Writing Excuses
| Hosted by | Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal |
|---|---|
| Original release | 02/10/2008 – present |
| Website | www.writingexcuses.com |
Writing Excuses is a (nominally) fifteen-minute-long podcast hosted by authors Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal and web cartoonist Howard Tayler. Promoted as "fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart", the four hosts discuss different topics involved in the creation and production of genre writing and webcomics. As of 2017, authors Wesley Chu, Piper J. Drake and Mary Anne Mohanraj were added as secondary hosts, each having 1 show a month alongside different configurations of the primary hosts.
Writing Excuses began in 2008 with three hosts – Sanderson, Tayler, and Wells – accompanied by Brandon's brother, Jordan Sanderson, who serves as producer. The show aims to cover a single writing-related topic in each podcast, in a format short enough to be listened to on a morning commute or during a lunch break.
The single topic is discussed in a back-and-forth by the hosts for fifteen minutes. Halfway through the podcast the hosts introduce a book of the week, either a favorite of the hosts or one of their own works. Writing Excuses has been sponsored by Audible since October 2009. On numerous occasions, often at conventions, the hosts invite guest authors and industry professionals on board for podcast episodes.
After making a number of guest appearances, Mary Robinette Kowal joined the permanent cast as a new host at the beginning of season 6.
Wesley Chu, Piper J. Drake and Mary Anne Mohanraj were added as secondary hosts at the beginning of series 12
Shadows Beneath, an anthology of four stories written by the members of Writing Excuses, was published in 2014. The anthology's bonus material is intended to show some of the processes of story creation. The stories were brainstormed on the podcast and the first drafts later critiqued; transcripts of the podcasts, along with the first drafts of the stories, are included. The stories are:
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