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Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

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.

Episode 211 - How to have fun while writing.

27 mins; April 03, 2026

Episode 210 - Timeless plot patterns.

26 mins; March 27, 2026

Episode 209 - Avoiding blunders in our story.

27 mins; March 20, 2026

Episode 208 - How to paint pictures with words.

29 mins; March 13, 2026

Episode 207 - When the hero lies to the reader.

26 mins; March 06, 2026

Episode 206 - How to get lots of plot ideas.

30 mins; February 27, 2026

Episiode 205 - How to stop stalling and get going.

27 mins; February 20, 2026

Episode 204 - Meaningless modifiers and what to cut.

28 mins; February 13, 2026

Episode 203 - Argument makes our dialogue riveting.

25 mins; February 06, 2026

Episode 202 - How to have fun while writing.

27 mins; January 30, 2026

Episode 201 - A formula for strong sentences.

28 mins; January 23, 2026

Episode 200 - How can we know if we can write?

26 mins; January 16, 2026

Episode 199 - Writing a scene with many people and lots of motion.

27 mins; January 09, 2026

Episode 198 - A big way to make our dialogue riveting.

27 mins; January 02, 2026

Episode 197 - That odd little thing for our character.

24 mins; December 26, 2025

Episode 196 - Importance of the character arc.

26 mins; December 19, 2025

Episode 195 - The adopt a dog technique.

29 mins; December 12, 2025

Episode 194 - How to invent a strong plot.

25 mins; December 05, 2025

Episode 193 - Plotting: go big or go home.

26 mins; November 28, 2025

Episode 192 - Plotting: the importance of conflict, crisis, resolution.

26 mins; November 21, 2025

Episode 191 - Do we know enough to write the first sentence?

24 mins; November 14, 2025

Episode 190 - The right way to leave red herrings.

28 mins; November 07, 2025

Episode 189 - Start as close to the end as possible.

25 mins; October 31, 2025

Episode 188 - How to make our writing fun.

30 mins; October 24, 2025

Episode 187 - Giving readers what they want.

28 mins; October 17, 2025

Episode 186 - Showing--not telling--what a character is thinking.

27 mins; October 10, 2025

Episode 185 - The keys to musical writing.

24 mins; October 03, 2025

Episode 184 - Skipping the dull stuff in our plot.

27 mins; September 26, 2025

Episode 183 - A key to making our sentences forceful.

27 mins; September 19, 2025

Episode 182 - Things to think about as we write the end of our story.

24 mins; September 12, 2025

Episode 181 - A critical difference between scene and summary.

26 mins; September 05, 2025

Episode 180 - The critical distance between the reader and the action.

27 mins; August 29, 2025

Episode 179 - The critical writing techniques all in one episode.

27 mins; August 22, 2025

Episode 178 - How to make readers laugh.

28 mins; August 15, 2025

Episode 177 - The description double duty technique.

27 mins; August 08, 2025

Episode 176 - Inventing a fabulous title.

25 mins; August 01, 2025

Episode 175 - Writing funny dialogue.

25 mins; July 25, 2025

Episode 174 - How to ruin our story's first sentences.

26 mins; July 18, 2025

Episode 173 - The magic of dialogue.

23 mins; July 11, 2025

Episode 172 - Our first fifteen pages.

26 mins; July 04, 2025

Episode 171 - Top ten list of bad advice for writers.

29 mins; June 27, 2025

Episode 170 - Writing the crowd scene. And guilt and pride.

29 mins; June 20, 2025

Episode 169 - How to find a surefire plot.

25 mins; June 13, 2025

Episode 168 - Making our first sentence sparkle.

28 mins; June 06, 2025

Episode 167 - Revealing our character by the setting.

26 mins; May 30, 2025

Episode 166- Showing our character's thoughts.

25 mins; May 23, 2025

Episode 165 - The rule of exceptions.

28 mins; May 16, 2025

Episode 164 - Design our cover? And the masters on setting details.

29 mins; May 09, 2025

Episode 163 - The benefits of an underdog.

25 mins; May 02, 2025

Episode 162 - The state fair plotting technique.

28 mins; April 25, 2025

Episode 161 - Ways to give readers what they want.

26 mins; April 18, 2025

Episode 160 - Should our story have a theme?

24 mins; April 11, 2025

Episode 159 - A surefire way to generate plot, the sidekick.

27 mins; April 04, 2025

Episode 158 - A lifetime's writing advice reduced to one minute.

22 mins; March 28, 2025

Episode 157 - How we writers can create a world.

27 mins; March 21, 2025

Episode 156 - How to write the fast start.

26 mins; March 14, 2025

Episode 155 - The single most important ingredient in an unforgetable story.

24 mins; March 07, 2025

Episode 154 - Learning from the masterful writer Edna Ferber.

25 mins; February 28, 2025

Episode 153 - A legendary novelist's lesson for us writers.

24 mins; February 21, 2025

Episode 152 - How the masters create their settings.

29 mins; February 14, 2025

Episode 151 - Mad Magazine, and techniques for riveting dialogue.

27 mins; February 07, 2025

Episode 150 - How to deliver a surprise in the story.

28 mins; January 31, 2025

Episode 149 - How masterful writers use details.

25 mins; January 24, 2025

Episode 148: A magical way to end one scene and begin another.

26 mins; January 17, 2025

Episode 147 - Make sure it's important and make it short.

25 mins; January 10, 2025

Episode 146 - How to make our character unforgettable.

26 mins; January 03, 2025

Episode 145 - Bringing our settings to life.

27 mins; December 27, 2024

Episode 144 - One sentence can bring our character to life.

27 mins; December 20, 2024

Episode 143 - The three most important sentences when writing a scene.

26 mins; December 13, 2024

Episode 142 - A big technique for literary writing.

25 mins; December 06, 2024

Episode 141 - How to begin and end scenes.

27 mins; November 29, 2024

Episode 140 - Tips from Stephen King on writing dialogue.

28 mins; November 22, 2024

Episode 139 - Writing in the first person.

27 mins; November 15, 2024

Episode 138 - How to live a writer's life.

27 mins; November 08, 2024

Episode 137 - Twenty-one rules of writing.

28 mins; November 01, 2024

Episode 136 - Benefits of a character's otherness.

27 mins; October 25, 2024

Episode 135 - Maybe the strongest writing tool - contrast.

25 mins; October 18, 2024

Episode 134 - A stong technique for describing a character's personality.

30 mins; October 11, 2024

Episode 133 - In our plot what should we save for a sequel?

26 mins; October 04, 2024

Episode 132 - How to avoid the main reason readers stop reading a novel.

29 mins; September 27, 2024

Episode 131 - A review of the ten strongest writing techniques.

24 mins; September 20, 2024

Episode 130 - Kurt Vonnegut's rules of writing, and powerful character descriptioins.

27 mins; September 13, 2024

Episode 129 - A scene with too many mistakes. Can we spot them?

26 mins; September 06, 2024

Episode 128 - Should we be afraid our plot has been done before?

26 mins; August 30, 2024

Episode 127 - Go big or go home plotting.

28 mins; August 23, 2024

Episode 126 - Should we hire a book coach?

28 mins; August 16, 2024

Episode 125 - When to avoid the proven writing technique.

25 mins; August 09, 2024

Episode 124 - Save the cat plotting.

26 mins; August 02, 2024

Episode 123 - The beauty of a professional submission.

24 mins; July 26, 2024

Episode 122 - Getting inside a villain's mind.

27 mins; July 19, 2024

Episode 121 - The biggest mistakes new writers make.

25 mins; July 12, 2024

Episode 120 - The most important element in fiction.

27 mins; July 05, 2024

Episode 119 - Making our sentences instantly stronger.

25 mins; June 28, 2024

Episode 118 - Naming characters and the framing device.

28 mins; June 21, 2024

Episode 117 - Making multiple submissions, and a strong dialogue technique.

23 mins; June 14, 2024

Episode 116 - Advice from your lifestyle counselor, and mistakes when describing our setting.

30 mins; June 07, 2024

Episode 115 - Downer titles and words that echo poorly.

26 mins; May 31, 2024

Episode 114 - A critical technique to make our story engaging.

25 mins; May 24, 2024

Episode 113 - The clear window technique.

26 mins; May 17, 2024

Episode 112 - Writing in the past or present tense, and making submissions.

26 mins; May 10, 2024

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Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

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