So You Think You’re a Writer?
OnWhat makes a writer? Is it coffee and cats? Is it a good author photo? Is it having a screenname like @JaneDoeWrites?
Tag: writing
I’m Not Here to Make Friends: On Unlikable Female Characters
OnFilthcore queen Gretchen Felker-Martin returns to talk about unlikable female characters. What makes a woman unlikable?
Translation, or Mi Tio Es Infermo, Pero la Carretera Es Verde!
OnSFF author and professional translator Mário Seabra Coelho talks to us about the art of translation. Writing translations, even only as an exercise, can open a writer’s eye to new perspectives, new devices, and new poetic turns of phrase.
Writing About Sex Work
OnIn this episode, Mistress Snow, PhD joins us to talk about sex work in writing. What do writers get wrong? How do writers promote inaccurate and harmful stereotypes about sex workers? How can writers do better?
Writing the Body: Avoiding Characters Who Are Brains-In-Jars (Unless That’s Your Whole Thing)
OnIn this episode, writer and stuntwoman SL Huang joins us to talk about writing that fully explores the physicality of its characters.
Originality: Feh, Who Needs It?
OnRS Benedict talks to Stephen Mazur, Assistant Editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, about originality. How important is it, really?
No More Heroes with JR Dawson
OnMuch of speculative literature focuses on superheroes and Chosen Ones. But what about ordinary people or flawed people who don’t save the world? Do they matter?
Guns: How to Feature Them in a Realistic Way
OnTons of stories feature guns, but they’re usually portrayed in a wildly unrealistic way. Nate Bethea of “What a Hell of a Way to Die” was kind enough to stop by to talk to us about what writers get wrong about firearms.
Men Writing Women (Badly)
OnR.S. Benedict and guest Meg talk about the creepy, objectifying, or just plain ridiculous way that all too many male authors write female characters.
Writing Mary Sues, or What Even IS a Mary Sue?
OnIn this episode, special guest Jennifer Albright of Have You Seen This? drops by to talk about Mary Sues, a term used to describe an overly-perfect female character created as a self-insertion wish fulfillment vehicle for the author.