Words to Write by Podcast: Recent Episodes
Words to Write by Podcast
We're saying goodbye to The Artist's Way — and honestly, good riddance. We're recapping our favorite quotes, the insights that actually landed, and the many, many reasons this was the most frustrating craft book we've covered on this show. Would we recommend it? Hard no. Curious about Morning Pages? Google it — someone's written a...
After the hero finally accepts the call, it's onto the next stage, crossing the threshold, provided they have some helpful mentor guidance. Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.
How do you shift your book's hero from their nice, cozy ordinary world into the adventure. According to Christopher Vogler in his book, The Writer's Journey, you have them answer the call. In this episode we discuss the various forms that the call stage can take, and also why, even the most willing hero must “refuse...
If you have read even just the first part of a blog post on the hero’s journey, you know the hero starts off in the ordinary world before embarking on their epic adventure. But the ordinary world is more than a boring place the hero is itching to leave. According to Christopher Vogler in his...
In our regular podcast, we’ve successfully made it through all of Vogler’s archetypes (from his book, The Writer’s Journey). Armed with this knowledge we decided to see if we could identify the archetypes in Kim’s novel, What our Comeback Tour is Slaying Monsters (coming out this October). Along the way, Renee “learned more about boy...
Are we done with archetypes now? Almost! There are just three more archetype chapters in Christopher Vogler's book, The Writer's Journey, and we have issues with two of them. The Shadow feels more like a force than a character and anyone from a legit supporting actor to unnamed gofer can be labeled an Ally. The one...
The Mentor — Arguably the second most identified archetype from The Hero's Journey (after the eponymous hero). In his book, The Writer's Journey, Christopher Vogler has a lot to say about the mentor: why are they important, what do they do, what kinds of mentors are there, and do you actually need one in your...
Last episode we explored the concept of the hero archetype as presented in Christopher Volger's The Writer's Journey. But analysis is one thing. We wanted to see if we could use the ideas to create/develop an actual protagonist. Renee's has a Frankenstein story idea that she so badly wants to read that she's willing to...
Whether every protagonist is a hero is open to debate (and debate it we do in this episode) but it we can agree that the vast majority of protagonists in genre fiction are heroes (if not always heroic). In today’s episode we go deep into Christopher Volger’s chapter on the hero archetype from his book,...
Last episode we mapped all 12 steps of Christopher Volger's Hero's Journey (as presented in his book, The Writer's Journey) to J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit. As you can see from Renee's show notes, they lined up pretty well. But what about a story not written by a British scholar steeped in mythology and folklore? For...
We've officially started our new book, Christopher Volger's The Writer's Journey. And boy is there a lot in the first two chapters! First (or first after Kim's rant) is an overview of the Hero's Journey, yes, dear listener, we cover all twelve steps. And as examples for those steps we turn to… The Hobbit (the...
We're on the last chapter of Judith Barrington's book, Writing Your Memoir: practical advice on critique groups, plus the dos and don't of giving and getting feedback. It's practical and useful and everything thing we've come to expect from Barrington. And before we close the book on memoir, we give our final takes on the...
Your memoir is about you (obviously) but it’s not just about you. In this episode we cover Judith Barrington’s chapter on how (and why) to bring events from the real world into your memoir. And in our writing exercise we try it out by remembering our own lives during a moment in history. Then it’s...
For this week's workshop episode, Renee wrote about the brief time she spent as a child in Pacific Grove, CA, taking care to identify specific streets and locations as recommended by Judith Barrington in her book Writing the Memoir. We discuss and analysis this technique to see how it can improve our memoir writing. Remember,...
Writing (and publishing) a memoir can be nerve wracking. What if the people you’re writing about don’t like your portrayal of them? What if they hate it? What if they decide to sue? In this episode we discuss the chapter (and appendix) that cover this memoirist’s fear in Judith Barrington’s book, Writing the Memoir —...
Okay, maybe that's a bit of hyperbole, but not by much. In this stand alone episode we talk with Erik Klass, the entrepreneurial editor behind the submission service Submitit about what literary journals are looking for in short stories and creative non-fiction. He also discusses how his company evaluates and chooses particular journals for their...
Last week we covered time in memoir, specifically how the writer can jump back and forth in time and the reader can follow along easily. In this episode, we identify signposts and time jumps in two short memoir pieces. One by one of Kim' s favorite science writers, Rebecca Skloot. Remember, we have a...
Some advice is timeless, some is not. In this episode we evaluate writing techniques from Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird and see if they still have value in our current Information Age. Specifically, Lamott writes about capturing one's thoughts on index cards, and how to use a telephone to get information and also, to...
The post Writing Advice from the 90s first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
Sometimes just showing up isn’t enough. You’ve set time aside for writing and instead of your story unfurling on the page (or screen) other things come out. In this episode, we’ll discuss author Anne Lamott’s struggle and solutions to this problem from her book Bird by Bird. First we’ll tackle the good voice, the inspiration...
The post Shut (those voices in your head) Up & Write first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
We're onto the second section in Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird — The Writing Frame Of Mind — and it's getting a bit nebulous folks. In Looking Around, Lamont encourages us to see, truly see, the world. That sounds like mindfulness training to Kim, it sounds like something else to Renee. And then it's onto...
The post Beyond Butt In Chair first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
We’re covering two different topics from Ann Lamott’s book Bird by Bird. First off is scene setting, both their importance for your characters and how to get all the details right (quick answer, ask an expert) Then we’re back to finding out what your story is about, how to return to a scene or chapter...
The post Getting Your Novel Right — Scene Setting and Reworking first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
We’ve gotten to some hearty chapters in Ann Lamott’s book Bird by Bird. First up is plot, which “grows out of characters.” We discuss what this means and if it’s applicable to genre writing. Then we turn to dialog, and how you distill intent from the rambling conversation of what people say while maintaining their...
The post Character Driven Plot, plus Dialog! first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
How does one write an entire novel? It’s a bit like the advice for eating an elephant, one bite at a time. In this episode we cover Anne Lamott’s novel biting tips from her book, Bird by Bird. First comes her 1-inch picture frame technique, then her most famous suggestion, shitty first drafts. Finally, we...
The post Shitty First Drafts and Beyond! first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
It’s time for a new season and it’s time for a new book! We’re starting Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. This is the writing process book that everyone has heard of, and, given that it’s funny and self-deprecating, it’s probably one most people have read. We’re looking forward to mining it for writing tips and seeing following them increases our own literary output.
The post And now for something completely different … Bird by Bird first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
Think ChatGPT can finish your creative writing exercises? Let’s find out! In this episode we’re testing the cutting-edge artificial intelligence on some old school writing prompts. We dug out our copies of John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction and typed in two of the back-of-the-book exercises. Faster than you could say “Any sufficiently advanced technology...
The post ChatGPT, Write me my Novel first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
We’re on our penultimate episode for our reading of Jack Bickham’s Scene & Structure. So, what does the bullet point Meister have to squeeze into an end of a book that 90% of its readers will probably never get to?
Well, first we give ourselves a little pep talk and then we see if we can make sense of all of these specialized scene situations. And, dear listener, there are a lot of them: interrupted scenes and sequels, non-viewpoint character scenes, flashback scenes, scenes with all-dialog, or all-action or unseen opponents or multiple agendas.
After all that high level specialization, we stepped back and take stock of the eminently practical lessons that we’ve learned from reading Bickham. Also in this episode we interview authors Val Neil, Lee Clark, and Nick Chiarkas about how they keep their readers engaged in their novels.
The post Bend It Like Bickham (the scene, that is) first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
Every composition teacher will draw out a rising action graph on the board (yes, we're old school). But how do you translate that diagram into the sentences and paragraphs that keep your readers engaged in your story? In his book, Scene and Structure, Jack Bickham says to do it through structure (because of course he...
The post Dramatic Principals & Devices FTW first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
Today we tackle Jack Bickham’s Common Scene Errors, and boy, are there a lot of them, 14 to be precise. According to Scene and Sequel, these simple problems will derail your scenes, rob them of their impact and drag down your novel. We go through each error, identifying if they’re a problem in our own writing and discuss Bickham’s solution.
The post Common Scene Errors first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
In this episode, Kim interviews award winning science fiction author, Charlie Jane Anders about her recently published craft book, Never Say You Can’t Survive!
After the interview, we take a break from our usual craft book analysis and writing exercise because…Kim and Renee went on a writing retreat! We abandoned our spouses, kids, and cats for five days to hole up in a secluded Airbnb. We discuss our expectations, preparations and what we managed to accomplish on our little adventure. Besides the entertainment value, we’re hoping our experiences will be useful and inspirational for when you plan your own get-this-damn-novel-written escape.
The post The One Where We Go on a Writing Retreat first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
After 70 pages of Jack Bickham’s Scene and Structure we feel we’ve got a pretty good handle on how to break our stories down into action-packed, disaster-ending scenes and the more contemplative internal sequels that hold the book together. What we’ve had a harder time with is finding these scene-sequel sequences in the books we own.
So, what gives Bickham?
Apparently, there are multiple variations – in chapter nine, Bickham gives us ten options -- to make one’s scene and sequel not so obvious. In this episode, we’ll go depth on two of these techniques: the scene-within-a-scene and imbedding a flashback within a sequel (which Renee then applies to section in her memoir.)
The post Getting Wild with Scene and Sequels first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
Chapter 8 – Scene & Structure Subscribe to our Newsletter How do you take a ponderous story into a page turner? How do you take a Michael Bay paced novel and make it about more than one disaster after the next? In this episode, we explain Jack Bickham’s techniques to speed up or slow down...
The post Speeding Up and Slowing Down your Novel first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
When you’re bored with action-packed scenes and want to dive deep into the mind of your protagonist, maybe you should try a Sequel. In today’s episode, we explore Bickham’s idea of sequel, its parts, and how it glues the scenes together. But we don’t just take Scene & Structure’s word for it, we go looking for sequels in several of our favorite books. Also, along the way, Renee has an existential crisis, but don’t worry, she gets better.
The post Sequels: the Glue that Holds Scenes Together first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
After last episode’s deep dive into scene structure, we thought we’d ask a few published novelists and professional editors if they use scene goals in their writing/editing.
Then, for our podcast proper, we move beyond the scene basics into more advance concerns, like does that disaster you carefully crafted have the proper scope, immediacy, finality, and does it steer your story in the right direction. But we still need to get that pig back home, and in Chapter 6, Bickham points out (with not one, but two numbered lists) other things that can go wrong with scenes, including not having enough “going wrong.”
The post Tactical Disasters, Meaningful Change, and More Scene Rules. Oh, My! first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
If stories are made up of scenes, what are scenes made up of? According to Jack Bickham in his book, Scene & Structure, scenes start with a character’s stated goal and rumble through an evolving conflict until they reach … a disaster. In this episode, we examine each of these elements and test Bickham’s assertions using Real Book examples. Then, for true illumination, we Bickhamize our own scenes. But before we delve into the nitty gritty, we have a delightful interview with Susan Tunis of Bookshop West Portal.
The post Making a Scene first appeared on Words to Write by Podcast.
This episode is all about cause and effect, what it is, why it is critical in fiction despite being largely absent in real life, and how it works line by line as stimulus and response. In chapter 3 of his book Scene & Structure, Jack Bickham has some hard rules about applying and ordering stimulus, internalization, and response. We examine our own writing to see if it follows the proscribed format.
And, as a bonus, we start the episode off with interviews we did at the San Francisco Writers Conference that we’re calling “Confessions of Craft Book Addicts.”
In this podcast we give our first impressions of our new book, Jack Bickham's Scene and Structure, and, being the enthusiast students that we are, we begin by identifying his central thesis. Then it's onto Chapter 2, where we answer some novice novelist questions and discuss Bickham's approach to a story's first page. To further our understanding, Kim "Bickhamizes" the beginning of her new fantasy novel.
As a bonus, Renee has a special message for any former Border employees who worked the late-night Harry Potter release parties back in the 90's.
Welcome to Words to Write by – a podcast where we discuss, chapter by chapter, those wonderful writing craft books purchased with the best of intentions but now gathering dust on the bookshelf.