Evident Ink: Recent Episodes
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Curious about story coaching? Wondering if a quick call with Dawn or Nancy might actually give you what you need to write a better story, tighten your conflict, or build layers of tension into your plot? This episode is for you! Dawn and Nancy chat with two real authors who volunteered to do mini coaching sessions for the show! Meet Erin A. King and Aria Wyatt, two indie authors working in the romance genre, and listen as Dawn and Nancy help them work through plot problems on the fly!
Some writers build stories from a plot idea, while others begin with the characters first. Dawn and Nancy explore the merits of beginning with character and offer tips on how to build from there.
Maybe you've got a great idea but you're not quite sure how that idea turns into a full-fledged story. Or maybe you know part of your plot but aren't sure what's missing to get it all the way to a bestselling book. This episode is for you. Story coaches Dawn Alexander and Nancy Smay talk through the process of turning a kernel of an idea into a story.
You've got an idea - but how do you actually begin writing a story? What are the options between plotting and just writing, and where do you find help when you need it? Join story coaches Dawn and Nancy for some tips on how to get started structuring your story.
Have you always wanted to write a book? Now is a great time to start! But even if you're certain about your idea, or that you want to write, it's not always easy to get going. Dawn and Nancy share tips and tricks to help you take the first step.
Do you know who your reader is? Or are you writing books and sending them out into the world, hoping for the best? Learn tips and tricks for figuring out exactly who your audience is or will be as Dawn and Nancy from Evident Ink offer insights gleaned from NYT and USA Today bestselling clients.
We'll chat with USA Today Bestselling Authors Marika Ray and Delancey Stewart about their latest co-writing project, the Digital Dating series. They'll offer some hard-learned lessons and advice for how other authors might set up a co-writing project.
This is a topic that gets considered a lot, and it's important to say that these are not two points on one line. Plenty of authors do both in some way, shape, or form, and we'll talk about that as well as about how to get started down each path.
Serialized fiction is not new, but Amazon's Vella platform is the newest entrant into a market that's been around for centuries. Other short fiction platforms like Wattpad and Radish have been a boon for some authors who've figured out how to capitalize on a totally different market. Learn more with Radish bestseller Tamara Lush!
Join Nancy and Dawn as we celebrate fifty episodes of Story Strategy! We'll have games and giveaways, and we'll be talking about what's coming up in the next 50 shows! - bring a friend!
Join Dawn and Nancy as we discuss the age-old tropes readers love and how to make them fresh and new!
Just because you're not writing comedy doesn't mean your book shouldn't have light moments or even downright comic moments - after all, life is often funny, even in the midst of drama. Join us while Nancy and Dawn discuss using humor to build relatable characters and realistic stories and explore the difference between writing comedy and injecting humor.
You've heard this term used in reference to fantasy fiction, but it has applications through all genres. Dawn and Nancy talk about the value of building a believable world, whether it's a small town in the US or a planet in a distant galaxy!
Join Dawn and Nancy as they chat with USA Today and NYT Bestseller Roni Loren about how to build characters with angsty backstories to help drive the story forward!
Editors Dawn and Nancy explore the multi-faceted skill of writing authentic characters. We'll explore creating real emotion readers can feel and illustrate ways to connect readers to characters they won't forget.
How do you ensure your characters have distinctive voices as you write your story? And how do you find your own voice as an author? Both are skills that must be developed as you grow into your craft. Dawn and Nancy explore the difference between character voice and author voice, and give some tips to help you develop both.
If you're writing anything besides a sweet and clean romance, you're going to have to eventually write a sex scene. And even if your book is more of a fades-to-black kind of story, you'll still need to write the emotional and physical intimacy leading up to the door shutting. How do you write sex in a way that honors the characters but also reveals more about them? How do you write sex that doesn't read like an instruction manual? How do you make sure you're putting the sex scene in the places where the story needs them to go?
Dawn and Nancy will explore the strategy behind writing a good sex scene and help you understand why this scene--like any other--must be properly motivated and how it can move your story forward!
Writing a believable wound is critical to giving your character's internal conflict and motivation enough power to drive the story forward to the climax and dark moment. Dawn and Nancy talk about how to write a compelling wound, how much to reveal when, and how to use that to break your characters at the right time.
Looking for an idea for your romance novel? Look no further. Dawn, Nancy, and several best-selling romance authors share their real-life love stories and make book recommendations to get your wheels turning. You'll hear from Melanie Harlow, Claire Kingsley, and more! Don't miss this one!
The romance genre is a world unto itself (that's why they call it Romancelandia!) Dawn and Nancy will give you a guided tour, honing in on the key elements of successful romance and identifying what makes this genre unique -- and different from the "love story" ...
Writers all compare themselves to others -- it's human nature. But the practice can be harmful when you decide to follow a process that's working well for another writer but may not be well-suited for you. Learn how to uncover your own unique writing process and use it to set goals that matter to you.
Writers all compare themselves to others -- it's human nature. But the practice can be harmful when you decide to follow a process that's working well for another writer but may not be well-suited for you. Learn how to uncover your own unique writing process and use it to set goals that matter to you.
What does success look like? Does your version of success differ from that of the writer next to you? The answer? It should. Dawn and Nancy help you explore ways to set achievable but meaningful goals to help you build your writing life and make progress in your writing practice.
Dawn and Nancy talk about writers' block today and offer some tried and true techniques for luring back the muse.
If you're curious what we do at EI, this is our first of the year roundup show. We'll talk about the services we offer, how we work with authors at different levels of their career, and preview some of our new offerings for 2021! Come hang out and meet your editors!
Join Dawn and Nancy of Evident Ink as they guide you through a key plot element in any story, any genre: the dark moment. Find out how to make readers desperate to see your characters come out the other side!
Dawn and Nancy discuss a key plot element today, the mid point shift. This is the moment where everything changes! The door that closed at "crossing the threshold" is officially locked, sealed, and barred. Find out how to utilize this critical plot point in your own fiction!
Join Dawn and Nancy as they talk about the intermittent action drivers your book needs to have -- pinch points! And if you have no idea what these are... join us and find out!
Join Dawn and Nancy as they continue to cover the basics for Nano month! This episode will delve into the crucial first plot point -- also known as "crossing the threshold" or "the point of no return." Find out how to write it so that your characters (and your readers) can't go back!
Join Dawn and Nancy as they discuss what constitutes an inciting incident across fiction genres, give some examples, and explore how you can strengthen the start of your story!
Find out what makes readers keep going after those first couple lines. Get the goods from Dawn and Nancy on how to craft those critical first scenes and how to deliver on the promise you make there to keep your readers flipping pages all the way to the end of your story!
How is a scene different from a chapter? What are the essential elements of a scene? How do you know what each scene needs as you build your story? Find out today with Dawn and Nancy from Evident Ink.
Join Dawn and Nancy as they discuss how great storytellers layer tension and build realistic conflicts that keep readers turning pages.
Dawn and Nancy will review the basics of building a plot, providing a scan of some of the most popular methods available, along with a few tips and tricks they've gleaned from their experience.
Join Dawn and Nancy as they start at the beginning - building stories one piece at a time. In this episode they explore how to build compelling characters with enough conflict and backstory to drive a narrative (but not so much that readers will put the book down!)
Dawn and Nancy discuss the stories they've been watching and reading lately, focusing on plot devices, believability (and whether it matters) and more!
Romance, and specifically romantic comedy, relies heavily on the "meet-cute" to set up the story. Nancy and Dawn explore the origins of the meet-cute and talk about how to avoid cliche when developing yours.
Join Dawn and Nancy as they chat with bestseller Eva Charles about what makes "dark" romance -- and how to draw readers through the pages using suspense, intrigue and even a little bit of fear. Please note, this episode will discuss kink and other topics that are likely to be not safe for work or for little ears.
This week Dawn and Nancy chat with a romcom writer who's working on her first book. She's looking for basic guidance and steering -- tune in to see what coaching looks like at this stage!
Today Dawn and Nancy will host a live story coaching session on air, in honor of the launch of Story Strategy Coaching. Watch how it works live, and then go here to learn more: https://evident-ink.teachable.com/courses
Dawn and Nancy chat with thriller/mystery author Terry Shepherd about how he selects pieces of his stories to highlight in book trailers as part of his promotional toolkit. Just like blurbs, trailers require authors to select only certain aspects of their stories in hopes of attracting readers who want to know more. What should you include? What should you leave out? Find out!
Join Dawn and Nancy as we chat with author Sierra Simone about how she pulls readers inside her characters' heads, grounding them in the story and building atmosphere that feels immersive and real.
In this recurring series-within-the-series, Dawn and Nancy discuss some of their favorite stories. Sometimes they'll talk about books, but often, this discussion will focus on what's working across genres and mediums to help storytellers tell stories. Today they'll explore character, discussing well-known shows like The Office, Community, Younger and more!
Dawn and Nancy welcome guest USA Today Bestselling Author, Melanie Harlow, to talk about writing stories that give readers all the feels. Harlow is an expert at building worlds and drawing characters that readers invest in and really care about. Learn her secrets with us!
We're getting into the trenches today with EI guest editor James Gallagher, discussing style guides -- the big ones (like Chicago and AP) and house- or manuscript-specific guides. We'll talk about how they're helpful (and how they're sometimes not!) and how to use them to make your book the best it can be!
Write a whole book? Sure! Write a 200 word blurb? Most authors cringe at the prospect. Never fear! Dawn and Nancy investigate what makes a good blurb and offer tips for creating blurbs that sell books.
Dialogue is about a lot more than one person talking to another. The action tags, the tone of voice, and the words left unsaid are often even more important than the words between the quotation marks. Learn some tips from Dawn and Nancy to make your dialogue drive your story forward!
Dawn and Nancy discuss idioms and their place in fiction. Specifically, they'll talk about how idioms can make characterization stronger (or weaken it!)
Dawn and Nancy answer questions submitted by clients and viewers about the editing process and the craft of building stories.
You want your editors focused on your story -- not on niggly details like formatting your manuscript or adding quotation marks to dialogue. Get tips and a downloadable checklist to make sure your editor can focus on what you're paying them for!
Avoid these common story pitfalls - Dawn and Nancy reveal some issues they see often and give ideas for how to make your story stronger.
Learn more about Evident Ink: https://www.evidentink.com
How strong is your story? Are you using any of these common cliches? Dawn and Nancy review the things they see frequently in stories that steal originality, weaken setup and pulverize pacing. Don't miss it!
Learn more about Evident Ink here: https://www.evidentink.com
Tropes are the "setups" used in genre fiction, and are mostly talked about in romance. In this discussion, we'll cover how to use tropes to make your plotting easier, to make your stories more compelling, and even how to market your work to the readers who will want to buy it!
We'll chat with NYT and USA Today Bestselling author Roni Loren about productivity and tools writers can use to keep pushing forward in their work.
Learn more about Roni Loren here: https://www.roniloren.com Learn more about Evident Ink here: https://www.evidentink.com
We'll be chatting with productivity and strengths expert, Becca Syme (of the Better Faster Academy and author of Dear Writer, You Need to Quit) about common writing myths, how to banish them, and what works best to find a process that works for you.
Learn more about Becca here: https://www.betterfasteracademy.com Learn more about Evident Ink here: https://www.evidentink.com
Dawn and Nancy consider what weakens a writer's story -- highlighting common problems with pacing, characterization and plot. Tune in to learn how to avoid these common pitfalls!
Learn more about Evident Ink at https://www.evidentink.com
Dawn and Nancy discuss the age-old question of plotting versus pantsing when writing fiction. They'll highlight strengths and weaknesses of both and offer tips for all kinds of writers. Learn more about Evident Ink at https://www.evidentink.com
Dawn and Nancy share tips on what makes a good story, and what keeps readers turning pages. Each editor talks about some of their favorite books and shares why these examples made it onto their list. Learn more about Evident Ink at https://www.evidentink.com
Learn more about the editing process and find out when editors can help with your writing process. Do you need a story coach? A developmental editor? Or should you be looking for a line edit or a copy edit?
Meet Dawn and Nancy, lead editors at Evident Ink, an editing and story coaching shop for indie authors. This episode sets up the Story Strategy series, and lets writers know what topics we'll be tackling in the future.