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.
Episodes
163 episodes
Episode 163 - The benefits of an underdog.
Having readers fall in love with our character is so important, and making our hero an underdog is a good way to do it. Here are thoughts on underdog characters. Also, I'll read a few character descriptions from master story-tellers...
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25:36
Episode 162 - The state fair plotting technique.
Our story should be like a state fair: one thing after another. Here are some ideas on state fair plotting. Plus: settings shouldn't be inert locations in our novel or short story but rather should work for our story. Here's h...
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27:19
Episode 161 - Ways to give readers what they want.
Readers want five things in a story, three of which are right in the beginning. Here's a discussion of how to deliver those five things. Plus, a character's thoughts are the least interesting aspect of a story. How can we show...
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26:46
Episode 160 - Should our story have a theme?
Best-selling writers disagree on the importance of a theme in stories. Here are thoughts on whether we should present a theme in our novel or short story. And famous authors on their writing discipline. Plus, mixing genres whe...
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24:01
Episode 159 - A surefire way to generate plot, the sidekick.
Putting a sidekick into our story adds many benefits, a main one being that readers love sidekicks. Here are some techniques for creating a sidekick for our novel or short story. Also, a list of catchy, memorable novel titles. ...
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27:09
Episode 158 - A lifetime's writing advice reduced to one minute.
Were a young writer to ask me for advice, and only had one minute to listen, here is what I'd say. Plus: how Louisa May Alcott worked. And, avoiding the blahs and self-doubts when writing.
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22:53
Episode 157 - How we writers can create a world.
Remember the fabulous worlds that fantasy, sci fi, and historical writers create for us readers? How do they do that? What works so well? I'll talk about world-building, not just for those novels but for all genres. And ...
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27:31
Episode 156 - How to write the fast start.
Many readers only give a story ten or twenty pages before putting it aside to look for something more interesting. A fast start is the best way to maintain the reader's interest. Here's how to write the fast start. Also, how A...
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26:04
Episode 155 - The single most important ingredient in an unforgetable story.
Manon in Paris asked, "Why do some novels move us more than others?" Here is the single best way to make our story unforgettable, a story that moves the reader. Also, have we heard the advice, "Write what you know?" It's bad a...
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24:54
Episode 154 - Learning from the masterful writer Edna Ferber.
Edna Ferber was a master of character description. Here are a few of her characters, and maybe we can pick up some of her skill. Also, how many words a day do famous writers write, and how many words a day should we write? And...
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24:50
Episode 153 - A legendary novelist's lesson for us writers.
Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre is a classic of western literature, a novel that endures and still hugely entertains because . . . it's so great. (How that for being profound?) Charlotte Bronte offers an important lesson for tod...
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24:58
Episode 152 - How the masters create their settings.
Why are some novels so good? One of the reasons is that the author is a master at setting descriptions. How did Charlotte Bronte and Edna Ferber make their settings magical? We'll talk about their techniques here. Also, ...
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28:32
Episode 151 - Mad Magazine, and techniques for riveting dialogue.
My first encounter with Mad Magazine, a life changer. And dialogue techniques that can help make our characters' conversations fascinating.
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27:23
Episode 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 here. Also, the importance of a tie-up-later list.
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27:36
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 details that take readers away, that lift us readers out of our chairs and transport us to the...
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25:53
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. And how Bernard Malamud worked, and Helen Dunmore's rules of writing.
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26:02
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 important and 2) make it short. Here are thoughts about this critical technique. ...
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25:58
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 the character. Here's how to make a character stick in the reader's mind. Also, ar...
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26:01
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 to do double duty: describe the place and suggest a mood. Also, reasons to avoid mee...
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27:03
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 reveal something powerful and memorable about the character--in just a few words--and I'll tal...
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26:20
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 important for us writers. Also: Sarah Ann Waters' terrific ten rules of writing. And...
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26:53
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 applies to commercial novels.
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24:50
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 scenes' beginnings and endings will propel the reader farther into the story.
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27:31