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 deve...
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.Support the show
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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. Support the show
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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 their places and times. Here are thoughts on their use of details. Also, we should avoid cliches like the plague. Support the show
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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.Support the show
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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. Also, details in our descriptions are important, but which should we use and which should we leave out?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.