
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


For the first time in eleven episodes, we have a "normal" one. No special guests, no special locations, and no new format tricks. This episode grows out of Howard's ignorance - remember back in Episode 10 when Howard called "can of worms" on "theme?" Well, we open the can for this entire episode. What is theme? Is it something the author must consciously include? Is it something the reader must successfully identify? How can writing to a particular theme help your work? How can it hurt? How can writers avoid thematic pitfalls? We discuss examples from other writers, and from our own work (especially Brandon's.) This week's Writing Excuses is brought to you by Dave Farland's Novel-Writing Workshop. Writing Prompt: Write a short story that has no theme. No deeper meaning. Nothin'.
By Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler4.6
12791,279 ratings
For the first time in eleven episodes, we have a "normal" one. No special guests, no special locations, and no new format tricks. This episode grows out of Howard's ignorance - remember back in Episode 10 when Howard called "can of worms" on "theme?" Well, we open the can for this entire episode. What is theme? Is it something the author must consciously include? Is it something the reader must successfully identify? How can writing to a particular theme help your work? How can it hurt? How can writers avoid thematic pitfalls? We discuss examples from other writers, and from our own work (especially Brandon's.) This week's Writing Excuses is brought to you by Dave Farland's Novel-Writing Workshop. Writing Prompt: Write a short story that has no theme. No deeper meaning. Nothin'.

26,226 Listeners

15,233 Listeners

1,017 Listeners

1,003 Listeners

2,431 Listeners

628 Listeners

229 Listeners

24,415 Listeners

312 Listeners

1,465 Listeners

774 Listeners

516 Listeners

413 Listeners

89 Listeners