Essential Guide to Writing a Novel
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.
Podcasting since 2022 • 221 episodes
Essential Guide to Writing a Novel
Latest Episodes
Episode 221 - Writing that is more intense than real life.
For readers, fiction offers escape from their real lives. How can we make our writing intense, and so lift our scenes above real life? Details are a key, and here are ideas on the use of odd and memorable details to make our prose v...
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24:15
Episode 220 - Cut to the chase.
The phrase "cut to the chase" originated in the film industry. When shooting and editing a movie, if things are getting dull cut to a chase scene. Cut to the chase applies to our novels and short stories, too. Here are ways we...
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29:37
Episode 219 - How to get our story going.
Here is a checklist of things we likely should think about as we begin our first chapter: some elements to have in the beginning pages of our story and some things to avoid. Also: the strong technique of using contrast in consecutive scen...
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25:26