Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchEpisode 190 - The right way to leave red herrings.
Red herrings--false clues--are used in most all stories in all genres. Here are the right and wrong ways to insert red herrings into our stories. Also, here's how we can show--reveal--much about a …
Published on 12 hours ago
Episode 189 - Start as close to the end as possible.
Kurt Vonnegut said we should "Start as close to the end as possible." What did he mean? How can we do so? Here are thoughts on this famous piece of advice from a legendary novelist. Also, avoidin…
Published on 1 week ago
Episode 188 - How to make our writing fun.
Is your writing time becoming a grind? If so, here are some things that may reduce the grind and maybe even make writing fun. Also, here are thoughts on how we might write a sentence that is a tim…
Published on 2 weeks ago
Episode 187 - Giving readers what they want.
We writers should consider giving readers what they want. Well, what do they want? Here is a discussion of the five things readers want in a novel. Also: the dual timeline plot structure. And F. …
Published on 3 weeks ago
Episode 186 - Showing--not telling--what a character is thinking.
Thoughts are interior, in our minds. But there are ways to show--to give evidence--that reveal to the reader what our character is thinking. Also, here is an important ingredient that many writers …
Published on 4 weeks ago
Episode 185 - The keys to musical writing.
The three most important words in our fiction are, "Story, story, story." But we can also shoot for lovely, musical language that makes each sentence and paragraph a pleasure to read. Here are thou…
Published on 1 month ago
Episode 184 - Skipping the dull stuff in our plot.
In his famous ten rules of writing, Elmore Leonard says that we shouldn't write things readers tend to skip. What are those things? How can we avoid writing them? Also, should our story have them…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Episode 183 - A key to making our sentences forceful.
What do Ernest Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, and Elmore Leonard have in common? Powerful stories, yes. But also lean and forceful sentences. Here's how they do it. Also: in our plotting,what's an …
Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Episode 182 - Things to think about as we write the end of our story.
After months and month if writing, we'll near the end of our story. Our novel is almost finished. Here are things we should consider as we wrap up our story. Also, for many of us editing our own s…
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago
Episode 181 - A critical difference between scene and summary.
Why should almost all of our story be scenes rather than summaries? Here's how we can avoid summaries and instead write moment-by-moment real-time scenes in our fiction. Also: here are perhaps the …
Published on 2 months ago