Writing Roots

In writing and in tabletop gaming, character choices are essential to plot progression. In either case, whether as a game master or author, it's easy to fall into the pattern of what's known in gaming spaces as "railroading." You know what needs to happen to get to the next point. You know where they should go, so you don't give the characters any other choice. In games, that removes the fun of au...

One of our favorite tools for learning storytelling is through playing tabletop roleplaying games, also known as TTRPGs. Games like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Starfinder, or Call of Cthulhu are all about working together to tell a single story. Each player has their own character with a unique abilities to contribute to the party. The dungeon/game master (DM or GM) sets up the framework a...

Thriller, mystery, and horror are all genres with their own strengths, but they do share a lot in common when it comes to marketing. They're all about exploring the dark, the mysterious, and the terrifying in the world. In this episode, we talk about how to use that knowledge to find the right audience.

While cozy mysteries have been around for a while (just look at shows like Murder, She Wrote), cozy fantasy is a relatively new classification of story that places you in a high fantasy world but with a slower pace. They're the kinds of books you can read while curled up with a blanket and mug of tea while it rains outside. They're the books that feel like warm hugs. But since this genre is new, m...

Among new indie authors, the difference between beta readers, ARC readers, and street teams can be confusing. It may seem like these serve largely similar functions. This has never been more apparent than with recent discourse around ARC readers and indie authors treating them like a street team. But each one of these categories has their place in the writing and marketing process. We discuss the...

Stories are one of the most valuable things we can offer to children. In many cases, children learn stories before they learn to speak, walk, run. Children's books are an invaluable resource to help in the process of teaching kids. But getting your book in front of them is difficult. It's all about marketing to the parents. Learn more in this episode about the five Ws of marketing children's books...

Western stories are having a slight resurgence, along with overall historical fiction. In this episode, we discuss the marketing aspects that will help you find those interested in this broad category.

Though often disregarded in the literary world as frivolous, romance books are among the most popular kinds of books read today. If you're writing romance, you have a wide range of audience, all with different interests and niches. But there is also a challenge when it comes to marketing largely due to that stigma from the broader society.  In this episode, we discuss who your audience is and how...

Of all the nonfiction books, memoirs are among the most difficult to market and sell. Unless you're a household name already, you have to give people a reason to read your story. That means everything from making sure you're focusing the story around a particular theme to finding the right places to market.

If you're writing an educational or informational nonfiction book, finding your audience can be difficult. It depends on the topic, the writing style, and so much more. But there are a few steps you can take to help narrow it down as part of your marketing efforts. We talk about the who, what, where, when, and why of marketing educational nonfiction in this episode.

When it comes to marketing any book, it's about reaching your audience where they are. For authors of speculative fiction, particularly fantasy, that means finding them often online and enticing them with gorgeous covers and thrilling adventures. Listen for more tips on the five W's of marketing your spec fic books.

We're tackling the topic of marketing once again this month, focusing on how to tailor your efforts depending on the genre of your story. We start this month by talking about the marketing recipe: who, what, where, when, and why. By understanding these five W's, you can adjust your efforts to meet your audience where they are in a way they are most likely to respond.

One piece of advice that you will encounter a lot in your writing journey, especially if you take any formal classes, is to avoid passive voice. It helps the characters take control of what is happening in their story. Active voice is more direct and often more clear. However, we believe passive voice is still a good tool to know, understand, and use under the right circumstances.

There are a lot of people out there giving advice about writing, sharing their opinions and experiences to help you in your journey. Unfortunately, some of that advice is not good. Not that the advice won't help someone, but no piece of advice is right for everyone. But it can be a confusing landscape for newer writers trying to get their start. If you try to listen to every piece of advice, you'l...

Perhaps it's an overcorrection from the extremely verbose fiction of the 1800s to early 1900s, but there has been a shift in writing advice to avoid detailed descriptions. Authors are constantly told to keep the story moving, only include relevant details, and don't chase away a reader with boring details. You might find yourself asking, "what about scene setting? What about immersing the reader i...

One piece of good advice that is often applied too often is to "kill your darlings." It is good to approach the editing process with a sort of ruthlessness that can rival your story's villain, but removing your "darlings" simply because you like it is going to far. Applying this rule to anything you are attached to will remove the joy from the process. So instead of killing it, we recommend you an...

This is another one of those contradictory rules you've probably heard: Only ever use "said" in your dialogue tags. Yet you've also probably heard "said is dead." So which is it? The real answer is found in breaking both of these and finding a balance. While using said is great for its invisible nature, other words can better describe the mood or volume you're trying to convey in fewer words than...

When it comes to advice for starting your story, you've probably found lists of what not to do. Sometimes, those lists contradict themselves in ways that make it a confusing process to figure out exactly how a story is supposed to start. That's why we recommend breaking this rule. Before you can do that, you need to know why the rules for starting off a story exist in the first place so you can av...

Word counts are a rule for very good reasons. From audience expectation to publisher requirements, word counts are an established part of writing. For each time you've heard the standard for whatever genre, you've probably thought immediately of several exemptions. So why is there a rule in the first place if exceptions are so common? Listen for more about the rules of word count and how to break...

If you've heard any writing advice or rules, you've heard "show, don't tell." While this is great advice that can help enrich a story and immerse the reader, creating a book of only "show" becomes tedious for the reader. Sometimes, telling is the right way to go. Like most writing rules, it's about finding the right ways to break it for the best story in the end.

When it comes to rules of writing, the rules regarding prologues is important for getting readers engaged and interested right away. Prologues have the power to either pull a reader into a world or to drive them away from the story entirely. The audience has expectations that you need to understand if you choose to write a prologue. We discuss the rules and how to break them in the best ways for a...

For a podcast all about helping you learn how to write and craft your stories, we're not big fans of rules. Or, perhaps, we just like knowing that most so-called "writing rules" are there to be broken. Throughout April, we will be discussing some of the most common rules and how to best break them in order to tell a better story. In this episode, we talk about why these rules exist, and why they s...

One way to create unique and relatable characters is to make some that are neurodivergent in some way. The more common diagnoses associated with neurodivergent include ADHD and autism, both of which often suffer from extreme stereotyping when portrayed through story. There are plenty of examples of poorly written characters with traits of autism that have done nothing to help stigmas real people h...

Along with that moment of hope mentioned earlier this month, characters will often have a moment of getting a second wind. First, you have to show them exhausted. Not just tired or sleepy, but exhausted to the point where they want to give up. This can be more than just a physical exhaustion as well. Listen for tips on how to write exhaustion and the burst of energy that can help drive a character...

Everyone is unique, but portraying it on the page is difficult. Among new writers, we often see the concern that their story - whether plot, characters or world - isn't unique enough. In this episode, we address each of these, including how a character's loneliness can help support being unique within the world.