Introduction: The Short Version

I’ve got a new story out for you to read. It’s free, and you can dive into it by going to this link. Enjoy! Once you’ve read it, here are some links of places to talk about it, all of which are likely to contain spoilers.

• Discussion on Reddit
• Discussion on the 17th Shard

I’ll be doing an AMA about the story on ( Read more... )

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, “Oh Crap, the Cops are Here!”, Howard, Dan, Steve Diamond, and special guest Joe McKinney tackle law-enforcement. We invited Steve Diamond, who has been a guest before, and who has some law enforcement background, to help us grill Joe McKinney, who has tons of that background, and who also happens to be a ( Read more... )

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Narrative Bumper Pool, with Bill Fawcett and Carrie Patel, Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley talk revision. Revision: it’s when you make a too-short piece longer, or a too-long piece shorter. (It’s also a great many other things, suggesting that this description is a too-short piece in need of revision ( Read more... )

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Proposals, Pitches, and Queries, Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard talk about selling your stuff. In this episode we discuss query letters, pitches, and proposals-the tools that you use to present your material to people who can pay you for it, and who will partner with you in the task of selling it to the ( Read more... )

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Narrative Bumper Pool, with Bill Fawcett and Carrie Patel, Howard, Dan, with special guests Bill Fawcett and Carrie Patel who have extensive experience writing for games. This week they talk about writing for interactive stories, like tabletop RPG's, or video games.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing ( Read more... )

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Retrofitting Structure into a First Draft, Brandon, Mary, Mary Anne, and Wesley speak, at least in part, to discovery writers. In this case, talking about how to take a non-outlined work and apply a structure to it in revisions.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Warbreaker, Vivenna ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Adam here. As you can probably imagine, Brandon's inbox is flooded daily with questions ranging from inquiries about his favorite color to asking how everything in the cosmere ends. For obvious reasons, Brandon can’t answer all of these ( Read more... )

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Q&A on Viewpoint, Brandon, Piper, Dan, and Howard answer your questions about viewpoint. Here they are!

• Do you have tips and tricks for making 3rd-person omniscient compelling?
• How do you make 3rd-person limited compelling?
• Is it normal to need several drafts to nail down a character’s voice?
• What’s the ( Read more... )

Brandon will be in Boston next week for Boskone 54 below is a brief overview of his schedule. You can see all the details, including his future trips, on his Upcoming Events page.

Friday

My Toughest Book
Time: 15:00 - 16:00

Signing
Time: 17:00 - 18:00

Saturday

Mistborn: House War Game Demo
Time: 11:00 - 12:00

Building a Career
Time: 13:00 - ( Read more... )