20.04: Puppetry as a Writing Metaphor
Writing Excuses
Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
4.7 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For our 20th season, we are focusing on this belief: that the lived experience that we all have affects the way we think about writing. We’ve all heard Mary Robinette talk about puppetry for seventeen (or so) seasons. Today, she dives into puppetry as a metaphor that helps her understand writing– specifically character, voice, and genre. And she invites you to start thinking about metaphors you can use and make in your own life to help you think about writing in a new way.
Homework: Watch a puppet show.
P.S. Want to come write with us in 2025?! Our retreat registration is open, and we are starting to fill up! We are going to unlock our creative processes in Minnesota and explore Story Refinement as we cruise down the Mexican Riviera! Learn more here.
Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, 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 Acorns: https://acorns.com/WX
* Visit kinsta.com to get your first month free when you sign up today!
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-content
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 episode of writing excuses has been brought to you by our listeners, patrons, and friends. |
| 0:05.6 | If you would like to learn how to support this podcast, visit www.com. |
| 0:12.0 | Slash writing excuses. |
| 0:15.4 | Season 20, episode 4. |
| 0:19.4 | This is writing excuses. |
| 0:21.7 | Puppetry as a writing metaphor. |
| 0:23.7 | I'm Dong Juan. |
| 0:24.5 | I'm Mary Robinette. |
| 0:25.5 | I'm Dan. |
| 0:26.4 | And I'm Howard. |
| 0:27.6 | And today we are going to be talking about my favorite subject, puppetry. |
| 0:32.2 | So the idea that we've got for you with this, and we're going to be doing this all season, |
| 0:37.1 | is that the lived |
| 0:39.0 | experience that we all have affects the way we think about writing. You've heard me talk about |
| 0:44.2 | puppetry for basically 17 seasons now, since I first appeared on season 3, season three episode 14. |
| 1:00.0 | But, um, I wanted to do kind of a deeper dive into actually thinking about it as a metaphor as a way for you to also begin thinking about things in your own life you can use as writing |
| 1:05.5 | metaphors. |
| 1:07.7 | So this is going to be a lot of me talking, but everybody else is going to chime in at some point. |
| 1:12.8 | Eventually. |
| 1:13.4 | Eventually. |
| 1:15.4 | So in season 3, episode 14, I talk about the four principles of puppetry. |
| 1:24.8 | Focus, breath, muscle, and meaningful movement. And I talk about those |
... |
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 2025.