Writing Excuses 10.3: Lovecraftian Horror

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Writing Excuses 10.3: Lovecraftian Horror

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2015/01/20/writing-excuses-10-3-lovecraftian-horror/

Key Points: Lovecraftian horror does not depend on stupid decisions. Competent, reasonably informed individuals doing all the right things fail because the threat is so much greater than the protagonist. Lovecraftian horror is Eldritch horror, horror with a supernatural component. There's a lot of craziness. Not generic craziness, smashing of self against brutal insignificance. There are small and large stories, or oceanic themed and cosmic themed. Lovecraft uses the fear of the unknown, and often the person finding out that they are the Other. Don't forget that other people wrote Lovecraftian horror. The mythos and Lovecraftian horror are not identical. Lovecraftian horror uses layers of isolation.

( Who knows what lurks just out of sight... )

[Brandon] We're going to go ahead and have a writing prompt. Unlike the exercise we gave last week, on these wildcard weeks, we're going to go back to just giving you a regular old writing prompt for those of you that love those. Howard is going to give us...

[Howard] Okay.

[Mary] For those of you coming in fresh and new, what we mean by a writing prompt is that you get to do basically some free writing based on the prompt that Howard gives you.

[Howard] Okay. Take a character and from that character's point of view, described their reaction to something horrific and indescribable and awful, but don't describe the thing.

[Brandon] Excellent. Another thank you to Cherie and to our Writing Excuses retreat members.

[Screams]

[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses. Now go write.

2015 Hugo Award Eligibility – SHADOWS BENEATH

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2015 Hugo Award Eligibility – SHADOWS BENEATH

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2015/01/21/2015-hugo-award-eligibility-shadows-beneath/

[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses. Now go write.

[Mary] Or... Before you go off and write. Can we talk to you about the fact that the Hugo nomination period has just opened? Now, we won a Best Related Work for our podcast two years ago, which we are really, really proud of. But we're writers and we have this book called Shadows Beneath, which is a combination of anthology and also, more specifically, a writing textbook.

[Dan] It's really great. One of the things we love about this is that it's such an innovative thing, none of us has ever really seen this before. It takes four short stories or novellas that we have written, one each, and then delves into the background of them. You get to hear our brainstorming sessions in transcript, you get to see early drafts, you get to see our notes on what we changed and why. It's just a phenomenal resource. So what we're saying is if you like Writing Excuses and if you would like to nominate us for a Hugo, maybe consider nominating this book rather than the podcast itself this year.

[Brandon] In fact, we would love to send you a review copy. If you are eligible to nominate for the Hugo awards, drop us an email ebooks@BrandonSanderson.com and we will respond with a complementary review copy of Shadows Beneath.

[Howard] You know what, whether or not you think Writing Excuses is something you'd like to go nominate, you're out of excuses, now go nominate things!

[Mary] That's right. There's lots of other wonderful things. You should be nominating for the Hugos.

[Howard] Please participate.

[Mary] Thank you for your consideration.