Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

Folks new to fiction may think because there are a million stories and dozens of genres, plots can be presented in any way imaginable.  But successful plots have time-tested patterns, and these are discussed here.  Plus, M.M. Kaye's lovely setting descriptions, so elegant her writing might be called the voice of magic.  And: how the best-selling romance novelist Emily Henry lives and works.
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 guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.
Support the show
Buy the master class.

How and why should  we avoid our character traveling?  And how does Orson Scott Card not make blunders in his novels?  Here is his tool for having a mistake-free novel.  Also: here is why our scenes--almost all scenes--should have some action, and how to write that action.
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 guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.
Support the show
Buy the master class.

Writing is magic.  We type on a keyboard, and then the words we type create powerful images in readers' minds.  Here is a discussion of our main tool for creating vivid images: detail.  Which details, how to use them, and examples from a detail master, Jean Shepherd.   And another angle: detail is as important in dialogue as it is in character and setting descriptions.
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 guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.
Support the show
Buy the master class.

Sometimes an unreliable narrator can be great fun to create, and great fun to read about.  Here are techniques for developing a protagonist the reader learns not to trust.  Also, how can we avoid dull interior monologue and  instead show readers what a character is thinking?
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 guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.
Support the show
Buy the master class.

Novelist John D. McDonald said he had more plot ideas than time to write them.  That's not the case for most of us writers.  We usually are in chronic need of more plot, more story.  Here are techniques for inventing plot from James Scott Bell and Lester Dent.  Also: vivid character descriptions from Jean Shepherd, showing us how to create unforgettable characters.
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 guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.
Support the show
Buy the master class.