Writing Excuses, Episode 7 (also, countdown to Ad Astra)
We’re up to around 3,000 listeners per week over at Writing Excuses, which means all you aspiring novelists who are not currently listening in now have some stiff competition from the folks who are. This week we talk about villains.
How do I know this podcast is that good? Because it’s already helped me tighten up my own writing. Not my own advice, mind you. I get that stuff for free. No, I’ve been benefitting from Brandon and Dan, and while I suppose SOME of that could stem from just rubbing shoulders with good writers, what seems to resonate is the several listens I’ve given to each of these podcasts.
I listen in order to try and figure out how to do the next podcast a little better, but I think osmosis takes over and I start absorbing good writing advice from these guys. Just last week I threw out an entire “okay” script that had a decent punchline, and replaced it with a really, really good script that made me laugh. Looking back, I can see that I was doing “Killing Your Darlings” and “Beginnings” at the same time (oh, and “Pacing,” but that episode hasn’t aired publicly yet.)
In other news, I’m off to Toronto this Thursday for Ad Astra. Watch this space for my schedule, and other assorted plugs.
Explore posts in the same categories: Conventions, Podcasts
March 24th, 2008 at 6:13 am
I’m one of the 3000. One of the things you did right: keep it to 15 minutes and advertise it that way. It is the only podcast I listen to ;-)
I’m not a book or comic author, so I’m not in the direct target audience. Two main reasons why I listen: (1) it is nice to get a peek at the creative process behind books and comics. (2) “killing your darlings” and similar tips is also applicable when you’re a programmer :-)
Reinout van Rees
March 24th, 2008 at 8:25 am
I’ll be glad when the new episodes are up on iTunes. It’s just easier to listen from my iPod, because I can take it in a room where I don’t have distractions.
Ona
March 24th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
my subscription through iTunes downloaded tonight. I’ll have to look forward to listening in the next few days.
Ona
March 25th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Now I wish I’d paid more attention to the blog earlier. As it is I zone in and out. But this stuff is gold!
It’s good advice, very solid, and already it’s helped me realise a thing or two about my writing. For one… I probably should have actually plotted and outlined my earlier ideas before I killed my darlings. Poor things didn’t survive a terminal case of world-builders disease (lists consisting of naming/type ideas for half a dozen variants on elves and dwarves and such) until I realised it was going nowhere and I amputated. Oh well.
And I probably should have actually written my first novel before discarding it…
Either I’m precocious or I jumped the gun, but this could well explain why I’m struggling with writing now…
Thanks Howard, Brandon and Dan! Keep the good stuff coming!
… and now to raid Borders to find their books.