Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchEpisode 114 - A critical technique to make our story engaging.
Details are proofs, evidence offered to the reader about our story. Details will make our fiction engaging and will allow the story to grab readers…
1 year, 11 months ago
Episode 113 - The clear window technique.
For most of us our sentence-by-sentence writing should be a clear window to our story rather than a barrier to seeing the story. Here are thoughts o…
1 year, 11 months ago
Episode 112 - Writing in the past or present tense, and making submissions.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing in the present tense? And the past tense? Also, a reminder about the importance of setting. …
1 year, 11 months ago
Episode 111 - If we have to have a big meeting, show rather than tell.
It's hard to make a big meeting scene interesting. Much of the time meeting scenes should be avoided. But if we must have a meeting, showing rather…
1 year, 11 months ago
Episode 110 - Book cover design, and regaining enthusiasm.
Good advice about designing your own book cover; don't. If you self-publish your novel don't ruin it with a do-it-yourself book cover. Here are t…
1 year, 11 months ago
Episode 109 - How we can stop stalling and get going.
Some of us have a hard time beginning the writing of our novels or short stories. Here are the reasons why and things we might do to overcome them. …
2 years ago
Episode 108 - Every description should do double duty.
We can avoid inert paragraphs by having our descriptions do more than one thing at once. Descriptions of our characters, settings, and action and o…
2 years ago
Episode 107 - The differences between literary and commercial fiction.
Should we categorize our novel as literary or commercial? What are the benefits and drawbacks of doing so? Also, we can improve our dialogue writin…
2 years ago
Episode 106 - How to write a scene's sequel, and plotting the novel's middle.
Jack Bickham says that scenes should be followed by sequels. Here are thoughts on how to write a sequel. Also, the middle of a novel--sometimes cal…
2 years ago
Episode 105 - A technique for plotting scene to scene, and my failed writing experiment.
What is the best way to plot our novel, plotting from scene to scene? Here is a discussion of the critical technique of avoiding a scene's set up an…
2 years, 1 month ago