The phrase "cut to the chase" originated in the film industry.  When shooting and editing a movie, if things are getting dull cut to a chase scene.  Cut to the chase applies to our novels and short stories, too.  Here are ways we writers can make our stories stronger and our sentences more forceful by cutting to the chase.  Also, a suggestion on naming characters.

Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.

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Here is a checklist of things we likely should think about as we begin our first chapter: some elements to have in the beginning pages of our story and some things to avoid.  Also: the strong technique of using contrast in consecutive scenes so that lights shine on both scenes.

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What is a singular attribute that separates Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, and Edgar Alan Poe?  Their literary voices.  Here are thoughts on our own voices: if and how we should try to develop them.  Also: the strong tool of contrast, when the character contrasts with the setting.

Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.

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Writing is like learning the violin.  We can get better.  Here are reasons we should practice, and suggestions how to do so.  And what sparked Edgar Alan Poe's imagination?  Also: how much of our story should be scenes rather than summary? The answer: should fill our story with scenes that play out  in real time in front of the reader like a movie.

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What's the problem with having a lot of characters in a scene?  Aren't lots of people needed to make street scenes and party scenes and sports scenes and battle scenes credible?   I'll talk about the problem of too many characters, and how we can fix the crowded scene so it doesn't lose focus.  Also, a quick almost  magical way to make our sentences stronger using the global search function on our computer.  And lovely setting descriptions from Rachel Joyce.

Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.

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How can we know if our scene pushes the story forward.  Does our scene contribute to the story?  The ratchet can test our scene.  I talk about the ratchet and show how Cormac McCarthy and F. Scott Fitzgerald used it.  Plus, a technique for searching for instances of telling in our manuscript so we can change them to showing.  And C.S. Lewis's rules of writing.

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If we emulate famous authors, won't we get better at writing?  Here are how some highly-skilled, best-selling authors write and live.  Plus: the three dumbest pieces of advice for writers.  And: George Orwell's rules of writing.

Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.

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How can we get readers to admire and respect our hero, maybe even to fall in love with him?  Our hero can save the cat.  Here is how the screenwriters' save the cat technique can apply to our novels.  Also, best seller Lawrence Block on how we can use our pleasure reading to improve our fiction writing skills.

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Keeping a tight point of view is critical for our story.  Here's how we can stay inside the mind of our main character yet learn what others in the scene are thinking.  Plus, how John Grisham works.  And: how we can reveal what a character is thinking through facial expressions.  

Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.

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Sometimes writing can be a grind.  Here are things that are fun while writing that'll give us energy and keep us at our desks and allow us to pour joy into our words.  Also: we should avoid vanilla, meaningless word packages.  And here's how Kate Chopin worked.

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Folks new to fiction may think because there are a million stories and dozens of genres, plots can be presented in any way imaginable.  But successful plots have time-tested patterns, and these are discussed here.  Plus, M.M. Kaye's lovely setting descriptions, so elegant her writing might be called the voice of magic.  And: how the best-selling romance novelist Emily Henry lives and works.

Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.

Support the show

Buy the master class.