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Bedtime Stories for Kids|Good Night Tales|Stories of New Beginnings Bedtime Stories for Kids|Good Night Tales|Stories of New Beginnings BabyBus Hablemos de Terror Hablemos de Terror HdTStudios Janna liest: FanFiction Hörbücher Janna liest: FanFiction Hörbücher Janna Ambrosy Historias De Reddit Historias De Reddit RedditKing The Dr. John Delony Show The Dr. John Delony Show The Dr.John Delony Show Half Baked DND Half Baked DND HalfBaked DND Cuentos y Leyendas de Honduras Cuentos y Leyendas de Honduras Cuentos y Leyendas de Honduras Arroe Collins View From The Writing Instrument Arroe Collins View From The Writing Instrument Arroe Collins Hacky Sack Heroes Takes Over! Live and Let Fly: An STF Network Starfinder Podcast Hacky Sack Heroes Takes Over! Live and Let Fly: An STF Network Starfinder Podcast STF Network Solved Murders - True Crime Stories Solved Murders - True Crime Stories RedditKing Historias de reddit Historias de reddit Floky Necessary Shadows Necessary Shadows Brian Lillie As The Raven Dreams Podcast As The Raven Dreams Podcast As The Raven Dreams Suspense - Old Time Radio Thriller Suspense - Old Time Radio Thriller theaterofthemind-otr.com Stay Up All Night: Diverse, dark-humored, and deliciously bite-sized short stories Stay Up All Night: Diverse, dark-humored, and deliciously bite-sized short stories JT Lawrence KURIOUS: Strange. Unusual. Unbelievable. KURIOUS: Strange. Unusual. Unbelievable. KURIOUS: Strange and Unusual Stories Dark Mysteries — Unsolved Mysteries. Forgotten Secrets. Unanswered Questions. Dark Mysteries — Unsolved Mysteries. Forgotten Secrets. Unanswered Questions. Darkest Mysteries Online True Cheating Wives and Girlfriends Stories 2026 - True Cheating Stories Podcast True Cheating Wives and Girlfriends Stories 2026 - True Cheating Stories Podcast True Cheating Stories 2026 Universe Friday Universe Friday Universe Friday Os Delírios do Verbo | Por Elias Moreira Os Delírios do Verbo | Por Elias Moreira Elias Moreira Reddit Stories Podcast - Mr. Redder Reddit Stories Podcast - Mr. Redder mr redder Relatos De Horror (Historias De Terror) Relatos De Horror (Historias De Terror) Relatos De Horror Book Club After Dark Book Club After Dark Danni and Michelle Ka Istorya Horror Ka Istorya Horror Jason Steele | Papa Dudut | TAGM Marketing Solutions Inc. Beatrice Hart and the Curse of the Golden Fleece Beatrice Hart and the Curse of the Golden Fleece Beatrice Hart Adventures The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 1 The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 1 Adam Graham Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas Adam Graham|Old Time Radio Detective Host In Deep Geek In Deep Geek indeepgeek True Crime : L'Heure du Crime True Crime : L'Heure du Crime True Crime : L'Heure du Crime 严肃喧哗 严肃喧哗 门童inSydney Redditor Redditor Redditor Is Fitz Happy? Is Fitz Happy? Luke Button and Emma Ferron Run for Your Lives Podcast Run for Your Lives Podcast Pake & Daphne of Podcastica Essential Guide to Writing a Novel Essential Guide to Writing a Novel James Thayer Gorilla Whale: A Godzilla Watch-Along Podcast Gorilla Whale: A Godzilla Watch-Along Podcast Digital Kaiju Studios SCP Reel to Reel SCP Reel to Reel Levi Schultz
Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

Fiction

Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

James Thayer

Episode 223 - Readers can fall in love with our settings.

June 26, 2026 8:00am 25 min

I talk about ways we can make our settings--the time and place of our story--irresistible to readers.  They'll want to live there.  Plus: we can use our global search function to almost instantly make our sentences more ...

Episode 222 - Small techniques can add up to forceful sentences.

June 19, 2026 8:00am 26 min

Here are pocket-sized techniques that can result in strong sentences; small--even tiny--things we can add to our prose writing arsenal.   Also, Elizabeth George on her use of two outlines: the step outline and the runnin...

Episode 221 - Writing that is more intense than real life.

June 12, 2026 8:00am 24 min

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 ma...

Episode 220 - Cut to the chase.

June 05, 2026 8:00am 29 min

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 ar...

Episode 219 - How to get our story going.

May 29, 2026 8:00am 25 min

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 ...

Episode 218 - Our writer's voice.

May 22, 2026 8:00am 26 min

What is a singular attribute that separates Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, and Edgar Alan Poe?  Their literary voices.  Here are thoughts on our own voices: if and how we should try to develop them.  Also: the strong too...

Episode 217 - Why and how to practice. And Edgar Alan Poe.

May 15, 2026 8:00am 26 min

Writing is like learning the violin.  We can get better.  Here are reasons we should practice, and suggestions how to do so.  And what sparked Edgar Alan Poe's imagination?  Also: how much of our story should be scenes r...

Episode 216 - Too many characters is a scene.

May 08, 2026 8:00am 26 min

What's the problem with having a lot of characters in a scene?  Aren't lots of people needed to make street scenes and party scenes and sports scenes and battle scenes credible?   I'll talk about the problem of too many ...

Episode 215 - The ratchet, a strong plotting tool.

May 01, 2026 8:00am 25 min

How can we know if our scene pushes the story forward.  Does our scene contribute to the story?  The ratchet can test our scene.  I talk about the ratchet and show how Cormac McCarthy and F. Scott Fitzgerald used it.  Pl...

Episode 214 - Famous writers show us how to write and live.

April 24, 2026 8:00am 26 min

If we emulate famous authors, won't we get better at writing?  Here are how some highly-skilled, best-selling authors write and live.  Plus: the three dumbest pieces of advice for writers.  And: George Orwell's rules of ...

Episode 213 - Save the cat plotting.

April 17, 2026 8:00am 25 min

How can we get readers to admire and respect our hero, maybe even to fall in love with him?  Our hero can save the cat.  Here is how the screenwriters' save the cat technique can apply to our novels.  Also, best seller L...

Episode 212 - Getting skilled with point of view.

April 10, 2026 8:00am 31 min

Keeping a tight point of view is critical for our story.  Here's how we can stay inside the mind of our main character yet learn what others in the scene are thinking.  Plus, how John Grisham works.  And: how we can reve...

Episode 211 - How to have fun while writing.

April 03, 2026 8:00am 26 min

Sometimes writing can be a grind.  Here are things that are fun while writing that'll give us energy and keep us at our desks and allow us to pour joy into our words.  Also: we should avoid vanilla, meaningless word pack...

Episode 210 - Timeless plot patterns.

March 27, 2026 8:00am 26 min

Folks new to fiction may think because there are a million stories and dozens of genres, plots can be presented in any way imaginable.  But successful plots have time-tested patterns, and these are discussed here.  Plus,...

Episode 209 - Avoiding blunders in our story.

March 20, 2026 8:00am 27 min

How and why should  we avoid our character traveling?  And how does Orson Scott Card not make blunders in his novels?  Here is his tool for having a mistake-free novel.  Also: here is why our scenes--almost all scenes--s...

Episode 208 - How to paint pictures with words.

March 13, 2026 8:00am 29 min

Writing is magic.  We type on a keyboard, and then the words we type create powerful images in readers' minds.  Here is a discussion of our main tool for creating vivid images: detail.  Which details, how to use them, an...

Episode 207 - When the hero lies to the reader.

March 06, 2026 8:00am 25 min

Sometimes an unreliable narrator can be great fun to create, and great fun to read about.  Here are techniques for developing a protagonist the reader learns not to trust.  Also, how can we avoid dull interior monologue ...

Episode 206 - How to get lots of plot ideas.

February 27, 2026 8:00am 30 min

Novelist John D. McDonald said he had more plot ideas than time to write them.  That's not the case for most of us writers.  We usually are in chronic need of more plot, more story.  Here are techniques for inventing plo...

Episiode 205 - How to stop stalling and get going.

February 20, 2026 8:00am 26 min

Sometimes we are full  of ambition to write.  Yet we don't.  We put off our writing, then put it off again.  Why do we do that?  And what can be done to get us in front of the keyboard?  Here are thoughts on what we can ...

Episode 204 - Meaningless modifiers and what to cut.

February 13, 2026 8:00am 28 min

Some words don't add anything to a sentence other than confusion.   Here are several modifiers that our story is better without.  Also, is cutting ten percent of our manuscript a good goal when editing?  What should we c...

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