How factual should fiction be? What level of real-world detail is necessary for a story, its plot, and characters to feel authentic? In this episode, Russ and Tim explore the role of facts in fiction, reflect on their own manuscripts, and debate when facts enhance a story and when they Read more
Foreshadowing is another tool in the writer’s toolkit that can enhance a reader’s story experience. Early hints that can pay off later to build suspense, tension, and make that climax that much better. This episode, Russ and Tim get into what foreshadowing is, what it isn’t, and how they used Read more
It’s what the entire story has been building toward. The climax! The promise set at the beginning of your story comes to a breaking point, all is revealed, and your characters’ flaws are resolved (maybe). In this episode, Russ and Tim chat about getting to the climax of a story, Read more
With their popularity increasing year after year Audiobooks are a massive business. Making it a must have in your distribution arsenal as an author. Using Russ’ recently launched audiobook for HOST as an example. Russ and Tim discuss the production, distribution, and goals of having an audiobook and why people Read more
Wrapping up our replay series on Story Beats from 2023 with Act III. It all comes down to this…Act III. Our heroes have been removed from their normal world, thrust into a chaotic Act II world, been through the ringer, hit the bottom of the barrel, now it’s time for Read more
Continuing the Story Beats replays from 2023. Doing their best to avoid strong act II vibes, Russ and Tim continue their deep dive into Save the Cat! Writes A Novel story beats with Act II.
Diving into the Writer Syndrome archive we’re revisiting our Story Beats episodes from 2023. Using Save the Cat! Writes A Novel as a jumping off point, Russ and Tim do a deep dive into the Act I story beats, and reference how this methodology was useful in crafting their own Read more
A replay of an episode recorded in 2023. Story archetypes are a great starting point for building your narrative. In this episode Russ and Tim discuss the seven core story archetypes that can be found in most fiction, how they can be used to create engaging novels, and how they Read more
If you’ve survived the second draft, congrats! But you still have quite a way to go on your journey, which brings us to the third draft and beyond. Refining sentence structure and word choice, incorporating beta reader feedback, eliminating crunch words and phrases, the drafts where the polish happens. In Read more
So you’ve completed a first draft of your manuscript. Now what? The real work begins. Writing is re-writing and the second draft is a heavy lift of fixing those major character and plot issues that creep in during that first vomit draft. This episode Russ and Tim talk about the Read more