FAQ Friday – Is my story too derivative? I, not so recently, got an email asking me the following question. I hope my response will be useful to my fellow writers. You can read my last FAQ Friday post here. Question: I’m absolutely in love with the world I’ve created and have spent years in its…
FAQ Friday – Alternatives to flashback scenes A few weeks ago, a Redditor reached out to me in a direct message to ask a question. I hope my response will be useful to my fellow writers. You can read my last FAQ Friday post here. Question: My commute to work has given me the opportunity…
FAQ Friday – How do I narrow the gap between storytelling and story writing? It’s been a few weeks since my last FAQ Friday post about the need to start books with a prologue, as my travel schedule has been quite extensive as of late. As before, this post will take the same format as…
FAQ Friday – Do I need to start my book with a prologue? You may have seen my first post of this nature a few weeks ago addressing the elephant in the writer’s room about the nagging feeling of dissatisfaction about the previous day’s efforts. This post will take the same format as the last,…
FAQ Friday – Unsatisfied with Your Writing? As I’m sure you can imagine, I get queried quite frequently about writing advice. Occasionally, when responding to these emailed requests, I see an opportunity to respond to the writing community at large. So, while my answer is written in direct response to the sender, I hope it…
Making a mess with papers, FAQ Friday + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, What Makes a Good Monster, with Courtney Alameda, Howard, Mary, Dan, with guest host Susan Chang talk Monsters with Courtney Alameda at LTUE 2017. What makes the best ones so good? We discuss some of our favorites, and how the…
FAQ Friday Poll, Oathbringer’s UK Cover + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, “Oh Crap, the Cops are Here!”, Howard, Dan, Steve Diamond, and special guest Joe McKinney tackle law-enforcement. We invited Steve Diamond, who has been a guest before, and who has some law enforcement background, to help us grill Joe McKinney, who…
New Writing Excuses, #FaqFriday Poll Results + Updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Narrative Bumper Pool, with Bill Fawcett and Carrie Patel, Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley talk revision. Revision: it’s when you make a too-short piece longer, or a too-long piece shorter. (It’s also a great many other things, suggesting that this…
New Writing Excuses episode + updates In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Proposals, Pitches, and Queries, Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard talk about selling your stuff. In this episode we discuss query letters, pitches, and proposals—the tools that you use to present your material to people who can pay you for it, and who will…
FAQFriday voting and weekly update In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Hybrid Outlining and Discovery Writing, Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Piper answer some questions: what can discovery writers learn from outlining? What can outliners learn from discovery writing? Is there a balance between the two that can serve as a happy, productive place for writers?…
