The Writ Wit

In this episode, the two Matts are even MORE tired, recall another one of Captain Writ's legendary adventures, wonder what the point was bringing dinosaur fossils to space, and talk about writing nonfiction, scientific journals, research papers, and other informational texts in the most fun manner possible for such a dry topic. How do you keep your readers interested? Should you still research even if you're confident you know all about the subject? Can a nonfiction piece be too dry even for people already interested in the subject? Will Matt Donald get a good night sleep after recording this marathon of the last four episodes? We discuss it all, with the most goofy and charming wit one can muster for this kind of topic, and talk about space, music, dinosaurs, the 1920s, and other non-pop culture stuff.

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts are really tired, sell an exposition generator to any unprepared souls who actually want it, lament about the numbers of OREOs they've eaten, and talk about lyrics and songs and a teeny, tiny bit more on poetry that we didn't cover in Episode 22. *ding!* What comes first, the lyrics or the melody? Does it matter what comes first? How should you measure flow for writing lyrics? Will Matt Donald say much more in this episode other than "yep" and "uh-huh" because he's really tired and doesn't know much about lyrics and thus lets Matt David do most of the topic? (nah, he won't) We discuss it all, practically slurring due to how tired we were when recording, and talk about Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and Music and Lyrics (the movie, not just the concept, although obviously we talk about the concept too)

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts reminisce about school and old professors, work as masters at a plot ninja dojo, wonder about the order of the alphabet, and talk more about less mainstream works of writing with this episode about blogs and essays. What should one's mindset be when starting a blog? How should one arrange an essay? How many sources or citations should an essay have? How mad will Matt Donald's college professor be when he stumbles across this podcast and hears Donald talk about how much he hated his class? We discuss it all, with excellent, peer-reviewed quality, and talk about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, various stand-up specials, and Matt David's incident in Japan where he contributed to the construction of a safety railing.

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

Also, the action-packed ninja-sounding track at the beginning is "Dark Ninjas" by Derek and Brandon Fiechter.

In this episode, the two Matts go on an adventure to recover the Golden Pencil from the Temple of Quills, reflect on how busy they've been lately, encourage each other on weight loss goals, and do the first episode on less-mainstream styles of writing by talking about script-writing. How is writing scripts different from writing prose? How much should you describe versus how much you should leave to the director? What formatting should you use during the writing process? When will Matt Donald ever finish his Megazoic movie script he's been threatening to do lately? We discuss it all, with quick cuts and smiles for the nonexistent camera, and talk about Kamen Rider, Love Death and Robots, and other stuff I'm forgetting I'm sure.

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts finish up their set about the alignment system, discuss Valentine's Day/Singles' Awareness day, try desperately not to make certain things recurring segments, and list off a bunch of characters that fit in each part of the alignment system. What characters are Lawful Good, True Neutral, Chaotic Evil, and the rest? What seemingly totally different characters exist within the same alignment? Do any of the characters change their position as their franchise goes on? Will Matt David ever accept his defeat and let "Matt Picks His Nose" be the recurring segment of the show it has always been destined to be? We discuss it all, extra-exhausted by this point due to recording these four episodes all at once, and talk about Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, and Megazoic (if you wanna buy it, check the links below! I mean, you can see them, right? They're totally there)

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts read stories with special shades that alter the emotional context, get onto each other about broken YouTube promises, have more cheap-plug-ding-noises than ever, and do part three of four of our character alignment episodes by talking about writing Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, and Chaotic Evil. What are the best ways to convey these characters' alignment? What are their personalities or motives like? How rigid or fluid do the characters have to be when categorizing them into certain alignments? When did Matt David EVER call Matt Donald "Mr. Waffle-maker"? (Answer: never. He'd remember that) We discuss it all, with the most devious twirl in our mustaches, and talk about Batman villains, Disney villains, other non-villainous characters, and other works in general.

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts do the second part of a four-episode series about character alignment, sell an incredible machine that replaces the Tolkien ripoffs from fantasy stories with more original elements, pick their noses in a riveting new segment of the show, and talk about writing characters from the Lawful Good to True Neutral Alignment. What's the difference in writing a Lawful Good character from Chaotic Good? What makes someone "good" and what makes them "neutral"? What words can describe the motivations of each alignment? How many listeners will come at our doors with torches and pitchforks due to not having either the "What We'll Rip Off" or "What We Have Writ" segments? We discuss it all, with distinguished professionalism that rivals the classiest businessmen, and talk about Superman, Iron Man, Robin Hood, and Noah.

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts start the conversion of the show from monthly to weekly, literally fish for ideas in a creek, make a metaphor about crossing the street that goes off the rails VERY quickly, and do the first episode of four based on the character alignment system. What do Lawful Good, Chaotic Neutral, or Neutral Evil even mean? What are the differences between the definitions? How different can characters be within a single alignment? How much of Matt David screaming in shock had to be edited out when he heard about Matt Donald reading a nonfiction history book that wasn't about dinosaurs? We discuss it all, with a jolly demeanor and a plucky attitude, and talk about Superman, Deadpool, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Ultraman again (seriously, David, watch new Japanese shows!)

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

Helpful links: 

easydamus.com/alignment.html

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharacterAlignment

Originally recorded: January 2019

In this episode, the two Matts comment on made-up previews before watching a made-up movie, reveal the title and premise for the final Megazoic book, reveal how cringe-y their contemporaries feel about the podcast, and talk about writing tear-jerking moments in stories. What's the difference between writing happy emotional moments and sad ones? What are effective ways to convey emotion? What are our personal favorite emotional moments in our own writing? Who will win the Character Who Nearly Turned Us Gay award in the nonexistent Witties ceremony this year? We discuss it all, with a box of tissues at the ready, and talk about Aquaman, October Sky, The Phantom of the Opera, and Fant4stic for some reason.

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

Originally recorded: December 2018

In this episode, the two Matts invite another longtime friend Christina Franklin (not to be confused with Christina Eilert), parody another holiday song for the season, celebrate the release of Matt Donald's third Megazoic book, and talk about how to get around the issues of writing characters of different genders from your own. What are the easiest methods to getting yourself in the mindset of someone different? How do you get around awkward scenes? Is there anything you should actively avoid? Is the thing mentioned about the sleepovers Matt David and Matt Donald had accurate, and if so, will the listeners ever get the image out of their minds? We discuss it all, with the helpful aid of a woman to add a separate mindset to the topic than that of two straight white men, and talk about Cinderella, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Proposal, and Megazoic: The Hunted Ones (buy now on Amazon.com! *ding!*)

Have any feedback or questions for our hosts? Email us at [email protected]. Also you can purchase Matt Donald's book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, or its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

Special thanks to Christina Franklin for helping out with this episode.