Suppose you discovered that nearly all of the great stories written conform to a particular structure, a structure that would help to guide you in your writing and that, subconsciously at least, your readers are expecting to see in your work.
This is the contention of my guest today, the writer and creative writing tutor, Jessica Brody. Jessica took the classic screenwriting text “Save the cat” and applied it to the process of writing a novel, producing the appropriately titled “Save the cat writes a novel”.
In our conversation, Jessica and I explored the key beats in the 15 beat structure, why pacing is so important, how you create a problem, a want, and a need for your protagonist, and why it’s important to make your reader feel smart.
This was a fun and informative conversation I hope you enjoy listening to it, here it is.
My guest for this episode is someone who has spent nearly 50 years in publishing. Tony Collins has worked for a number of publishing houses, owned three magazines, published an astonishing 1,400 books, and is now a literary agent. In this conversation, we talk about the lessons he’s learned in his career. We talk about the most common error that writers make when with their work, how the author must remember they are a guest at the reader's table, and there are many other things for readers to do. We talk about the essential power of narrative, why we can’t write in the way Dickens did, the place for anecdote in non-fiction, finding the right publisher, engaging well with them, and why it's essential for your book to get the title and your hook right. Tony speaks with decades of experience and there are some wonderful, fundamental insights here, I hope you find the conversation useful, here it is. ...
This rather Christmassy episode is a review of my favourite reads of 2016. It's a subjective review, just stuff I've read that I liked, and a bit about why I liked it. Also news about the CWT 2017 listener and subscriber survey.Take part to be entered into the prize draw and get a copy of the Overview of the forthcoming Handbook. ...
Continuing the theme of "the writer's life" this episode offers some evidence based advice and practical steps for looking after ourselves so that we can live well and write well. From getting enough water and sleep, to eating well, exercising, socializing, and being mindful of our spiritual well-being. These tips will help us all to look after the totality of who we are, so that we can look after ourselves and our writing. ...
