Writing Excuses Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

All unreliable narrators aren't unreliable in the same way. How do they differ and how does that change the way that we write them? Erin shares her unified theory (look at the graphic below!) of unreliable narrators. 

Homework: 
Take an event that you're familiar with, and write about it as truthfully as possible. Then write about it from the point of view of someone who knows the basics, but not the whole truth, but who tries to tell the entire story anyway. For bonus points, tell the story a third time from the point of view of a lying liar with an agenda.

Thing of the Week: 
Lost Places by Sarah PInsker 

Liner Notes: 
Unreliable Narrator Graph
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin


Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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What does it mean if your writing is voice-y?  How do you give your character a natural voice? We approach this question from the high-level perspective of craft, and the granular level of word choice and sentence structure. Erin talks about the research she did about Appalachian English for her short story Wolfy Things. And Mary Robinette Kowal tells us what it’s like to be an audiobook narrator, and how this helps her bring characters to life on the page. 

Just a reminder that our final episodes of the year will be guided by three of host Erin Roberts’ short stories: Wolfy Things, Sour Milk Girls, Snake Season. Note: these books involve some darker themes. All of these short stories are available for free online and also have audio versions available. 

Homework: 
Listen to someone's voice (a person in a coffee shop, someone on a podcast, etc.) Now write a scene from your WIP trying to approximate the essence of that voice. 

Thing of the Week: 
“Exhalation” by Ted Chiang 

Liner Notes: 
“A House with Good Bones”by Ursula Vernon/ T. Kingfisher

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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Welcome to the last week of National Novel Writing Month! It’s okay if you aren’t going to finish your book, and it’s also okay if you don’t have 50,000 words! You still did a thing—you created a story that didn’t exist 

We want to talk about endings. How do you even write the end of a book? How do you do NaNoWriMo? There’s no right way! But there are several elements that can help you figure out how to write the end of your book. Our hosts give you guidance for environment, pacing, inversions, character changes, and the denouement. 

DongWon tells us why writing an obvious ending is not a bad idea, and Mary Robinette gives us advice for writing the ending of a series. 

Also, Dan offers a wonderful reframe for November if you’re not near the end of your book, or you didn’t reach 50,000 words. (Spoiler: it’s okay. You did, in fact, succeed.) 

Homework: 
Aim towards the MICE elements you opened. We're talking about the big ones here. In an ideal world, you begin letting your character have simple Yes or No answers to the "does it work" to close out the major threads in the inverse order that you opened them. Nesting code.

Thing of the Week: 
A final pep talk from Mary Robinette! 

Liner Notes: 
Better Call Saul

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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It’s week four of NaNoWriMo! Or, National Novel Writing Month, which happens every year for the month of November. This week, we are talking about how to write climaxes, how to write resolutions, and what exactly the three-quarter mark is. 

How do you write a climax scene? How to keep your tension going while also finding some resolution. How do you keep track of what you promised your reader at the start of your book? Our hosts dive into these topics and share examples from their own published writing. We talk about how to write emotional resolutions before a novel’s climax. 

We also learn how Dan taught Mary Robinette to use the 7 point plot structure, and how you can use it while you’re writing your novel (or short story or general writing project). 

Homework: 
Read through what you wrote during your last session. You can make minor edits, but you can’t edit anything. Use brackets to make notes about things you want to plant earlier. But don’t make any of these changes! You’re just using this as a launching pad for yourself and your book. 

Thing of the Week: 
A pep talk from DongWon

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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We are now three weeks into NaNoWriMo—where writers are attempting to write a novel in the month of November. For this episode, our writers talk about how to raise the stakes in your story.  

To make something feel more threatening, you don’t have to make it bigger or flashier, but you do have to make it more personal to your character. Often, you don’t need to add an event or plot element, but simply ramp up your character’s connection and reaction.

We also talk about multi-thread plots, Star Wars, and getting your reader to be emotionally invested in your characters’ goals. Also—don’t forget to ask for help. (And surprise surprise, the same goes for your characters.) 

Homework: 
Pick an aspect of craft that you feel weak on and choose to focus on it during your next writing session.

Thing of the Week: 
A pep talk from Dan!

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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Welcome to the first official week of National Novel Writing Month (or, almost the end of this week)! In this episode, we dive into how to write an inciting incident. 

What is an inciting incident? It is often the thing that goes wrong in your story. Within the first page, writers should have something go wrong. But what should this thing be? Our writers have some advice for questions you can ask yourself in order to understand your novel’s inciting incident. 

Also, Dan shares a recipe for an inciting incident that he learned from screenwriting, and Mary Robinette talks about the three “trauma attachment points.” 

Homework: 
What does failure look like for your character? Use this to direct your inciting incident. 

Thing of the Week: 
A pep talk from Erin! 

Liner Notes: 
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
Join Our Writing Community! 
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