Prose and Cons

Hello all!

Prose & Cons is going on a little bit of a break for the next few months.

With a lot of new chapters presently starting, a few months of a break will help us keep our sanity as we navigate t…

This is it! This is the moment we've been waiting for.

Ally Burnham's novel Swallow is coming out this November: listen as the group gathers to discuss her process, beta reading, historical novel(ing)…

Deus Ex Machina.

God from the machine.

Writing tool? Or something we should avoid?

Paddy, James, and Phoenix dive into this very topic in this episode of Prose and Cons.

Like with most genres and writing…

Jimmy was walking to school one day when he tripped over a rock and fell. With a jolt, Jimmy woke up from the dream only to remember that he never walks to school.

What does this passage mean?!?!

Does …

Between all the writing, it is sometimes easy to forget just how much we love to read. Jump in for a cozy and fascinating conversation between James and Phoenix as they discuss their current reading …

And then, at the end of all things, James, Ally, and Matan . . . WERE DINOSAURS THE WHOLE TIME! 

I simply cannot believe it.
 
That’s just a little taste of what you can expect in this twisty, curvy, bl…

Annnnnnnd we're back!

Tune in to see the 2nd part of the Sanderson festivities--this time centered around Ally Burnham's terrific (and chaotic) Cosmere Universal Tournmanet Arc, in which Matan's parti…

Of course we couldn't do a Sanderson episode without making it a SERIES!
This one ended up ballooning, rightfully so, as Ally, Matan and James discuss not only Sanderson's incredible list of works, bu…

Wait, wait, wait - there's a DIFFERENCE between plot and story? Yes there is, and it's an important distinction to make! Let Alex, James and Paddy take you through the key differences between these t…

Death . . . what is it good for?

Lots of things!

Need to fundamentally alter the way your story functions and your characters interact? A character death might be right for you.

In this episode of Prose…

Writing is a marathon. Unless you're Alex Eldridge, and then writing is a sprint in which you write 20,000 words in one hit--sorta. Jokes aside, listen to the gang discuss their rising (and sometimes…

It's ironic that often the hardest part of writing a story is knowing how to start it. And what makes it harder? The start is often the most important part! But fear not! On today's episode, the gang…

It’s as they say: one can’t understand the mouse until they peer beyond the hole in the wall.

. . . Maybe they don’t say that, but they should!

In this episode of Prose and Cons, Ally and Matan go deep…

Atticus Finch! Lord Voldemort! Ebeneezer Scrooge! Or maybe... Eeyore?

Listen as Ally, Paddy and Matan try to get to the bottom of what makes a great literary name, followed by 40 arduous minutes of th…

This week, we explore hit HBO crime drama The Penguin. Its been much lauded - but *why* is it so good? Join Ally, Paddy and Phoenix this week as they explore the techniques used to create the mesmeri…

It has been three years since we started this thing – three years and 100 episodes!

Join all six of us as we reflect on where we’ve been, what we’ve learned, and our hopes for the future.

Burn out, hit…

Today dear audience we're going to do something a little different (GASP!): we're going to read, and analyse, Roald Dahl's short story 'The Wish'. This is a bit of an experiment for us, where we shar…

The mic sits in front of me, cold, unplugged, as an obligatory software update tries to keep me pacified with a graphic that clearly doesn’t actually indicate how much progress has been made.
 
... May…

The Bear: what a show. What a stressful, anxiety-inducing show. On today's menu, Ally, Alex and Paddy deconstruct the writing of The Bear, how it uses its frantic energy to such strong effect, and ho…

You’re sitting there, maybe standing, and you’re thinking about listening to this podcast. You have a choice: press play, and you’ll be swept away, or you can close your podcast app and know a normal…