The Writ Wit

In this episode, the two Matts accidentally beam a signal to an alien planet's transmission spires, discuss the recent US election, finally disqualify a type of work as NOT "writting," and talk about making changes to a show's episodic formula in the next of our set about the pitfalls of writing episodic works. What are some ways you can change the status quo? How can certain changes come across as forced or unnatural? How do you avoid making contrivances that make the story unfulfilling? How many vehicles or other forms of locomotion will Matt David use as metaphors for writing? We discuss it all, while remaining exactly the same drivel we've been for the last hundred episodes, and talk about Marvel movies, Power Rangers, and Matt Donald's next new book Teslanauts, coming soon to Amazon.com! *ding!*

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts promote the Character Assassination Squad to help writers kill off characters they really don't want to kill themselves, do the forced segue joke even earlier than usual, use the term "goosing" sales despite one of us never hearing of that term before, and talk about episodic vs. long-form storytelling in the next of our set of the pitfalls of writing episodic works. When should certain stories be one-offs versus building up a larger story? How should writers bend the formula they've made for each episode? What are the dangers of writing long-form storytelling for a longer and longer period of time? When will Matt Donald finally be able to do multiple forced segues in one episode? We discuss it all, in this long-form story that is our podcast, and talk about Phineas and Ferb, Marvel movies and comics, Bionicle, and Power Rangers.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts tell the tale of Dr. Writtenstein after forgetting to do a Halloween-themed skit last year, mourn the loss of the greatest Halloween ever that we can't celebrate properly because of COVID-19, reveal one of themselves as a desperate tryhard, and talk about retreading the same ground in the first of our set about the pitfalls of writing episodic works. What are the problems with having to keep to the status quo? How often do characters need to learn their lesson? Does it matter the type of story or demographic? How hard was Matt David hamming it up in this episode's intro skit? We discuss it all, while retreading the same ground as a podcast like we've done for 104 episodes, and talk about Power Rangers, Spongebob Squarepants, Borderlands, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts bow to the glory of an edgelord teenager's writing, fight over who does the awkward segues, accidentally turn the volume up a bit too high, and talk about writing populations affected by whatever large event happens in your story in the last of our set about incredibly minor characters. What are ways to effectively show what an incredibly large group of nameless characters are going through? How can you work with such a large population that it might as well be a statistic? What are the ways to condense it into smaller pieces to simplify it for your readers? Who will tell Matt Donald that he's using the word "compartmentalize" slightly incorrectly? We discuss it all, while afflicting a vast population of podcast listeners with our nonsense, and talk about Infinity War, Mulan, and Cats and Dogs for some reason.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

Also, the muffled song in the background of the skit is the main theme of Shadow the Hedgehog "I Am All of Me" by Crush 40. Because what else would it be?

In this episode, the two Matts sell a special device that zaps the procrastination out of you to an unhealthy degree, relay all the back-breaking work it took to write, edit, and arrange the 100th episode skit, relish in the prospect of a seven-year season for a TV show, and talk about armies and mobs as characters in the next of our set about incredibly minor characters. What are the ways armies can be more than featureless blobs for the heroes to churn through like butter? What are the different personalities you can give a nebulous mass? How can the writer show the traits of so many characters without bogging down the narrative? How many years/decades will it take Matt David to write Star Burst Season 2 with his co-writer? We discuss it all, with a real mob of listeners every week I assure you, and talk about Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Mulan, and Jurassic World.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts tune into a special clipshow/recollection of the various adventures of Captain Writ, examine the prospect of being an inch high, don't check the time and therefore record the shortest episode of the show by far, and talk about characters' offscreen social circles as we return to our set of incredibly minor characters. What can these unseen circles bring to a character's development? How are they important to the story? How can you show these circles' effects on the main characters rather than tell? When will Matt Donald get his revenge for all the bullying he endured as a kid? We discuss it all, with the heavy burden of our own offscreen social circles on our minds the whole time, and talk about Star Wars, Phineas and Ferb, the One Inch Boy, and Chuck Norris for some reason.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, the two Matts take on the evil Professor Von Bildungsroman, unite writing heroes from our earlier skits, bring back all our previous guest co-hosts (and all that in just the opening skit!) and talk about how this blasted podcast has somehow reached one hundred episodes. What are some of our favorite episodes we've done? What are some of our favorite running jokes? What do we want to accomplish in the future? What madness will Matt Donald have to edit if we ever get to our two-hundredth episode? We discuss all, while breaking out the champagne and thanking all our listeners for their support, and talk about The Writ Wit episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, episode 4, episode...   Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.   Special thanks to Allen Brooks, Sydney Chapin, Jake Chapman, Christina Eilert, Christina Franklin, Laura Owsley, and Lexi Ryan for helping with this episode. Music used for the intro skit is Dangerous Roads by Argsound, BrutForce by Argsound, Survival Race by Argsound, Crawling by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio, Triumph by MUSIC4VIDEO, Triumph of Light by Max Tune, and Archangel by Two Steps from Hell

In this episode, the two Matts have finally reunited once again, celebrate Matt David's return from Japan, bask in the glory of their new and fancy recording studio, and talk about one-off characters in the first of our set about really minor characters. What makes a character impactful in such a short amount of time? How much can they contribute? Do they always have to be plot-relevant? Has Matt David watched anything non-tokusatsu for his "What Will We Rip Off From This Month?" segment? We discuss it all, with two hosts that aren't one-off at all since they've been in almost every episode (or flat-out every episode in Matt Donald's case) and talk about Clive Cussler, Asura's Wrath, Big Bang Theory, and Dinotopia.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

In this episode, Matt David is gone for one more week so Matt Donald and Christina Eilert can finish our weird grab-bag set about nothing, in this instance talking about fallacies and how one could use them in writing. What are ways to use fallacies that make other characters seem unsympathetic? How about ways that give other characters self-reflection? What about ways to avoid them altogether? Why does Christina not like different food items smushed together when all of cooking is just different food items smushed together? We discuss it all, as no true podcast would ever not discuss their topic, and talk about Zootopia, Cast Away, political stuff, and a brief self-indulgent tangent about one of the Megazoic books. 

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

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

In this episode, Matt David is still not present and is dealing with international relocation shenanigans, so Matt Donald brings in recurring guest co-host Christina Eilert for the third week in a row, and this time we're talking about our favorite tropes in fiction and narrative storytelling. What is a trope specifically? What are different ways a trope can change a narrative? What makes certain tropes satisfying? What kind of funky magazines does Christina write at? We discuss it all, while barely going into all the various tropes we COULD go into (that would be a multi-day episode) and talk about Spider-Man, Shrek, Corpse Bride, and Hercules.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. If you have any feedback or questions for our hosts, you can 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, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here. If you'd like, of course.

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