Plot isn’t a set of commandments—it’s a collection of patterns we’ve learned to recognize. This episode kicks off the season’s deep dive into deconstructing plots, asking what different story structures are really doing beneath the surface and why they work (or don’t). Our hosts unpack plot as a toolbox rather than a formula, exploring action plots vs. emoti ... Show More
Jan 4
21.01: Welcome to the New Year!
Season 21 kicks off with a new theme, a fresh tagline, and a renewed focus on what Writing Excuses has always been about: tools, not rules. The hosts unpack why prescriptive writing advice so often falls short, and how understanding why tools gives you the freedom to adapt—or dis ... Show More
34m 42s
Dec 28
20.52: 2025 End-of-Year Wrap Up
As our 20th season comes to a close, we reflect on the end of 2025 and a major transition for the show, as Dan Wells steps away from Writing Excuses as a full-time core host. Dan shares the thoughtful, hard-won reasoning behind his decision, while the rest of the team reflects on ... Show More
56m 24s
Nov 2019
The best crime fiction of 2019
Welcome to The Irish Times Books Podcast. In this latest episode, Martin Doyle talk to The Irish Times’s two regular crime fiction reviewers, Declan Burke and Declan Hughes, both acclaimed crime writers themselves, about their favourite crime fiction of 2019. So get your pen and ... Show More
40m 49s
Mar 2024
596 The Power of Stories (with J Edward Chamberlin) | Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson | Flannery O'Connor (with Mike Palindrome) | My Last Book with Shin Yu Pai
It's a literary smorgasbord! First, Jacke dives into the recent news of the surprising connection between Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson. Next, he welcomes Mike Palindrome, President of the Literature Supporters Club, for a discussion of why Mike has been reading Flannery O'Con ... Show More
1h 10m
Sep 2024
Book Club: 'The Hypocrite,' by Jo Hamya
<p>Jo Hamya’s novel <strong>“The Hypocrite”</strong> follows a famous English novelist as he watches a new play by his daughter, Sophia, in London. The lights go down in the theater, and immediately the novelist realizes: The play is about him, the vacation he took with Sophia a ... Show More
41m 55s
Sep 2025
The Adventure of the Devil's Foot: Part Two
When Mortimer Tregennis is found dead under the same terrifying conditions as his siblings, Holmes realises the case is far from over. A strange substance, a smoking lamp, and a private experiment lead him to the truth—but at a terrible cost. And as the final pieces fall into pla ... Show More
40m 43s
Mar 2025
CZM Book Club: The Barrow Will Send What it May: Chapter One
Margaret reads Robert the second novella of the Danielle Cain series, Preorder the third book in the series, including all three audiobooks, on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tangled-wilderness/the-immortal-choir-holds-every-voice See omnystudio.com/listener f ... Show More
28m 20s
Feb 2025
#794: Brandon Sanderson on Building a Fiction Empire, Creating $40M+ Kickstarter Campaigns, Unbreakable Habits, The Art of World-Building, and The Science of Magic Systems
Brandon Sanderson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stormlight Archive series and the Mistborn saga; the middle-grade series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians; and the young-adult novels The Rithmatist, the Reckoners trilogy, and the Skyward series. He has sold mo ... Show More
3h 23m
Oct 2024
Jean Hanff Korelitz on "The Sequel"
<p>In 2021, the novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz had a hit with “The Plot,” a book that was partly a mystery, partly a thriller and entirely a delicious sendup of the publishing industry. It told the tale of a once-promising writer, Jacob, who steals somebody else’s story idea and re ... Show More
38m 35s
Jan 2021
154: Mateo Askaripour (BLACK BUCK) & Sam Greenlee's THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR
<p>The guys get caffeinated, distantly, with Mateo Askaripour to talk about his fantastic debut novel, <em>Black Buck</em>. They chat about telling your own story even if someone else is telling a similar one, about weaving life into art, and about how fiction is more fun than no ... Show More
1h 15m