. We discuss Kevin’s career with numerous licensed properties, and Brandon’s experience with Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time.

Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Hidden Empire: The Saga of the Seven Suns, Book 1, by Kevin J. Anderson, narrated by George Guidall

Writing Prompt: A group of aliens come to a writing conference to learn to write stories that humans will want to read.

That Noise In The Background: The hotel staff was vacuuming the room behind us.

Best Metaphor Ever, Courtesy of Kevin J. Anderson: As authors in other creators’ universes we are Lando Calrissian borrowing the Millenium Falcon and promising to return it to Han Solo without a scratch.

Writing Excuses 5.5: Writing the Unfamiliar

Writing Excuses — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 03:00:10 +0000

“Write what you know.”

Really? What about when we need to write about a relationship with which we have no experience, or about a real-world location to which we’ve never been? How do we go about writing what we most explicitly do NOT know?

Dan discusses writing about a sociopathic teenager in a mortuary. Howard covers writing about the relationships in a close-knit military organization. We talk about research, extrapolation, and talking to friends who have had the experiences we lack. But what separates the amateur from the master in this regard?

We talk about all this at length, discussing our own experiences, where we’ve fallen short, where we’ve excelled, and what we’ve done to close the gap. Because we are, of course, masters, and in this regard it’s EASY for us to talk about what we know.

Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Mr. Monster, by Dan Wells. This is the sequel to Dan’s first book, I Am Not a Serial Killer. While it is less bloody than the first, it is far, far more disturbing.

Writing Prompt: Watch Ian McKellen explain how to act. Many of you may have already seen this, but watch it again. Then let it inspire you…

Writing Excuses 4.21: Writing Practical Fantasy

Writing Excuses — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:26:06 +0000

Coming to you “live” from CONduit, Writing Excuses is pleased to welcome fantasy superstar L.E. Modesitt (plus a slightly different Howard, by which we mean that Howard was out of town and replaced by Dan’s brother Rob).

Our topic for this episode is “practicality,” which is another way of saying “fantasy and science fiction may be unrealistic, but they should still be plausible within your definition of reality.” In other words, if you have an army of 1000 armored knights, you’d better have an economy and political system capable of producing and supporting them.

Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., about a mage so powerful anything he thinks can become reality.

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Writing Excuses Episode 24: Research

Writing Excuses — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:25:43 +0000

How much research do you do? Howard’s answer: “Just enough to get by.” In this podcast we talk about why we research, how we research, and when we feel like we’ve researched enough. We also discuss hiding a lack of knowledge, and finding ways to get by without doing truly exhaustive research. Listen closely and you’ll learn why you’ll never be able to know enough, why the epic fantasy horse is a lot like a motorcycle, and whether or not one of us really needs therapy.

This week’s Writing Excuses Book of the Week: Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson