Mur Lafferty's Blog, page 18
February 22, 2022
[ISBW] LIES
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Mur’s newest, STATION ETERNITY, will be out on October 4, 2022 Saved by Save The Cat Beat Sheets 2022 Word Count: 27890Good News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: 40 New Book Cover Reveal on io9 Feb 17th Evil Mur Appears!Main Topic: LIES
Emotions are not Reality Self confidence, self doubt, and the roller coaster ride between Depression Lies, Anxiety Lies, Dr House reminds us Everybody Lies Artist’s Way vs Finding WaterFebruary 15, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 14 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
February 17, 2022
[ISBW] Let’s Build A Character!
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(Pre-Open) Pick a word, and use it a lot (new Evil Mur tip?) Mur’s newest, STATION ETERNITY, will be out on October 4 2022Good News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: 38 New book: Slaying the Dragon by Ben RiggsMain Topic: Let’s Build A Character!
Using a character toolkit to help create characters for your story Better Backstories cards (see links) could help jumpstart ideas Yes, fictional characters living rent-free in your head is common with storytellers How hard is it to write a character who is completely manipulative/psychologically abusive/etc Next, Rory’s Story Cubes as a different story building tool Writer Emergency Pack idea cards by screenwriter John August Let’s Play A Game: group building a character’s backstoryFebruary 10, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 13 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
February 16, 2022
[ISBW] How Do I Workshops?
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(Pre-Open) Dogs Run the Joint! Mur’s newest, STATION ETERNITY, will be out on October 4 2022Good News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: 35 Audio Drama inspiration New Assistant onboardMain Topic: How Do I Workshops
ADHD-Friendly organization methods, revisited Prioritizing tasks randomly: Taking the D20 roll to heart Will there be a Brindlewood Bay stream in the future? Writing Workshop Etiquette & Guidelines Structure for receiving and giving critiquesFebruary 8, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 12 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
February 10, 2022
[ISBW] Are You Drowning in Productivity?
Good News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: up to 34 (19 new ones from Brian alone) Reality Checks: stop worrying about the (podcast) numbersMain Topic: Look at Your Own Paper (Focus on Your Work)
Keep yourself mentally healthy by avoiding comparing your career with others’ Freedom to write what you want, or maintain the momentum of what has been selling? Keep Writer Beware in your bookmarks, Victoria Strauss has the 411 on the scammers Patreon perks update: ISBW Book Club debut, plus Discord discussionsFebruary 3, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 11 | murverse.com | Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
February 8, 2022
[ISBW] Keep Your Eyes On Your Own Paper
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(Pre-Open) Stream Raiders game dev sausage making WIP: A Swarm of Cuckoos, 19,407 wordsGood News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: up to 34 (19 new ones from Brian alone) Reality Checks: stop worrying about the (podcast) numbersMain Topic: Look at Your Own Paper (Focus on Your Work)
Keep yourself mentally healthy by avoiding comparing your career with others’ Freedom to write what you want, or maintain the momentum of what has been selling? Keep Writer Beware in your bookmarks, Victoria Strauss has the 411 on the scammers Patreon perks update: ISBW Book Club debut, plus Discord discussionsFebruary 1, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 10 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
February 5, 2022
[ISBW] HAVE LIFECHANGING WORKSHOPS, uh, changed With Gregory Ashe
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Special Saturday Stream!
Working on new office layout
Good News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022
Team Rejection count: now at 14
Greg is working on draft of Book 4 in his series
Main Topic: Greg’s Teaching & Writing
Greg is teaching one of the Odyssey Workshop’s Winter Online Sessions Pandemic influence: Odyssey shifting to 100% online instead of a 6-week in-house program Series and characters, likeable vs deserving Mur gets pointers for writing clues in a mystery seriesJanuary 29, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 9 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
February 3, 2022
[ISBW] Matt Wallace Declares the Year of the Fat Kid!
[NOTE: this episode has some NSFW language]
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Welcome back from the wilderness, Matt F’n Wallace! Scrivener will indeed tell you how many words you wrote in a year Mur is making progress on Midsolar Murders Book 2 Matt is working on a video game he can’t talk about yet, and we await Savage CrownsGood News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: now at 14Main Topic: Matt’s New Middle Grade Book
This is the book Matt always wanted as a kid, so now he’s written it for himself & everyone else Using the word “fat” and all the baggage different people bring to it Relating to Vincent D’Onofrio and Sammo Hung in their acting and action roles How to approach writing fat characters: Writing the Other (written by Hugo-nominated author Meg Elison. You really should read her award nominated novella "The Pill.") Matt's page, and the Fat Kid Guide pageJanuary 27, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 8 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
February 2, 2022
[ISBW] (Meta) State of the Shows, and Mur
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Yesterday: adventure flails + research rabbit holes = zero words writtenGood News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: now at 14 Rescue Adventure Fumble Saving Throw Success!Main Topic: Game of Goals
Setting goals, meeting goals from different directions, and changing things up What to do when growth is shrinking rather than growing Is there a better way to find a better fitting niche for your podcast? Goal: A Scifi Writing Stream Team Dream Team The status of Ditch Diggers to come The Joy of PantsingJanuary 25, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 7 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
January 28, 2022
[ISBW] Is Genre Worth Fighting Over?
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(Pre-Open) I Should Be Cooking? Channeling the Ditch Diggers Writers Block sneaks up on you even when you’re able to write the words.Good News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: up to 10 Accountability Buddies rock Tracking yearly wordcountsMain Topic: Genre, Genre, and more Genre
The desire to write a psychological thriller means reading more of them to peel back the layers The genres have their own rules of engagement. Subvert them at your own peril (or genius) Mur is addicted to Christmas mysteriesJanuary 20, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 6 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License
January 27, 2022
[ISBW] I SHOULD BE WRITING. DAMMIT.
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Tightening up the podcast scheduleGood News Good News
Hugo nominations are open for 2022 Team Rejection count: up to 9Main Topic: Characters, Setting, and Story
Do you like Star Wars because of the heroes, or because of the world they inhabit? There are stories where you can mix & match characters easily, and others not so much What makes the setting the key element, and what makes the characters key? Fanfic blazing the trailsJanuary 18, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 5 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | BY-NC-SA 3.5 License