Amie Kaufman On Writing

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

When I think about writing from the deepest parts of myself – something I've done often – I always think of an incredible spoken word poet called Abe Nouk – his surname is spelled Nouk, if you want to look him up – who I once saw speak at a conference. He said, 'Do not be afraid to reveal yourself to your pen.' And I wrote that down, took it home, and it's been pinned up in my office for all the years since. You make the biggest impact on your readers when you share yourself, but it's not easy to do. Usually I offer a series of tips on how to tackle the week's issue, but today I just want to talk about my experience of sharing my own vulnerabilities on the page, and why it matters so much.

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

There's nothing worse than finding yourself slowly growing more confused as you read a book – realizing that you're not sure if you're meant to know what's going on, in which case there's a problem, because you don't, or whether the author wants you to stick with them because all will be revealed in good time. How do we as writers reassure them, and show them that they should stick with us? The answer to this dilemma is that we hang a lantern: shine a light on the unanswered questions they have, making them visible and acknowledging them. It's our way of saying 'that's here on purpose – I know it's there, and I'm going to do something about it. Stick with me, and all will become clear.' Today we're going to talk about three situations where hanging a lantern will help.

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

I know we all know that feeling when you're reading a story you should be enjoying, but it's taking a while, and your mind is starting to wander, and… eventually you start to skim, or worse, you put the book down, and you don't come back. Whether this is a book you've written, or someone else's that you're reading, you can feel that the pacing isn't right. It clearly needs tightening – so how do you do that? Here are three ways to look at your pacing and an easy way to fix it.

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

While you're waiting for us to bring you Season Two, I wanted to share another bonus episode, with some really inspiring advice about researching for historical novels from one of my favourite writers, Ryan Graudin. She's the award-winning author of a stack of novels, including my favourites, Wolf by Wolf and Invictus, two of my go-to book recommendations whenever anyone asks for a read they won't be able to put down. In fact, I love Ryan's writing so much that we wrote a book together—it came out earlier this year.

You can find Ryan on twitter @ryangraudin and instagram at @rgraudin, and at her website, where you can also sign up for her newsletter. If you loved her history advice, you're going to love the book we wrote together, The World Between Blinks. You can find me at my website – you can subscribe to my newsletter there, for behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast there. You can find me on Instagram at @AmieKaufmanAuthor or on Twitter at @AmieKaufman. This podcast is produced by the lovely Kate Armstrong, host of one of my favourite podcasts, The Exploress, which time travels through women's history one era at a time.

Ellie Marney is an Aussie crime author with a huge and loyal following – I count myself as one of her fans. She's so smart, and so meticulous with her work. She's gone behind the scenes at Westminster Mortuary in London, interviewed forensics experts from around the world to get her stories right, and lived all over the world too. She definitely knows how to kill you so well you won't even notice, but she's far too nice to do it. Her latest young adult novel is called None Shall Sleep – if you like true crime podcasts, if you liked Mindhunter, or Sadie or Silence of the Lambs, then this one's for you.

You can find Ellie on Twitter and Instagram at @elliemarney, and at her website. You can find me at my website – you can subscribe to my newsletter there, for behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast there. You can find me on Instagram at @AmieKaufmanAuthor or on Twitter at @AmieKaufman. This podcast is produced by the lovely Kate Armstrong, host of one of my favourite podcasts, The Exploress, which time travels through women's history one era at a time.

I loved this week's question about writing morally ambiguous characters, and since we're in bonus episode territory I thought we should do something fun. So I called on one of my dearest friends, and one of the smartest and most insightful people I know, to see how she'd answer Sarina's question. Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of a bunch of my favourite books and is known by readers worldwide for her morally ambiguous characters.

You can find Marie on Twitter at @marie_lu and on Instagram at @marieluthewriter, or at her website, where you can also sign up for her newsletter. I'll also remind you again that her latest release is Skyhunter, and it's fantastic.

You can find me at my website – you can subscribe to my newsletter there, for behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast there. You can find me on Instagram at @AmieKaufmanAuthor or on Twitter at @AmieKaufman. This podcast is produced by the lovely Kate Armstrong, host of one of my favourite podcasts, The Exploress, which time travels through women's history one era at a time.

This week we're going to talk about how you convey it to your reader—because done well, your setting can contribute to the mood of your story, help shape the action, and guide the experience of the reader in ways they don't even notice. We talked last week about avoiding White Room Syndrome—the feeling that your story could be set anywhere. Let's talk now about how to weave in those details really well.

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

Your setting is essentially a character in your story, and has so much to tell us. The location in which your story is set should matter—it should be relevant that the story takes place here, rather than somewhere else, and it should influence the way the story unfolds. Setting is so important that I've dedicated the final two episodes of season one to it—this week we're talking about visualizing your setting, and next week we'll talk about weaving it into your writing. Let's get into it.

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

The answer definitely isn't to avoid familiar storylines completely—sometimes a path is well-trodden for a reason. So let's get into the difference between a cliché (something we've seen over and over) and a trope (a familiar storyline or story element) and talk about how tropes might actually serve you.

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. For more on my book recommendation for this month, Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, check out author Alison Goodman's website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.