Done to Death: The Art of Killing Characters

August 1st, 2022  |  Season 5  |  11 mins 5 secs

beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips

When you’re reading a story and a character dies, you can tell if it’s just the writer trying to manipulate your emotions or if it’s good storytelling.

In the titular panel at Worldcon77, Patrick Rothfuss, Veronica Roth, Su J Sokel, Amy Ogden, and Daryl Gregory did their best to make sure we know that every death should count.

The Future of Podcasting

July 25th, 2022  |  Season 5  |  7 mins 29 secs

beta-reading, books, critique, writers, writing, writing tips

Podcasting has had its ups and downs since it first started. The market is big, but there’s a lot of small fish out there and it’s hard to get noticed.

At the titular panel at Balticon53, Mark Redfield, Mike Luoma, Philippa Ballantine, Christiana Ellis, and Fred. G. Yost discussed where podcasting has been and what they hope and fear we’ll see in the future.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.