More than a holiday classic, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a classic of story craft. This novella offers lessons to carry throughout the year.
SWRT 285 | Self Discovery Through Writing
This week at the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn solve the world’s problems with one simple, three-part edict.
We’re kidding, but we’re kind of not. Writing and reading are all about building empathetic connections with people who are nothing like ourselves. As such, writers are gifted with a truly great responsibility.
Share this episode and a book with the people you love.
If you’re in the States, Happy Thanksgiving! Wherever you are, I am grateful for every single person who takes the time to listen to one another.
SWRT 062 | Energizing Dialogue
What should you do with dialogue heavy passages? How can you break it up? Should you worry about it in the first draft? What are revision techniques to catch your dialogue heavy sections? How can you approach teaching your character? What are some techniques to layer in information? And how do you use them correctly? The most important thing is to focus on what you want to achieve, and figure out how best to communicate that with your reader.
SWRT 061 | Character Motivation
How do we address character motivation? Do we struggle with it? When do we work it into our stories? How can you get to know your character better in order to develop that motivation? What are the three layers of motivation? And how do you plan for your characters motivation over a series? What happens when your character has competing motivations?
SWRT 060 | Everything You Need to Know About Show, Don’t Tell, part 2
What is psychic distance and filtering? How can we use our writers gaze properly? How do you get rid of your frame and allow the reader to fill in the gaps? Don’t forget to use all your senses and put your characters in action in your space in order to show effectively.
SWRT 059 | Everything You Want to Know About Show, Don’t Tell
What does “show, don’t tell” actually mean? And how is it misleading? How should you use narrative summary to your benefit as a writer? Do you need scene breaks? And how do you make your telling showy? How present is your narrator? And what are the dangers of losing your narrator in a first-person point of view?
SWRT 058 | Narrative Drive with Emma Darwin
What is narrative drive? And why is it so important to your story? How can you craft drive with characters choices, cause, and effect? What happens when your character comes alive? How does it affect your plot, their agency, and the surprising inevitability of your story? And finally what are some ways you can develop these narrative drive skills?
SWRT 057 | Historical Fiction with Emma Darwin
What drew Emma to historical fiction, and what is it’s allure? How important is your motivation for writing, and what you are trying to communicate to your reader? How does theme drive your story? Emma explains some ways she uses structural tools to make her writing better. And finally, we talk about the trap of authenticity in our writing.
SWRT 056 | First Encounter Fiction
Why do first encounter stories fascinate us? What sort of problems are typical in first encounter fiction? How does it make us deal with our own humanity? And how can you use first encounters outside of its typical alien invasion genre?
SWRT 055 | Hard & Soft World Systems
What is the difference between hard and soft magic systems? How does it apply to science fiction as well as fantasy? What are some pros and cons of the spectrum? How do you avoid deus ex machina with all powerful magic systems? How do you incorporate consequence into your systems? And where do we fall on the sliding scale?
SWRT 054 | Keeping a Community of Writers
What is the difference between working in a community and in isolation as a writer? How does it change your work and your mindset? Do we prefer traditional or digital communities? And what are the pros and cons of digital versus face to face? How does a writing community help you grow? And how can it hurt your efforts? As with everything, be careful to balance your life with your community and your writing so that you don’t suffer from overwhelm! And don’t forget, the Story Works community is available to you!