Alle afleveringen
1.012 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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11.27: The Elemental Thriller
4 juli 2016 · 17 min
Let's get this out of the way up front: in the syntax of elemental genres, the phrase "the element of thriller" is clunky. But we'll say it anyway. We discuss the difference between the drivers in thrillers, horror stories, and mysteries, and use the elemental genre tools to assist in the differentiation. We also cover the tools we use to develop and maintain the tension that is so critical in a thriller. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.26: Elemental Mystery Q&A
27 juni 2016 · 19 min
In this episode we field some questions about elemental mystery. Here they are! How do you balance between two mysteries in the same story? What types of mysteries can fit well as sub-plots? What do you do when beta readers figure out the mystery really early? In the MICE quotient, are mysteries all "Idea" stories? How do you write a protagonist who is smarter than you are? How do you make sure your genius protagonist is still experiencing an interesting struggle? How do you make a kidnap victim more than just a MacGuffin? How "literary" can you make your mystery? Liner Notes: The movie Howard referred to is Cellular, with Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, and Jason Statham. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.25: Elemental Mystery is Everywhere
20 juni 2016 · 17 min
Per our Elemental Genre theme, this week we further explore elemental mystery. Elemental mystery can be found in any work in which our curiosity is what keeps us turning pages. The type of satisfaction we feel at the reveal may also reveal the elemental genre in which the element of mystery has been embedded. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.24: Stakes!
13 juni 2016 · 19 min
We talk a lot about "raising the stakes" in our writing. When we say "stakes," we're referring to the things that keep our characters involved in the conflict, rather than just walking away and doing something else. We dig into what this really means, and how everyone in the story must be driven by things that they have at stake. Liner Notes: in this episode we refer to the three character-development "sliders" model set forth in WX 9.13. Credits: This episode was recorded by Jeff Cools, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.23: The Element of Mystery
6 juni 2016 · 19 min
Mystery may well be the most common element in use, at least in some form or another, across the many bookshelf genres comprising "fiction." We discuss the driving force of elemental mystery, how to evoke those feelings in the reader, and the importance of being able to write mystery effectively. Liner Notes: we mentioned Episode 7.10 in which Mary and Dan interviewed David Brin. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.22: Examining Unconscious Biases, with Shannon Hale
30 mei 2016 · 21 min
Shannon Hale joins us at LTUE for a live-audience session in which we explore gender biases, and extrapolate from there to our many other unconscious biases. Our unconscious biases are not just the things that we consider to be "just the way things are," or "common sense." They're the things we don't even see, much less consider, and the obvious challenge for us as writers is to find those biases, and then to dig into them and really understand them. Our goal is to be able to write beyond them, and create literature that is both more believable, and more widely accessible. Credits: This episode was recorded live at LTUE by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.21: Q&A on Elemental Horror, with Steve Diamond
23 mei 2016 · 21 min
Steve Diamond joins us for our third and final Elemental Horror episode as we field your questions about this particular building block. Here are the questions we selected from your submissions: If I want to make peanut butter terrifying without being silly, how do I do that? What is your personal line between horror and "gore-nography?" How do you avoid going too far with graphic elements? Soundtracks are huge for horror movies. How do you set the mood without this tool? What's the best way for a thriller writer to edge into writing horror? How do you decide when to show the monster, and how does it change the story when that happens? Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.20: Horror as a Subgenre
15 mei 2016 · 22 min
Steve Diamond joins us again to talk horror, this time about using elemental horror as part of our stories' elemental ensemble. We discuss how the sense of dread can be a page-turning motivation, and how it can complement the other "keep on reading" motivations we set out to invoke. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.19: Fashion for Writers, with Rebecca McKinney
9 mei 2016 · 19 min
How do we go about describing the clothing our characters are wearing? How do we use that to add depth to our story? What are the common mistakes that writers make when they start dressing their characters? Rebecca McKinney joined us on stage at LTUE to address all this. Liner Notes: We mentioned some resources for those wanting to get clothing right in their work: Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing Historic Costume for the Stage, by Lucy Barton The International Costumers' Guild Fashion Sketchbook, by Bina Abling Lees meer
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11.18: Elemental Horror
2 mei 2016 · 22 min
Steve Diamond joins us to kick off our month on the elemental genre of horror. We explore the emotional components that readers seek from horror, and then drill down into the ways that we can create those reactions in our readers. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.17: Elemental Adventure Q&A
25 april 2016 · 23 min
You may still have questions about how to apply elemental adventure in your work. Hopefully your questions are similar to the ones we collected below, because these are the ones we answered: What do readers like more: protagonists going through lots of different incidents and locations, or through a few that are similar to each other? What lessons can we learn from adventure games? How can we make action scenes that adventurous, but that are not fight scenes? Are there tropes we should stay away from in adventure fiction? Do you have suggestions for non-western styles of adventure fiction? How do you safely skip the long, boring parts of a journey without missing out on necessary character development? Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.16: Adventure as a Subgenre
18 april 2016 · 23 min
Let's be adventurous. Let's move beyond simply being cooks, and strive to become chefs. In this episode we explore using the element of adventure as an ingredient in something that has far more than adventure going on in it. Why do we like adventure? What draws the reader forward? Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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11.15: The Environment, with L.E. Modessit, Jr.
11 april 2016 · 17 min
L.E. Modesitt, Jr. joined us at LTUE for a world building discussion centered around the way the environment informs the story. We talk about lead in Roman plumbing, water lilies in Las Vegas sewers, and coal power in the British Empire, and how these examples can help us more effectively use the environments in our stories. Liner Notes: We mentioned both Americapox, The Missing Plague, (a YouTube video) and the excellent book Guns, Germs, and Steel. Lees meer
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11.14: The Element of Adventure
4 april 2016 · 21 min
Our exploration of elemental genres continues with the sense of "I want to do that." Lees meer
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11.13: Elemental Idea Q&A
28 maart 2016 · 16 min
This is a Q&A about ideas that does NOT include the question "Where do you get your ideas?" Lees meer
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11.12: Idea as Subgenre, With Nancy Fulda
20 maart 2016 · 20 min
Nancy Fulda is back for our second episode on the Idea elemental genre. We cover some tools for exploring an idea, and then drill down a bit on how to use that exploration, or even multiple explorations as "seasoning" elements for a larger work. Credits: This episode was recorded by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson Lees meer
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11.11: Self Publishing in 2016, with Michaelbrent Collings
13 maart 2016 · 18 min
Recorded live at LTUE, Michaelbrent Collings guest-starred for a discussion about self publishing. The landscape continues to change, and Collings is fully engaged in it. He begins by stressing the importance of truly understanding the craft of writing—every professional writer needs this—and then talks turkey about Kindle Direct, Bookbub, formats and lengths, output, available resources, publicity activities, and what kinds of things new writers should commit to spending money on. Note: Writing Excuses Patrons at the "Hear it When Howard Does" level got this episode on March 9th, four days ahead of the rest of the world. You can help support the podcast, and get early access, plus other bonus goodies, by joining them at Patreon.com. Credits: This episode was recorded live by Daniel Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson Lees meer
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11.10: Idea, as Genre, with Nancy Fulda
7 maart 2016 · 20 min
Nancy Fulda joins us to talk about the Elemental Genre of Idea, and how to write stories driven by a sense of fascination. Lees meer
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11.09: Q&A on the Element of Wonder
28 februari 2016 · 18 min
Gama Ray Martinez joins us at LTUE to field questions on the Element of Wonder, which were submitted by members of our audience. Here are the questions: How do you create wonder in non-genre stories, where there are no super-powers, spaceships, or spellcasters? How do you avoid making the wonder stale? Are there stages of wonder, similar to the stages of grief? Does wonder come from the style of the prose, the pacing, or from other things? How would you foreshadow wonder? Lees meer
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11.08: Wonder as a Subgenre
21 februari 2016 · 21 min
If the Element of Wonder is the driving force behind "sense of wonder" science fiction and fantasy, then that same element can be used to give wondrous flavor to stories whose driving force lies among the other elemental genres. We talk about how to use wonder at smaller scales, how to create it with context, and how you might use it in support of the other themes of your story. Lees meer
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11.07: The Convention Survival Kit, with Gail Carriger
14 februari 2016 · 19 min
Gail Carriger joins us to talk about her Convention Survival Kit, which is full of things most of us wish we'd known to pack with us years ago. Lees meer
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11.06: The Element of Wonder
8 februari 2016 · 18 min
We've introduced the concept of Elemental Genre already. It's time to start digging in to the elements themselves, beginning with the Element of Wonder. We started with this one because "sense of wonder" is a term that gets used to describe what makes some science fiction stories work. In this episode we expand upon the word "wonder" a bit, making the shorthand of "elemental wonder" more useful, not to mention more descriptive. We then go on to detail some methods writers might use to evoke wonder, leveraging that element for the greatest effect in their work. Lees meer
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11.05: Writing and World Building for Role Playing Games
31 januari 2016 · 17 min
Michelle Lyons McFarland, Monica Valentinelli, and Shanna Germain join Howard and Dan at GenCon, and talk about the craft of world building for role playing games. Lees meer
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11.04: Newton’s Laws of Writing
25 januari 2016 · 19 min
Let's map Newton's Laws of Motion onto writing. Because a wordcount at rest tends to remain at rest... Lees meer
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11.03: Layering The Elemental Genres
18 januari 2016 · 19 min
Elemental Genre becomes particularly useful when you start blending the elements for sub-plots, character arcs, or even mash-ups. Lees meer
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11.2: How To Get The Most Out Of A Conference, with Kathy Chung
10 januari 2016 · 20 min
What's the difference between a conference and a convention? How do we, as writers, get the most out of them? Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 11.1: Introduction to Elemental Genre
3 januari 2016 · 17 min
The word "genre" has a lot of weight to it. Arguments about whether a particular work is, or is not, part of a given genre are long, and tedious. Season Eleven will not be engaging in those arguments. We're giving all that a wide miss by adding an adjective, and defining a new term: Elemental Genre. During 2016 we are going to explore what we write, why we write, and how we write in much the same way as previous seasons have, but our guidepost this year will be this concept of Elemental Genres. In January we'll stay high-level and firm up the framework. Starting in February we'll drill down on each of the Elemental Genres, and explore the writing process. Here's what the year will look like, month-by-month: January: Introduction February: Wonder March: Idea April: Adventure May: Horror June: Mystery July: Thriller August: Humor September: Relationship October: Drama November: Issue December: Ensemble We're really excited about this year's format, and we're confident that by examining our writing in this way we'll learn (and perhaps even teach!) some new things. Note: 2016 is a leap year, but this episode was recorded in 2015. When we said "it's not a leap year" we were confused. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.52: Moving On, with Ellen Kushner
28 december 2015 · 22 min
Ellen Kushner joins us for the last episode of Season 10. Per the title, folks, it's time to be done. What does "done" mean? How do you go about declaring a project "finished" when you know there are still things wrong with it? How do you clear your head, your work space, and your life for the next thing you need to do? Out of Excuses: Per Brandon's plug in the episode, registration is open for the 2016 Out of Excuses WritingWorkshop and Retreat! Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.51: Q&A on Showing Your Work, with Daniel José Older
21 december 2015 · 23 min
Daniel José Older joins us for a Q&A on showing your work around. Here are the questions, which were submitted by attendees at the Out of Excuses workshop: What's the best way to meet editors and agents at conventions? How do you write a good query letter? What do you mention as credentials in your query letter? You didn't cover self publishing at all this month. Self publishing is legit, right? Can you submit the same work to more than one agent or editor at a time? Can you re-submit a revised work to an agent who previously rejected the piece? Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.50: How to Hand-Sell Your Manuscript to Agents and Editors, with Michael Underwood and Marco Palmieri
14 december 2015 · 17 min
Marco Palmieri and Michael Underwood took the stage with Howard and Dan at GenCon Indy 2015 to discuss hand-selling manuscripts. Marco Palmieri is a senior editor at Tor, and Michael Underwood is an author, and is also the North American Sales and Marketing manager for Angry Robot Books. We begin with a list of the things to avoid doing, including the classic mistakes like chasing editors into restrooms, but we quickly move on to where you get started, and what your task list is going to look like. We cover resources like Literary Marketplace, Locus, and Publishers Lunch, and the not-so-secret-anymore #MSWL hash-tag. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.49: What Do I Do With This Thing Now?
7 december 2015 · 20 min
We're at the end of our Season Ten Master Class, and if you've been diligent about the homework, you may very well have a finished manuscript in your hands. What do you do with it? Daniel José Older joins us for a bit of reminiscence. We talk about some of our first submissions, and what we did right, wrong, and weirdly. We cover our criteria for selecting publishers to whom we'd like to send our stuff, and we include the shiny intangibles in that list. This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered in an abandoned missile silo by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.48: Project in Depth, The Devil’s Only Friend
30 november 2015 · 21 min
Spoiler Alert! We'll be discussing the latest John Cleaver book from Dan Wells with author, podcaster, and unrepentant bacon-lover Dan Wells! If you haven't read it, and you want to be surprised by it, stop listening and grab a copy now! Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.47: Q&A on Revision
23 november 2015 · 20 min
And now for your questions about revision. Or rather, questions from the WXR attendees, who were aboard the Independence of the Seas with us (the answers to these questions are secreted away in the audio file...): During revision, when do you think it's acceptable to throw the whole thing out? How do you fit the whole structure in your head? What do you find you most often need to add? What do you do when your revisions have made things worse? How do you avoid over-writing during the revision process? When revising, how many passes do you make, and what order are they in? Do you take the sounds of words into account when writing and revising? This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered in a concrete bunker somewhere in the midwest by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.46: How Do I Make This Pretty?
16 november 2015 · 23 min
The microphones again find us aboard the Independence of the Seas*, to talk about how terribly ugly this manuscript is, and what we can do to make it pretty. In this episode we drill down on line-by-line, paragraph-by-paragraph revisions. This stage of the revision process is where our prose gets wordsmithed. This episode runs long, touching on: Punching up the pacing Turning things upside down Parallelisms Adverbial compression, The pyramid of abstraction Free and direct thought Replacing negative-information descriptions extreme editing exercises like "one sentence per concept." Obviously if you want more than just the bullet points you'll need to have a listen... *NOTE: Registration is now open for the 2016 Out of Excuses Workshop and Retreat! This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered ashore in a volcanic caldera by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.45: Q&A at the GenCon Writing Symposium, with Kameron Hurley, James L. Sutter, and Michael Underwood
9 november 2015 · 27 min
Dan and Howard are joined by Kameron Hurley, James L. Sutter, and Michael Underwood for an anything-goes Q&A at the GenCon Indy Writing Symposium. We had reached the end of our two-hour block, but the audience hungered for the chance to ask their questions of these guests, so the Symposium gave us an extra half hour in the room. The audience had already been in this room for 120 minutes, but they wanted more more more, so we ran a bit long. Can you advise us about Writing the Other especially regarding avoiding cultural appropriation? (yes, this question deserves an entire symposium all by itself. We answered as best we could.) If you were trying to break in right now, what would you do, and how would you do it? How do you best handle slithering out of making a commitment to help someone with their writing, and how do you deliver bad news to those writers if you end up committing to help anyway. How soon do you telegraph a plot twist? How do you, as a non-writer, be a good resource to the writers in your life? Do you know your title at the beginning of the writing process, or does it come to you later? How do you know when you need another revision pass, vs. when you need to simply rewrite the whole thing again? *NOTE: Back in July we attempted to record an episode on cultural appropriation with several guests hailing from marginalized and commonly misappropriated cultures, races, and backgrounds. The discussion was wonderful, but the recording itself was unusable due to an equipment failure. We wanted to share it with you, but even our brilliant mastering engineer Alex couldn't make it listenable. We promise to address this topic in the future, and we've purchased all new recording gear to ensure that we capture the discussion correctly. This episode was recorded and mastered by Alex Jackson Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.44: How Do I Fix What is Broken?
2 november 2015 · 22 min
November is "Revision" month here in the Writing Excuses Season 10 Master Class, so while many of you may be tempted by NaNoWriMo, there's a different kind of work to be done... Delia Sherman joins us again, this time for a frank talk about the tools and techniques we use during our revisions. This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered in a cloud fortress above Lake Michigan by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.43: Q&A on Endings, with Delia Sherman
25 oktober 2015 · 23 min
Delia Sherman joined us aboard the Independence of the Seas for our question-and-answer installment on endings. The questions came from the attendees at the Writing Excuses Workshop, which was, lest anyone forget, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The questions: Why do more short stories than novels end on tragic notes? How do you keep an ending from being predictable or boring? How do you write a stand-alone ending with sequel potential? What are the best ways to avoid infodump endings? Are there differences between writing the first novel in a series and other novels in the series? How do you know which questions to leave unanswered? What sort of attention do you give to your last lines? This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered in a soundproofed bullet-train by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.42: How In The World Do I Tie All This Together?
18 oktober 2015 · 22 min
Nalo Hopkinson joins us again, at sea, for our second Master Class installment on endings. We cover some of the reasons why an ending might not be working, and then talk about the sorts of diagnoses that will help you solve the problem. You'll likely need to dig deep in your toolbox. Our episodes covering the MICE quotient, promises made to the readers, and the Hollywood formula may be worth reviewing in this process. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.41: Your Character’s Moral Pendulum
12 oktober 2015 · 16 min
Brad Beaulieu and Jaym Gates join us from the GenCon Indy Writing Symposium to talk about good versus evil, and how your character might swing between the two. And it's all about that swing. Moral grey areas are more interesting if we move through them. We talk about how we swing the pendulum, what difficulties we encounter, and what sorts of things we want to have happen to our reader when it moves. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.40: What’s the Difference Between Ending and Stopping?
5 oktober 2015 · 19 min
Nalo Hopkinson joins us for this episode, which we recorded before a live audience of Out Of Excuses Workshop & Retreat attendees. October's master class episodes focus on endings, and in this first installment we talk about what an ending really is. It's obviously the last part of the book, but the gestalt of "ending" is so much more than just "The End," and it's important that we understand all that before committing ourselves to being done writing it. (Note: You can start writing your ending any time you want. Stopping writing your ending, and being done with it? There's the rub.) This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered ashore in a secret laboratory by Alex Jackson. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.39: Q&A on Plot Twists with Kevin J. Anderson
28 september 2015 · 17 min
Kevin J. Anderson joined us at Sasquan/WorldCon 73 to take questions about plot twists. Here are the questions that came in from our live audience: Genre Twists: good, bad, or ugly? Can you compare and contrast a good plot twist with a bad one? What is the biggest mistake professional authors make with regarding plot twists? Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.38: How Does Context Shape Dialog?
21 september 2015 · 22 min
Our second installment for the Master Class's month of context covers the way dialog between characters may change meaning depending upon the context you create for them. This context may be the setting or genre, and it may also be the "beats" in which you describe what a person is doing while speaking. We talk about how to make this work for you, how to avoid some of the common pitfalls in writing dialog. Liner Notes: Howard mentioned episode 10.11: Project-in-Depth: "Parallel Perspectives". If you need to go back and have a listen, now it's easier! Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.37: Being a Good Panelist and a Great Moderator, with Susan J. Morris and Marc Tassin
14 september 2015 · 18 min
This month's wildcard episode comes to you from the 2015 GenCon Indy Writers' Symposium, where Dan and Howard had the opportunity to interview Susan J. Morris and Marc Tassin. Susan is one of the finest moderators the symposium has ever seen, and Marc directs the event, building the schedule around good panelists and great moderators. Their advice is insightful, fresh, and spot-on. If you ever find yourself scheduled to speak on, or moderate, a panel, this episode is a great listen for beginning your preparation. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.36: How Does Context Shape Plot Twists?
7 september 2015 · 20 min
We've talked about plot twists before. This episode covers the way in which the type of plot twist is dependent on, or signaled by, the context of the story. Getting plot twists right may mean surprising the reader, but it's just as important to have the twist surprise the character. SPOILER ALERT: Avengers: Age of Ultron, and The Sixth Sense, among others. It's hard to talk about plot twists without talking about some really good ones. This month's master-class topic is "Context," but the Q&A at the end of the month (coming real soon!) is on plot twists, featuring a special guest who joined us at Sasquan, the 73rd Annual World Science Fiction Convention. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.35: Breaking In, With Charlie N. Holmberg
31 augustus 2015 · 16 min
Charlie N. Holmberg, who was recently signed by Amazon's 47 North imprint, joined us in front of a live audience it Sasquan (the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention) to talk about breaking in to the industry. Brandon and Dan broke in a decade ago, and Howard never actually bothered breaking in. This episode is brought to you by David Farland's writing workshops at mystorydoctor.com, whose URL completely escaped Howard during the episode. Here are two coupon codes: August50 gets $50 off any course regularly priced $399 August100 gets $100 off any course regularly priced $749 Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.34: Q&A on Pacing
24 augustus 2015 · 20 min
We wrap up this month's discussion of pacing with a Q&A. Here are the questions we pulled out of the virtual hat (read: Twitter) for answering during the episode: What are some early indications of a pacing problem? How do you chart pacing so that it remains even? Can you control pacing using scene/sequel format? How do you handle character progression during travel without making it choppy? It feels like new authors are required to deliver breakneck pacing. Is this true? Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.33: Combat, with Marie Brennan
17 augustus 2015 · 19 min
Marie Brennan joins us again, this time for a discussion about writing combat. She's studied fencing, combat choreography, and is *this close* to having a black belt in shotokan karate, bringing a valuable perspective to the discussion. Also, she's written an ebook called Writing Fight Scenes, so she knows how to talk about this stuff. We discuss some of our favorite fight scenes in movies and in books, why they work well, and how we can go about creating those sorts of things ourselves. That Scene We Couldn't Stop Gushing About: Here's a no-Netflix-membership-required version of the Daredevil fight scene. It's a teaser from Netflix, but it's unabridged. For context, Daredevil is looking for a kidnapped child, and has tracked the boy's captors to this hallway. Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.32: How Do I Control the Speed of the Story?
10 augustus 2015 · 19 min
Words take time to read, but that's not the same amount of time that the words communicate... Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.31: How Do I Control the Reader’s Sense of Progress?
3 augustus 2015 · 19 min
Are we making progress? How do we communicate that to the reader? Lees meer
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Writing Excuses 10.30: Q&A on Middles, with Marie Brennan
27 juli 2015 · 20 min
Marie Brennan joins us again, this time to help us field your questions about middles. Here are the questions we collected from the various social media feeds: How do you maintain interest without having something explode every other chapter? In short fiction, how do you prevent try-fail cycles from bloating the story? How do you prevent the introduction of POVs during the middle of the story from being jarring? How do you keep subplots from turning into side quests? In longer stories, how important are "breather" chapters that ease the tension? Do you have methods for weaving plot and subplot threads together? Do you outline this, or keep it in your head? Fifty-Cent Word: Proprioception, which serves as an excellent metaphor for what expertise with a set of tools feels like. Thank you, Marie, for simplifying the whole "the tool should be an extension of your hand" thing. Lees meer
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