This week we welcome Screenwriter Tim Auld to the Round Table to discuss the trend in film and literature toward didactic writing, when the (often moral) message of a piece overpowers the story trying to be told. Why is this still happening if audiences are weary of it? What about writing a message-focused story—is there a right way to do it? We’re excited to have a fresh perspective from the screenwriting side of the craft.
This week, Alida, Robert, and Kathryn discuss the relationship between stakes and agency. How do these aspects of plot and character work together to create forward drive in your story?
How do you balance real people, events, and places within your fictional narrative? Should you use major historical figures as protagonists? Or should they just pass by as setting or scenery? Have you asked yourself what you are aiming for in terms of your historical fiction? And why do you want to use a real figure or real event instead of complete fiction? And how important is that authors note?
Want to know what it takes to write a good opening? How do you hook your reader and get them invested in your story? How do you create character empathy and what are the action steps that you need to take in order to write a great opening?
What can cause problems in your action balance? How do you identify these problems? And how can you work to solve them? What counts as an action beat versus a quiet moment? And what should your characters be doing in those moments?
Show, don’t tell! Don’t think, feel, and wonder your way through a manuscript. Dig deep! Use that narrative exposition. Use your dialogue and action sequences. Write visually. Never use adverbs. Use the right word choice. Make your writing strong and not weak. Don’t use to be! Don’t use said! We tackle some of the most commonly touted writing rules and how they should actually apply rather than some of their more misunderstood applications.
How often do you find unlikeable characters? Is there a difference between an unlikeable personality and moral or ethical flaws? What about morally repugnant characters? What kind of arcs do unlikeable characters have? And how do you craft them?
We welcome special guest, Micah Joel, back to the Round Table to talk about the writing life. No matter who we are, we've probably dealt with anxiety and depression at some point in our writing lives. Whether we're talking clinical or "normal" stress and overwhelm,...
What is LitRPG anyway? Where does all the confusion come from? And how important are those game mechanics? What are some of the genre conventions within LitRPG? And how do you interweave a story in with such a rigid set of game rules? What kind of stories can be a vehicle for LitRPG?
How should you approach world-building in dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction? What do you do when your science doesn’t hold up? And what do your readers expect? How should you display your world-building on the page? And where are all those balance points?
Does world building or character development paralyze your first drafts? How should you address this in pre-writing? How do you identify whether or not something is integral to your story? When it is, how do you make sure you get it right? And how should you approach research?