Writers Drinking Coffee

In this episode, Dave, Chaz, and John briefly discuss character development using the "Big Five" model of personality before haring off on a number of predictable tangents. Also in this episode: everything Dave knows about factor analysis and psychological modeling (tl;dr: psychology is squishy); what Chaz doesn't know about "Aspects of the Novel:" by E.M. Forster (quite a bit, and seemingly proud of it); and John reminds Chaz to panic about being replaced by a computer. Also: MFAs are a dodgy proposition; the academic wing of the Tolkien industry; Freud sucks (Dave again); and how pantsing yourself into a corner is like failing to solve a Sudoku. Finally, a plea: "plotting" is fine, but can we please find an alternative to "pantsing"?! … Continue...Episode 91 – A Psychological Model for Character Building

It’s Black History month, and we all watched Bridgerton (and a certain Duke) over Christmas, right? We invite Madeleine Robins back and start pondering how to make our writing accurately reflect the cultural mélange that existed in London and beyond. From racism to classism, our writers look at our inherent biases, how “common knowledge” of history isn’t, and how it takes something evocative with a new spin to challenge our ideas of history. … Continue...Episode 90 – Race, Romance, and Regency

Jennifer has been nominated twice for the Bram Stoker award for horror, and won both the Bram Stoker and the Hugo Award for editing work. She’s written stories and novels for Battletech, Shadowrun, Valdemar, as well as many original stories and novels in YA Horror, Fantasy, and Sci Fi. She has the Best Quote Ever: You can be blunt or you can be vulgar but you can’t be both. … Continue...Episode 89 – Interview with Jennifer Brozek

Who is the first wizard on call when you need to make movie magic? Meg is a that wizard! A storyboard artist introduces us all to the world where the print meets the screen. Come learn about this exciting position working in TV and Movies, where you can tell stories with pictures and words in tandem. … Continue...Episode 88 – Interview with Megan Lloyd: Storyboarding

WDC once again talks with master of many forms Carol Wolf, who discusses plays, movies, screenplays, horror, and some of her recent work, and inspires WDC to write more! … Continue...Episode 87 – Carol Wolf, Shotgun Artist

There are writers who can take one genre and then turn it into multiple genres before they're done - and you can't put the books down. We sat down one of our favorites who gets away with it all the time. Charles Stross, unrepentant Pantser, as he labels himself, tells us all about his books, his inspirations, his process, and his latest projects. … Continue...Episode 86 – Charlie Stross, Harbinger of Our Times

Juliette’s second book, Transgressions of Power (sequel to Mazes of Power), is coming out in February! Get your tiara and boa together and think about what you’re going to wear to her book release party! Juliette talks about dialect work, plotting, and how world building and pre-construction helps her write faster. … Continue...Episode 85 – Juliette Wade Returns!

Richard Kadrey has been a successful novelist, written for comic books, scripts, and journalistic articles about art, culture, and technology. He creates music under the name Seven Blood-Stained Orchids. We caught up with him to find out the latest gossip on his Sandman Slim series, as there’s rumors of a movie in the offing. … Continue...Episode 84 – Interview with Richard Kadrey

In which our merry hosts contemplate finding the right point of view from which to tell a story. The perspective of looking at a story is fungible, but each point of view will have a different voice. The coffee committee ponders the right point of view for a story about an incident, and how the voice of the view affects the story's tone and outcome. … Continue...Episode 83 – From a Certain Point of View

This is our first foray into discussing satire, and how to make fun of politics. Whether cartooning, focusing a microscope on an individual trait or issue, or simply drawing attention to an injustice, satire has a place in writing and the arts. … Continue...Episode 82 – Writing Political Satire