Writing Excuses 10.4: Q&A on Ideas

Published: Jan. 25, 2015, 11 p.m.

b'At the Out of Excuses Workshop and Retreat we premiered the Season 10 concept, and we invited our attendees to give us the questions we need\\xa0this month. (They\'ll also be the ones providing our questions for February, but we\'ll cast our net wide for questions in March.)
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\\n\\t* Ideas are hard! Is it ever acceptable for inexperienced writers to write derivative works?
\\n\\t* How do you keep from being discouraged when something similar to your idea comes out?
\\n\\t* How do you know when your idea is a novel, vs. when it\'s a short story?
\\n\\t* Should you only write for themed anthologies if you already have an idea ready in that theme?
\\n\\t* How can you practice description when your idea is set someplace completely unfamiliar to you?
\\n\\t* When should you abandon an idea you love?
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\\nLiner Notes: We talked about novel-length vs short-story-length ideas\\xa0in Season 6, Episode 10 when we covered the M.I.C.E. quotient, and again in Season 8, Episode 20, when Mary talked about short story structure. Also, the anthology into which Howard was\\xa0drafted on the basis of a spur-of-the-moment idea is Shared Nightmares,\\xa0and his story is called "U.I."\\n\\nOur Sponsors:\\n* Check out Factor 75 and use our code wx50 for a great deal: https://www.factor75.com/ \\n\\nSupport this podcast at \\u2014 https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/exclusive-content\\n\\nAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands'