All Entries in the "Interview" Category
ISBW #153 – Plz read show notes first / Mary Robinette Kowal Interview
NOTE- Please read this before listening. This is a show regarding getting down about your career, and I pinpoint a lot of things that aren’t true about publishing. Upon relistening, I realize what I’m TRYING to say is the things I mention (ie, your editor putting a huge marketing campaign behind your book) aren’t guaranteed. The things I mention definitely can happen, and often do, you just shouldn’t count on them happening. Sorry for the downer of a show.
There’s one swear word in the interview with the fabulous Mary Robinette Kowal.
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Detailed show notes coming.
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ISBW #152: Sundries / David Williams Interview
I talk emotional approaches to writing, and interview David Williams.
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- 00:00:06 ISBW #152
- 00:01:07 State of the Mur: tired! Writing, cleaning, recent attendance at NASFiC. Upcoming: WorldCon and the next book.
- 00:04:08 GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:05:05 Emotional approaches to writing: being a grownup, learning. Recommended reading: Storyteller by Kate Wilhelm.
- 00:16:24 Promo: FlagShip by Flying Island Press
- 00:17:35 Interview: David J. Williams
- Autumn Rain Trilogy, and the end of a series
- Future plans
- Writing habits
- Clarion workshop experiences
- Handling differing advice
- Advice for new writers
- 00:37:03 Promo: Dragon’s Bard Eventide
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ISBW #150(!!): Hard Work vs Fun – Tracy Hickman/Scott Sigler Interviews
Happy episode 150! Is writing fun? Is it hard work? Can it be both?
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- 00:00:07 ISBW #150
- 00:01:31 State of the Mur: 12,000 words written in one day to meet deadline, upcoming changes in the podcast format
- 00:05:38 GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:06:26 Balancing the hard work with the fun in writing. See also: C.C. Chapman’s Managing the Gray podcast, agent Rachelle Gardener’s Good to Great blog post (re: sacrifice and training).
- 00:14:41 Promo: Adventures in SciFi Publishing
- 00:15:55 Interview: Tracy Hickman
- New project with his wife, Laura Hickman: Dragon’s Bard Eventide: subscribe to story chapters online, get signed, numbered, limited edition hardcover at the end
- Book as souvenir of reading experience
- “Writing like the Dickens” (literally)
- Publishers as arbiters of quality, not printers of books
- Don’t undervalue yourself
- The 8 archetypal characters from Dramaticapedia, and gender roles
- 00:47:43 Promo: Did This Happen? (a family friendly, bite-sized look at history)
- 00:48:42 Interview: Scott Sigler
- Experiences with self-publishing The Rookie and The Starter
- Building his own imprint
- Experiences with traditional publishing
- Writing/marketing schedule
- The “free model” of writing
- Future plans
- Ancestor trailer
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ISBW #149 Editing – Paolo Bacigalupi / Tobias Buckell Interview
Editing and a dual interview!
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- 00:00:07 ISBW #149
- 00:01:18 State of the Mur: new theme song from John Anealio, new podcast at Angry Robot, magazine article & work-for-hire fiction, future plans to work on new book, listening to The Alchemist & The Executioness (an Audible.com exclusive) which was co-authored by this episode’s interviewees!
- 00:04:41 GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:05:15 Editing: using outline method (one outline of how the book is, one of how you want the book to be), the “ripple effect”, being dispassionate
- 00:13:21 Promo: Did This Happen? (a family friendly, bite-sized look at history)
- 00:14:37 Interview: Paolo Bacigalupi
- Path to publication (novels vs. short stories)
- Collaboration with Tobias
- 00:14:37 Interview: Tobias Buckell
- Collaboration, inspiration, division of labor
- Benefits of video chat
- 00:48:57 Promo: Adventures in SciFi Publishing
- 00:50:10 Feedback: some negative comments for the Bad Cop; risks of breaking a trilogy into 3 time periods & genres; copyright issues for fiction based on the iPhone; Breanne Boland asks about problems with getting known for writing about writing instead of the fiction itself; Smashwords; defeating the lure of new ideas when the old idea haven’t been written yet & “mind mapping” with Xmind; upcoming blog posts about ARCs (advance reader copies) received by ISBW; the joys of listening to ISBW while on a long trip; agent representation (breadth vs. specialization); daring to that the first steps in learning the craft of writing; balancing story planning & learning with a word count goal.
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ISBW #147: Writing Tools/Liz Gorinsky Interview
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A much more … sane ISBW returns to talk writing tools and to play the fantastic interview conducted by Chris Lester of the Hugo-nominated Tor editor, Liz Gorinsky!
- 00:00:06: ISBW #147
- 00:00:43: State of the Mur: working on the administrative side of writing lately — selling novella (Marco and the Red Granny: 27K words) to Hub, getting agent comments on novel-in-progress (Codename: Project Underground), attending Create South in Myrtle Beach, trying to balance flow of ideas with ability to write them…
- 00:04:23: GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:04:57: Writing Tools: the lament of the office-supply junkie, and the basics you really should have.
- 00:19:51: Promo: The Leviathan Chronicles
- 00:22:07: Interview: Liz Gorinsky, Hugo-nominated Tor editor (conducted by Chris Lester):
- What an associate editor does
- Steampunk
- Trends
- 00:59:20: Loose ends (feedback in the next episode) & contact info
Here’s where you can learn more about Metamor City, Chris’s award winning project.
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ISBW #146 – EXPLICIT – Live from Balticon, with John Anealio, Gail Carriger, and Matt Wallace
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This is live from Balticon with return guest Gail Carriger (@gailcarriger), songwriter John Anealio (@johnanealio), and Bad Cop Matt F. Wallace (@mattfnwallace). This is not safe for work or kids. We are explicit here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
(NOTE- at the beginning when I flub the show number, I whine that I haven’t even been drinking, but because my audience was laughing at me, all you hear is “been drinking.” I promise I was sober for this one.)
(Note, ISBW still does not advocate the harming of anyone. That’s all Matt.)
- 00:00:10 ISBW #146, explicit content warning
- 00:01:26 GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:02:20 I Should Be Writing ANTHEM by John Anealio at SciFiSongs.blogspot.com
- 00:05:58 Live from Balticon with Gail Carriger and Matt F-n Wallace.
- about Cons (writer POV vs. fan POV)
- future plans
- additional benefits of the author-agent-editor relationships
- 00:24:14 Musical interlude #2: George R.R. Martin is Not Your B—- (inspired by the now-famous Neil Gaiman blog post)
- 00:30:57 Good Cop/Bad Cop (with Gail weighing in as she sees fit): marketability of SciFi poetry; chairing a panel in the hopes of getting more readers; putting short stories on one’s blog or Smashwords while submitting to paying markets; getting paid for someone else to write an article based on one’s blog; are stories told for others or to others?; how do you distance yourself from your work in order to survive criticism?
- Related plugs for those brave enough to submit to the Bad Cop in person:
- Suppertime Sonnets
- Michael Spence has been published in Sword and Sorceress #25
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Jonathan Coulton and the Forced March (An ISBW Audio Treat)
I got a chance to interview Jonathan Coulton before his Raleigh show last Friday. I hadn’t talked to him since ’07 when he came through town backing up John Hodgman, and he was the opening band for Paul and Storm. Things have changed a bit since then.
I asked him about Thing a Week, when he was making a song every week for a year, and how it affected him. I was going to blog about it, but then I thought, why not just drop that snippet of the interview into the feed? (the interview was not for ISBW) So here it is. Nothing shiny, not an official show, just four minutes of me, JoCo, and the forced march.
(We were backstage during the Paul and Storm opening act, hence the music in the background.)
This did influence my views about my WIP, and I’ve been writing more this week. Thanks, JoCo. I don’t want to think about writing every day. I want to think of it as a forced march. Forward, always forward.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
ISBW #145 – Agents, Blake Charlton, Good Cop/Bad Cop
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- 00:00:06 ISBW #145
- 00:00:43 State of the Mur: driving to RavenCon! Travel, getting hacked (again), fresh reinstall and re-uploading of podcasts – please go to The Murverse for all your ISBW podcast archive needs – working on novella, trying to get schedule back under control.
- 00:05:28 GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:06:07 Back to Basics: people deserve to get paid for their work. Agents: do your homework. Resources: Writer’s Digest, Media Bistro, Agent Query
- 00:13:48 Promo: Merciless Storytellers: Performance Without Pity (podcasting competition)
- 00:19:00 Interview: Blake Charlton, med student and author of Spellwright
- 00:36:24 Promo: Scott Sigler’s The Starter. (Get a discount with the promo code “MUR”)
- 00:37:22 Feedback: Media Bistro’s AvantGuild as a recommended resource for nonfiction freelancers; the Zoom H2 and other voice recorder options, Holly Lisle as a recommended resource for revising one’s manuscript (http://howtoreviseyournovel.com/); do people change when they start to write?; comparing gaining experience in writing to gaining experience in The Sims; Discount! Use promo code MUR to save on Scott Sigler’s The Starter.
- 00:41:41 Good Cop/Bad Cop with Matt Wallace*: how to avoid the paralysis of fearing you’re going to “waste” a great idea when you’re not yet a good enough author to write it; setting boundaries with clingy writers
* He said he didn’t want you to be able to contact him directly, but I say PHOOEY! You like the bad cop? Click away. Hunt him down on his own turf. Thus sayeth the show notes writer. –Carrie.
(Note, ISBW does not advocate the harming of anyone. That’s all Matt.)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
ISBW #144 – Level Up! / Ellen Datlow Interview / Matt Wallace is Bad Cop
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- 00:00:07 ISBW #144
- 00:00:53 State of the Mur: working on novella, other short fiction, pondering some self-publishing production expenses.
- 00:02:42 GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:03:18 Level Up! A geeky role-playing-games perspective on learning from your mistakes: failure gets you experience points. Anyone else want real badges for life experiences, like in the Boy/Girl Scouts? There are nerd merit badges, and NaNoWriMo badges, and the You Can Do It: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls (show-notes writer Carrie owns this one: scroll down to see sample badges)… can we design and produce some Author Badges? (The Duotrope shop also has t-shirts that say things like “author” and “published.”)
- 00:13:48 Promo: The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
- 00:15:00 Interview: Ellen Datlow, Editor (find her on LiveJournal.) New anthology, Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror.
- 00:36:59 Promo: Can’t Stop the Serenity: Worldwide Charity Screenings for Equality Now
- 00:37:59 Feedback part 1: Ask a Lawyer! with attorney Steve Tupper (aka Stephen Force, host of Airspeed, an aviation & aerospace podcast): Legal implications of hotlinking/resizing & hosting artwork to accompany fiction excerpts? Discussion of exclusive rights in copyrighted works in the U.S. and fair use (see also 1841 decision Fulsom v. March, explaining piracy). The fact that you’re not making money off the use of a work does not mean it’s “fair use”. Brief discussion of licenses. Brief discussion of internet links. Obligatory disclaimer.
- 00:54:56 Feedback part 2: chapter length and pacing (recommended listening: Writing Excuses episode on Pacing with interviewee James Dashner); fan fiction addiction; definition of “dark fantasy.”
- 00:58:50 Mur gets advice from “Bad Cop” Matt Wallace>: overcoming fear of success.
[Reposting because of problems with the feed.]
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ISBW #143 – Cynicism / Don Vaughn Interview
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- 0:00:06 ISBW #143
- 00:00:40 State of the Mur: working on various freelance projects, a novella currently titled “Marco and the Red Granny”, blogging/pocasting for Tor, ISBW and The Artist’s Way.
- 00:02:00 FEAR OF SUCCESS (topic inspired by Beth Revis’ blog post on Fear
- 00:05:35 GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:06:23 CYNICISM
- 00:13:05 Promo: Heldenleben (German-language fiction)
- 00:14:30 Interview: Don Vaughan, Founder & President of Triangle Area Freelancers, which is devoted to non-fiction freelance writing. Suggested resources: Writer’s Market, conferences (such as the TAF 2010 Conference on March 27, 2010).
- 00:34:16 Promo: Trickster Moon Productions
- 00:37:00 More things you should know about: New feature on ISBW: Good Cop/Bad Cop with Mur and Matt Wallace;Ohio University, Lancaster survey for podcast listeners, Interview with Scott Sigler on Ginger Campbell’s podcast Books and Ideas
Upcoming interviews- Ellen Datlow, Blake Charlton, and, thanks to Chris Lester, Liz Giorinsky, Phil and Kaja Foglio, and more!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download

