Master Fiction Writing

Quiet scenes are often where manuscripts go flat, not because nothing explodes, but because nothing changes. In this episode of Master Fiction Writing , Stuart Wakefield explores why low-action scenes still need movement, pressure, and consequence. Whether your characters are drinking tea, walking home, recovering from bad news, lying awake, remembering the past, or having a careful conversation,...

A phone call scene can look deceptively small on the page. Two people talk, some information changes hands, then someone hangs up, but if that’s all the scene is doing, it may be falling flat. In this episode of Master Fiction Writing, Stuart Wakefield takes a deep dive into one of fiction’s most overlooked craft moments: the phone call scene. Why do so many phone calls in novels, short stories, a...

A character walking into a room might seem like simple scene logistics, but an entrance can reveal far more than movement. It can show power, fear, desire, belonging, exclusion, secrecy, status, and change before anyone says a word. In this episode of Master Fiction Writing , Stuart Wakefield explores the doorway scene: those small but potent moments when a character crosses from one emotional ter...

The middle of a novel is often where writers begin to worry. The opening had energy, and the ending may be in sight, but somewhere in between, the story starts to feel slow, repetitive or strangely... directionless. The usual advice is to raise the stakes, add conflict or introduce a twist. Those tools can help, but what if the real problem isn't that your protagonist needs more obstacles? Wha...

What actually makes a thriller a thriller? It isn’t just murder, spies, guns, plot twists, or car chases. In this episode of Master Fiction Writing, we take a deep dive into the thriller genre as a pressure system: sustained threat, escalating stakes, urgent choices, controlled information, and the nervous anticipation that keeps readers turning pages. We’ll explore how thrillers differ from myste...

Does every protagonist really need to change by the end of a story? Not always. In this episode, we look beyond the familiar “your character must change” advice and explore positive arcs, negative arcs, steadfast characters, ensemble stories, and intentional stasis. You’ll learn how to ask the better craft question: not “does my protagonist change?” but “what moves?”

Do your characters keep feeling sad, furious, lonely, ashamed, or devastated on the page... but the reader still isn’t feeling much? In this episode of Master Fiction Writing , we’re looking at the difference between explained emotion and experienced emotion. You’ll learn why naming a feeling isn’t always the same as creating it, and how to give the reader stronger emotional evidence through behav...

In this episode of Master Fiction Writing , we untangle one of the most confusing pieces of fiction craft: third-person point of view. Because “write it in third person” sounds simple enough until you realise third person can mean several very different things. We’ll look at five major forms of third-person narration: Third-person objective, where the reader only sees what can be observed from the...

In this episode of Master Fiction Writing , we explore one of the most quietly intimidating parts of writing fiction: creating characters when you’re afraid of getting them wrong. Inspired by a listener question, this episode looks at the difference between research as preparation and research as protection. Research, plotting, and worldbuilding are essential tools, especially when your story is i...

Should you cut words like saw , felt , heard , realised , and remembered from your fiction? Often, yes. Always? Not even slightly. In this episode of Master Fiction Writing , Stuart breaks down why so-called filter words and mental-processing verbs get flagged so often, how they can weaken immediacy and increase psychic distance, and why the advice to remove them can become unhelpfully rigid when...

Need a gentler kind of story without sacrificing plot? In this episode, I’m diving into the craft of cozy and feel-good fiction and unpacking how to write low-stakes stories that still have tension, momentum, and emotional payoff. We’ll look at why readers are drawn to comfort fiction, especially when real life feels relentless, and why “low stakes” never means “nothing matters.” I cover the key i...

What makes a female character feel dangerously compelling rather than flat, clichéd, or simply “unlikeable”? In this episode, Stuart explores how to write wicked women with complexity, power, and emotional truth. From villains and antiheroes to politically sharp schemers and socially inconvenient women, this is a deep dive into the craft of creating female characters who refuse to behave nicely on...

Writers are surrounded by bad advice masquerading as wisdom. In this episode, we take six of the most persistent fiction-writing myths and throw them politely but firmly in the bin. From talent and inspiration to first drafts, genre snobbery, publishing myths, and the idea that only bleak literary fiction counts as serious, this is a sharp, funny, practical reset for writers who are tired of feeli...

Why does tightening a draft so often feel slow, frustrating, and weirdly inconclusive? Usually because writers start at the sentence level instead of the structural one. In this episode, Stuart shares a faster, smarter way to revise by function rather than fussing. You’ll learn the three tightening passes he uses to diagnose saggy scenes (purpose, pressure, and payoff) along with a one-hour tighte...

If your scenes keep slipping into “and then… and then… and then…”, this episode is for you. In this episode, Stuart breaks down one of the simplest ways to create stronger cause-and-effect on the page: scene turns. You’ll learn what a turn actually is, why it matters, and four reliable types you can use to make any scene work harder. Stuart also walks you through a quick Scene Turn Audit you can u...

In this episode, we tackle one of the biggest hidden causes of reader disengagement: unstable point of view. The problem usually is not whether you chose first person, third person, or multiple POVs. It is whether the story keeps changing the rules. When that happens, readers don't experience it as a technical slip. They experience it as a breach of trust. You’ll learn what the POV contract re...

If your character’s “need” sounds like a motivational poster, readers won’t feel it in scene. In this episode of Master Fiction Writing, Stuart Wakefield breaks want vs need out of the self-help zone and turns it into a practical decision tool you can use immediately: the Want / Need / Cost triad. You’ll learn why vague “needs” kill scene friction, how to define want and need in operational terms,...

Big events don’t create story. Binding does. In this practical follow-up to “The Art of a Story Premise That Actually Drives Scenes,” Stuart Wakefield reframes the inciting incident as the moment your protagonist becomes unable to WALK AWAY and shows you how to build that pressure on purpose. You’ll learn what “binding” really means, why it’s the secret to Act 1 momentum (and the cure for saggy mi...

The difference between an “interesting” idea and a story that actually moves? Your premise. In this episode, I'll break down why so many drafts end up with “optional chapters” - scenes that could be shuffled, skipped, or swapped without changing anything. Then you’ll learn a simple, repeatable framework for building a premise that creates real story pressure: Protagonist + Pressure + Price. Yo...

This episode's for anyone writing speculative fiction who’s ever vanished into worldbuilding “for five minutes” and resurfaced three hours later with a fully functioning sewer system and… no actual scene. This episode is about the quiet ways worldbuilding can sabotage your story when it becomes a substitute for plot, character, pacing, and reader trust. Not because worldbuilding is bad. Becaus...

Back to the Book: Restarting a Shelved Draft Fast is a practical, no-nonsense episode for writers who’ve stepped away from a manuscript and want to re-enter it without rereading the whole thing. You’ll learn a 60-minute re-entry sprint to regain story context fast, a 2-hour reset to rebuild your “story map,” and a simple toolkit for avoiding the biggest time-wasters like polishing old chapters ins...

Set yourself up for a 2026 writing year that actually survives real life. In this episode, you’ll build a simple, motivating plan without hustle-culture guilt or impossible schedules. We’ll choose a one- to three-word theme to guide your decisions, pick three clear priorities (plus one powerful “not this year”), map your year by quarters, and set a weekly minimum that keeps you moving even when li...

Is Legally Blonde secretly one of the best-plotted films of the 2000s? In this episode of Master Fiction Writing , host Stuart Wakefield performs a full story autopsy on Elle Woods’ journey from dumped sorority president to victorious Harvard lawyer. We dig into how the film builds a rock-solid causal chain (where every major beat grows logically from the last) and how Elle’s external quest (Harva...

If your opening goes boom but your hero can shrug and carry on, that’s fireworks, not story. In this episode I breaks down the real job of an inciting incident - to bind your protagonist to an obligation that costs something now and points the story arrow. Here's what you'll learn: What “binding” means in plain English and how to spot it fast The five ways a moment can stick Bond, Irrevers...

And then” isn’t a plot, it’s a queue. In this craft-forward episode, we swap “and then” for the more muscular because / but / therefore and show how tight causality turns scenes into story. You’ll get a clear, jargon-free framework for chaining choices to consequences, plus two case studies that prove the point: a mini-autopsy of Pride & Prejudice and a contemporary comparison with Knives Out...