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I’ve never read Christopher Paolini’s Eragon before now, but I’ve heard it compared to both Star Wars and Harry Potter. I know I can expect a young male chosen one and (obviously) the dragon on the cover. Perhaps a dragon named Eragon, as that’s just … read more »
With the dawn of online publishing, we have more options for story length than ever before. Microfiction, flash fiction, novelettes, and novellas all have a market online, and most writers will transition to a different length during their careers. It can be confusing to adapt … read more »
Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara is a fantasy classic. I was warned it’s a Lord of the Rings copycat, but I knew nothing about the story or any of its characters. Naturally, I decided to read it – or try to. Whether it’s because Brooks … read more »
Different stories call for different language. You might write a romance with long flourishing sentences and a gritty noir with abrupt phrasing. Genre settings need language that blends in, or the phrasing will call attention to itself and away from the story. If you always … read more »
You know your character inside out, but that isn’t coming across to your readers. They aren’t sure what your character is feeling, and they certainly aren’t feeling it themselves. The scenes you carefully crafted to maximize emotional impact fall flat instead. If that sounds familiar, … read more »
Dialogue is like music; rhythm flows from its notes and pauses. By shaping the pace of your dialogue, you can make this rhythm more engaging. Plus, those annoying tags become less noticeable when you’re not hitting the same beat every time. Read more »
What you write between double quotes isn’t just ideas on a page; it’s notation for vocal sounds. Thinking of dialogue as sound will help you shape the voices of your characters and communicate their tone to readers. Read more »
Writers use labels, known as dialogue tags, to tell their readers which character is speaking. Many writers think dialogue tags are part of their story’s narration. That’s a mistake. Tags aren’t narration; they’re a technical necessity like punctuation, font, and quotes. We don’t want readers … read more »
As you know, this will be a podcast about exposition which, as you also know, is a method for relaying information to the audience. It’s one of those techniques that’s easy to miss when it works, so we have to look extra close! Read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren discuss the difficulties that come with revising a story based on feedback. They compare different methods of analyzing drafts, and offer tips for receiving and incorporating feedback from readers. Read more »