Morgan Hazelwood
Host of Writing Tips and Writerly Musings
Morgan Hazelwood (she/her) is an unpublished fantasy novelist who loves sharing writing tips and writerly musings -- in person, on her blog, on her vlog, here... basically everywhere. She can't stop talking about writing and is eager to help, sharing tips as she learns them.
She likes taking pictures of the sky, reading a good book, and ambiverting from her living room. She's also a voice for the fairy-tale audio drama: Anansi Storytime and its sister podcast: Legendsmith.
She's also been known to procrati-clean her whole house and alphabetize other people's bookshelves.
Morgan Hazelwood has hosted 136 Episodes.
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How to Tell Science From Pseudoscience
July 18th, 2022 | Season 5 | 8 mins 18 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
Throughout time, there has always been a struggle between science and pseudoscience. Even as we’ve learned more, done better, some have always insisted on ignoring those advances.
On the titular panel at Worldcon 2019, Dublin, Eugene Doherty, Sam Scheiner, Cristina Macia, and moderated by Stephen Nelson, discussed the daily fight against pseudoscience beliefs.
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Sex, Sexuality, and World Building
July 11th, 2022 | Season 5 | 10 mins 35 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
My last post was on asexual representation. Literally. Today, I bring you the flip side. I mostly write younger stuff or fade-to-black scenes to avoid any explicitness of this issue, but a lot of you out there are writing it as the forefront of your novel.
At the titular panel, moderated by Jennifer Povey: D’Amanda Martini, Nobilis Reed, Mark L. Van Name, and Lisa Hawkridge managed to keep on topic WHILE keeping it all about books and writing. I was VERY impressed.
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Making the Asexual Textual
July 4th, 2022 | Season 5 | 12 mins 24 secs
books, sexuality, writers, writing, writing tips
Some people are sexually attracted to the opposite gender, some are attracted to the same gender, while others are attracted to more than one gender, and yet others are only sexually attracted under specific circumstances?
But, not all people are sexually attracted to someone. Those people? Identify as asexual.
Especially in Western culture, so many of our stories — be they folktales of yore, current tv shows, books, or movies — center around the main character’s relationship. Even if it’s not the main plot point.
For asexual people, they’ve had to read-between-the-lines to look for characters that represent them.
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Improving Your Readings
June 27th, 2022 | Season 5 | 5 mins 26 secs
books, public speaking, reading, writers, writing
From authors who are asked to read their own work at signings, to audiobook narrators, to podcasters, there are a lot of us out there who want — or need — to get better at readings.
At the titular panel, at Balticon 53, Tee Morris, Jean L Cooper, and Mike Luona shared their best tips.
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Intro To Hopepunk
June 20th, 2022 | Season 5 | 6 mins 58 secs
books, writers, writing, writing tips
In a grimdark world, filled with truth, lies, and politics many of us have been longing for a literary escape that can give us some hope. For this generation, Hopepunk is our solution.
At WorldCon 77 Dublin, Jo Walton, Lettie Prell, and the creator of the term, herself, Alexandra Rowland, on a panel moderated by the marvelous Sam Hawke discussed the true meaning of Hopepunk.
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Season 5: Trailer
June 13th, 2022 | Season 5 | 41 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
Welcome back for season 5 of "Writing Tips and Writerly Musings". I've got a lot in store for you with tips from the pros. Kicking off with 'Intro to Hopepunk', and even a few of my own tricks for managing my time with Trello.
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Coming Of Age vs YA
June 6th, 2022 | Season 4 | 8 mins 8 secs
beta-reading, books, coming of age, critique, writers, writing, writing tips, ya
Coming of age stories have always been a large part of the fantasy genre in particular, but now, it can be hard to know where to draw the line between YA and Adult novels.
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Youtube Survival Guide
May 30th, 2022 | Season 4 | 19 mins 38 secs
books, critique, podcast, writers, writing, writing tips, youtube
Where do you get started and tell me more about this whole monetization thing -- or at least the rules that existed last week. They're always changing.
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Advancing Your Story... Without Traumatizing Your Characters (or Readers)
May 23rd, 2022 | Season 4 | 14 mins 52 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
You know stories need stakes. You know you need to get your readers to care. So? You try to make the stakes big enough and scary enough to drive the story forward. But you don’t HAVE to traumatize characters — or readers — to advance your story.
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Pitching Agents -- And Readers
May 16th, 2022 | Season 4 | 7 mins 54 secs
books, writers, writing, writing tips
I talk a lot about pitching agents via the query process, but that’s not the only way to pitch. There are verbal pitches to agents. And? There’s the pitching you need to do to the READERS!
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Dynamic Voice Acting
May 9th, 2022 | Season 4 | 10 mins 26 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
If you find yourself behind the microphone, sharing a story of your own, be prepared to pull in your audience with Dynamic Voice Acting.
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"But I'm Not A YA Writer": Gender Biases In The Book World
May 2nd, 2022 | Season 4 | 11 mins 21 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
Women writers of speculative fiction are often getting shelved with the YA books -- even when they're clearly not intended for teens. Unfortunately, getting misclassified has dire consequences for the novel. How is this happening and how can we stop this trend?
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Writing Motivation For Doomsday Cults
April 25th, 2022 | Season 4 | 7 mins 55 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
Doomsday cults have been around for a long time, probably since the dawn of civilization. Writers and readers alike have found them endlessly fascinating. But, what motivates someone to start a doomsday cult? And why do people join?
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CSI: Fantasy Edition
April 18th, 2022 | Season 4 | 7 mins 26 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
When you're writing a story, there's usually SOMETHING the main character doesn't know and has to figure out. Sometimes, it's what someone else is thinking. It could be, where to find the McGuffin? But often? There's a whole mystery to solve! With a body growing cold.
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Logistics and Tactics: Writing Military Campaigns
April 11th, 2022 | Season 4 | 8 mins 50 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
Most writers end up writing fight scenes -- be they verbal or physical. But some writers, especially if they're writing historical novels, epic fantasy, or military fiction are going to be in the fight for the long haul. They're going to writing a Military Campaign. Here are mistakes to avoid.
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Yes, You Can Be a Writer, Even WITHOUT A Visual Imagination
April 4th, 2022 | Season 4 | 5 mins 8 secs
beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips
Not everyone has a visual imagination. While some of you are out there taking dictation from the movies in your heads. That's not how it works for me.