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Writing Excuses

Writing Excuses 5.25: Writing in Other People’s Universes

Writing Excuses

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

Fiction, Careers, Business

4.61.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2011

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kevin J. Anderson joins us for a discussion of writing in other people's universes. After the opening shots (and an obligatory Jar-Jar joke), we tackle the question "how do you get to write a Star Wars book?"

Our discussion ranges from the general to the practical, and presses the Fanfic hotbutton more than once. We discuss Kevin's career with numerous licensed properties, and Brandon's experience with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.

Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Hidden Empire: The Saga of the Seven Suns, Book 1, by Kevin J. Anderson, narrated by George Guidall

Writing Prompt: A group of aliens come to a writing conference to learn to write stories that humans will want to read.

That Noise In The Background: The hotel staff was vacuuming the room behind us.

Best Metaphor Ever, Courtesy of Kevin J. Anderson: As authors in other creators' universes we are Lando Calrissian borrowing the Millenium Falcon and promising to return it to Han Solo without a scratch.

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Transcript

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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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