Character failure is a big part of making the middle of a story work. We talk about why, and offer tips about how to make this work well for you.
Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.
What’s the difference between intrigue, suspense, and mystery? We talk about this, and then drill down on intrigue.
How do you know which bits of your story have to come first?
This month’s syllabus topic is story structure, and we’ll be starting with the part we start with. And that part usually isn’t the beginning — that’s where the story starts for the reader. We’re going to talk about where the story starts for you. It’s the answer to questions like…
M. Todd Gallowglas is a writer and a storyteller who has spent years doing traditional oral storytelling at renaissance fairs. He joined us at FantasyCon/Westercon 67 before a live audience and talked to us about how this tradition has informed his writing, and how these principles can inform our writing as well.…
We talk about how to make characters more or less proactive in the stories we tell.
The fourth of the SHADOWS BENEATH critique episodes, in which Howard is stuck…
What to do when you discover your planned ending isn’t actually going to work…
Joel Shepherd joins Brandon, Mary, and Howard to talk about hard social science.
E.J. Patten joins us to talk about pre-writing — all that work that gets done before the prose happens.