Writing Excuses

21.38: Rules, Tools, and History’s Fools

Today, we’re celebrating Erin’s birthday by talking about a topic of her choice. Which means we’re flipping “tools, not rules” its head. Our hosts revisit the Turkey City

21.37: Barrier Breaking: The World Is on Fire

How do you keep writing when the world is on fire? This week, our hosts talk about protecting our narrative energy when the news, social media, or our own lives feel over

21.36: Twists: How to Make the Unexpected Feel Inevitable

A great twist shouldn’t just surprise us—it should make us rethink everything that came before. This week, our hosts explore reader expectations, misdirection, and hiding

21.35: The Four Acts of Kishōtenketsu

This week, our hosts explore kishōtenketsu, an Asian story structure that appears under different names in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Unlike the Western three-act

21.34: Knowing the Distance

How close is your reader to the story? Should they be closer? Today, our hosts get nerdy about narrative distance: the space between reader, narrator, character, and worl

21.33: When To Shift Gears

A story doesn’t always need the same tools from beginning to end. In this episode, we talk about recognizing when it’s time to shift gears—and how to make those changes f

21.32: Barrier Breaking- Time Constraints

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, a

21.31: Deconstructing Save the Cat

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 storyte

21.30: Chapter Breaks Soon

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 Pratchet

21.29: How to Make a Scene

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

21.28: Narrative Transitions

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

21.27: The Expository Throttle

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 exposi

21.26: Setting the Pace

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 slo

21.25: Follow the Bouncing Ball

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 pa

21.24: Deconstructing the Seven Point Plot Structure

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 cre

21.23: Barrier Breaking: Interruptions

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 neurodive

21.22: The Order of the Telling

*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 infor

21.21: Rhythm and Words

*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

21.20: Sequencing from Mega to Micro

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 ho

21.19: Getting Everything Connected

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 t