Writing Excuses 8.20: The Short Story, with Mary Robinette Kowal

The number one request we got when we asked you what you'd like us to talk about? Short story writing. Mary is our resident expert, and if she weren't already a member of the cast, she'd our go-to expert for an interview. Convenient! We begin by addressing the popular notion that writing short stories is a good way to practice for writing novels, and selling short stories is a way to break in and sell novels. We then return to the M.I.C.E. quotient (first addressed by us in 6.10) and discuss how the quotient (or model, or formula) helps you understand what to cut from the telling of a story to make it a short story. Mary then walks us through her process for turning an idea into a story concept, and then distilling that concept into a short story. She also invites us to explore her 950-word short, "Evil Robot Monkey," free of charge!