I Should Be Writing

Open

• Mur’s newest, STATION ETERNITY, will be out on October 4, 2022
• Saved by Save The Cat Beat Sheets
• 2022 Word Count: 27890

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: 40
• New Book Cover Reveal on io9 Feb 17th
• Evil Mur Appears!

Main Topic: LIES

• Emotions are not Reality
• Self confidence, self doubt, and the roller coaster ride between
• Depression Lies, Anxiety Lies, Dr House reminds us Everybody Lies
• Artist’s Way vs Finding Water

February 15, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 14 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Open

• (Pre-Open) Pick a word, and use it a lot (new Evil Mur tip?)
• Mur’s newest, STATION ETERNITY, will be out on October 4 2022

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: 38
• New book: Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs

Main Topic: Let’s Build A Character!

• Using a character toolkit to help create characters for your story
• Better Backstories cards (see links) could help jumpstart ideas
• Yes, fictional characters living rent-free in your head is common with storytellers
• How hard is it to write a character who is completely manipulative/psychologically abusive/etc
• Next, Rory’s Story Cubes as a different story building tool
• Writer Emergency Pack idea cards by screenwriter John August
• Let’s Play A Game: group building a character’s backstory

February 10, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 13 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Open

• (Pre-Open) Dogs Run the Joint!
• Mur’s newest, STATION ETERNITY, will be out on October 4 2022

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: 35
• Audio Drama inspiration
• New Assistant onboard

Main Topic: How Do I Workshops

• ADHD-Friendly organization methods, revisited
• Prioritizing tasks randomly: Taking the D20 roll to heart
• Will there be a Brindlewood Bay stream in the future?
• Writing Workshop Etiquette & Guidelines
• Structure for receiving and giving critiques

February 8, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 12 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Open

• (Pre-Open) Babylon 5 old and new
• Giveaway: SVG and Bump
• Words: No Words Yet Today

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: 34
• Word Compensation, yay!

Main Topic: Productivity Overwhelm Overload

• When seeking out productivity tools becomes part of the distraction problem
• When working with many different methods & systems causes productivity setbacks
• Planners, planning and ADHD… let’s roll a D20 and go from there!

February 3, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 11 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Open

• (Pre-Open) Stream Raiders game dev sausage making
• WIP: A Swarm of Cuckoos, 19,407 words

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: up to 34 (19 new ones from Brian alone)
• Reality Checks: stop worrying about the (podcast) numbers

Main Topic: Look at Your Own Paper (Focus on Your Work)

• Keep yourself mentally healthy by avoiding comparing your career with others’
• Freedom to write what you want, or maintain the momentum of what has been selling?
• Keep Writer Beware in your bookmarks, Victoria Strauss has the 411 on the scammers
• Patreon perks update: ISBW Book Club debut, plus Discord discussions

February 1, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 10 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Open

Special Saturday Stream!

Working on new office layout

Good News Good News

Hugo nominations are open for 2022

Team Rejection count: now at 14

Greg is working on draft of Book 4 in his series

Main Topic: Greg’s Teaching & Writing

• Greg is teaching one of the Odyssey Workshop’s Winter Online Sessions
• Pandemic influence: Odyssey shifting to 100% online instead of a 6-week in-house program
• Series and characters, likeable vs deserving
• Mur gets pointers for writing clues in a mystery series

January 29, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 9 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

[NOTE: this episode has some NSFW language]

Open

• Welcome back from the wilderness, Matt F’n Wallace!
• Scrivener will indeed tell you how many words you wrote in a year
• Mur is making progress on Midsolar Murders Book 2
• Matt is working on a video game he can’t talk about yet, and we await Savage Crowns

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: now at 14

Main Topic: Matt’s New Middle Grade Book

• This is the book Matt always wanted as a kid, so now he’s written it for himself & everyone else
• Using the word “fat” and all the baggage different people bring to it
• Relating to Vincent D’Onofrio and Sammo Hung in their acting and action roles
• How to approach writing fat characters: Writing the Other
• (written by Hugo-nominated author Meg Elison. You really should read her award nominated novella "The Pill.")
• Matt's page, and the Fat Kid Guide page

January 27, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 8 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Open

• Yesterday: adventure flails + research rabbit holes = zero words written

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: now at 14
• Rescue Adventure Fumble Saving Throw Success!

Main Topic: Game of Goals

• Setting goals, meeting goals from different directions, and changing things up
• What to do when growth is shrinking rather than growing
• Is there a better way to find a better fitting niche for your podcast?
• Goal: A Scifi Writing Stream Team Dream Team
• The status of Ditch Diggers to come
• The Joy of Pantsing

January 25, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 7 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Open

• (Pre-Open) I Should Be Cooking?
• Channeling the Ditch Diggers
• Writers Block sneaks up on you even when you’re able to write the words.

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: up to 10
• Accountability Buddies rock
• Tracking yearly wordcounts

Main Topic: Genre, Genre, and more Genre

• The desire to write a psychological thriller means reading more of them to peel back the layers
• The genres have their own rules of engagement. Subvert them at your own peril (or genius)
• Mur is addicted to Christmas mysteries

January 20, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 6 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Open

• Tightening up the podcast schedule

Good News Good News

• Hugo nominations are open for 2022
• Team Rejection count: up to 9

Main Topic: Characters, Setting, and Story

• Do you like Star Wars because of the heroes, or because of the world they inhabit?
• There are stories where you can mix & match characters easily, and others not so much
• What makes the setting the key element, and what makes the characters key?
• Fanfic blazing the trails

January 18, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 5 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License