Writing Excuses · Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

20.30: Using Why To Shape Tone

July 27, 2025·19 min·1 clip

Dan Wells explains why he opened his book with a dead baby to make the characters' joy more meaningful.

The hosts of Writing Excuses explore how tone functions in writing, discussing its emotional impact, use of contrasts, and practical tools like word choice and sentence structure. They share personal examples from their novels and conclude with a homework exercise to practice creating different tones in a simple scene.

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