Shows From the Murverse

“Brain Weasels, do we listen to them too much?” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

Check out the official ISBW merch!

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Open

* 2022 Word Count: 38500?

Good News Good News

* Team Rejection count: 93

* Last chance Hugo nominations (ends March 15)

* Upcoming changes at Escape Pod

Main Topic: Brain weasels

* When brain weasels attack and charge down riding the avoidance buffaloes

* Juggling the various stresses that live rent free in your brain, when they don’t need to be there

* The weasels may be strongest at the start

* Control the lure of the distractions

Links

* Merch Shop

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for Mar 21-Mar 26:

* Monday: 2-3:30pm AMA

* Tuesday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

* Wed: 3-5pm Gaming TBD

* Thursday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

Support Local Book Stores!

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

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

 

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 (or Patreon).

March 15, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 22 | murverse.com

“Brain Weasels” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“Fiction Traps and How To Avoid Them” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

Check out the official ISBW merch!

 

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Open

* 2022 Word Count: 38083

Good News Good News

* Team Rejection count: 81

* Yay Premee Nebula nom

* Yay secret project update

* Notes on Writing the Other

* [ dog cam and dog treats activated ]

Main Topic: Falling into those Fiction Traps, and Ways to Sidestep Them

* Writing yourself into a corner using a background character that grows beyond your boundaries

* Art imitating life, but life is not narratively tidy, while fiction tends to be

* Feed your subconscious deeply and well, and let things percolate

Links

* Merch Shop

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for Mar 13-Mar 19:

* Monday: 2-3:30pm AMA

* Tuesday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

* Wed: 3-5pm Gaming TBD

* Thursday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing – Featuring Ursula Vernon!

Support Local Book Stores!

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

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

 

(Amazon killed my affiliate account for lack of use, so I figured why link to them anymore? Support my local store AND get a signed book!)

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 (or Patreon).

March 10, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 21 | murverse.com

“Fiction Traps and How To Avoid Them” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“Task Avoidance” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

Check out the official ISBW merch!

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Open

2022 Word Count: 37083

Good News Good News

* Hugo nominations are open through March 15

* Team Rejection count: 81

* Nebula Awards Finalists announced, and there was much rejoicing!

* Ditch Diggers update

Main Topic: Task Avoidance Hows and Whys

* Taking action: applying things learned from self-help tips

* Finding the reasons (fears) we are practicing task avoidance with the writing that needs to be done (perfectionism, sunk costs fallacies, etc)

* Ira Glass “The Gap”

*             https://www.thisamericanlife.org/extras/the-gap

*             https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/the-gap-by-ira-glass-9651a750408f

* Taking writing baby steps can build confidence and momentum, and treat yourself

Links

* Merch Shop

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for March 15-19:

* Monday: 2-3:30pm AMA

* Tuesday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

* Wed: 3-5pm Gaming TBD

* Thursday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing (With Ursula Vernon!)

Support Local Book Stores!

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

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

 

(Amazon killed my affiliate account for lack of use, so I figured why link to them anymore? Support my local store AND get a signed book!)

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 (or Patreon).

March 15, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 20 | murverse.com

“Task Avoidance” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under

“Sanderson’s Success, As Told Through Animal Crossing” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

Check out the official ISBW merch!

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

NOTE: After the fact (of course) I learned this was Episode 650, if counted through the non-season methods. Wow. I should plan a party for 700.

ISBW S18 Ep19: Sanderson’s Success, As Told Through Animal Crossing

Open

* 2022 Word Count: ~34809

* Doing character research… ?

Good News Good News

* Hugo nominations are open through March 15

* Team Rejection count: 78

* ISBW Book Club launch imminent

Main Topic: Why most writers can’t duplicate Sanderson’s Kickstarter, told through Animal Crossing metaphors. 

* Clearing the slates in Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing

* Building a new island with Brandon Sanderson-like business aplomb

* Working to make enough money to be able to buy cool stuff to make your island better

Links

* Merch Shop

* Animal Crossing

* Stardew Valley

* That Kickstarter

* Preorder Station Eternity

* Catch the next Twitch stream

* All the places to find Mur!

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for Mar 7 – Mar 12:

* M: 3:00-4:30pm AMA

* T: 3:00-4:30pm I Should Be Writing

* W: 3:00-5:00pm Gaming (something new!)

* Th: 3:00-4:30 pm I Should Be Writing

Support Local Book Stores!

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

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

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 (or Patreon).

March 3, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 19 | murverse.

“How Can We Use Agency?” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

Check out the official ISBW merch!

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Open

* 2022 Word Count: ~34000

Good News Good News

* Hugo nominations are open for 2022

* Team Rejection count: 55

Main Topic: The Agency that Characters Should Have

* Giving lead & side characters the ability to make choices about their own paths

* Good choices, bad choices, at least they make the choices

Links

* Preorder Station Eternity

* Merch Shop

* Catch the next Twitch stream

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for Mar 7 – Mar 12:

* M: 3:00-4:30pm AMA

* T: 3:00-4:30pm I Should Be Writing

* W: 3:00-5:00pm Gaming (something new!)

* Th: 3:00-4:30 pm I Should Be Writing

Support Local Book Stores!

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

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

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 (or Patreon).

March 1, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 18 | murverse.com

“How Can We Use Agency?” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“Story Bibles: Do I Need One?” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

Check out the official ISBW merch!

 

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Open

* Mur’s newest, STATION ETERNITY, will be out on October 4 2022 (Cover So Pretty)

* 2022 Word Count: ~31000

* Murder mysteries should not be boring

* There’s no such thing as a working convention visit

* Authors cannot control book prices. Don’t yell at them about that, please?

Good News Good News

* Hugo nominations are open for 2022

* Team Rejection count: 44

* Beefing up story in Midsolar Murders Book 2

* Will Staehle: Art Good

Main Topic: Making Story Bibles Work

* Why you might need a story bible, and how you might start one

* Building a list of what needs to be in a story bible

* Maintaining continuity is key for both authors and readers

Links

* Merch Shop

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for Feb 27-Mar 4:

* M: 3:00-4:30pm AMA

* T: 3:00-4:30pm I Should Be Writing

* W: 3:00-5:00pm Gaming TBD

* Th: 3:00-4:30 pm I Should Be Writing

Support Local Book Stores!

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

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

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 (or Patreon).

February 22, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 17 | murverse.com

“Story Bibles: Do I Need One?” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“Could or Should: Which is worse?” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

Check out the official ISBW merch!

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Open

* 2022 Word Count: ~34000

Good News Good News

* Hugo nominations are open for 2022

* Team Rejection count: 50

Main Topic: The Burdens of “Could” and “Should”

* Analysis Paralysis has entered the building… with a shiv… now what?

* When stories are wanted, needed and cared about. Or not.

* Evil Mur appears!

* What to work on when

* Move on to new projects

Links

* Dr Pamela Gay (Twitter)

* Cosmo Quest

* Merch Shop

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for Feb 27-Mar 4:

* Monday: 2-3:30pm AMA

* Tuesday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

* Wed: 3-5pm Gaming TBD

* Thursday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

Support Local Book Stores!

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

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

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 (or Patreon).

February  24, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 17 | murverse.com

“Could or Should?” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“The End…?” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

Check out the official ISBW merch!

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

Open

* Mur’s newest, STATION: ETERNITY, will be out on October 4 2022 (Cover So Pretty)

* 2022 Word Count: 29193

* Heading for Boskone

Good News Good News

* Hugo nominations are open for 2022

* Team Rejection count: 42

Main Topic: Ending Your Stories

* Ambiguous endings: where lies the story satisfaction?

* The endings structure of romances

* Save the Cat Beat Sheet for story parts

* Advice on Endings from James Patrick Kelly

* “Beginnings, Middles, and Ends” by Nancy Kress

* “Save the Cat Writes a Novel” by Jessica Brody

Links

* Merch Shop

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for Feb 27-Mar 4:

* Monday: 2-3:30pm AMA

* Tuesday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

* Wed: 3-5pm Gaming TBD

* Thursday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

Support Local Book Stores!

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

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

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 (or Patreon).

February 17, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 15 | murverse.com

“The End…?” by Mur Lafferty

is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“LIES” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

HEY Did you know we have a merch store now?

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

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

Links

* Merch Shop

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

Twitch schedule for Feb 20-26:

* Monday: 3-4:30pm* AMA

* Tuesday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

* Wed: 3-5pm Gaming TBD

* Thursday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

* Please note I’m moving all my streams to 3pm EST.

Affiliate Links

* Station Eternity (The Midsolar Murders Book 1) by Mur Lafferty

* Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

* Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition by Mur Lafferty

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

art by Numbers Ninja,

“Let’s Build a Character” 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 $1 a month! You can also support at Ko-Fi! The rewards may vary slightly, but all get the archive and bonus episodes!

HEY Did you know we have a merch store now?

 

 

Follow the show on your favorite service!

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

Links

* Better Backstories 

* Storycubes 

* Merch Shop

* Mur on Twitter

* John Anealio on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Bandcamp

* The Garages on Twitter

Twitch schedule for Feb 13-19:

* Monday: 2-3:30pm AMA

* Tuesday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

* Wed: 3-5pm Gaming TBD

* Thursday: 3-430 pm I Should Be Writing

Affiliate Links

* Station Eternity (The Midsolar Murders Book 1) by Mur Lafferty

* Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

*