London Writers' Salon

#163: Indyana Schneider — Lessons from an Opera Singer Who Wrote Her Novel on the Tube; Rhythm, Desire & Tension for Fiction Writers


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Indyana Schneider—international opera singer and novelist—shares practical ways to write rhythm and desire on the page, craft scene-level tension, and shape compressed-time narratives; plus lessons from drafting her debut on the Tube. 
 

You'll learn:

  • How to build sentence-level cadence: vary lengths and read aloud to tune flow.
  • A simple spine for short-timeframe novels: day-by-day beats, rising stakes, a final choice.
  • Where to start and stop scenes so pages move (start late, leave early).
  • Writing desire without cliché: stay in character voice; revise for rhythm and clarity.
  • Turning musical training into prose: sensory sequencing that guides attention.
  • When to query (and what “ready” looked like) plus handling editorial feedback.
  • Smart ways to measure success beyond sales and keep momentum across careers.
     

Resources and Links:

  • 📑Interview Transcript
  • Since the World is Ending by Indyana Schneider
  • 28 Questions by Indyana Schneider
  • If the World Was Ending by JP Saxe ft Julia Michaels
  • What Makes a Bestseller? | Jonny Geller | TEDxOxford 
  • ReaderBank
  • One Day by David Nicholls
  • Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
  • So Thrilled for You by Holly Bourne
  • The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye
  • Love in Exile by Shon Faye
  • I Love You, I Love You, I Love You by Laura Dockrill
  • Indy’s Instagram 


About Indyana Schneider

Indyana Schneider is an international opera singer and novelist from Sydney. She studied Music at Oxford and Opera in Hanover, completed training at the Zurich Opera studio, and now performs across the UK, Europe, and Australia. She is the author of 28 Questions and Since the World Is Ending, a novel set over a sweltering weekend in Vienna, steeped in music, desire, and consequence.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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