Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

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.

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Episodes

Episode 8 - Scene and summary

We'll discuss the difference between summary and scene., and why writing scenes rather than summaries is so important. Point of view will also be briefly touch on, along with techniques on how to end a scene Rhythmic placement of scenes is also a topic in this episode. Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more. Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes. The full class—all 20 ep...

Apr 04, 2022•25 min

Episode 7 - How to craft a scene.

Crafting a scene involves mechanics hidden from readers. Here are techniques that lead to the success of a scene: ways to grab the reader, immerse him or her in the scene, and then launch the reader into the next scene. Support the show Buy the master class.

Mar 27, 2022•23 min

Episode 6: Villains and sidekicks.

How can we create compelling villains and lovable and maybe eccentric sidekicks? How many characters should we put in a scene? How about basing a character on a friend or relative? And are there tips for naming our characters? Learn these techniques and more ini this episode. Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more. Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes. The full class—al...

Mar 23, 2022•26 min

Episode 5: Creating compelling characters.

Characters in fiction come in a huge variety, and creating characters involves techniques that discussed in this episode. There are reasons we find Scout Finch and Hermione Granger and Jack Aubrey and Katniss Everdeen so compelling, and let's find out why. Support the show Buy the master class.

Mar 16, 2022•25 min

Episode 4: Pace, the first sentence, back-story, over-description

We'll talk about how to keep the reader involved in the story, how to move a plot forward. And we'll discuss one of my favorite topics: the novel's first sentence. Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more. Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes. The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars. If you want structured, concise guidan...

Mar 09, 2022•26 min

Episode 3 - Go big or go home.

Is there an idea dump where we can find a fresh plot for our novel or a strong plot point for the next chapter of our novel? No, but good methods exist to develop plots, and that's the topic of this episode. Support the show Buy the master class.

Mar 03, 2022•26 min

Episode 2: Getting ready to start writing a novel.

Getting ready to start a novel. Drafting a a plan (timetable). An outline (pros and cons). Other useful pre-writing and during-the-writing documents. Recommendations for a novel's length. Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more. Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes. The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars. If you want st...

Mar 02, 2022•27 min

Episode 1: Learning and getting better at the craft of writing.

Follow the rules. Go with what works to increase our chances of getting published. Writing can be learned. And if we know how to write, we can get better. A critical ingredient: persistence. One negative thing about learning to write. Leaning to concentrate. And a technique about weeping. Support the show Buy the master class....

Mar 02, 2022•28 min

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