Welcome to Ep 168 of the Creative Writer’s Toolbelt podcast. My guest for this episode is Dave Chesson. Dave is an author, entrepreneur and something of a famous name in the self-publishing scene.
For many years he has been creating free courses and articles as well as applications that help writers to publish and promote their work, applications like publisher rocket and the newly arrived Atticus, which combines editing, sharing, and formatting functionality.
I have been using Dave’s publishing tools for a number of years and I was particularly interested in finding out how Atticus might work and how it can help authors, and while we did talk about this Dave also had some wisdom for the attitude, disciplines, and focus that we need to succeed as writers, here’s our conversation.
Jeanne Cavelos, the Director of the Odyssey Writing Workshop says that the number one piece of advice she gives to writers is this: give your character a goal. It's so easy for us to create pet characters who just sit on the couch, docile and useless in our story. We may love these creations but they slow the narrative, and bore the reader. So how do we get our characters engaged, and working with our story not against it? Simple, we follow Jeanne's advice and give them a goal (or goals), as well as some strong motivation, and a driving passion as part of who they are. ...
What are the personal qualities you need, not only keep you writing but to help you improve in your craft? Andrew shares his views on why perseverance, humility, and imagination are the fundamental character traits you need to develop as a writer. ...
This episode is a conversation with award winning science fiction and alternative reality author Gareth L Powell. We talk about how maturing as a writer and a person can inform our work, Gareth’s advice for developing authentic and rich characters, and the inspiration behind his new book Embers of War. Gareth can be reached at his website www.garethlpowell.com and on twitter at @garethlpowell ...
