Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchEpisode 217 - Why and how to practice. And Edgar Alan Poe.
Writing is like learning the violin. We can get better. Here are reasons we should practice, and suggestions how to do so. And what sparked Edgar …
4 months, 2 weeks ago
Episode 216 - Too many characters is a scene.
What's the problem with having a lot of characters in a scene? Aren't lots of people needed to make street scenes and party scenes and sports scenes…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
Episode 215 - The ratchet, a strong plotting tool.
How can we know if our scene pushes the story forward. Does our scene contribute to the story? The ratchet can test our scene. I talk about the ra…
5 months ago
Episode 214 - Famous writers show us how to write and live.
If we emulate famous authors, won't we get better at writing? Here are how some highly-skilled, best-selling authors write and live. Plus: the thre…
5 months, 1 week ago
Episode 213 - Save the cat plotting.
How can we get readers to admire and respect our hero, maybe even to fall in love with him? Our hero can save the cat. Here is how the screenwriter…
5 months, 2 weeks ago
Episode 212 - Getting skilled with point of view.
Keeping a tight point of view is critical for our story. Here's how we can stay inside the mind of our main character yet learn what others in the s…
5 months, 3 weeks ago
Episode 211 - How to have fun while writing.
Sometimes writing can be a grind. Here are things that are fun while writing that'll give us energy and keep us at our desks and allow us to pour jo…
6 months ago
Episode 210 - Timeless plot patterns.
Folks new to fiction may think because there are a million stories and dozens of genres, plots can be presented in any way imaginable. But successfu…
6 months, 1 week ago
Episode 209 - Avoiding blunders in our story.
How and why should we avoid our character traveling? And how does Orson Scott Card not make blunders in his novels? Here is his tool for having a …
6 months, 2 weeks ago
Episode 208 - How to paint pictures with words.
Writing is magic. We type on a keyboard, and then the words we type create powerful images in readers' minds. Here is a discussion of our main tool…
6 months, 3 weeks ago