Writing Excuses

This bonus episode is what happens when there are two things we want to plug, and we decide to try and blend them in a single PSA. Here's the Amazon link for the paperback release of John Brown's first novel, Servant of a Dark God. There is no Amazon link for going out and voting, but what if there were? There. There's your writing prompt: "Election services offered online via an Amazon link." Since NaNoWriMo is already a day old, we hope you don't still need a writing prompt. You're out of excuses. Now go write.

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John Brown joins us this week for a discussion of plot threads specific to characters. These can be the main plot thread, interesting sub-plots, or just things that shape characters. Sometimes they're things we do deliberately, and sometimes we discovery-write our way into these arcs. We talk about how we do this, and how we know when it is (and isn't!) working well. We ran a little long, but there were four of us, and we put LOTS of nuts-and-bolts stuff in this 'cast. Writing Prompt: Your cast of characters is trapped on an emotionally-responsive roller-coaster that mimics their own emotional arcs. How do they use this knowledge? This Tuesday: John's first novel, Servant of a Dark God, is out in paperback! ALSO This Tuesday: The polls are open for you, you citizens of the United States! Go vote! Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1, by Jonathan Stroud, read by Simon Jones. This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership*. *Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please! Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.

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What are the excuses you make when you're not writing? Brandon, Dan, and Howard examine these, and offer advice for getting the writing done anyway.

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Melodrama. What is it? What do people mean when they say something is too melodramatic? Usually they do NOT mean "it's too much like a classical melodrama," but it helps if we start with that definition: a melodrama is a story in which each character only expresses one emotion, and/or only has one trait. When we refer to melodrama, we're usually complaining about over-acting. So... how do we avoid it? How do we create characters in conflict without overdoing the conflict or the characterization. In many ways it comes back to something we say over and over (and over and over) again: make your characters into real people. But we're not going to leave it at that. We're not just going to repeat what we've been telling you for three years now. No, we've got good tools you can use for writing powerful, emotional moments without your readers whining about melodrama. Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Tomb: Repairman Jack #1, by F. Paul Wilson Writing Prompt: Write a story in which you take a cliched, angsty hero in a completely new direction, so that it doesn't feel cliched. Dramatic Reading: Stick around after the 'cast for Howard's reading of Mike O's response to our "magical ink" writing prompt. This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership*. *Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please! Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.

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Brandon, Dan, and Howard discuss Flash Fiction in less time than it took you to read this excerpt.

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Fast-paced Q&A with Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

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Brandon, Dan, and Howard discuss "Write what you DON'T know."

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Brandon, Dan, and Howard accept their 2010 Parsec Award a bit late, and offer an apology for missing the ceremony.

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Suspense! What is it? What isn't it? What is the relationship between suspense and mystery, and for that matter horror, humor, and adventure? This 'cast is chock full of pithy quotes, useful advice, and anecdotal examples.

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Bree Despain joins Brandon, Dan, and Howard for a discussion of writing in the 1st-person

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