I'm a HUGO FINALIST! Escape Pod is up for Best Semiprozine, and SB Divya and I got nominated for Best Editor (Short form)! See all the nominees here!

The news went out right before I recorded, so I was a little out of it, hence the flightiness. But the audience pulled me through it!

Latest Twitch stream times (EDT):

• Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
• Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
• Wednesday, TBD
• Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

Links:

• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch

April 13, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 26 (Ep 577) | murverse.com
Copyright 2005-2021, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

It's easy to slip into stereotypes when you  are writing someone different from yourself. I have some thoughts on how to avoid that.

Latest Twitch stream times (EDT):

• Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
• Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
• Wednesday, 4:00, Gaming
• Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

Links:

• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch
• Craft in the Real World
• Writing the Other (book and website) 
• Ursula K. Le Guin's Tehanu
• Just Keep Writing (Wil Ralston's podcast)

April 8, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 25 (Ep 576) | murverse.com
Copyright 2005-2021, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

The most recent "Main Character" on Writing Twitter was the woman who flat out said horror can't happen in space. If the story is in space, no matter how scary, it's automatically science fiction.

This means space beats zombies, if you're keeping score.

Now, aside from bringing the Internet down on your head when you say stuff like this, blanket advice is harmful in other ways, too.

Latest Twitch stream times (EDT):

• Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
• Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
• Wednesday, 4:00, Gaming
• Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

Links:

• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch

April 6, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 24 (Ep 575) | murverse.com
Copyright 2005-2021, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

I'm realizing that fear is often connected to the lack of control in a situation. Such as submitting to an editor or publishing a book. You might as well try to control the tides.

Also, I'm a NYT Bestseller now! Or part of one, anyway. (I wrote one of the Minecraft novels!)

Donations benefitting the Trevor Project. Latest Twitch stream times (EDT):

• Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
• Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
• Wednesday, 4:00, Gaming
• Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

Links:

• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch
• Professional Troublemaker
• Becky Chambers' books

Practice and expectation of improvement are similar components between writing and running, but there's a big difference.

Donations benefitting The Trevor Project.

Latest Twitch/YouTube stream times (EST):

• Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
• Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
• Wednesday, 4:00, Gaming
• Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

Links:

• Camp NaNoWriMo is in full swing!
• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch

March 23, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 22 (Ep 573) | murverse.com
Copyright 2005-2021, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

It's a standard feeling that once you get used to your current WiP and you may have hit a snag here and there, you will get the desire to focus on another, newer, shinier project. This is totally normal, everyone from a newbie to a pro feels this. But the question is, what do you do when you feel like that?

Donations benefitting The Trevor Project.

Latest Twitch/YouTube stream times (EST):

• Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
• Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
• Wednesday, 4:00, Gaming
• Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

Links:

• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch

March 18, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 21 (Ep 572) | murverse.com
Copyright 2005-2021, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

• Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
• Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
• Wednesday, 4:00, Gaming: Skyrim
• Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch or YouTube!

March 16, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 20 (Ep 571) | murverse.com
Copyright 2005-2021, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

Conflict shows us how people relate to each other, much better than a bad day will. Conflicts include everything from an injury, lack of sleep, to fights with significant others, rude folks on the road, and then the big one with the meteor coming to the earth. The worse the day is, the more we learn about the character and what matters to them.

March 11, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 19 (Ep 570) | murverse.com
Copyright 2005-2021, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License

After 20 years I've finally figured out how to find that elusive time to write. And the reason I never found it before was because finding time, or making time, is more challenging than people say it is. Sure, OK, "make time" -- but HOW?

Hey! I'm fundraising for The Trevor Project.

Get the extended version of this podcast via Patreon!

Latest Twitch/YouTube stream times (EST):

• Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
• Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
• Wednesday, 4:00, Gaming: Skyrim
• Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

Links:

• I Should Be Writing Ink Stained Fabulists Community
• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch or YouTube!

There is a lot of contradictory advice on the internet. Even the same articles/lists will have contradictory advice. And when are looking for specific advice, the pithy "Do this, no, wait, don't do this" blog posts are infuriating. So how do you know who to trust when it comes to looking for advice?

Get the extended version of this podcast via Patreon!

Links:

• New Patreon video! (And here you can join the I Should Be Writing Ink Stained Fabulists Community)
• Catch the next LIVE show on Twitch or YouTube!

March 4, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 17 (Ep 568) | murverse.com | Copyright 2005-2021, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License