Your Writing Does Not Suck

Police ride-alongs, Renaissance festivals, courtroom hearings, and science expos are all examples of where to go for insider knowledge that can elevate your fiction.

Anne and Tracey debrief their own experience at the Port Gamble Ghost Conference, where they mingled with both skeptical investigators and psychics alike. They talk about the benefits of this kind of approach, including the opportunity to overhear several expert opinions throughout the course of an event.

QUOTE:  Be scared and do it anyway. – Take on a Susan Jeffers quote

LINKS:

Port Gamble Ghost Conference

Killer Nashville

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M. Belen.

Like many other aspects of novel-writing, Believability affects several areas and must be woven seamlessly throughout the narrative. The group discusses manufactured drama versus “digging deep” to create a more believable story. They also talk about the danger of accidentally creating predictability in the quest to make things realistic.

Anne battles a cold and tries not to sound like Porky Pig when saying believability, and Tracey and Jess dish on stories that have set up realistic twists and character reveals.

QUOTE: “Prove yourself to yourself, not others.” – currently Anonymous

CREDITS: Your Writing Does Not Suck is recorded and edited by Anne M. Belen.

Whether you’re published or not, indie or traditional, setting goals is important for focusing your writing time. The group talks about big goals (like completing a book by X) versus small goals (like organizing your writing space), and how deciding which goals to set depends on where you’re at in your writing career.

Jess talks about different tools to motivate you, while Tracey and Anne troll her hardcore about…pretty much everything.

QUOTE: "It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you aren't." -- Denis Waitley

LINKS:

Task Heroics

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M. Belen.

Anne is back with Sven, this time talking about his progression into undercover work.

We hear about his favorite disguise, his least favorite incident, and some rookie mistakes during his patrol years.

 * Some sensitive information has been edited out.

HOMEWORK: Write a scene where the character has to do something particularly gnarly or nasty to achieve their goal.

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M. Belen.

The group talks about the importance of making new worlds make sense and discusses just how much worldbuilding a reader can digest all at once. They also caution against the extreme approaches of going into a story willy-nilly versus the endless rabbit hole of what-if questions.

Anne reminds us that worldbuilding is not just for fantasy stories, and then unsuccessfully tries to get Jess and Tracey to fight over preferred writing methods.   

QUOTE: "Create: Verb. The act of banging your head on your desk until something interesting pops out." – Currently Anonymous

LINKS:

Brandon Sanderson

Neal Shusterman

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M. Belen.

If you ever dreamed about running away from life to get your writing done, this might be the episode for you. This time the group chats about the do’s and don’ts of cobbling together your own writing retreat. No matter how big or small your group is, there are some factors and logistics to consider in order to maximize your writing time and experience.

Jessica discusses the glory and the guilt of sleeping in the best room in the house, and Anne recalls a bathroom disaster that ended in an emergency handyman call.

QUOTE: “If Plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has twenty-five more letters.” – Claire Cook

LINKS:

Jolie Stekly – Speaker, writer, and coach

VRBO – House rentals and vacations

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M. Belen.

011: SPECIAL EPISODE: Interview with a detective  

Anne goes solo and chats with a burglary detective about the different periods of his career before he settled into his current role. It’s a looser episode that offers insider lingo and realities, including one of the cases-that-got-away and the realities of cop love.

*Some sensitive information has been edited out of the recording. 

HOMEWORK: Write a scene where a someone has discovered a crime before the victim even knows about it, and they have to break the news.

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M. Belen.

Show, don’t tell is a meaty subject, but the group focuses on doing it through Symbolism and Subtext.

They cover the idea of not overdoing either method, as well as how the techniques can be used as “shorthand” for what you’re really trying to convey.

Jessica discusses her days as an English major, and Anne conducts a punishment exercise that backfires on her.

QUOTE: “Being a good writer is 3% hard work and 97% not getting distracted by the Internet.” – Kristen Houghton

LINKS:

Fake Love by BTS. Snickers bar symbolism (and several other symbols in props/background and dance moves). Song is in Korean.

Saving Mr. Banks Pear symbolism. Fly a Kite subtext.

Inception Spinning top symbolism

Entwine by Tracey Shearer. Lingerie symbolism.

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M. Belen.

Conference?! What do I wear, what do I expect, what do I DO?

This week, the group discusses conference insights from the viewpoints of being an attendee, a volunteer/organizer, and an agent/editor.

Anne and Jess talk about navigating these functions as an introvert, and Tracey lists off opportunities found beyond the classroom sessions.

QUOTE:  “Don’t compare your lives to others. There is no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it’s their time.” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

LINKS: 

SCBWI

Books by Donald Maass

Franny Billingsley

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M Belen.

There are so many approaches to plot and so much advice about what skeletal structure your book MUST have to succeed. But is it really that complicated? And are all these how-to books saying the same thing anyway?

The group talks about favored approaches to plotting, and the freedom of omitting bones that don’t work for the body of your work. Jess claims loud and proud what her go-to book is, and Tracey talks about the beauty of recognizing plot structure in novels  you’ve already enjoyed.

QUOTE: “Be brave enough to be bad at something new” -  Jon Acuff

LINKS:

The Anatomy of Story by John Truby

Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Story Engineering by Larry Brooks

Story Genius by Lisa Cron

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Margie Lawson Academy

CREDITS: This episode of Your Writing Does Not Suck was recorded and edited by Anne M Belen.