Writing Excuses Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

As we conclude our first deep dive of our close reading series, we want to explore how the evolution of voice helped carry readers throughout "This Is How You Lose The Time War." We also talk about the relationship between character arcs and language, learning and voice. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, where we interview Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar on what it was like to write “Time War” together! 

Thing of the Week: 
Princess Weekes

Homework:
Write a short outline of your work noting where the voice changes and evolves to reflect the character growth and change rather than focusing on the plot beats

A Reminder
That starting May 12th, we'll be focusing on Worldbuilding and reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. If you’re going to buy this book, we have this bookshop link available for you to do so! (If not, go support your local library!) https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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What's epistolary writing? Well, it's writing through letters. But it's also a lot more than that. As we continue to dive into the concept of Voice, we want to explore the importance and power of the letters that Blue and Red write to each other throughout "This Is How You Lose The Time War." If you haven't already listened to our episodes introducing this novella, we recommend you go back and start with Episode 11 (of this season, Season 19)!
And if you’ve been reading along with us while listening to these episodes, please let us know on Instagram. Tag us in a post or comment @writing_excuses ! 
Thing of the Week: “clipping.” by Story 2 
Homework: Write a short note from one of your characters to another about something that’s important to them. Now rewrite it as a text message (change the format). Then rewrite it as a letter that will be screened before it gets to them by an outsider (change the context). And finally, write it as the final message they will get to send during their life (change the stakes).
You can buy this (and all the other books!) through our bookshop link-- this is linked in our bio in addition to right here:
https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline
Voice: This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar (March 17) 
Worldbuilding: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (May 12) 
Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (July 7) 
Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (September 1) 
Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (October 13) 

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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On our third episode diving into Voice through the novella “This Is How You Lose The Time War,” we begin to explore the different voices that make up the two main characters in the story. Last episode we dove into Red’s voice– if you haven’t already, we recommend you listen to that first! 
Today, we are doing a close read of Blue at the tea shop and how voice establishes character, growth, and vulnerability. How do the authors make Blue’s voice distinct from Red’s? Is it in the tone, the structure, or something else completely? 
Thing of the Week: The Late Mrs. Willoughby By Claudia Gray
Homework: Write a short note from one of your characters to another about something important to them. Now rewrite it as a text message (change the format), as a letter that will be screened before it gets to them by an outsider (change the context), and as a final message they will get to send (change the stakes).
Sign up for our newsletter: 
https://writingexcuses.com
Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
Join Our Writing Community! 
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Our Sponsors:
* Check out : betterhelp.com/WX
* Check out rosettastone.com/today to get 50% off Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership! Use our code TODAY for a limited time.


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Today, we are doing a very close read of Red's opening narration and how Red’s voice communicates both character and world in an effective and efficient way. We read several sections aloud and dive into what each sensory detail is doing. Also Mary Robinette talks about what she thinks is the most effective way to draw your readers attention to something. 
Thing of the Week: Planet Crafter 
Homework: Take a sentence from your work in progress and rewrite it to adjust the age of the character to make them a child. Do it again to make them from a different region. And again to give them a different profession.
Sign up for our newsletter: 
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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
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* Check out rosettastone.com/today to get 50% off Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership! Use our code TODAY for a limited time.


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The book that became a New York Times Bestseller because of a tweet. Well, it won LOTS of awards when it came out, but it was rediscovered by a Twitter account with a large following. So-- let's get into it!
On our first episode diving into Voice using the short novel "This Is How You Lose The Time War", we talk about why Voice is essential and some working definitions of how we want to talk about it. We also explain why we chose this book and highlight some of the things it's done well, and what you can learn from it!
Thing of the Week: Scavengers Reign
Homework: Take a sentence from a work you love that has a strong and clear voice. Write a scene based on that as a prompt, in the same tone and voice as the original.
Sign up for our newsletter: 
https://writingexcuses.com
Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
Join Our Writing Community! 
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Our Sponsors:
* Check out : betterhelp.com/WX
* Check out rosettastone.com/today to get 50% off Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership! Use our code TODAY for a limited time.


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You’ve probably seen us posting about our Close Reading Series, and in his episode, we finally officially introduce it! 
For most of the remainder of 2024, we’ll be diving into five core elements of writing by focusing on five different literary texts. We’ll spend five episodes on each one, and then we’re going to… drumroll please… interview the author(s)!
As you know, we’ve spent lots of time reading, writing, talking, and recording our thoughts about different elements of the craft. But this year, we wanted to ground our episodes in specific texts that you could read along– and analyze– with us!
Below is the schedule for each book or short story we’ll be diving into. The date on the right in parenthesis is the air date of the first episode in our series that will begin talking about that text. We highly recommend you read the book by that date, as we will be talking about the entirety of the text for all 5 episodes (including spoilers!) 
First up: This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar
You can buy this (and all the other books!) through our bookshop link-- this is linked in our bio in addition to right here:
https://bookshop.org/lists/close-readings-season-19

Close Reading Series: Texts & Timeline
Voice: This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar (March 17) 
Worldbuilding: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (May 12) 
Character: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark (July 7) 
Tension: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (September 1) 
Structure: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (October 13) 

Thing of the Week: SHINOBIGAMI: Modern Ninja Battle RPG
Homework: Take a scene from a work that you love and five highlighters/crayons/colored pencils - use one color to underline/highlight places where the voice comes through, one for great worldbuilding, one for character moments, one for any moments of tension, and one for moments that move the plot forward. What colors do you end up with? Where do they overlap? What are the colors of the moments you love the most? What would the colors of one of your scenes be?
Sign up for our newsletter: 
https://writingexcuses.com
Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.
Join Our Writing Community! 
Patreon
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YouTube
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Twitter



Our Sponsors:
* Check out : betterhelp.com/WX
* Check out rosettastone.com/today to get 50% off Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership! Use our code TODAY for a limited time.


Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-content

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