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

20.22: The Lens of Time

June 1, 2025·20 min·1 clip
How do characters create tension when their personal time clashes with the world's progress?
The hosts explore how time functions as a narrative lens in storytelling, discussing techniques like flashbacks, magnified moments, and time as setting. They analyze examples from Dune and Jane Austen to show how manipulating time creates tension and character depth.

As heard by us

Time changes what a scene reveals, sometimes more than the scene itself.

Writing Excuses uses time as a practical craft tool here, not a grand idea. It looks at how day and night, or spring and fall, can shift what a scene means and how a character reacts.

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Why you'd press play

You want a single scene to land differently by changing when it happens.

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