Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchEpisode 64 - How to get started writing, and tips on romantic and angry dialogue.
How can we get off the dime and start writing our novel or short story? Here are some thoughts. Also, readers love emotional dialogue; techniques t…
2 years, 10 months ago
Episode 63 - How to bring our settings to life, and writing the romantic scene.
Here is a strong technique for immersing readers in our settings. Readers will think they are right there with our characters. Also, almost all sto…
2 years, 10 months ago
Episode 62 - A technique for bringing our characters to life, and writing the action scene.
Here is a strong technique to make our characters vivid and memorable for the reader. And also: most novels should have action scenes. The craft …
2 years, 10 months ago
Episode 61 - How to detect and fix a sloppy scene. Also: how to unleash story ideas.
Sometimes a scene we've written just doesn't feel right. Something is amiss but we can't put our fingers on it. Here's a method to figure out what …
2 years, 11 months ago
Episode 60 - Fabulous sentences of fiction, font fiddling, and slow motion.
A terrific way for writers to find inspiration is to hear legendary sentences from famous novels. Here are a few. Should we fiddle with fonts in ou…
2 years, 11 months ago
Episode 59 - Plotting with a spreadsheet. And the unreliable narrator. Also, fiddling with the flow of time.
Can we use a spreadsheet to plot our novels? Some authors do. Here are thoughts about using Excel for outlining a story. Also, most main charac…
2 years, 11 months ago
Episode 58 - Making writing less daunting, and some techniques to avoid weak sentences.
How can we handle the dispiriting feeling that writing our novel is a huge, endless, and hard chore with completion far in the future, if ever? Here…
2 years, 11 months ago
Episode 57 - An important tool, the timeline. Also, authorial distance.
Creating a timeline can help us keep things straight as we plot and write. Also, here's a discussion of authorial distance, which is the closeness o…
3 years ago
Episode 56 - How many characters are too many? And he wore his guilt like a harness.
For each scene, the perfect number of characters exists. We'll talk about that number. Too few, and we don't have a scene. Too many, and the scene…
3 years ago
Episode 55 - How many words should we write a day? And the use of contrast.
How many words a day? Too fast, and our story might be sloppy. Too slow, and we'll never finish. Here are some thoughts about our pace of writing.…
3 years ago