We’ve gotten to some hearty chapters in Ann Lamott’s book Bird by Bird. First up is plot, which “grows out of characters.” We discuss what this means and if it’s applicable to genre writing. Then we turn to dialogue, and how you distill intent from the rambling conversation of what people say while maintaining their unique voice.

Putting our writing chops to the test, Renee took a hilarious 3000 word monolog by the Afternoon Delight podcast ladies and condensed it down to 600. Definitely worth a listen before you go hiking to the top of Mt Washington.