Writing Excuses 9.28: Part 1 of 2, Critiquing Sixth of the Dusk

Writing Excuses

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

Business, Careers, Fiction

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2014

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This is the first of our DANGER SPOILERS AHEAD story critique episodes. The story, "Sixth of the Dusk," is available as part of SHADOWS BENEATH, the Writing Excuses anthology, which includes the finished story (obviously) and the version we critiqued in this episode. SHADOWS BENEATH also includes the stories we'll be critiquing for the rest of July's episodes, and some other pretty cool stuff that you can read about here. Oh, and if you purchase the hardcover, we'll send you the ebook at no additional charge.

Sure, you can totally listen to this episode without having done the reading. We cannot stop you! Howard looked around for a full hour, but there's no "stop playback for people who have not done the homework" button anywhere here.

This is also the first half of a two-part episode. We spent about 40 minutes hammering on Brandon's story, and that's just too much Writing Excuses for one week. Oh, and we recorded this episode live at last year's Out of Excuses Seminar and Retreat. You'll hear our audience of awesome attendees responding to us.

We run this session like Brandon runs his critique group -- we begin by talking about what we liked, so that the writer knows what not to accidentally remove during revisions. Then we drill down on the things we have problems with, and you know what? There were a bunch of those things! Like most writers, Brandon's first drafts are imperfect things that have problems in them.

We also run this session in a way that we don't actually suggest you run your critique groups, at least not until you've put a bunch of critique sessions under your belt.

That Thing Howard Said to Brandon Between Sessions has been lost to time. Or repressed memory. Sorry. 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.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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.