Grabbing the reader's attention immediately is a vital part of storytelling. Often writers will start a story too early, or fill the first critical paragraphs with backstory and infodump. In this podcast we explore techniques to make sure your writing grabs the reader right from the first sentence. ...
This is the last of the five techniques for showing not telling - and arguably it's the hardest one to do. Humour is a serious business and requires precision and integrity in its execution. Precision in terms of timing and editing, and integrity in terms of keeping the characters and scene believable. ...
You might have a lot of research for your story, but how do you apply it effectively to create a rich and compelling setting, not just for the story itself but for the foundational backstory you need to give your work depth and credibility? In this episode we examine the steps you can take to do this, by laying out the framework and the environment of your work, and then bring your research to bear so that you can create individual scenes that are authentic and vibrant, drawing the reader into the story. We'll explore the way in which settings can be broken down into specific scenes throughout the story so that each scene can be transformed by your research. ...
