Rite Gud

Rite Gud

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Rite Gud episodes

  • Writing Mary Sues, or What Even IS a Mary Sue?

    In this episode, special guest Jennifer Albright of Have You Seen This?  drops by to talk about Mary Sues, a term used to describe an overly-perfect female character created as a self-insertion wish fulfillment vehicle for the author. The discussion traces the expression Mary Sue back to its origin in Star Trek fanfiction and tries to grapple with its current usage. Does Mary Sue mean anything anymore? Is it a misogynistic term? Is Rey from Star Wars a Mary Sue? Is James Bond a Mary Sue? Does it really matter if a character is a Mary Sue?

    The discussion also veers off into tangents on media representation, woke capitalism, Hollywood’s mistreatment of women, the allegations against Max Landis, and that time filmmaker John Landis decapitated some children with a helicopter (yes, that happened).

    Sources/Additional Reading:
    • A Trekkie’s Tale (the parody fanfic that coined the term Mary Sue)
    • A Historical Perspective on Mary Sue
    • With Star Wars’ Rey, we’ve reached Peak Strong Female Character
    • A New Dimension of Filmmaking: How tragedy on the set of the 1983 feature-length adaptation of The Twilight Zone changed the way movies are made.
    • John Landis Not Guilty in 3 ‘Twilight Zone’ Deaths : Jury Also Exonerates Four Others
    • 1988 Review of Outrageous Conduct: Art, Ego, and the Twilight Zone Case
    • Max Landis Accused of Rape, Assault and Psychological Abuse
    • Disney drops bid to trademark Day of the Dead
    • The Pedophile Director Embraced by Hollywood (about Victor Salva)
    • Pauline Kael, Dirty Harry: Saint Cop
    • Raging Bull, Cape Fear, Goodfellas… the woman behind Scorsese’s classics
    • Uma Thurman Shares Kill Bill Crash Video: “The Cover Up After the Fact Is Unforgivable” 

      • About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegud – at – kittysneezzes – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

      Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Kittysneezes on Patreon, on Ko-Fi, via the Kittysneezes Boutique or by supporting Rite Gud on Patreon. 

      The post Writing Mary Sues, or What Even IS a Mary Sue? by Matt Keeley appeared first on Kittysneezes.

      1 hr 27 min
    • The White Room, or Paying Attention to Sensory Details

      In this episode, learn a simple exercise that will help you cultivate your inner witness. It might even help with your anxiety, too.

      Sources/Additional Reading:

      • KonMari

      • Fallout 4‘s skulls near the toilet:

      • More information on the 5-4-3-2-1 coping technique

      • Brokeback Mountain shirt scene:

        About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegud – at – kittysneezzes – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

        Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Kittysneezes on Patreon, on Ko-Fi, via the Kittysneezes Boutique or by supporting Rite Gud on Patreon. 

        The post The White Room, or Paying Attention to Sensory Details by R. S. Benedict appeared first on Kittysneezes.

        9 min
      • Reed Gud, Part 2: Poetry, Literature in a Foreign Language, Nonfiction and Literary Criticism

        A followup to the last episode, R.S. Benedict is again joined by Gareth and Langdon of Death Sentence, a podcast about books for people who hate books, podcasts and capitalism but like metal. In this episode, we look at things other than fiction that a well-rounded writer should read—poetry, literature in a foreign language, nonfiction and literary criticism. We also take a look at how to read. (But not literally.)

        (Regretfully, as with the previous episodes, there are some audio issues during recording; we’ve done the best we can to clean them up, though.)

        Sources/Additional Reading:

        • Death Sentence
        • Death Sentence Twitter
        • Death Sentence Facebook
        • T.S. Eliot
        • Alan Ginsberg
        • William Blake
        • Percy Shelley
        • Ocean Vuong
        • Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
        • Anne Carson
        • Margaret Atwood
        • “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood
        • Margaret Atwood on Trans Rights Part 1: “Some feminists have historically been against lipstick and letting transgender women into women’s washrooms. Those are not positions I have agreed with.“
        • Margaret Atwood on Trans Rights Part 2: “I’m not that kind of feminist. And I’m not the kind that thinks that trans women are not women.“
        • Margaret Atwood defends Steven Galloway
        • Kylie Jenner’s The Handmaid’s Tale-themed birthday party
        • “‘im not owned! im not owned!!’, i continue to insist as i slowly shrink and transform into a corn cob” — @dril
        • Pompeii Graffiti
        • Gesta Danorum (aka The History of the Danes, The Deeds of the Danes, The Danish History) by Saxo Grammaticus
        • Das Kapital by Karl Marx
        • Artifexian
        • William Gibson
        • James Wood
        • How Fiction Works by James Wood
        • China Miéville
        • Kurt Vonnegut’s “8 Rules For Writing” (Originally published in Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction)
        • On Writing by Stephen King
        • Jonathan Franzen’s “10 Rules for Novelists” (Originally published in The End of the End of the Earth)
        • Kazuo Ishiguro
        • Walt Whitman
        • Patricia Cornwell
        • Invisible Oranges
        • I’m Listening To Death Metal columns
        • PYRAMIDHEAD[BLACK]
        • Commune Magazine
        • “The Disappointing Trump Novel” by Gareth Watkins

          • About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegud – at – kittysneezzes – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

          Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Kittysneezes on Patreon, on Ko-Fi, via the Kittysneezes Boutique or by supporting Rite Gud on Patreon. 

          The post Reed Gud, Part 2: Poetry, Literature in a Foreign Language, Nonfiction and Literary Criticism by Matt Keeley appeared first on Kittysneezes.

          40 min
        • Reed Gud, Part 1, or Other Books Than ‘Harry Potter’ Exist: Fiction

          In this week’s episode, R.S. Benedict is joined by Gareth and Langdon of Death Sentence, a podcast about books for people who hate books, podcasts and capitalism but like metal. And in order to Rite Gud, you’ve got to Reed Gud — in particular, why you need to read books other than Harry Potter. 

          Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with reading and enjoying Harry Potter. But you also need to read other books. Cultural intake is like a diet. There’s nothing wrong with eating chicken fingers and fries sometimes, but to be healthy you really need a variety of foods, and as an adult you probably should develop a more refined palate than just eating the same tater tots and spaghettiOs you lived on as a kid.

          In this episode, the first of a two-part series, we’re looking at the wide variety of fiction you should read. (Next time is all the poetry, non-fiction and more you should read.)

          Sources/Additional Reading:

          • Death Sentence
          • Death Sentence Twitter
          • Death Sentence Facebook
          • Rob Liefeld
          • Rob Liefeld Nike Ad
          • Save The Cat
          • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
          • Beloved
          • MacBeth
          • Ursula K. LeGuin
          • C.J. Cherryh
          • Kelly Link
          • Ted Chiang
          • Nnedi Okorafor
          • H.P. Lovecraft
          • Philip K. Dick
          • Black Mirror
          • Jorge Luis Borges
          • The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
          • Margaret Atwood
          • Cormac McCarthy
          • Donna Tartt
          • The Goldfinch
          • Kazuo Ishiguro
          • David Mitchell
          • China Mieville
          • Iain M. Banks
          • Shirley Jackson
          • Abbey Mei Otis
          • Melmoth the Wanderer
          • Les Chants de Maldoror
          • The Pillow Book
          • Dream of the Red Chamber
          • Romance of the Three Kingdoms
          • The Odyssey
          • Orlando Furioso
          • Don Quixote
          • Fyodor Dostoevsky
          • War and Peace
          • William Faulkner
          • Ernest Hemingway
          • Ulysses

            • About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegud – at – kittysneezzes – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

            Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Kittysneezes on Patreon, on Ko-Fi, via the Kittysneezes Boutique or by supporting Rite Gud on Patreon. 

            The post Reed Gud, Part 1, or Other Books Than ‘Harry Potter’ Exist: Fiction by Matt Keeley appeared first on Kittysneezes.

            1 hr 1 min
          • How To Write Dark Humor Without Sounding Like a Total Sociopath

            Dark humor has always been tricky to pull off. If you do it right, it can be amazing. But if you don’t, you come off as a edgelord trying too hard to offend people. Of course, humor is subjective — but R.S. Benedict has identified five general rules that successful dark humor generally follows. She’s joined by Rite Gud producer, Matt Keeley, as they examine what makes dark humor work and when it doesn’t.

            A two page spread from the Daily Star. On the right, the paper condemns ‘Brass Eye.’ On the left, an article about then 15-year-old singer Charlotte Church’s breasts.

            In this episode, Benedict and Keeley talk about three examples of successful dark humor: The 1980s teen comedy Heathers, Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal and the 2001 Brass Eye “Paedogeddon” special from Chris Morris. They then turn their eye to a recent scandal over Nick Di Paolo’s special A Breath of Fresh Air to explore why some dark humor doesn’t work at all.

            The original poster image for Nick Di Paolo’s ‘A Breath of Fresh Air,’ featuring murdered Black Lives Matter activist Muhiyidin Moye.

            Given the subject matter, there are a whole mess of content warnings for this one. The episode features discussion of: school shootings, murder, suicide, pedophilia, child molestation, police brutality, mob attacks, sexual assault and terrorism. If you are sensitive to any of those topics, you may wish to give this episode a pass.

            Sources/Additional Reading:
            • Heathers, available for streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Hoopla, Tubi and Shudder.
            • The full text of A Modest Proposal
            • Brass Eye‘s “Paedogeddon” special
            • The Nick Di Paolo scandal
            • Muhiyidin Moye
            • Doctor driven out of home by vigilantes
            • Complaints outnumbered by calls of praise for Brass Eye Special
            • Quadrospazzed on a Life Glug: The Work of Chris Morris

              • About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegud – at – kittysneezzes – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

              Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Kittysneezes on Patreon, on Ko-Fi, via the Kittysneezes Boutique or by supporting Rite Gud on Patreon. 

              The post How To Write Dark Humor Without Sounding Like a Total Sociopath by Matt Keeley appeared first on Kittysneezes.

              44 min
            • Critique Sample: The Eye of Argon and Irene Iddesleigh
              On this episode of Rite Gud, we’re giving our listeners a sample of our Patreon-exclusive bonus content. If you sign up at the flash fiction, short story or novelette tier, we’ll offer a little bit of critique every month on something you’re working on. To give you an idea of what that will entail, R.S. Benedict looks at The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis and Irene Iddesleigh by Amanda McKittrick Ros.
              Getting critiqued and listening to someone else get critiqued can be a really valuable way to develop that critical gaze that’s so important to being a good writer. Writing is rewriting, and being able to examine a work for flaws is essential for the rewriting process.
              The Eye of Argon and Irene Iddesleigh
              For those of you who are unaware with the pieces in question: The Eye of Argon was written by a 16-year-old Theis, and published in a fanzine in 1970. The work quickly gained a reputation as being ridiculously overwritten and was often the source of live-readings at conventions. (Basically, it’s a My Immortal for your parents’ generation.)
              From The Eye of Argon, we move to Irene Iddesleigh, a work by Amanda McKittrick Ros from 1897. Irene Iddesleigh had the honor of being called “one of the greatest unintentionally humorous novels of all time” by none other than Mark Twain. (Basically, it’s a My Immortal for your great-great-grandparents’ generation.)
              That said — we’re not here to dunk on bad writing. We’re here to help you improve with constructive criticism.
              Sources/Additional Reading:

              * Read The Eye of Argon
              * Jim Theis background from Wikipedia
              * Amanda McKittrick Ros
              * Irene Iddesleigh

              About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegudwithrsb – at – gmail – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

              Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Kittysneezes on Patreon, on Ko-Fi, via the Kittysneezes Boutique or by supporting Rite Gud on Patreon. 
              Featured image taken from the Eye of Argon cover.
              13 min
            • Giving and Receiving Criticism Gracefully, or How Not to Be Anne Rice

              Being criticized sucks. If you’re a writer and you’re putting your work out into the world for other people to see, you’re going to receive criticism. But criticism is an immense part of writing well. Developing a critical eye makes you a better writer. And, sometimes, listening to other people’s criticism can help you find flaws in your own writing so you can fix them. It’s really, really hard to recognize our own flaws.

              In this episode of Rite Gud we look at criticism: giving criticism to your fellow writers, receiving it, when to follow it and when to reject it — and most importantly, how to handle bad reviews. 

              Taking criticism can be a painful process but it’s really valuable.

              Sources/Additional Reading:
              • Why Even A Bad Review Can Help Sell A Book
              • Anne Rice signs petition to protest bullying of authors on Amazon
              • The complete Anne Rice Blood Canticle rant. (Amazon has since taken it down.)
              • British Writer Tracks Down Teen Who Gave His Book a Bad Review, Smashes Her With Wine Bottle
              • The Star Wars rough draft in which Han Solo has gills.
              • A History of Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon

                • About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegudwithrsb – at – gmail – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

                Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Kittysneezes on Patreon, on Ko-Fi, via the Kittysneezes Boutique or by supporting Rite Gud on Patreon. 

                The post Giving and Receiving Criticism Gracefully, or How Not to Be Anne Rice by Matt Keeley appeared first on Kittysneezes.

                20 min
              • This Garbage Brought to You By the Letters S-E-O: How Google Is Ruining Writing

                If you’ve been on the internet for a while, you may have heard about SEO, or “Search Engine Optimization.” From casinos to cannabis seo, it is part of every business to succeed online. But do you know what seo firms for property managers really is — and the effect it has on writing? While some SEO tips are good — like citing your sources with added external links! — others make writing stilted and awkward. (For example, have you noticed how many times “SEO” has appeared in this paragraph?)

                We all want to be seen. One of the most important ways is via Google, is it worth it if it makes your writing stiff? And do you have any other options? Or are we all stuck on the same hamster wheel, using the same techniques to try to rise above the din? A personal online reputation management expert might have answers to all your question and will be able to help you as well.

                In this episode, R.S. Benedict and Matt Keeley talk about the technical side of what SEO is and how it’s ruining writing. We get into:

                • Why you see certain quirks in most writing for the internet
                • SEO and other media
                • Why boring personal essays bog down recipes
                • The joy of competing with “content farms”
                • How to spot “optimized” writing
                • and more!

                  • About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegudwithrsb – at – gmail – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

                  Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Kittysneezes on Patreon, on Ko-Fi, via the Kittysneezes Boutique or by supporting Rite Gud on Patreon. 

                  Featured photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash

                  The post This Garbage Brought to You By the Letters S-E-O: How Google Is Ruining Writing by Matt Keeley appeared first on Kittysneezes.

                  18 min
                • Welcome to Rite Gud, a Podcast Dedicated to Helping You Write Better

                  Are you a writer? Are you pretty good, but want to tune up your writing skills? Then Rite Gud is for you! Rite Gud is the new podcast from Kittysneezes, hosted by R.S. Benedict, who has been published in Fantasy and Science Fiction and in Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Kittysneezes founder, Matt Keeley, is the producer, and the two will talk about ways that you can supercharge your writing.

                  This is just an introduction, but future topics will include:

                  • How Google is ruining writing
                  • How to write dark comedy without being a sociopath
                  • The beauty of small stakes

                    • And much more. There will be a variety of special guests, so you’ll get different viewpoints. Be sure to subscribe to Rite Gud wherever podcasts are found!

                    Kittysneezes is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting us on Patreon, on Ko-Fi or via the Kittysneezes Boutique.

                    Featured image by Zackary Drucker as part of Broadly’s Gender Spectrum Collection.
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                    Credit: The Gender Spectrum Collection. Made available to media outlets via Creative Commons. No derivatives, no commercial use. See guidelines here: broadlygenderphotos.vice.com/guidelines

                    This episode of Rite Gud features the song “Pamgaea” by Kevin MacLeod/Incompetech.com, licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

                    The post Welcome to Rite Gud, a Podcast Dedicated to Helping You Write Better by Matt Keeley appeared first on Kittysneezes.

                    3 min

                  About Rite Gud

                  From the publisher's feed

                  This isn’t a podcast for total beginners. We’re going to assume that you know what plot structure is, what a protagonist is, where ideas come from, and how to use a semicolon. This is a podcast for…