Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

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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.

Recent Episodes
  • Episode 161 - Ways to give readers what they want.
    Apr 18, 2025 – 26:46
  • Episode 160 - Should our story have a theme?
    Apr 11, 2025 – 24:01
  • Episode 159 - A surefire way to generate plot, the sidekick.
    Apr 4, 2025 – 27:09
  • Episode 158 - A lifetime's writing advice reduced to one minute.
    Mar 28, 2025 – 22:53
  • Episode 157 - How we writers can create a world.
    Mar 21, 2025 – 27:31
  • Episode 156 - How to write the fast start.
    Mar 14, 2025 – 26:04
  • Episode 155 - The single most important ingredient in an unforgetable story.
    Mar 7, 2025 – 24:54
  • Episode 154 - Learning from the masterful writer Edna Ferber.
    Feb 28, 2025 – 24:50
  • Episode 153 - A legendary novelist's lesson for us writers.
    Feb 21, 2025 – 24:58
  • Episode 152 - How the masters create their settings.
    Feb 14, 2025 – 28:32
  • Episode 151 - Mad Magazine, and techniques for riveting dialogue.
    Feb 7, 2025 – 27:23
  • Episode 150 - How to deliver a surprise in the story.
    Jan 31, 2025 – 27:36
  • Episode 149 - How masterful writers use details.
    Jan 24, 2025 – 25:53
  • Episode 148: A magical way to end one scene and begin another.
    Jan 17, 2025 – 26:02
  • Episode 147 - Make sure it's important and make it short.
    Jan 10, 2025 – 25:58
  • Episode 146 - How to make our character unforgettable.
    Jan 3, 2025 – 26:01
  • Episode 145 - Bringing our settings to life.
    Dec 27, 2024 – 27:03
  • Episode 144 - One sentence can bring our character to life.
    Dec 20, 2024 – 26:20
  • Episode 143 - The three most important sentences when writing a scene.
    Dec 13, 2024 – 26:53
  • Episode 142 - A big technique for literary writing.
    Dec 6, 2024 – 24:50
  • Episode 141 - How to begin and end scenes.
    Nov 29, 2024 – 27:31
  • Episode 140 - Tips from Stephen King on writing dialogue.
    Nov 22, 2024 – 28:00
  • Episode 139 - Writing in the first person.
    Nov 15, 2024 – 27:04
  • Episode 138 - How to live a writer's life.
    Nov 8, 2024 – 27:04
  • Episode 137 - Twenty-one rules of writing.
    Nov 1, 2024 – 28:00
  • Episode 136 - Benefits of a character's otherness.
    Oct 25, 2024 – 27:06
  • Episode 135 - Maybe the strongest writing tool - contrast.
    Oct 18, 2024 – 25:38
  • Episode 134 - A stong technique for describing a character's personality.
    Oct 11, 2024 – 29:51
  • Episode 133 - In our plot what should we save for a sequel?
    Oct 4, 2024 – 26:30
  • Episode 132 - How to avoid the main reason readers stop reading a novel.
    Sep 27, 2024 – 28:14
  • Episode 131 - A review of the ten strongest writing techniques.
    Sep 20, 2024 – 24:57
  • Episode 130 - Kurt Vonnegut's rules of writing, and powerful character descriptioins.
    Sep 13, 2024 – 26:39
  • Episode 129 - A scene with too many mistakes. Can we spot them?
    Sep 6, 2024 – 26:20
  • Episode 128 - Should we be afraid our plot has been done before?
    Aug 30, 2024 – 25:23
  • Episode 127 - Go big or go home plotting.
    Aug 23, 2024 – 28:07
  • Episode 126 - Should we hire a book coach?
    Aug 16, 2024 – 27:40
  • Episode 125 - When to avoid the proven writing technique.
    Aug 9, 2024 – 25:51
  • Episode 124 - Save the cat plotting.
    Aug 2, 2024 – 25:53
  • Episode 123 - The beauty of a professional submission.
    Jul 26, 2024 – 24:55
  • Episode 122 - Getting inside a villain's mind.
    Jul 19, 2024 – 26:34
  • Episode 121 - The biggest mistakes new writers make.
    Jul 12, 2024 – 24:16
  • Episode 120 - The most important element in fiction.
    Jul 5, 2024 – 27:41
  • Episode 119 - Making our sentences instantly stronger.
    Jun 28, 2024 – 25:14
  • Episode 118 - Naming characters and the framing device.
    Jun 21, 2024 – 27:30
  • Episode 117 - Making multiple submissions, and a strong dialogue technique.
    Jun 14, 2024 – 23:49
  • Episode 116 - Advice from your lifestyle counselor, and mistakes when describing our setting.
    Jun 7, 2024 – 29:40
  • Episode 115 - Downer titles and words that echo poorly.
    May 31, 2024 – 26:58
  • Episode 114 - A critical technique to make our story engaging.
    May 24, 2024 – 24:26
  • Episode 113 - The clear window technique.
    May 17, 2024 – 25:29
  • Episode 112 - Writing in the past or present tense, and making submissions.
    May 10, 2024 – 26:10
Recent Reviews
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