Writing Excuses Transcripts

Writing Excuses 6.9: Microcasting 2 Electric Boogaloo

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/07/31/writing-excuses-6-9-microcasting-2-electric-boogaloo/

Key points:
(Q) How do you keep the whole story in your head when it's a 1000 pages long? (A) Outlines. You only keep a piece in your head. You fill in the rest as you go. "Practicing and gaining skill as a writer through practice..."
(Q) What steps do you use when creating a character? Are they part of the story and created by the story? (A) Yes! Starting with an idea, ask who can be hurt most? Then work backwards -- why, how does that affect things? Jot down ideas and discard the first three. Practice!
(Q) When do you put in the details? How many passes are spent on details? (A) Outliners often do really fast first drafts, with roughly half the details. Then about the third draft is a strong polishing draft with lots of details. Details affect pacing, and it's easier to see when you have a complete draft.
(Q) How do you patch plot holes? (A) Back up and lay the groundwork.
(Q) How do you come up with names? (A) look at the period. Avoid the same first letter and similar syllables. Think about the language and culture, where do their names come from? Use The Ever-Changing Book of Names.
(Q) Do you have one writing skill that you want to be much better at? (A) Subtlety. Multiple viewpoints, subplots, more complicated stories. Prose. Experimental narrative structures. Sitting down and writing every day.
(Q) What's your take on writing groups? (A) I love them. Not all groups are created equal. Be careful and don't be afraid to quit.
( the many words of our Q&A )
[Brandon] Okay. Let's go ahead and take us out there. We had two writing prompts. One was ridiculously silly...
[Howard] Intercontinental Ballistic Hairball.
[Brandon] I was going to say Dan has to save the world... Or someone has to save the world using a keyboard that is in the wrong format. Somehow the letters got completely arranged randomly, and go from there with rearranged random letters.
[Dan] Someone has to save the world from an Intercontinental Ballistic Hairball using the wrong computer layout.
[Brandon] Oh, boy.
[Dan] Either the wrong operating system.
[Mary] Oh, yeah.
[Brandon] I'm sorry. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.