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Writing Excuses

12.1: Variations on First Person

Writing Excuses

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

Fiction, Business, Careers

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

šŸ—“ļø 1 January 2017

ā±ļø 26 minutes

šŸ§¾ļø Download transcript

Summary

Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard

We're beginning a new season, and during 2017 we will beĀ focusing our topics on structure. We are also going to shake things by expanding our cast a bit. You'll be hearing some new voices soon! They belong to:

* Wesley Chu
* Piper J. Drake
* Mary Anne Mohanraj

We'll post more on that in a few days, but we've already begun updatingĀ our "About" page.



This week your hosts are Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. We spend a few minutes on theĀ administrative stuff Ā above before jumping into January'sĀ structural topic, theĀ first person voice, with a discussion of theĀ variationsĀ in how that POV is presented. We cover some of the different first person POV styles, what sorts of stories they're often best-suited for, and how we go about writing them well.

Spoiler Alert: Episode 12.3 will feature Sandra Tayler, and is a Project In Depth on her story, "Risk Assessment," which was illustrated by Natalie Barahona and Howard Tayler. It appears in Force Multiplication: Schlock Mercenary Book 12,Ā available direct from Hypernode Media, or through Amazon.

  Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This year my family will be having our 67th annual Christmas Eve dinner.

0:04.8

It's a menu passed down from my grandmother through my mom to me.

0:08.8

The entire family shows up.

0:11.8

I'm talking fourth cousins once removed and this is not an

0:15.1

exaggeration which means that during the lead up I don't have time to menu plan or

0:20.0

cook anything else. That's when I turn to prepared meals like Factor, America's

0:26.0

number one ready-to-eat meal delivery service. Factor can help you eat well for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietition approved, ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door.

0:37.0

It allows me to save time and not eat garbage while tackling all my holiday to-do's.

0:42.0

So if you want to cross meal prepping... while tackling all my holiday to-do's.

0:42.6

So if you want to cross meal prepping off your list

0:45.8

this holiday season, consider factor.

0:48.4

You can skip the meal planning, grocery shopping,

0:50.9

shopping, shopping, prepping, and cleaning up, and get factors fresh never frozen meals delivered

0:55.8

to your door.

0:56.8

They're ready in just two minutes, which my dad says is the appropriate amount of time to cook

1:01.4

a meal.

1:02.4

He has no idea. The point is, all you have to do is heat and enjoy.

1:07.0

And if you're trying to squeeze writing into the holiday press, it might be useful to know that Factor isn't just for dinner.

1:15.1

Count on extra convenience any time of the day with an assortment of 55-plus add-ons to suit various

1:20.8

preferences and tastes.

1:22.8

So you can carve out some writing time in the morning by choosing quick breakfast items,

1:27.2

lunch to go, grab and go snacks, or ready to eat cold-pressed juices, shakes, and smoothies.

...

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