Sequels: the Glue that Holds Scenes Together
When you’re bored with action-packed scenes and want to dive deep into the mind of your protagonist, maybe you should try a Sequel. In today’s episode, we explore Bickham’s...
Tactical Disasters, Meaningful Change, and More Scene Rules. Oh, My!
After last episode’s deep dive into scene structure, we thought we’d ask a few published novelists and professional editors if they use scene goals in their writing/editing. Then, for...
Making a Scene
If stories are made up of scenes, what are scenes made up of? According to Jack Bickham in his book, Scene & Structure, scenes start with a character’s stated goal...
The Cart Goes After the Horse – Getting Cause and Effect Right in your Story
This episode is all about cause and effect, what it is, why it is critical in fiction despite being largely absent in real life, and how it works line...
Starting Your Book Off Right
In this podcast we give our first impressions of our new book, Jack Bickham's Scene and Structure, and, being the enthusiast students that we are, we begin by identifying his...
Auf Wiedersehen, Bradbury, and on to Scene & Structure
In this episode we bid a fond farewell to Bradbury with one last conversation about his book, Zen in the Art of Writing. We discuss what’s in the book,...
Making Your Memoir Matter
Baring one's soul in a memoir is hard work. Convincing others to care is one thing, but to engage in your life story? That's a whole other beast. In...