Shows From the Murverse

“Is Realism Enough For Good Narrative?” is brought to you in large part by by my patrons, who received an early, expanded version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

S.19 Ep. 10

Transcript

Good News Good News

* Station Eternity gets a second printing!

* Chaos Terminal can be pre-ordered!

* Team Rejection Count: 26

Main Topic: How believable does fiction need to be?

* Talking about similarly/same named characters

* The decisions that go into making a story

* New Lord of the Rings? Sigh.

Links:

* The Hot Mic

* Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate

* Station Eternity is OUT by the way.

* Support via Patreon!

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* I Should Be Writing tea blends

* Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

And remember, we can’t do this without you. Thanks for your support.

I Should Be Writing credits: production by Summer Brooks, theme song byJohn Anealio,

art by Numbers Ninja, site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by Libsyn (affiliate link) (or you can get it via Patreon).

February 23, 2023 | Season 19 Ep 10 | murverse.com

“Realism Isn’t Good Narrative” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“Gardening Your Writing Life” is sponsored by Scribophile, who are now offering writing classes! It’s also brought to you in large part by by my patrons, who received an early, expanded version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

We are sponsored by Scribophile! The best place to find a writing community and join a workshop just added writers’ classes,  giving them another reason they’re one of the best places online for writers. Check out their classes, or just to find a writing buddy, beta readers, or form your own crit group!

S.19 Ep.9

Transcript

How quickly does a succulent grow? How quickly do you think your writing will grow?

Links:

* The Hot Mic

* Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate

* Station Eternity is OUT by the way.

* Support via Patreon!

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* I Should Be Writing tea blends

* Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

And remember, we can’t do this without you. Thanks for your support.

I Should Be Writing credits: production by Summer Brooks, theme song byJohn Anealio,

art by Numbers Ninja, site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by

Ditch Diggers is brought to you in large part by my patrons, who received an early version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month! You can get the entire archive and bonus episodes!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Streamed live, February 27, 2023

S9 Ep2

I’m joined at the last minute by Valerie Valdes, my co-editor at Escape Pod! We talk about the whole AI thing and look to shed some light on the current kerfuffle.

Links

Valerie Valdes

Fault Tolerance

Escape Pod

* Matt’s site

* Mur on Focusmate!

* Mur on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube

* Newsletter, The Hot Mic

* Support via Patreon!

* Theme song by Devo Spice

Support Local Book Stores!

See more friends of Ditch Diggers here!

Ditch Diggers credits:

theme song by Devo Spice, art by Numbers Ninja,

site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by Libsyn (or Patreon).

February 27, 2023 | Season 9 Ep 2 | murverse.com

“Do AIs Dream of Electronic Submissions?” by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace

is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

“Brown M&Ms and Adverbs” is sponsored by Scribophile, who are now offering writing classes! It’s also brought to you in large part by by my patrons, who received an early, expanded version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

We are sponsored by Scribophile! The best place to find a writing community and join a workshop just added writers’ classes,  giving them another reason they’re one of the best places online for writers. Check out their classes, or just to find a writing buddy, beta readers, or form your own crit group!

S19 Ep08 

Good News Good News

* Station Eternity gets a second printing!

* Team Rejection Count: 19

* Podcast transcript (zip of pdf, docx, txt files)

Main Topic: Are Adverbs Really That Bad?

* About that writers advice that says “get rid of adverbs”… it goes deeper than that

* Pay attention to your work, and your sentence structures

* Shake the story up by making your characters want something; small or personal can be better than epic and world-shattering

* Jason Pargin TikTok

Links:

* The Hot Mic

* Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate

* Station Eternity is OUT by the way.

* Support via Patreon!

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* I Should Be Writing tea blends

* Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

And remember, we can’t do this without you. Thanks for your support.

I Should Be Writing credits: production by Summer Brooks, theme song byJohn Anealio,

art by Numbers Ninja, site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by

“34 Minutes” is sponsored by Scribophile, who are now offering writing classes! It’s also brought to you in large part by by my patrons, who received an early, expanded version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

S19 Ep07 – Recorded (as opposed to livestreamed)

We are sponsored by Scribophile! The best place to find a writing community and join a workshop just added writers’ classes,  giving them another reason they’re one of the best places online for writers. Check out their classes, or just to find a writing buddy, beta readers, or form your own crit group!

Good News Good News

* Podcast transcript (zip of pdf, docx, txt files)

Main Topic: Get Bored for 34 Minutes

I know you’ll be shocked, but I did a Google search AFTER I recorded this, and found that the writer I reference in this podcast is Eugene Schwartz. You can read more about his method in this post.

His magic number was 33, but I’m keeping mine at 34 because he was a copywriter and I write fiction so they’re one different. (It’s like being one louder.)

This Is Spinal Tap Youre On Ten GIFfrom This Is Spinal Tap GIFs

Getting bored is important to creating, except that technology has not allowed us to be bored for at least the last 15 years. So you gotta work at it.

I also consider my upcoming milestone birthday.

Links:

* The Hot Mic

* Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate

* Station Eternity is OUT by the way.

* Support via Patreon!

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* I Should Be Writing tea blends

* Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

Ditch Diggers is brought to you in large part by my patrons, who received an early version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month! You can get the entire archive and bonus episodes!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Note- My mic had a lot of problems here, I tried to fix it, but it’s noticeable.

S9 Ep1

Streamed live, February 6, 2022 – next livestream is Feb 27, 2023

How do we, the little guys, handle things like strikes and other uncomfortable news?

* HarperCollins strike news

* Tom Monteleone news from File 770

* “Missing Stair” concept

Links

* Matt’s site

* Mur on Focusmate!

* Mur on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube

* Newsletter, The Hot Mic

* Support via Patreon!

* Theme song by Devo Spice

Support Local Book Stores!

* Station Eternity (The Midsolar Murders Book 1), Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* Savage Legion, Supervillain’s Guide to Being a Fat Kid and more!

Ditch Diggers credits:

theme song by Devo Spice, art by Numbers Ninja,

site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by Libsyn (or Patreon).

February 6, 2023 | Season 9 Ep 1 | murverse.com

“Ethics in Publishing” by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace

is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

“Words to Throw Away” is sponsored by Scribophile, who are now offering writing classes! It’s also brought to you in large part by by my patrons, who received an early, expanded version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

S19 Ep06

We are sponsored by Scribophile! The best place to find a writing community and join a workshop just added writers’ classes,  giving them another reason they’re one of the best places online for writers. Check out their classes, or just to find a writing buddy, beta readers, or form your own crit group!

Good News Good News

* Station Eternity gets a second printing!

* Team Rejection Count: 19

* Podcast transcript (zip of pdf, docx, txt files)

Main Topic: There are No Wasted Words

* Do you really need that many words before you get to the real story?

* “In media res” isn’t always the best way to start the action/story

* Ask questions of your characters to get going

* Free writing can loosen the words/ideas

* Playing with character names

* Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe

* All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (Edge of Tomorrow is movie adaptation)

Links:

* The Hot Mic

* Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate

* Station Eternity is OUT by the way.

* Support via Patreon!

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* I Should Be Writing tea blends

* Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

And remember, we can’t do this without you. Thanks for your support.

I Should Be Writing credits: production by Summer Brooks, theme song byJohn Anealio,

art by Numbers Ninja, site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by

“Emotions Rear Their Ugly Head” is brought to you in large part by by my patrons, who received an early, expanded version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

S19 Ep5

Good News Good News

* Chaos Terminal final draft is accepted!

* Team Rejection Count: 19

Main Topic: Emotions Again

* I talk about how emotions trip us up- and by “us” I mean “me” time and time again.

* Brave Mur on TikTok

Links:

* The Hot Mic

* Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate

* Station Eternity is OUT by the way.

* Support via Patreon!

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* I Should Be Writing tea blends

* Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

And remember, we can’t do this without you. Thanks for your support.

I Should Be Writing credits: production by Summer Brooks, theme song byJohn Anealio,

art by Numbers Ninja, site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by Libsyn (affiliate link) (or you can get it via Patreon).

February 7, 2022 | Season 19 Ep 5 | murverse.com

“Emotions Rear Their Ugly Head” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“Ask Evil Mur” is brought to you in large part by by my patrons, who received an early, expanded version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

S19 Ep4

Good News Good News

* Station Eternity gets a second printing!

* Team Rejection Count: 19

Main Topic: Evil Mur Appears and Shares Essential Writing Advice

* The endless fount of writing wisdom that is Evil Mur was summoned for her first appearance in 2023, and she answers all questions about short stories and novels, submitting to agents, managing plots and characters, crafting realistic dialogue, and more

* Copyediting and Proofreading (this is the program Summer the producer is in now):

* ACES: The Society for Editing

Links

* Lava Fountain Pens

* Jason Sanford

* File 770

* The Hot Mic

* Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate

* Station Eternity is OUT by the way.

* Support via Patreon!

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* I Should Be Writing tea blends

* Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

And remember, we can’t do this without you. Thanks for your support.

I Should Be Writing credits: production by Summer Brooks, theme song byJohn Anealio,

art by Numbers Ninja, site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by Libsyn (affiliate link) (or you can get it via Patreon).

February 2, 2022 | Season 19 Ep 4 | murverse.com

Ditch Diggers is brought to you in large part by my patrons, who received an early version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon as low as $3 a month! You can get the entire archive and bonus episodes!

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Yep, I’m still behind in posting the final episodes for 2022! Here you go!

S8 Ep22

Streamed live, December 12, 2022

Matt joins us to close down the year and send seasonal greetings!

Links

Mur on Focusmate!

Mur on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube

Newsletter, The Hot Mic

Support via Patreon!

John Anealio on Bandcamp

I Should Be Writing tea blends

Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

Support Local Book Stores!

* Station Eternity (The Midsolar Murders Book 1), Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!

* Savage Legion, Supervillain’s Guide to Being a Fat Kid and more!

Ditch Diggers credits:

theme song by Devo Spice, art by Numbers Ninja,

site design by Clockpunk Studio and hosted by Libsyn (or Patreon).

December 12, 2022 | Season 8 Ep 22 | murverse.com

“We close out 2022 with Matt!” by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace

is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0