"To become a great writer, study human psychology." When it comes to writing great fantasy novels, you need to write a lot and read a lot. There's no getting around that. However, over my author career, I've discovered several non-writing habits that help me tell better stories.

Many of these are incredibly simple to implement - yet incredibly powerful at the same time.

Join my Easy Writing Habits course: https://easywritinghabits.com/

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"Small details create big emotions." In today's episode, I share the seven most useful lessons I took from The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass, who has run a successful literary agency for over 40 years. Maass' clients include notable fantasy authors like Brent Weeks and Peter McClean, who have sold millions of books.

The Emotional Craft of fiction has been one of my favourite writing advice books ever since I first read it in 2019, so there's a lot to unpack in this episode. Enjoy!

Get The Emotional Craft of Fiction here: https://amzn.to/46WqI1U (affliate link)

Apply for Jed Herne's Fantasy Outlining Bootcamp: https://bit.ly/outlining-bootcamp

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"Don't write what you know. Write what you've felt." In today's episode, Jed shares the most common main character mistakes new fantasy writers make, based on his experience of editing 19 novels and getting on 70+ coaching calls with authors over the last year.

Get Jed's new book, Kingdom of Dragons: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jedherne/kingdom-of-dragons

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"Promise readers a great future...then take it away." Today, Jed shares six tactics for writing more impactful, emotional character deaths in your fantasy novel.

This podcast was originally a YouTube video. Watch that video here:

Apply for my 6-week outlining bootcamp: https://jedherne.com/outline

Get my free book: '5 Lessons That Transformed My Writing': https://jedherne.com/lessons

Join my Easy Writing Habits course: https://easywritinghabits.com/

Apply for my 1-on-1 Story Coaching program: https://jedherne.com/coaching

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Jed Herne is the author of three fantasy novels: Fires of the Dead, Across the Broken Stars, and The Thunder Heist. He also wrote the bestselling video game, Siege of Treboulain. On this podcast, he shares the best writing advice he's learned along the way.

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

"I used to hate prologues, but I've changed my mind." Today, I explore the unique narrative advantages a prologue can provide when compared to just starting with chapter one. To do this, I critique the prologues from A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Never Die by Rob J. Hayes, Dragon Mage by M. L. Spencer, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein, and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

Check out my next book (Kingdom of Dragons) on Kickstarter: https://bit.ly/kingdom-of-dragons-jed

This podcast was originally a YouTube video. Watch that video here: https://youtu.be/UXXyHybSdvw?si=2YM3fjqLeDl0rjBT

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Jed Herne is the author of three fantasy novels: Fires of the Dead, Across the Broken Stars, and The Thunder Heist. He also wrote the bestselling video game, Siege of Treboulain. On this podcast, he shares the best writing advice he's learned along the way.

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

This podcast was originally a YouTube video. Watch that video here: https://youtu.be/ivY-_im3NrU?si=RkZkaHSnhc_yo1Gw

Apply for my 6-week outlining bootcamp: https://jedherne.com/outline

Get my free book: '5 Lessons That Transformed My Writing': https://jedherne.com/lessons

Join my Easy Writing Habits course: https://easywritinghabits.com/

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Jed Herne is the author of three fantasy novels: Fires of the Dead, Across the Broken Stars, and The Thunder Heist. He also wrote the bestselling video game, Siege of Treboulain. On this podcast, he shares the best writing advice he's learned along the way.

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

This podcast was originally a YouTube video. Watch that video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQnXGP-So9c

Get my free book: '5 Lessons That Transformed My Writing': https://jedherne.com/lessons

Join my Easy Writing Habits course: https://easywritinghabits.com/

Apply for my 1-on-1 Story Coaching program: https://jedherne.com/coaching

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Jed Herne is the author of three fantasy novels: Fires of the Dead, Across the Broken Stars, and The Thunder Heist. He also wrote the bestselling video game, Siege of Treboulain. On this podcast, he shares the best writing advice he's learned along the way.

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

This podcast was originally a YouTube video. Watch that video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvqVj3RAK4U

Get my free book: '5 Lessons That Transformed My Writing': https://jedherne.com/lessons

Join my Easy Writing Habits course: https://easywritinghabits.com/

Apply for my 1-on-1 Story Coaching program: https://jedherne.com/coaching

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Jed Herne is the author of three fantasy novels: Fires of the Dead, Across the Broken Stars, and The Thunder Heist. He also wrote the bestselling video game, Siege of Treboulain. On this podcast, he shares the best writing advice he's learned along the way.

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

This podcast was originally a YouTube video. Watch that video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVDJpn0oGac

Get my free book: '5 Lessons That Transformed My Writing': https://jedherne.com/lessons

Join my Easy Writing Habits course: https://easywritinghabits.com/

Apply for my 1-on-1 Story Coaching program: https://jedherne.com/coaching

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Jed Herne is the author of three fantasy novels: Fires of the Dead, Across the Broken Stars, and The Thunder Heist. He also wrote the bestselling video game, Siege of Treboulain. On this podcast, he shares the best writing advice he's learned along the way.

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

This podcast was originally a YouTube video. Watch that video here: https://youtu.be/cGqO-9c-X9A

Get my free book: '5 Lessons That Transformed My Writing': https://jedherne.com/lessons

Join my Easy Writing Habits course: https://easywritinghabits.com/

Apply for my 1-on-1 Story Coaching program: https://jedherne.com/coaching

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Jed Herne is the author of three fantasy novels: Fires of the Dead, Across the Broken Stars, and The Thunder Heist. He also wrote the bestselling video game, Siege of Treboulain. On this podcast, he shares the best writing advice he's learned along the way.

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