Workshop Episode 3 (Guest Host: Gail Carriger)

Lauren Beukes – author, journalist, comic scribe, and storyteller extraordinaire – returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to infuse this week’s workshop with the insight, experience, and vision that is the hallmark of her many works in the world.

She’s joined by Guest Writer Joshua Cordasco who brings a tale of a magical power play that sees 99% of the world dead and our heroes – including a disgraced devil – left to figure it all out. Between Josh’s fabulous story and Lauren’s keen sense of story, this is classic Roundtable goodness fraught with Literary Gold!

Having Rish Outfield and Big Anklevich – the mad geniuses behind the epic Dunesteef Audio Magazine – for our thirteenth episode turns out to be very lucky indeed. Joining us at the Roundtable is the remarkable Renee Chambliss, she of the wonderful voice, the gifted pen, and the keen ear, who brings a wonderfully innovative idea for a comicbook hero to the Table for the discussion. Origin stories, multimedia storytelling, and the nature of rats… all this and more awaits you… just hit that PLAY button

Alicia E. Goranson – playwright, author, and creator of the Parsec Award winning “The Mask of Inanna” – returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to help us workshop a tale offered up by Anthony Sunderland. Assisted by the ever-dapper Doc Coleman, we dive in to Tony’s story of alien conspiracy, genetic hybrids, and clandestine government operations. It’s like a cross between Buffy and X-Files and everyone is soon in search of the elusive Literary Gold!

Rachel Swirsky’s literary works are elegant and lyrical creations that stir the mind and the heart. Really… it’s like tasting your favorite food for the very first time. Which is why we’re so excited to have her back in the Big Chair to help workshop a story offered up by Guest Writer Ryan Stevenson. You may have heard Ryan workshop this story of life, afterlife, and mid-life on the Dead Robots’ Society episode #209 (a podcast he once co-hosted with distinction and honor) and now we get an opportunity to play in his literary sandbox for a while. Many paths are trod, many ideas fostered, and much gold for everyone!

I want to take a moment to address an issue many writers, including myself, are plagued with:

So many ideas, so little time.

I’m struck with a least two new story ideas a week. Sometimes I can satisfy my fickle muses with a short story or two. Other times, the ideas demand novel-length exorcising. I can’t control it, and I’m somewhat scared of what might happen if I tried. As a result of said caution, I’ve devised a means to placate the voices in my head while maintaining my sanity. I…

Showcase Episode: Brion and Dave sit down with J. Daniel Sawyer and discuss character development, beta readers, genre, audience and more. We think you’ll agree, the twenty minutes is over too quickly, but listeners will find a wealth of writing insights.

  Throughout the course of this podcast, Dave and I have been like a couple of escaped mental patients, stalking…

Abigail Hilton – creator of the vast Panamindorah Universe and all the wonderful fiction encompassed within it – returns to the Roundtable and does a masterful job in workshopping our first Vampire story (squeee!) offered up by Guest Writer Mercy Loomis. Mercy has crafted a rich and detailed universe and her story got all of us in a froth of creative fervor… so yeah, the episode is longer than most, but there’s so much goodness in there that I just couldn’t cut it down.

Tim Pratt, whose fiction has transported readers to astonishing worlds (or revealed those worlds in our own closets), returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to brings his amazing perceptions to bear workshopping an intricate tale offered up by Guest Writer Rusty Webb. It’s apparently post-apocalypse month here at the RTP, but Rusty’s tale offers a very unique perspective and setting. Mad Gods, ascended beings, the last vestiges of humanity in a world gone wrong… marvelous food for storytelling awesomeness and we uncover several veins of Literary Gold.

Alasdair Stuart leaps across the Atlantic Ocean to take a seat at the Roundtable and help workshop a story by the founder of New Fiction Writers, Tony Whitford. Tony offers up the tale of a down-on-his-luck government agent who stumbles upon an alien serial killer which proves to be fertile ground for a fabulous discussion.

“There are people who appear to be able to invoke creativity on command.  They sit down and BAM, creative inspirations…

“Descriptive” is a common compliment for books. Perhaps too common – one of the usual downfalls of newer writers is the tendency to over-describe every aspect of their stories, from the characters to the setting to the teapot in the cupboard.

Characters should be described. So should setting. That teapot, though, probably doesn’t require the readers’ attention, and you should not be wasting your authorly breath on it. Too much description, even of vital elements of the story, bogs down your narration and leads the reader to start skipping entire sections of your story – assuming, that is, they don’t simply quit reading.

How much is too much? At what point do you go from “very descriptive” to “bloated and boring?” With writing, there are never any rules – only guidelines. The following are a couple of mine.

Nobilis Reed – a man of SO many gifts and talents, including author, podcaster, editor, vocal performer, and audio guru – returns to the Roundtable for some workshop action. Joining him at the table is Terry Mixon, a gifted and prolific author and one of the co-hosts at the much esteemed Dead Robots’ Society! Terry offers up a truly epic tale, an erotic romance thriller that get’s ideas and inspirations flowing like fine wine.

We asked thirteen authors, podcasters, and content creators if they thought talent was something we’re born with or something we acquire over time. In this episode, we cover the final. Their answers are as intriguing as the people themselves and Brion and Dave riff extensively off them.

Anne Lyle – who has released the first novel in her Night’s Masque trilogy, “The Alchemist of Souls”, with more wonders, delights, and thrills to come – rejoins us at the Roundtable (she gets the comfy chair) to workshop a marvelous tale offered by Veronica Giguere. Join us as we explore an intriguing world fraught with intrigue, seafarers, pirates, ancient religions, and just a dash of Steampunk. We had a blast with this one and we’re sure you will, too!