The Dead Tree Society Podcast

So many things are in the works at Sley House for 2023, this week the guys take a breather to talk about their upcoming projects, appearances, and plans for the new year. Join Trevor and Jeremy as they discuss everything Sley House has in store for the new year and the soon-to-be-released non-Sley House books they can't wait to get their hands on.

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite Jeremy's already tired and very juvenile joke ("Year in Review" not "Urine Review"), the guys take the rest of the episode seriously as they chronicle all they've accomplished in their first full year in existence. Highlighting the episode, they also discuss the books they've read that have made the biggest impressions on them outside of the works they published. Sit back and reflect with them on what made 2022 so special.

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this final episode on our initial series on craft, Jeremy and Trevor give a thorough overview of the elements of figurative language, and how it can be used in writing. Below you'll find the terms they reference in this episode and the definitions for those terms. While this series hasn't meant to be an exhaustive look at studying the craft of fiction, the hope is that it gives a nice overview of for students and writers and gives a solid vocabulary for those interested in improving or learning more about their craft.

Diction

Syntax

Phonology

Graphology

Linguistic Deviation

Discoursal Deviation

Semantic Deviation

Lexical Deviation

Grammatical Deviation

Morphological Deviation

Phonological Deviation

           Aphesis:

           Syncope:

           Apocope:

Graphological Deviation

Dialectal Deviation

Connotative Language

Denotative Language

Metaphor:

Cliché

Personification

Depersonification

Simile

Synecdoche

Metonymy

Extended Metaphor

Symbolism

Hyperbole

Alliteration

The Reference Code

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, Jeremy and Trevor turn their discussion on craft to another important element: setting. They talk about the importance of setting and provide some key terms in their discussion sure to help any up-and-coming writer or anyone who wishes to have a better understanding of the craft of fiction.

Descriptive Pause -- a halt in the narration to provide a description of the setting.

Mock-heroic -- giving kingly importance to an otherwise pedestrian object.

The Objective Correlative -- coined by TS Eliot; the outside mirrors the inside. With respect to fiction, this means that the setting should reflect or mirror the inner state of the character.

Thisness (haecceitas) -- from midieval theologian Duns Scotus -- detail that draws abstraction towards itself and seems to kill that abstraction with a puff of palpability. It makes an object this rather than just that. It personalizes the object.

Significant Detail -- detail that is important to the setting or the character or the plot of the story.

Insignificant Detail -- any detail that doesn't add anything to the setting, character, or plot, and so shouldn't be focused on in the prose.

Significantly Insignificant Detail -- detail that seems unimportant at first, but later plays an important role.

Estranging -- defamiliarizing an otherwise common object or showing it through a lens that makes it difficult to recognize.

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the guys dive back into craft after a wonderful discussion with author Tracy Cross, continuing the discussion on dialogue and its components.

They discuss direct or quoted speech, indirect or reported speech, and differentiate between dialogue beats (snippets of action performed by the character as they speak) and dialogue tags (said, yelled, cried, laughed, screamed, etc). They talk about the importance of rhythm and pacing and dialogue's impact on how a chapter progresses, and more. So check out this week's discussion on dialogue and let us know what you think.

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Jeremy and Trevor welcome author Tracy Cross on the show. Taking a quick break on their series on craft, the guys welcome Tracy to the studio to talk about her new novel, Rootwork, and about the craft choices she made, including her use of dialect in the interactions between characters, and how this novel, while equal parts horror and Southern gothic, is also a love letter to her family. Join us today as we welcome Tracy to the show.

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Continuing their series on craft, in this episode, Jeremy and Trevor discuss characters and narration. They talk about what makes compelling characters, how characters, conflict, and plot are all interrelated, and how there is more precise terminology to refer to the narrator other than first, second, and third person.

Characters have wants and needs, and when those wants and needs don't mesh, we get conflict.

Internal conflict is when the wants and needs of a single character oppose each other.

External conflict exists when the wants and needs of one character oppose the wants and needs of another character.

Protagonists and antagonists shouldn't necessarily mean "heroes" and "villains." The protagonist changes through the story, and the antagonist is any character that stands in the way of resolving that conflict to bring about change.

Homodiegetic narrator -- a narrator that exists within the universe of the story.

Heterodiegetic narrator -- a narrator that doesn't appear to exist within the universe of the story.

Free indirect style -- (close third person), when a third person narrator follows one particular character closely throughout a story.

Fixed focalization -- one character is the focus of the narrator, or it is through one character's lens through which the story is revealed.

Variable focalization -- DIFFERENT scenes of the narrative are seen from the perspective of DIFFERENT CHARACTERS.

Multiple focalization -- The SAME scene in a narrative is shown from the perspective of DIFFERENT characters.

Origo -- the character around whom the scene is oriented.

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the guys look at narrative structure with regards to craft. They talk about several key terms and give some amazing contemporary examples. Tune in now to here this discussion between two educated individuals.

KEY TERMS:

Mimesis: What should fiction represent? Is it a mirror? A reality or truth?

Diegesis: The act of telling the story.

Story: the order of the events A-Z as they happen within the universe of the story. As it unfolds, the narrative.

Plot: The specific arrangement of events to draw out the most emotional impact

Analepsis: flashback

Prolepsis: flashforward

Summary: Covers a relatively long period of time in a short space within a story, or glosses over habitual events.

Scene: deals with events in real time. Includes character actions and discourse. Used for confrontation, turning points, and crises.

Time Signature: the confusion of habitual detail and dynamic detail as noticed in free indirect style. EX. someone yawning as a street sweeper makes its weekly pass.

In media res: in the middle of the action.

Back story: any information about the past, occurring before the plot begins, that is necessary to make the story coherent.

www.sleyhouse.com

www.patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeremy has an MFA in creative writing, is a published author, and a teacher of creative writing at the graduate and undergraduate level. He wears these hats on top of being editor-in-chief of Sley House Publishing and host of Sley House Presents. Trevor has a Master's in Spanish literature and was working on his PhD when Sley House started, and has taught numerous literature courses at the collegiate level. So, both guys figured it's about time to take their knowledge of literature and writing to the airwaves. Hence, this series on craft.

Art, Trevor suggests, is subjective, but all art is created through craft, and craft can be objective. Craft is taught in schools and classrooms and passed down from teachers and masters to students. Whether you are a painter or a musician or a photographer, a sculptor, or a writer, you study the craft to improve your art.

The guys want to use this series to present the craft of writing to the listeners so that they can better understand, appreciate, and craft their own art. Perhaps you're a creative writing student wanting to better nail down the vernacular so you can have a deeper understanding as you progress in your studies. Perhaps you're a writer wanting to elevate your craft or the genre you write in. Perhaps you're a book reviewer looking to up your game by using technical, objective ideas to analyze the books you read. Or maybe you just like Jeremy's bad puns. Any way you slice it, this multi-part series is for you.

In this introductory episode and season three opener, the guys start with a couple of concepts key to understanding the rest of the series, as Jeremy structures this entire series off of classroom lectures he's led countless times before. In this episode, the guys discuss theme and literary convention. They define key terms, examine them in relationship to genre, and provide great literary examples of these terms. This will be the structure as they move through the rest of the series. So sit back and enjoy this thorough and entertaining discussion on craft.

Some key terms:

TOPIC -- topics are the building blocks of themes. Topics are things like "love." "Good and evil." "Friendship." "Family." A lot of people argue these are themes, but that isn't really true. These are merely topics.

THEME -- the theme comes through the writing, and is the author's statement about the topic. The message they want the reader to take away. When you look at theme, look at the major topics discussed and ask yourself what the author is saying about these things. That is your theme.

LITERARY CONVENTION OF MEDIUM -- How can you tell a book of poetry from a short story collection? How can you open a book and identify plays rather than a novel? How can you identify nonfiction, or an article, a biography, a blog, a listicle? The graphology of the words and the structure of the provided information suggest the literary conventions of the various mediums.

LITERARY CONVENTION OF GENRE -- In contrast, how can you look at a cover and open a book to differentiate a romance or bodice ripper from a supernatural horror, or a western, or a science fiction novel? The contents provided herein that best represent the genre are literary conventions.

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's 1982, and middle-aged Tommy Liplet has been the comedian in residence for Pittsburgh's WPXT, channel 20, hosting the local telethon for years. The telethon has been, as far as anyone -- including Tommy -- knows, funding the Hauser House, a local charity for sick children. But that isn't the telethon's main purpose. No, it's main purpose is something much more sinister.

Late one evening deep into the airing of the telethon, Tommy, strung out on coke, whose better days have already passed, is called up to his boss's office. Here he'll learn the truth about the Hauser House and what the telethon is really providing. Not for the kids, but for that which lives under the house. Tommy learns that there could be a fate worse than being replaced, and this could be his last night -- and not just as host of the telethon.

www.sleyhouse.com

patreon.com/sleyhousepublishing

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardstudios/

https://www.instagram.com/waynehowardmedia/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.