Self-Publishing Answers

The guys discuss the deceptively difficult genre for writers: the elusive short story. From Arthur C. Clarke to Philip K. Dick, and a few other notable short story penners in-between, they discuss how they're using them to build their platforms, how to approach them as a writing tool, and how to write them.

Today the goodly gents discuss genres with C.S. Lakin. She's a hugely successful author in different genres, both fiction and nonfiction, and she has some amazing insights into the all-too-important task of choosing a great genre for your books.

Subtitle: Being Awesome, Successes, and Celebration Rituals.

Today the guys discuss the rules of improve, as they apply to writers. Comedy improvisation rules are things like, "never say 'no,'" "yes/and," etc. But while these "rules" are helpful and can lead to really funny improvised comedy, it can also be a detriment to your story arcs.

Which rules are meant to be broken? Which are the rules that are necessary? When should you break them?

The guys chat about these rules, their processes, and what they've heard other authors do.

Justin's process for writing wearing four hats during four phases of the journey: "The Madman" (first draft), "The Architect" (second draft and moving big pieces around), "The Carpenter" (moving the tinier "boards" around the story), and "The Judge" (the final "is it good" draft). Here's a great lecture explaining the process.

Rachel Starr Thomson doesn't just have a cool name. She's a veritable writing rockstar (a "wrockstar"). She's been on the show before, but we caught up with her today to discuss a HUGE topic we've been pondering for quite some time: writing Christian fiction.

Specifically, we talked about:

What is Christian fiction?

Why write it?

How in the world do you keep everyone happy ("it's too Christian," or "it's not Christian enough...")

Marketing strategies for Christian fiction

And way more. As usual, this was an awesome, super-informative happy-fun-time. Don't you want to be a part of it? Well, click "download" and start listening!

And please don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes!

We had some podcast issues last month, so some of the later episodes appeared out of order. Not to worry though, this is the long-awaited, critically-acclaimed, and highly anticipated "goals and dreams" episode we publish every year.

It's a look back at 2015, a look ahead at 2016, and a discussion of our dreams, goals, and what we want to accomplish this year.

Don't miss this one.

Also (IMPORTANT!): Since we had some podcast issues, we had to set up a new feed on iTunes, which means that all of your awesome reviews are gone! Would you mind heading to iTunes to leave us a fancy review? Thanks!

Today's episode is a fun look at some of the ways we're trying to get more out of our schedules, writing plans, and tackling multiple projects at once. We dive into napping, multitasking, and much more!

Today on the show, the guys invite special guest and friend Bryan Cohen, who wants to teach authors how to write book descriptions that don't suck.

Happy New Year! Not much else to say about this episode, except...

...LISTEN TO IT!

Happy Christmastime Veteran's Day podcast! (It's Veteran's Day-ish when this was recorded, but Christmas-ish when it's going live)

We answer a voicemail about building a website, then jump into the topic: "overcommitting."

Basically, "overcommitting" is committing to too much at one time. How do you know you're overcommitted? Can you effectively diagnose overcommitment?

Today, Kevin, Nick, and Justin chat with VERY prolific writer-friend Rachel Starr Thomson, who writes on a Neo. She's the co-author of Five Editors Tackle the 12 Fatal Flaws of Fiction Writing, a book that tackles writing fiction from the perspective of editors. Here's a brief overview:

What sets this book apart from all other writing craft books?

Instead of merely explaining how to write fiction well, this book demonstrates how. It is packed full of Before and After passages that show clearly what each “fatal flaw” looks like — in a variety of genres, POVs, and writing style—then shows how those flaws can be remedied. Some of these fatal flaws, for example, are overwriting, weak construction, faulty dialogue mechanics, telling instead of showing, and POV violations.

Writers learn best by seeing examples — of both great writing and weak writing. No other fiction-instruction book goes into the depth this one does. At nearly 100,000 words, this comprehensive book gives writers the arsenal to successfully learn how to spot the twelve most prevalent types of writing flaws.

This book offers a fun, engaging, and sometimes snarky approach to annihilating these writing culprits with the aim of helping writers become proficient wielders of words.