What separates the way we experience a game versus the way we experience a prose narrative? Erin Roberts has written for many games, and she loves games particularly because they give the person experiencing the narrative more choice and more direct agency over what happens. This changes the way that we experience story. When you’re writing a game, the main thing you have to figure out is the actions: what are the potential things that could happen—and therefore, what are the verbs? We dive into decision, audience buy in, and ultimately try to answer the question: what does gaming teach us about making and finding meaning?

Homework: Take a project you’re working on and imagine that someone is making a game of it. What would that game be? What would be the actions that the characters would be doing? What would be the part of the world that the game would be focused on? Feel free to look at examples of this (like the games that were made based on Lord of the Rings.)

P.S. Our 2025 writing retreat (on a cruise! In Mexico!) is over 50% sold out! Learn more and sign up here.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Dan Wells, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Our hosts explore how to write compelling confrontations—whether physical fights or emotional arguments—in a live episode recorded on the Writing Excuses Cruise. Building off Dan Wells' class Why Your Fight Scene Is Boring, our hosts break down reactions into four elements: focus, physicality, thought, and action. The discussion dives into how newness, character history, and anticipation shape these moments, and how effective confrontations reveal both character and motivation. Plus: sword fighting, puppetry, and driving on black ice.

Thing of the Week: Death and Other Details (on Hulu)

Homework: Watch an action scene in a movie—something that you really like. Then, to underline how different books are as a medium, transcribe it— blow for blow, step for step, and see how long you can get into that before you tear your own hair out because it becomes incredibly boring. Then, after you've proven that the blocking and the blow-by-blow doesn't work, rewrite that scene in a way that does, in a way that translates to and uses the medium of prose.

P.S. Our 2025 writing retreat (on a cruise! In Mexico!) is over 50% sold out! Learn more and sign up here.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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How can listening inform the way you write? We decided to ask Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author—best known for The Power of Habit and most recently released Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, a compelling guide that explores the art and science of meaningful conversation.

We talked with Charles about myriad elements of writing, speaking, and listening—that is, communication in all its forms! We explored how passion and clarity are key parts of both pitching and book proposals. Charles also introduced us to active listening techniques, such as "looping for understanding," which can foster stronger connection in conversations. These effective and meaningful exchanges can help you showcase your project’s vision and voice.

Thing of the Week: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg

Homework: Charles has two pieces of homework for us!

1. First, tomorrow, ask someone a deep question that you might not usually ask a deep question of. Instead of asking, “How was your day?” ask them, you know, “I noticed that you really like Jasper. What do you admire about Jasper?”

2. Write one paragraph is terrible, but you feel like indulges some aspect of your voice. Maybe it's funny, maybe it's wry, maybe it's sad. Just do something completely pointless. Set that paragraph aside for a couple of days. And when you come back to it, you are going to see something in there that surprises you at how good it is. And that is a pebble on the path to finding your voice.

P.S. Our 2025 writing retreat (on a cruise! In mexico!) is over 50% sold out! Learn more and sign up here.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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