What genre does your story fit into? And how can you use the tropes of that genre to make your story fresh, original, and compelling? In this episode we explore the challenge of identifying the genre or genres of your story, and looking at way to embrace the tropes of that genre by re-imagining them and subverting them to keep your work interesting and cliche free.
For this episode I am again joined by Jessi Rita Hoffman (jessiritahoffman.com). Jessi is a former publishing house editor-in-chief and award-winning magazine editor now offers professional book editing services and author coaching. In this episode Jessi and I discuss the key elements of the action scene. From the need to keep the prose tight, to managing the rising tension, from dumping those 'hedge' words, to not telling us how much your protagonist is bleeding. Remember - keep the girl, or gu...
I'm joined for this episode by Jessi Rita Hoffman (jessiritahoffman.com). Jessi is a former publishing house editor-in-chief and award-winning magazine editor now offers professional book editing services and author coaching. Jessi and I talk about the essential elements of writing the romance scene. Creating a compelling romance scene is essential for any genre, and Jessi and I discuss how to keep the scene real, why the Victorians were so good at romance, keeping the lovers together and apart,...
In this episode we look at the way in which the building blocks of prose: the sentence, the paragraph, and the scene, work. We explore the fundamental principle that drives all of them, and how you can use these structural tools to enhance your work and captivate your reader
This rather Christmassy episode is a review of my favourite reads of 2016. It's a subjective review, just stuff I've read that I liked, and a bit about why I liked it. Also news about the CWT 2017 listener and subscriber survey.Take part to be entered into the prize draw and get a copy of the Overview of the forthcoming Handbook.
This very special episode takes us inside one of the most iconic publishing houses in the world. The episode comprises four conversations with press, marketing and commissioning staff at Gollancz; the fantasy, horror, and science fiction imprint. The episode includes a conversation with Gollancz's Publishing Director, Gillian Redfearn. Many of you will know Gollancz as the publisher of prominent authors like Brandon Sanderson, Ben Aaronovitch, Stephen Baxter and Al Reynolds as well classic books...
Loved and hated in equal measures, the flashback remains a firm favourite with authors. When it's done well it can enthrall readers, give them a poignant and dramatic experience, and drive the engine of your story. Done badly, and it will leave your reader confused and frustrated. In this episode we look at the good and bad of the flashback scene, and identify the guiding principles for using this type of scene appropriately.
This episode is a wide ranging interview with commissioning editor Anne Perry from Hodder and Stoughton. Anne draws on her experience to talk about how the commissioning process works, what an author should be prepared to do to help with the process, and what she wants to see in a manuscript. Anne also gives us some advice on writing action and romance scenes, and how to tackle the presentation of characters from diverse backgrounds. Enjoy!
Writing the closing scene of a story is more than just tying up the loose ends and sending our characters off into the sunset. We want to leave our readers with the best possible impression of our work, so that they have fond memories of reading what we have written but also to ensure they come back for more, and tell others why they should read our work as well. In this episode we look at the principles for finishing well, as they apply to the stand alone story, and one of a series.
We all know the opening scene in any book is the critical moment to make your mark on the reader, to grab their interest, to set out your stall, and to keep them hooked. This episode explores the four principles that make an opening scene work and give your whole story a great start
This episode first appeared (briefly!) back in 2014 but mysteriously disappeared, making it a missing episode. It's a conversation with the writer Bob Hartman. Bob is a children’s writer and storyteller, he draws inspiration from the Bible and classical sources like Aesop’s fables for his work. In this interview he talks about the essentials of writing for children as well as storytelling and how to approach a publisher.
In this episode we use the development of a scene to illustrate a critical element of the author:reader relationship, that’s the implied deal that you, the author, have with your readers. We are going to look at what that deal is, and how you can make good on the reader's expectations that you are going to be competent and honest. We’ll explore some techniques that you can apply, scene by scene, and to help us we’re going to borrow a practice from the world of the theatre known as ‘blocking’....
The scene is a key building block of a story, so how can we make sure that the scenes in our writing work? In this episode we explore the three key questions that every writer needs to ask about each scene they write:what is the objective of the scene? How does the scene begin and end? And what gives the scene energy and direction?
This episode is a round up of everything we've been talking about concerning the sound of writing over the last few episodes. We look at tone, style, and voice, the importance of clarity, brevity, and precision and then go on to think about the problems and solutions related to sentence structure.
In this episode I'm excited to announce the launch of the Creative Writer's Toolbelt Handbook, a project to gather the very best advice and insight from all of the podcasts into book form. Development of the book is being crowdfunded through Indiegogo, please check out 'The Creative Writer's Toolbelt Handbook' at indiegogo.com. The main part of the podcast is a wonderful conversation I had with the authors Becky Chambers and Nisi Shawl. We talk about physicality and writing, the difference betwe...
In this episode we are going to look at a number of very different examples of writing that excel in the area of how the writing sounds. They are deliberately different in terms of style, and authorial voice, but each of them can teach us something. And because they are very different the benefits that they bring to their respective stories is very different.
There's a lot of truth in the old adage: "it's not what you say, it's the way that you say it". We all want to tell a great story, but part of that is how we tell our story. Some authors seem to have a captivating and beguiling sound to their work. How do they do it? What are the problems that can occur with the sound of writing, and how can we avoid them? In this episode we look at some of the problems that can make your work sound stuttering or clunky or dull - and then we go on to discuss the...
What is excellent writing style? And how can we develop that style without simply mimicking the writers we admire? In this episode we apply some of the ideas presented in episode 73 by looking at the way in which clarity, brevity, and precision can help us to develop our writing style. These, together with knowing who you are writing for, and working with the story, are the keys that unlock the secrets of great writing style.
The UK’s most prestigious Science Fiction literature prize, the Arthur C Clarke award, is 30 this year. In this episode I talk to Award Director Tom Hunter about the history of the award, plans for its future, and the state of contemporary Science Fiction writing. Tom gives us some tips for using social media effectively, and we find out what’s most likely to excite a literary agent.
This episode marks the start of a new series for the Creative Writer's Toolbelt, looking at the sound of our writing. We're going to cover a whole range of confusing, and sometimes overlapping terms; establishing what they mean, and working out how to use them to improve our work. In this introductory episode we are going to look at tone, style, and voice.
This episode wraps up our review of the dimension setting of creative writing, and building on the practical examples of episode 70 we take a whistle-stop tour of the six principles of setting, from research to credibility, from genre to sensory description, here are the principles that will help you to create a credible, immersive and compelling setting for your work
This episode is a conversation with Northern Ireland based author Ian McDonald. Ian has been a professional writer for over twenty five years, and in this episode he takes us on from the solid foundational work that we usually focus on in the Creative Writer's Toolbelt to some of the more advanced concepts. Ian has won numerous awards including the Locus, Philip K Dick, Hugo, Theodore Sturgeon and John Campbell Memorial awards, and the BSFA best novel award three times.
Over the past ten episodes of the podcast we've looked at a range of strategies and techniques to make story setting as compelling and attractive as possible for readers. Looking at research and description as well as the relationship between setting and character, and setting and voice. We've explored the creative tension between being "credible" and "immersive" in setting. This episode illustrates these principles with a quick sketch of the settings from three very different stories in very di...
So you've identified the key information about your settings and characters, and now you have to seed it into your work. If you do it right, you can carry your readers into a rich and immersive world with characters they will want to care about; if you do it wrong you may lose your readers altogether. The stakes are that high, and in this episode we explore the techniques and strategies for avoiding the mistakes and making the best of the information you need to give your readers.
This episode will guide you though the process of taking the raw material of your character research and ideas, and putting them through the prism of the character components to create believable characters together with their backstory.
You might have a lot of research for your story, but how do you apply it effectively to create a rich and compelling setting, not just for the story itself but for the foundational backstory you need to give your work depth and credibility? In this episode we examine the steps you can take to do this, by laying out the framework and the environment of your work, and then bring your research to bear so that you can create individual scenes that are authentic and vibrant, drawing the reader into t...
My guest this week is the author Becky Chambers, author of the critically acclaimed novel 'The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet'. Becky’s novel was shortlisted for the Kitschies in the debut category in 2014, longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2016, and it has just been shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke prize. Becky knows what it is to self-publish and she also knows what it is to be commercially published, since her self-published novel was picked up in 2015 by Hodder and...
In episode 64 we looked at what we can do to build and enhance setting in a current project, and in this episode we look at some of the practices and habits we can adopt to help us invest as writers in future projects. We look at how, like the magpie, we need to be on the lookout for the 'shiny things' around us, the unusual the intriguing, the noteworthy. We also look at why it's good to put our research into the writer's equivalent of a compost heap where it can settle and mature into somethin...
Great stories require a lot of research, but there's more to it than just surfing the net for a few interesting details. In this episode we look at how to use our sources wisely and with due courtesy to those who help us. We know there's a lot of great stuff on the internet, but how do we use it wisely? And what about other forms of research, like the reference library? What about talking to people as individuals, and respecting the value they can give our work? And we shouldn't forget the think...
This episode is a conversation with bestselling author Peter F Hamilton. In a career spanning nearly thirty years Peter has published seventeen books as well as numerous short stories. He is known for his epic science fiction trilogies including the Void series from his Commonwealth Universe, and the Night's Dawn series from the Confederation Universe. In this conversation Peter talks about the formative literary influences on his life as he was growing up, the preparation he does before writing...
