Essential Guide to Writing a Novel
James Thayer
Hosted by James Thayer, the podcast is a practical, step-by-step manual on how to craft a novel. It presents a set of tools for large issues such as story development and scene construction (Kirkus Reviews said Thayer's novels are "superbly crafted') and it also examines techniques that will make your sentence-by-sentence writing shine. The New York Times Book Review has said Thayer's "writing is smooth and clear. it wastes no words, and it has a rhythm only confident stylists achieve.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 22, 2023 • 28min
Episode 79 - Tips for writing YA fiction. Also: adding detail to our scenes.
Young adult fiction is a vast market, and many wonderful writers create YA novels. Here are some thoughts on YA, some techniques we might keep in mind as we put together a story meant for teenagers. Also, what is the balance between not enough detail and too much detail in our scenes? I'll set out a formula.Support the show
Sep 15, 2023 • 26min
Episode 78 - Developing a distinctive voice, and flashbacks.
A distinctive voice can add a charming or compelling aspect to a story. What is voice? And do we need a distinctive voice? Maybe not, maybe so. Here are thoughts about a voice for our stories. Also mentioned are ideas and techniques regarding flashbacks.Support the show
15 snips
Sep 8, 2023 • 25min
Episode 77 - Eleven techniques for writing strong sentences.
Learn how to create impactful sentences in fiction writing using eleven techniques to make your writing clear and forceful. Explore the importance of active voice, strong verbs, and vivid descriptions. Discover how to craft a story arc and engage readers with alternate realities in your novel.
Sep 1, 2023 • 26min
Episode 76 - Writing our synopsis, and avoiding filters.
Learn how to write a novel synopsis and the importance of it in marketing and pitching. Find out about artificial intelligence writing fiction. Explore techniques for eliminating filters in writing to create a more engaging narrative.
Aug 25, 2023 • 24min
Episode 75 - The magical difference between scene and summary.
New writers tend to put too much summary into their stories. I'll talk about how to avoid that mistake, making sure that most of our novels are scenes. Why is this so important? Scenes are much more engaging for the reader than are summaries. Also, here's how to show--rather than tell--about our characters' aches and pains. And here's a list of the twelve best novels of all time.Support the show
Aug 18, 2023 • 25min
Episode 74 - How to describe our villainous villain, and how to get unstuck.
A great pleasure in our fiction reading is coming across a dastardly villain, someone so bad and so well-described we will never forget him or her. Hannibal Lecter. Nurse Ratched. Huckleberry Finn's father Pap. How can writers create such a villain? Here are techniques, in particular regarding the physical description of the villain. Also discussed is how we can get unstuck in our plotting or writing.Support the show
Aug 11, 2023 • 25min
Episode 73 - How to make settings work for our story, and how writers get to work each day.
Here are two errors we might make when describing our setting. First, using a dull setting. And, second, making the setting inert, that is, not having the setting contribute to the story. Here are techniques to avoid both mistakes. Plus, we'll look at how other novelists get to work each day, how they manage to sit themselves down and start writing.Support the show
Aug 4, 2023 • 33min
Episode 72 - Finding an agent, and writing a query.
Once we have completed our novel, it may be time to obtain the services of a literary agent. Here are thoughts on how to find good ones, and how to write a query asking them to look at your manuscript Support the show
Jul 28, 2023 • 27min
Episode 71 - Using the critical tool of contrast. And writing vivid character descriptions.
Blue is bluer when placed next to yellow. Here are techniques on the use of contrast to make our scenes and characters more vivid. Also, we can learn how to describe characters--and we can be inspired--by reading how the masters create their characters.Support the show
Jul 21, 2023 • 24min
Episode 70 - Writing a story in the first-person.
Here are some thoughts about how we can write our story in the first-person, some techniques that will capture the reader. Also, usually the fewer the adverbs and adjectives, the stronger the writing. Here's how we can reduce the number of modifiers in our fiction. And here's a list of the six funniest novels of all time.Support the show
