Writing Excuses

There never seems to be enough time to write—but is time really the problem? Our hosts explore the reality of working within limited hours, changing life circumstances, and competing priorities. We share practical strategies like time blocking, micro writing sessions, and the Pomodoro Technique that do and don’t work for us. We hope this conversation helps you build systems that support your writing instead of relying on motivation alone. Homework:Track how you actually spend your time for a week without judging yourself or trying to be aspirational. Then review your schedule and identify one or two realistic systems you can put in place to better support your writing goals.WAITLIST for our Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise is sold out, but you can join our waitlist here!Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, DongWon Song, and Erin Roberts. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.Join Our Writing Community! Wri

Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder was published in 2005 and is widely popular because it offers a reliable, repeatable storytelling framework. Today we are joined by guest Margaret Dunlap as we attempt to answer: why Save the Cat is such an influential story structure and why so many writers have strong opinions about it. Our hosts break down Blake Snyder's 15-beat framework, exploring where it overlaps with the Hero's Journey, Three-Act Structure, and Seven-Point Plot Structure. We also highlight why tools like Save the Cat can help diagnose problems in a draft instead of dictating every story beat. Homework:Take a classic fairy tale (ideally the same one you used for the Three-Act Structure exercise, which was assigned at the end of 21.18) and map it onto the Save the Cat beat sheet. Identify where each major beat falls, including moments like the catalyst, midpoint, dark night of the soul, and finale.Show NotesSave the Cat beat sheetSpreadsheet of Dif

A lot of times people want to know what the "ideal length" is for a chapter. But chapters can range from one sentence, to a single scene, all the way up to Terry Pratchett who doesn't use chapters at all. Our hosts explore chapters as a pacing tool rather than a fixed unit of length, discussing how chapter breaks shape reader momentum, create natural pauses, and influence the experience of reading. Along the way, we look at how chapters have evolved throughout publishing history—and why they're still such a powerful storytelling tool. We also talk about genre expectations and how to avoid common pitfalls when moving from scenes to chapters. Homework:Look up Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the 21st Century by Nicholas Dames. You don't have to read the whole book—just explore its history of chapters and how they developed across different cultures and forms of storytelling.Writing Excuses at Gen Con! At GenCon this year, we’re hosting “Network the Gathering” along with the Ray

What makes a scene feel like a scene? This week, we unpack one of storytelling's most basic building blocks. Our hosts explore where scenes begin and end, how they differ from beats, and why framing and narrative purpose matter more than rigid definitions. We also explore practical prompts for troubleshooting scenes that aren't working and discuss how structure and instinct can work together. Homework:Take one or two scenes from something you've written. Using whatever scene framework works for you, identify the who, what, where, when, why, how, and the vibe of each scene. Then change one element and rewrite the scene to see how that change affects it.WAITLIST for our Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise is sold out, but you can join our waitlist here!Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, DongWon Song, and Erin Roberts. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.Join Our Writing Community! Writing Retrea

How do you move readers from one scene to the next without losing momentum? Our hosts dig into different types of transitions—from scene breaks and interruptions to brief “through scenes” that bridge time and space. Along the way, we compare prose techniques to music, film editing, and game design, exploring how transitions can carry emotion, maintain tension, and signal intention. We also discuss why transitions are often easier to solve during revision than during drafting. Sometimes all you need is a placeholder and permission to keep writing.Homework:Take two scenes from a work in progress and connect them three different ways: with a through scene, a scene break, and an interruption. Compare the results and note how each version changes pacing, tension, and reader experience.Writing Excuses at Gen Con! At GenCon this year, we’re hosting “Network the Gathering” along with the Ray Bradbury Center and Maurice Broaddus on Thursday, July 30th at 8pm at Ballroom 4 in the Marriot. You can get a ticket here!WAIT

How can exposition be used as a pacing tool, and not just a way to convey information? We attempt to answer this question on today’s episode! Our hosts discuss how exposition naturally slows a story down, creating space for readers to process events, build tension, and deepen their understanding of the world. We give specific examples for successful exposition (i.e. that won’t bore your reader). We also give you practical tools to add to your exposition toolkit– such as emotional context and POV—which can help your expository writing feel engaging instead of interruptive. Homework:Find a complicated recipe and write an expository description of preparing it. Use the exposition deliberately to frustrate or annoy the reader, paying attention to how pacing and information delivery create that emotional effect.WAITLIST for our Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise is sold out, but you can join our waitlist here!Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Erin Roberts. It wa

Our hosts explore the many tools writers can use to control pacing. We discuss how cadence, transitions, tone, sentence structure, and white space can all speed up or slow down a reader’s experience. And remember, fast is not inherently better than slow! This conversation highlights the importance of contrast—pairing fast and slow moments, tension and calm, or different emotional states—to make pacing more effective. Along the way, we examine examples from fiction, personal experiences, and neuroscience to better understand how readers process time and information. Homework:Take a single event and write it two ways: first so the reading time roughly matches the amount of time the event takes, and then again so the reading time is much longer than the event itself. Compare how the different pacing changes the reader’s experience.Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise is sold out, but you can join our waitlist here!Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Erin Roberts.

In this episode, our hosts explore how writers control their readers’ attention with the metaphor of a bouncing ball. We break down techniques for guiding focus on the page, including POV choice, selective description, rhythm, and where details appear within sentences and paragraphs. The discussion highlights how structure often matters more than individual word choice, with emphasis on primacy/recency effects, white space, and pattern recognition like the rule of threes. Each host shares their thoughts on how to sharpen reader focus or intentionally diffuse it to help you with your current work in progress! Homework: Write a mundane scene three times: once straightforwardly, once where you deliberately hide a major event by shifting focus away from it, and once ending with “and that was the day everything changed.” Then compare how attention and emphasis shift between the three versions.Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise is sold out, but you can join our waitlist here!Credits: Your hosts for this episode

Dan Wells joins our conversation as we break down the seven-point plot structure! Using examples from Star Wars, Toy Story, and other films, we discuss how each point creates conflict, drives character growth, and moves a story forward. We explore the difference between plot points that move characters toward their goals and pinch points that place obstacles in their way. We also examine how the midpoint shifts a protagonist from reacting to events to taking action. And remember– seven-point structure is a flexible tool that can be adapted to many different kinds of stories! Homework:Take a subplot from a story you're working on and map it onto the seven-point plot structure. Start with the resolution, identify the opposite starting state for the hook, then sketch out the plot points, pinch points, and midpoint to see how the subplot develops from beginning to end.Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise is sold out, but you can join our waitlist here!Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Dan Wells, Mar

In this episode, our hosts explore one of the most persistent barriers to writing: interruptions. From family members and pets to emails, meetings, fatigue, and neurodivergence, they discuss how disruptions can derail creative focus—and how writers can build systems to work with them instead of against them. The conversation touches on hyperfocus, ADHD, task-switching, and the emotional cost of being pulled out of the zone. Practical strategies include leaving “breadcrumbs” to re-enter a project, using phone settings and routines to protect writing time, and adjusting expectations around productivity. Rather than trying to eliminate interruptions entirely, we encourage writers to understand their habits and create sustainable ways to return to the work.HomeworkPractice handling interruptions in a low-stakes environment by setting a series of alarms for 5, 7, 9, and 15 minutes while you write. Each time an alarm goes off, leave yourself a quick “breadcrumb” note about what you were working on, take a short bre

*Time-Sensitive*Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here!This week, we are talking about the order in which we present information to the reader as contrasted with the order in which events actually progressed in the universe of this story and why those things might be completely different. We are joined by Margaret Dunlap as we explore nonlinear timelines with examples from novels, television, film, anime, and interactive fiction. We discuss how non-chronological storytelling can build tension, reveal character, and control the flow of information. The conversation highlights how writers can use flashbacks, parallel timelines, and carefully placed revelations to reshape a reader’s understanding of events. Our hosts also talk about the emotional power of structure, noting that nonlinear storytelling can shift a story from “what happens next?” to “how did we get here?” or “what does this mean now?” Margaret and our hosts share practical strategies for keeping timeline

*Time-Sensitive*Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here!Today, we’re continuing the conversation on sequencing by focusing on rhythm—how the musicality of language shapes pacing, emphasis, and emotional impact. Our hosts explore how sentence length, stress patterns, sound, negative space, repetition, and even page layout influence the way readers move through a story. They discuss poetic meter (iambs, trochees, spondees), examples from Shakespeare, hip-hop, comics, and modernist literature. They posit that rhythm is not just for poetry: it’s a powerful storytelling tool that can create emotion, draw attention, and increase readability. Homework:Choose a piece of music you love and pay close attention to its rhythm: where does it speed up or slow down? What gets emphasized, and how does the pattern shape emotion? Then take a piece of your own writing and experiment with using that same rhythmic structure in a descriptive passage to see how it changes the feel and move

Today, we explore why writers place information in the order they do. From broad-to-narrow framing and cause-and-effect to repetition, rhythm, and surprise, we discuss how sequencing shapes the pacing, emotion, and clarity of your story. We discuss everything from “windowpane prose” and garden path sentences to recency-primacy effects and the ways readers naturally recognize patterns. Along the way, our hosts highlight how sequencing can guide a reader’s attention, create tension, and reinforce themes. Homework:Take something you’ve written—or a story someone recently told you—and write it down in its current order. Then rewrite it two different ways: first by completely reversing the sequence of information, and then by arranging it in the most unexpected or “wrong” order you can imagine. Compare how each version changes the reader’s experience.Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here!Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, H

Today, our hosts discuss how to make every part of your story feel connected through causal chains, thematic resonance, and reader pattern recognition. We take the idea that each action in a story should lead naturally to the next and pair it with how readers instinctively search for meaning and connection (even in randomness). Along the way, our hosts discuss concepts like Edgar Allan Poe’s “unity of effect,” the Kuleshov effect, emergent narrative in games, and the role of thematic consistency in stories that may appear plotless on the surface. They also share techniques for creating narrative momentum, planting meaningful details, and leaving space for readers to actively participate in building the story’s meaning.Homework: Take a story you’re working on and write each scene on an index card. Shuffle the cards, pick two at random, and write a new scene that could connect them through either a causal chain or a shared thematic effect.Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September

Today, we are joined by Margaret Dunlap as we dive into the three-act structure. This traditional framework—setup, confrontation, and resolution—is a tool to use rather than a formula to follow. We break down each act, exploring the defining questions, try/fail cycles, and emotional shifts that shape a story. We also highlight the importance of identifying your central dramatic question while examining common pitfalls like the “soggy middle.” Today’s biggest takeaway is that this structure should serve your story, not constrain it.Homework: Take a familiar fairy tale (e.g., “The Three Little Pigs” or “Goldilocks”) and map it onto a three-act structure. Identify where Act One, Act Two, and Act Three fall, and note whether you would need to add or adjust elements to make it fit more clearly.Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September 2026—get your tickets here!Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, Erin Roberts, and DongWon Song. Our guest was

Today we zoom out from moment-to-moment tension and look at how escalation and de-escalation shape a story at the structural level—how raising stakes, lowering pressure, and shifting focus can control pacing, reader emotion, and narrative momentum. Our hosts explore what happens when stakes escalate too quickly (and lose meaning), and how de-escalation can be used intentionally through humor, distraction, or shifting perspective. From miscommunication tropes to scene transitions to avoiding “pointless up-and-down” detours, we offer practical ways to keep your readers engaged while guiding them smoothly between emotional highs and lows.Homework:Map the major beats of your work-in-progress and label each one as either an escalation or a de-escalation across your plot lines. Then review that map to identify any “pointless up-and-down” moments—places where tension drops without purpose or without a corresponding rise elsewhere—and revise so that every shift either advances stakes, deepens character, or introduces

Today, we’re talking about tension and release as a kind of call and response, and how that dynamic can guide your reader through a story. It explores how different types of tension—conflict, unanswered questions, anticipation, and microtension—can be balanced with moments of release to shape pacing and keep readers engaged. The conversation also looks at how resolving one kind of tension while sustaining another creates forward momentum, and how varying those patterns prevents a story from feeling flat or repetitive. Along the way, it examines how genres like horror and humor use this rhythm especially well, and how techniques like contrast, modulation, and layering multiple plotlines can sharpen emotional impact and control the reader’s experience.Homework:Look at a scene you’ve already written and identify what creates tension within it. If nothing stands out, add a source of tension—such as a question, juxtaposition, or anticipation. If tension is already present, try changing or swapping it for a differe

Today, we’re talking about how to use contrast to make key moments in your story hit harder, especially in the middle. We explore how pairing light and dark beats, shifting expectations, or placing opposing elements side by side can deepen the emotional impact and keep your readers engaged. Our conversation also looks at different kinds of contrast—from big structural turns to subtle tonal juxtapositions—and explores how managing distance, tension, and “loaded” moments can create that satisfying snap when a scene lands.Homework:Look at a pivotal moment in your story and add a beat before or after it that inverts some element of the original. This could mean changing the tone or mood, introducing a contrasting character, or shifting the setting in a way that highlights something new about the scene.Locus Magazine Annual Fundraiser (ends April 14th, 2026)Join us in supporting Locus Magazine– explore the campaign and fantastic rewards for donors online at locusmag.com/igg26.Final WXR Cruise! Our final WXR cruise

Today, we’re talking about the “try-fail cycle” and why failure is essential to making the middle of your story actually interesting. It allows readers to follow characters as they try something, fail, adjust, and try again until they finally succeed. Our conversation gets into how failure builds tension and empathy and how you can use “yes, but / no, and” to control your story’s momentum. We also address the difference between barriers and attempts, and how to keep things from feeling repetitive or stalled, whether you’re writing epic fantasy or a quiet coffee shop story.Homework:Look at the MICE quotient elements (milieu, inquiry, character, event) in your story and make a list of barriers for each. Then choose a smaller subset of those barriers that work well together, and use them to design try-fail cycles that keep your story dynamic without becoming repetitive or overcrowded.Locus Magazine Annual Fundraiser (ends April 14th, 2026)Join us in supporting Locus Magazine– explore the campaign and fantastic r

Today, we’re taking on the idea of the “soggy middle” and why stories start to lose momentum—often because characters lack clear action, obstacles feel thin, or scenes repeat without meaningful change. We break down how stalled plots, predictable outcomes, and disconnected side quests can make the middle drag, and offer tools to fix it: focusing on what characters are actually doing, using “same but different” to keep repetition engaging, letting major events happen sooner so you can explore their consequences, and ensuring every subplot or detour creates real change in the character or world.Homework:Grab a book or short story. Read the first page, a page from the exact middle, and the final page. Track which story threads introduced at the beginning are still active in the middle, and how they evolve by the end. Locus Magazine Annual Fundraiser (ends April 14th, 2026)Join us in supporting Locus Magazine– explore the campaign and fantastic rewards for donors online at locusmag.com/igg26.Final WXR Cruise! Our