by Nanci | Mar 27, 2023 | Craft, Podcast
Does your story need a prologue? Will it hurt your story? Should you remove or rewrite the one you’ve already written? And how do you write a great prologue that gives just enough information so we can absorb the rest of your story? Some writers resist prologues....
by Nanci | Mar 20, 2023 | Craft, Podcast
Writing flashbacks can flummox the best of us. Writers will ask questions like: Do you use flashback liberally, sparingly, or not at all? Can you have too many flashbacks? How do you indicate a flashback in your story? In this episode, you’ll learn how...
by Nanci | Mar 13, 2023 | Craft, Podcast
How do you make your story’s dialogue more realistic without writing too much dialogue? Or extraneous pass the meat and potatoes dialogue? How do you avoid having the dialogue sound stiff or cliche? How do you write dialogue that sounds natural and riveting? Dialogue...
by Nanci | Mar 5, 2023 | Craft, Podcast
There’s an implicit, central dramatic question driving every compelling story. Will Santiago catch a fish? (The Old Man and The Sea) Will Clarice Starling catch Buffalo Bill? (Silence of the Lambs) Did Kya kill Chase? (Where The Crawdads Sing) The trick is...
by Nanci | Feb 27, 2023 | Craft, Podcast
What should your first chapter accomplish? And what are common ways writers get their first chapter wrong? In this episode, learn 5 common first chapter mistakes, and what to do instead. Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.” Episode at a...
by Nanci | Feb 20, 2023 | Craft, Podcast
What’s the one thing stopping writers from bringing their story to the finish line? Fear. Maybe you fear visibility and the expectations and judgements you’ll open yourself up to. Then there’s the fear of rejection. Even if you’re nowhere near ready to...
