19.11: A Close Reading on Voice- An Overview, and Why Time War
Writing Excuses
Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2024
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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:
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!
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 | At Parker, our purpose is simple. |
| 0:02.6 | We want to make the world a better place, |
| 0:05.2 | by working more efficiently, by using more sustainable practices, |
| 0:09.7 | by developing better technologies, |
| 0:12.0 | we keep moving forward. |
| 0:14.3 | With each new idea, innovation, and partnership, we're one step closer to fulfilling our purpose |
| 0:20.9 | every single day. |
| 0:22.8 | To find out more, visit Parker.com slash purpose. |
| 0:27.1 | Parker, engineering your success. |
| 0:30.4 | This episode of writing excuses has been brought to you by our listeners, patrons, and friends. |
| 0:35.5 | If you would like to learn how to support this podcast, visit |
| 0:39.0 | www.patreon.com slash writing excuses. |
| 0:45.4 | Season 19 episode 11 |
| 0:50.3 | This is writing excuses |
| 0:57.0 | A close reading on voice, an overview and why we chose Time War. 15 minutes long. |
| 0:58.0 | Because you're in a hurry. |
| 0:59.0 | And we're not that smart. |
| 1:00.0 | I'm Mary Robinette. |
| 1:02.0 | I'm Dong One. I'm Aaron, and I'm Mary Robinette. I'm Don Juan. I'm Aaron and I'm Howard. So this episode is the first of our close reading series. |
| 1:08.8 | And I'm very excited to dig into this one. We've chosen for our first module here to focus on the aspect of voice in fiction and we thought what better book than that than Max Gladstone and Amal Elmertars, this is how you lose the time war. |
| 1:25.6 | This was a novella that was published in 2015 that features two alternating voices from two different POVs and a series of letters written between them. |
| 1:38.3 | It won a bunch of awards. It's been very popular and I think |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.