Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchEpisode 150 - How to deliver a surprise in the story.
Good stories are filled with surprises for the reader. There are right and wrong ways for us writers to deliver surprises, and I'll talk about them …
1 year, 6 months ago
Episode 149 - How masterful writers use details.
What do George Orwell, Sara Gruen, Jean Shepherd, and John Steinbeck have in common? Many things but foremost among them is their expert use of deta…
1 year, 6 months ago
Episode 148: A magical way to end one scene and begin another.
Here is a magical way to end a scene and to begin another without worrying about travel and time between scenes. Also: avoiding dangling modifiers. …
1 year, 7 months ago
Episode 147 - Make sure it's important and make it short.
What should we do if we must--absolutely must--have an element in our story that might not be fully entertaining and engaging? 1) Make sure it's im…
1 year, 7 months ago
Episode 146 - How to make our character unforgettable.
We writers can use lovely phrases and perceptive observations when describing our character in our story, and yet the reader may still quickly forget…
1 year, 7 months ago
Episode 145 - Bringing our settings to life.
We can show (as opposed to tell) as we create a setting for our story. Showing will make our settings vivid, and will allow the setting description …
1 year, 7 months ago
Episode 144 - One sentence can bring our character to life.
We'll build our character as we write along, adding descriptions and actions and dialogue. But there is a way with only one or two sentences to reve…
1 year, 8 months ago
Episode 143 - The three most important sentences when writing a scene.
Jack Bickham's three sentences on scene construction are the best I've found regarding how to write a scene. Here are why these sentences are import…
1 year, 8 months ago
Episode 142 - A big technique for literary writing.
Many listeners are writing literary novels and stories. Here is an important technique regarding construction of a literary story, and it also appli…
1 year, 8 months ago
Episode 141 - How to begin and end scenes.
The easiest thing for a reader to do is to quit reading our story. Here are ways to begin and end scenes that'll prevent that from happening. Our s…
1 year, 8 months ago