The first pages of our novel should contain certain elements and avoid certain elements. Here's a list of things to include and exclude in those first pages. Plus, ways to write forceful, clear, and lovely sentences.Support the show
--------
25:53
--------
25:53
Episode 171 - Top ten list of bad advice for writers.
In these episodes I try to set out good writing advice but a lot of bad advice is out there, so here is a list of bad advice, and the list may help us avoid writing blunders. Here are also ten dialogue mistakes, and avoiding them likely means we end up with engaging and even riveting dialogue for our characters.Support the show
--------
29:09
--------
29:09
Episode 170 - Writing the crowd scene. And guilt and pride.
Here are techniques for keeping focus in a scene where there is a crowd, with an example from Harper Lee. And how Margaret Mitchell worked. Plus: how can we show rather than tell about a character's guilt or pride.Support the show
--------
28:09
--------
28:09
Episode 169 - How to find a surefire plot.
Stephen King says there is no idea dump we can visit to find a good plot. We have to create our own plots. How can we do so? Here's a discussion on creating plots. Also, if Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition can learn to write, so can we. And the critical technique of using the active sentence form.Support the show
--------
25:03
--------
25:03
Episode 168 - Making our first sentence sparkle.
Does our story's first sentence cause the reader to ask, "What's next?" Or does the reader say, "So what?" Here are thoughts on creating a tense, sparkling first sentence. Also, how the masters use specific, definite, and concrete details to convince the reader.Support the show
Hosted by James Thayer, the podcast is a practical, step-by-step manual on how to craft a novel. It presents a set of tools for large issues such as story development and scene construction (Kirkus Reviews said Thayer's novels are "superbly crafted') and it also examines techniques that will make your sentence-by-sentence writing shine. The New York Times Book Review has said Thayer's "writing is smooth and clear. it wastes no words, and it has a rhythm only confident stylists achieve.
Netherlands