Writing Excuses

We went to you for questions about world building, and you had some really good ones. The questions are listed below, and our answers are secreted within MP3 file.

* Has there ever been a piece of world building that you didn't include, and regretted not including?

* How do you remain consistent?

* How do you decide between writing a secondary world fantasy, and creating an historical fantasy?

* Can you avoid cultural appropriation while still using elements inspired by other cultures?

* (This one is getting a can of worms: there's an entire episode on cultural appropriation coming up)

* What's the minimum amount of world building required?

You've done piles of world building. How do you convey this world to reader without infodumping? We talk about the different skill levels involved, and then the techniques that you'll be using as you get better and better at what is probably the most critical skill unique to genre fiction writers.

What's the difference between intrigue, suspense, and mystery? We answer this (it comes down to reader knowledge vs character knowledge), and then talk about what makes intrigue useful as a tool for any story, and how to use it without falling back on idiot character plots, or simply withholding information from the reader.

Intrigue is also its own genre, with spy stories and political intrigue stories fitting into this space. We talk a bit about how those stories work, and how they're built.

Upcoming Homework: We'll be doing a Project-In-Depth on Mary's new book, Of Noble Family, in two weeks (episode 10.21, airing on May 24th.) To get the most out of that episode without having anything spoiled, pick up a copy now and start reading!

This is for you folks who started writing the story before you finished building your world. Which is what we wanted you to do all along! Sneaky! We're talking about letting your story drive your world building efforts, so that you can be more efficient.

We cover some of the tools that we use, as well as when world building fits into, then out of, and then back into our respective processes.

Out of Context Quote: "Sometimes you just need to take the underpants off the puppet."

Other Worldbuilding Episodes to Reference: Brandon promised a list of links. Here's a pretty comprehensive one!

* 4.30: Worldbuilding The Future (a blast from our distant past...)

* 6.13: Worldbuilding Communications Technology (rise of the smartphone)

* 6.27: Fantasy Setting Yard Sale (A good demonstration)

* 7.2: Flora and Fauna (Lots of nature. And demonstration!)

* 7.3: Flora and Fauna pt 2 (So much it didn't fit in one episode.)

* 9.21: Sanderson's 3rd Law (Depth vs. breadth in world building)

* 10.6: The Worldbuilding Revolves Around Me ("The Magical 1%")

We recommend not listening to all of them in one go. You're supposed to be out of excuses and writing, not podcast diving for another two hours...

We've talked about beginnings this month. Now we'll answer some of your questions on the matter. Here are the questions:

* What are there differences between the beginnings in different forms?

* How do you begin in media res when you're not writing action?

* What's the biggest mistake that can be made when plotting the beginning?

* I see a lot of big-name author beginnings that aren't all that strong. Why should I spend time making my beginning awesome?

* How do you balance the need to have something happening right away against the need to have the reader know something about the characters?

* In creating a character, where do you start in the development process, and what do you begin revealing first?

 

The first page is often the very hardest one to write. In this episode we talk about how to fill the space on the first few pages of your story, because those are the pages where you have to convince the reader to keep going, and the very first page is often the only chance you have to get the reader's attention at all.

The good news is that the first words the reader reads are not going to be the first words that you write. You can find the story's voice before you pour that voice into the those first pages.

Wes Chu, author and adventurer, recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and has some things to say about all the wilderness trekking that our characters do in the books we write, and how we often forget to say anything about sleeping on inclines, altitude sickness, or packing toilet paper.

The salient point: we need to remember that our characters are experiencing these wilderness treks, and they have interesting opinions about them.

April is all about beginnings, at least as far as Season 10's syllabus is concerned. So let's start!

The cool stuff you plan to put in your story will need other stuff to set it up, and that setting up means that other stuff needs to come first. But how far down does that rabbit hole go?

In this episode we talk about how you can determine which elements of your story should come first. We also define (finally!) the term "promises" in the way we use it when we say "promises made to the reader," and then we talk about how to figure out what promises we're making.

Any discussion of story structure must necessarily take a look at that big, long bit between the beginning and the end, that piece where almost everything actually happens. In this episode we talk about the middles of stories, and how formulaic structures will help you get them to do all of the things that you need for them to do, and this can be done without the story feeling formulaic.

We got things a bit out of order here -- this was supposed to be the SECOND episode of March, rather than the fifth. When Brandon says "two weeks ago" he means "four weeks ago." Sorry for the confusion.

Wes Chu joins us again for a Q&A about this month's topic: story structure! Here are the questions:

* Do you make a conscious decision about how to structure your story before you begin writing?

* Is it necessary to use multiple structures (three-act, Hollywood formula, etc) in order to ensure that your story works?

* What tools do you use to view your story's structure?

* What do you think about cliffhangers?

* How do you come up with plot twists for your stories? (Answer: A blast from the past with Michael Stackpole! Season 1, Episode 19!)

* What structures should I use to add variety to my writing?

* Is there a specific amount of time you should spend on your introduction before getting to the inciting incident?

* What do you do when you're halfway through with a story before you realize the structure is wrong?