Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchWhat do agents do?
Season 9
This bonus episode was prompted by a chat I saw on Threads. It started with the question, what excites you most about having an agent? Offline, Melan…
1 year, 11 months ago
Our Best Advice: left-brained stories
Season 9 Episode 911
Left-brained stories (mysteries, crime thrillers, spy stories) are among the highest selling books on the market today. Readers can't get enough of t…
1 year, 11 months ago
The Sixth Sense: the art of the gotcha ending
Season 9 Episode 910
Are you planning to use a twist at the end of your story? Have you ever wondered how M. Night Shyamalan pulled off this famous gotcha ending? If so, …
2 years ago
Breakout Books v. Words on a Page
Season 9
To be a career author, you must have a breakout book. And, a breakout book is one that contains a story that works. In this episode, I tell you the s…
2 years ago
How to Write a Breakout Book
Season 9
I just attended a training session with a literary agent who said that failure to write a breakout book is one of the most common mistakes writers ma…
2 years ago
The Last of Sheila: soooo good
Season 9 Episode 909
Now this is the epitome of a left-brained story. THE LAST OF SHEILA has puzzles within puzzles, an intricate plot that has been expertly set up, and …
2 years ago
How do stories work?
Season 9
If you're writing a novel or memoir, you're writing a story. Sounds obvious, right? That may be, but most authors don't know how to tell a story that…
2 years ago
Gosford Park: did he deserve it?
Season 9 Episode 908
This film offers two hugely valuable lessons to writers of all genres. The first is about the inciting incident and when it needs to happen. The seco…
2 years ago
One Line Writing Secret You Need to Know
Season 9
In our last episode about our most embarrassing literary moments, Melanie and I said that line writing (or prose writing) means learning to write a n…
2 years ago
Our Most Embarrassing Literary Moments
Season 9
No one is born knowing how to write great prose. Like any other kind of specialized writing (ex., newspapers, academia, web, etc.), writing prose is …
2 years ago