Writing Roots

If you encountered a fork in the road of your author journey, which would you take? One path appears to be a well-groomed road with guidance along the way. The other looks overgrown with thorns and no clear direction. It seems too easy, right? The obvious answer must be a trick.

Unfortunately, that thinking often leads new authors into believing they must forge their own path to become an author. They think they must not take the advice or suggestions of those who have come before. After all, the old adage says “those who can’t do, teach.” If they’re teaching about writing, they must not be able to do.

This adage is horribly and grossly wrong. There are so many wonderful lessons we can learn from authors who’ve smoothed out the difficult road, making things easier for the rest of us. The lessons they learned stand as signs. All we have to do is listen. In this episode, we talk more about why it’s important to learn what we can from those willing to teach in order to make good progress on our individual journeys.

First aired November 24, 2022.

The post S37E7 – Those Who Can’t Do, Teach appeared first on Writing Roots.

Few things are worse for your book than making a character perfect. We don’t mean perfect for the story. That’s a good thing. We mean perfect as in always positive and has no flaws. There is a common misperception in the writing world that only positive, upbeat, and “perfect” characters can be likeable. Readers will reject all others as lesser characters. However, the opposite is true.

We’ve talked at length on this podcast about needing to have characters with realistic flaws. Those are the ones the readers can relate with, connect to, and root for. Most of us are drawn to the characters who struggle, who have to fight each step of the way, because that’s often how we feel in our lives. We want to see fictional characters make it through challenges much larger than ours to show us we can make it too. That message isn’t conveyed if it wasn’t a challenge.

Listen for more about creating how creating a “perfect” character can harm your story.

First aired November 21, 2022.

The post S37E6 – Characters Must Be Practically Perfect in Every Way appeared first on Writing Roots.

Responding to critics, especially in a public forum, is one of the fastest ways to get people to remember you in all the wrong ways. While this piece of advice isn’t one people often say, it is one shown in their actions. Time and time again, authors and other artists get pulled into the trap of trying to defend their work to critics. One author even infamously called reviewers names after leaving 4-star reviews. Instead of garnering support, it turned a lot of people away from reading her book and leaving reviews for fear of being subjected to the same individual call-outs.

Another way people often respond to negative criticism is by trying to fix everything that was pointed out. This, however, is a fine line to walk. Many criticisms authors receive is subjective to the readers. Some people enjoy a fluffy romance, others like it spicy, and some don’t like romance in their books at all. If you try to appease each of these people, you’ll be locked into writing nothing.

That’s the real danger of responding to criticism. You stop writing. You stop writing for yourself. Listen to this episode for more advice on how to correctly treat criticism to you works so you can keep writing selfishly.

First aired November 17, 2022.

The post S37E5 – You Should Publicly Respond to Criticism of Your Books appeared first on Writing Roots.

Few things are more damaging to the writing community than this thought. Other authors are your competition. Not only is that incorrect, it creates unnecessary animosity in place of a supportive system where we can build each other – and our books – up in the eyes of the readers.

It is unfortunate that this idea remains pervasive. It comes from the mislead idea that readers will remain loyal to only a handful of authors, or that they will only consume a finite number of books in their life. While yes, that is true, that doesn’t mean that your book won’t make that list. Treating other authors as your competition actually harms your chances, since there are numerous benefits to working together.

Hosts Leigh and Ley discuss why this advice continues to make its rounds, as well as why the opposite is actually more helpful to your author careers.

First aired November 14, 2022.

The post S37E4 – Other Authors are Your Competition appeared first on Writing Roots.

One piece of common bad advice we see among authors is the suggestion that by writing detailed dark topics, the author is glorifying it. They suggest that writing racist characters must mean the author is racist, or that being able to write such evil, the author must spend a lot of time fantasizing about it. That simply isn’t true.

The reason this piece of advice is bad is because it leads to lackluster stories. Dark aspects of humanity exist, and it does not serve fiction authors to ignore that simply because it is uncomfortable. Stories are better if you allow yourself to explore and shine light into the darkness. And just because you write it doesn’t mean you agree with it.

We discuss how to approach writing the darkness without glorifying it in this episode.

First aired November 10, 2022.

The post S37E3 – Don’t Write Dark Things, It Just Glorifies Them appeared first on Writing Roots.

There are few pieces of advise worse than this one. There is a misconception that to be a truly good author, you don’t need a second draft, that your first draft will be perfect and ready for publishing. Unfortunately, many new authors will then use these first drafts to either query agents and publishers, or they will immediately self-publish their book. This has led to a misconception about self-published books being unedited and poorly written.

We don’t say seasoned authors is because the more experience and knowledge you have in the writing world, the more you understand that second, or even third and fourth, drafts are essential. This advice comes from somewhere, though. There’s a reason it keeps being perpetuated among new authors. There is a limit to how many drafts you should do. Making too many edits and changes can make a worse story in the end. But you always need to take at least a second look if you want to publish.

In this episode, hosts Leigh and Ley discuss why you should always do a second draft, and how you can approach this piece of bad advice in the future.

First aired November 7, 2022.

The post S37E2 – If You’re Good Enough, You Don’t Need a Second Draft appeared first on Writing Roots.

Writers get bad advice all of the time. Often, it’s the same pieces of bad advice heard again and again and again. Why, though? If it’s bad, why do so many people still repeat the same old refrains? Mostly, because it starts from someone who found what worked for them.

Just like clothing, writing is not one-style-fits-all. Each person will need to find their own path. This month, our hosts are taking a deep dive into some advice they’ve heard (some of which they followed for a while), why people say it, what makes it bad, and how you should be applying that particular piece of advice.

We start by talking about inspiration. For many writers, especially those just getting started in their pursuit, inspiration is their only source for writing. Some will even say “You should only write when you’re inspired.” Unfortunately, that can be harmful to those wanting to turn writing into a career. Inspiration is wonderful. It has sparked millions of fantastic tales across all genres. It is not, however, a reliable source. Relying only on inspiration can lead to unfinished drafts, years of writing gaps, and an unsustainable pace. Listen to this episode for more about how to best shape this common piece of bad advice into something usable in your personal goals.

First aired November 3, 2022.

The post S37E1 – You Should Only Write When You’re Inspired appeared first on Writing Roots.

Supernatural curses have been a large part of storytelling for centuries, if not millennia. Many of us grew up on tales of curses because of Disney movies. They’re also present in tales like The Mummy and Pirates of the Caribbean. In each example, there is someone using supernatural forces to cause harm to another person or group of people.

History itself is also filled with tales of curses, from monks writing curses in books against anyone who may steal from the library, to the curses of ancient Egyptian tombs. Whether from history or fiction, there are common elements to all curses which you can use to add to your story. We talk about the variety of curses and their solution in this episode.

First aired October 31, 2022.

The post S36E9 – Dark Psychology: Supernatural Curses appeared first on Writing Roots.

Researchers in 2002 coined the phrase The Dark Triad to describe three main personality traits that share often malevolent aspects: psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. Those with two or three of these traits often manipulate, lie, abuse, and undermine the people around them, while often appearing charming and charismatic. Many serial killers are among those who fall into this dark triad. For authors, understanding these three traits can help you craft a villain, or in some cases, even a hero.

The three sides of this dark triad work together in strange ways. Some people will only have one or two of the traits, such as being a narcissist and a Machiavellian, but they lack the emotional explosiveness of psychopathy. Others will be a Machiavellian and a psychopath, but they won’t show signs of needing external validation often seen among narcissists.

In this episode, we break down the dark triad, looking at each aspect and how you can use each one to craft compelling characters with dark flaws.

First aired October 29, 2022.

The post S36 Bonus – The Dark Triad: Psychopathy, Narcissism, and Machiavellianism appeared first on Writing Roots.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), while not understood well in the world of psychology, has been explored in fiction for a long time. Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, DID is a mental health condition where someone has more than one distinct personality which control their behavior. One of the best classical examples, even if it was caused by a potion, is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Writing this disorder can be difficult, especially since not much is known about it overall in the world of psychology. It’s important to understand the basics of what we do know, if you want to write it accurately and respectively. Most importantly, you should know that it is often believed to come from trauma rather than an inherent personality trait. It should also not be confused with schizophrenia.

Having a character with DID, though, can be a fun way to write a story. It would work well in a psychological thriller, or combined with science fiction and fantasy elements. Listen to this episode for a breakdown of the disorder and common examples within well-known fiction.

First aired October 27, 2022.

The post S36E8 – Dark Psychology: Writing Realistic Dissociative Identity Disorder appeared first on Writing Roots.