Writing Excuses

"Fifteen minutes long...
...because you're in a hurry...
...and we're not that smart!
I'm Brandon!
I'm Dan!
I'm Mary!
And I'm Howard!"

So you want to write a story? Well you're in luck. Writing Excuses is a weekly Podcast by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, and Mary Robinette Kowal—formerly a recurring guest host and now an official full-time host as of Season 6. Updated every Sunday, each week's episode focuses on a particular aspect of the writing process, from brainstorming to getting published, usually responding to particular obstacles that are common for beginning and improving writers. Naturally, numerous tropes have been touched upon along the way, discussed in terms of how to use them to make your book better and avoiding bad writing. Often a guest host (usually a recently-published author or a personal/professional friend of one of the authors with ties to the writing world) will join the quartet for an episode or two to add outsider input as well. The series also features a Book of the Week for listeners to read which is often pertinent to the topic being discussed. Or sometimes it's just one of their own books. They gotta make money somehow.

Each podcast is around fifteen minutes long, not more than twenty. Usually there are also suggested writing prompts to practice with, especially in the later seasons.

The podcast home page is here.

This podcast has discussed the following tropes

Season 1

This season also had two bonus episodes:


Season 2

Bonus Episodes:


Season 3

Bonus Episodes:


Season 4


Season 5


Bonus Episodes:

Season 6


Season 7 (In Progress)


Brandon: This has been Writing Excuses! You're out of excuses. Now, go write!

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