This week at the Story Works Round Table podcast, Alida and Kathryn explore the power of sensory details in writing with award-winning author Paulette Stout. Join us as we discuss how to bring scenes to life through sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Paulette shares insights into her writing process, her latest work, and how she uses sensory details to build vivid, immersive worlds.
This week, the Story Works Round Table is turned: Alida is interviewed by guest host, Lainey Cameron, award-winning author, podcaster, and book marketing expert.
They discuss writing without genre in mind, starting with a vision only described as magical realism. Alida’s novel, A Stone’s Throw, explores themes of relationships, and motherhood, while highlighting the complexities of artistic identity and validation and the transformative power of community.
Lainey asks Alida about her inspiration, process, and the roles of creativity and community in her life and work.
What is subtext? And why is it important? Why is it so tricky to work on, or define? What effect does subtext have on the reader? We dive into an example and then talk about the ways we think you can learn how to write better subtext.
How do you keep a story going over a long series without tiring out characters and readers? Is this limited to a single genre? What ways can you use innovation, and plot elements to keep the reader engaged?
How do you keep readers from skipping point of view chapters? What if you have to cut a point of view out of your story? And how do you switch from your narrator to your character’s point of view? This week we take some time to answer some questions that have popped up in our Facebook group. If you have a question, make sure to join us there and ask away!
Do we love all of the aspects of writing? Or do we get stuck in certain processes? How can we break out of our stuck state? And how do we keep the whole project in mind when working on one piece? We talk about how to maintain your passion even in the parts that are less exciting, and how that helps you craft stories that readers will be passionate about too.
How do you know if you’ve picked the right POV? Where is the balance between narrative and dialogue? And how do you handle POV switches in a multiple POV story? Alida answers all these and more in this Q&A session.
Where do your characters come from? What if you get stuck? How do you create a character when you don’t know what to write about? What about innovating characters? We discuss thinking about what your story needs, working backwards, and thinking who, what, and why in order to invent the best characters for your story.
What is a scene stealing adorable character? And how do we create them? Are they deliberate or accidental? And what do you do with those who don’t speak English? Are these characters three dimensional? And when have they earned their own spin-off?
How soon is too soon to talk about something like the Coronavirus in our fiction? And how is the emotional impact of everything that is going on affecting everyone? How can we use this situation to benefit our craft? And what is the role of fiction in times like these?
How does it affect the reader? We explore all sorts of dark endings, including twists, gut punches, and those that leave no hope remaining. The ultimate question you have to ask yourself is how it affects the reader. Because ultimately, if your reader is satisfied, the ending can be as dark as you want it to be!