When you write anything, you usually decide on how to write that thing based on how it feels in the world. What is the emotional connection? Does this thing I am writing contain movement? Do I need to describe it in a certain way because the way it expresses itself is temporal? Action is one of these things that looks a certain way in the world, so there seems to be one evident way to write action. You write action step by step through the sequence of events that make up the action. But what if that was not the best way to look at action? What if we could describe action in a way that didn't make us feel like phony writers? Today on How to Write Good, I am going to talk about a new way to look at action. I think it is a much better way because it maintains the integrity of your writing. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2Episode on how to write things out of your story:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32874635My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

How to Write Good

A New Way to Look at Action

When I first started to write in school, I was taught that each sentence forms a complete thought. This is probably true. When linguists look at talking and writing, they probably say that a sentence is a thought. Even though this might be true, I think you need to shift your attitude about what forms a complete thought in relation to writing. Instead of saying that a sentence is a complete thought, shift your paradigm to understand your most basic unit of writing as a paragraph. That might sound like something weird, but I think this is something that will help you write better. In this episode, I intend to convince you that this is the way you should write. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My Website:www.danielpoppie.com My episode on dialogue:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/34174389HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Each Paragraph is a Thought

Character motivation and character goals are not the same thing. If you haven't check out my episode on why that is the case, you should check it out. I think it is very important to know the differences between these two things because motivation can help make your writing and story very interesting. Because of this, I would like to dive into character motivation more. It can be a very complex thing within a story. It can be something that makes your story wholly unique, and though you may be able to get away with only having character goals, I think you should seriously consider developing your character's motivation as well. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My Episode on Character Goals and Motivation:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32433487My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Character Motivation

Tension is something within writing that I do not think exists on its face. I think writing requires an audience. A person needs to understand and connect to the story, and when the right person reads a piece of text, that person is able to understand the tension in the story. The writing does need to exist for the tension in the writing to exist (of course), but it is a requirement for tension to exist. Today, I am going to be talking about tension. What is tension? Why do we need tension? How does tension work in the story? How do we create tension in our story?My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My other episode about tension:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32320909My episode on goals and motivation:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32433487My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Creating Tension in Your Story

One of the things I learned about in school was the necessity of having transitions in my writing. If I did not have transitions, my writing would not flow. If my writing did not flow, people would not like my writing. If people did not like my writing, they would not like me. And if they decided they would not like me, they would flick cartons of old milk at my head. So, when I was younger, it was almost an imperative to make sure I used transitions because if I did not, the day would be both soggy and smelly. What I have learned since then is that the goal of good writing is to rarely if ever use transition words. But you do not jump from transition words to not using transition words. You need to develop a style of writing that supports omitting those transition words. Today on How to Write Good, I am going to be talking about the mindset you need to adopt so that you can get rid of those transition words. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:danielpoppie.com/newsletterMy Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Invisible Transitions

Writing only consists of what is on the page, but it doesn't, but it does, but it doesn't. If you have ever thought about what writing is, you probably have realized that it is a very complex process. Speech is a complex process in and of itself, but writing goes beyond speech. It follows after speech. What I mean by that is it takes on the pattern of speech, but it is tweaking that pattern to fit into the new format of writing. When we approach writing, we often think that if we put things on the page in as clear a way as possible we will end up with good writing, but good writing is more complex than that. Good writing is not just the words on the page. Good writing is the interplay of the words with the person reading the words. This means that you do not have to convey every little detail of a thing for a reader to understand, and in a lot of cases, you shouold not. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2Other Episodes about writing that you can check out:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32625139https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32324564My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

The Necessary Space Between the Writing

Something things in writing are boring. I find copy-editing boring. Formatting is not that fun either. Neither is sending out queries to agents. Some of you may find outlining a boring part of the book, and some of you may find outlining so boring you have labelled it as useless so you do not even do it (Because we all know that there can be no other reason for why you do not outline a book). When I think about outlining a book, I do not think most people have trouble with the process. You come up with a framework. You fill out that framework. Some people write paragraphs for their outline. Some people make it look like an outline. I do not think there is a wrong format to do outlines in, but I do think that outlining does have a logical flow. In this episode of How to Write Good, I am going to be going through the different steps of how I outline, and I am going to be explaining why I think this process makes the most sense and how it will save you time, heartache, and effort.My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My episode on why I think you should outline:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32624623My episodes on generating ideas:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/31470148https://www.spreaker.com/episode/31650624My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

An Easy Way to Plot Your Book

What is a hook? It is a thing at the beginning of a book that grabs the readers attention and makes him want to read more. A hook can be dropping the reader right into the action. It can be a quick snippet of dialogue. It can be a description, or an aphorism, or a bizarre statement, or an alliteration, or an introduction of the main character: "Call me Ishmael." If you are a reader, you've seen hundreds of different book openings. Some have been bad. Some have been alright. Some have been so good that you could not help yourself but continue the book. But what if everything you knew about hooks was incorrect? What if you've been lied to your whole entire writing career, and you should look at hooks in a different way. Today, I am going to be talking about why you should change your views on hooks in books. There is a better way to use them, and you are going to thank me. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

A New Way to Understand Hooks

There are two types of writers. We call these two different groups of writers "pantsers" and "plotters" (You may call these something else, but we all fall into one of these two groups). Pansters do little to no planning. They have a general sense of where they are going, and they feel their way through the plot as they write. Plotters plot. In general, this second group does extensive planning. They develop scenes. They develop characters. They develop little intricacies of the plot, and they generally know exactly where their story is going to end. Should you pants? Should you plot? I think that one direction is superior to the other, and it is not without reason. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2One of my episodes on characters:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32309239My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Should You Outline Your Book?

I cannot say this enough: your main character is at the core of your story. The main character is what the reader experiences your story through. With few exceptions, your story is going to be understood through your main characters. Whoever you make that character is going to color every aspect of your story. If this is the case, we should probably take some time to develop our main characters, should be not? In this episode, I go through five different tips that will help you create characters.My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2 My other episodes on character:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32309239https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32313979https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32320666https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32324564https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32433487My Worldbuilding technique episode:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/31871877My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Five Tips When Writing Characters

Nicholas Cage seeks to steal the Declaration of Independence. Indiana Jones is searching for the Holy Grail. Luke Skywalker is trying to become a Jedi. Forrest Gump? I think his goals change throughout the story, but in the movie, he is usually trying to find Jenny. Each of these characters are going after something. Each is moving toward a specific goal, but the entire story is not told simply by knowing what goal these characters are after. We need more information. A story with only a goal is an uninteresting story, and I might go so far as to say that it isn't a story. To make our stories interesting, we need to give our hero both goals and motivation. "But wait," you say, "aren't those two very different words one and the same?"It is extremely important to know the difference between the goals and motivations of a character because together they can help you write a very powerful story indeed. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My Episode on Tension:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32320909My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Character Motivation vs. Character Goal: They Are Not the Same Thing

Writing the first draft of your book is hard. It is especially difficult when it is your first book. I am sure it can be a lot like running a marathon for the first time. Your legs keep moving. You know that you are making progress, but the finish line never feels like it is going to arrive. You are going to be running that marathon for the rest of your life. And doesn't it feel like the exact same thing in writing your first draft? You keep on writing, but you know this book is endless. You know it is not even going to be finished by the time you die. And your only hope for finishing your book is that twelve generations beyond yourself are willing to pick up that book and continue your story. Your first draft definitely feels that way sometimes, and, from what I remember writing my first book, it is often painful. But your first draft does not need to be painful.My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Drafting a Book Without Going Insane: A Way to Actually Get Your First Draft Written

If you are reading this, you are probably interested in writing, and if you are interested in writing, you are probably interested in reading. I think this is a safe assumption to make, because every writer I have met has started off as a reader. And, in fact, reading is a prerequisite to writing. You may have someone who can read but cannot write, but you do not have anyone who can write but not read. It just doesn't work that way. Since you are a reader, you have likely run into characters who you love. Some of my favorite literary characters are Robinson Crusoe, Frodo Baggins, anything created by Dr. Suess, and any character from American tall tales. So many characters have been created, and so many characters have captured the hearts of readers for generations. One of the reasons this is the case is because we went along on a journey with these characters. We saw as they started out weak and grew strong or started out as good people and turned bad. But this change in the characters did not happen for no reason. This episode is about how you should take time developing your characters through your story. It isn't something you can just make happen.My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My Other Episodes on How I Approach Characters:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32309239https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32313979https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32320666My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Earning Character Development

Have you ever read a book you can't put down? You know, one of those books that makes you stay up so late in the night that by the time you put it down the sun has already started to rise? I think all of us have read at least one book that was so gripping it made up bite our fingernails and shift to the edge of our seat. What we are experiencing is tension. Every good story uses tension to push the reader closer and closer to the resolution of that book. But what is tension? I know it is a feeling inside me, but what creates it? Why does it create it?This episode talks about the basics of tension. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

What is tension? (The Foundation of Making Your Writing Suspenseful)

Character creation is something I enjoy a lot in stories. It isn't my favorite part of writing, but it is in the top ten. One of the reasons I enjoy writing characters is because I do not find it a hard thing to do. The first step of developing characters for me is finding the basic structure of that character. This process used to be more difficult, but I have found a few places to find characters that make the process extremely easy. As with most other aspects of storytelling, the goal of my podcast is to break down each aspect of writing into the most basic parts. I believe that if a person can understand the fundamentals of good writing, they can use those fundamentals and practice and develop good writing for themselves. Good characters are just one aspect of good writing, but, as I always say, good storytelling centers around characters. So, finding ideas for characters becomes extremely important in light of this fact. My Book: https://amzn.to/37ZPaCXMy Newsletter:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a1r2k2How to build a character from a Kernel:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32313979Episodes on Character:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/32313979https://www.spreaker.com/episode/31871877My Website:www.danielpoppie.com HTWG Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/howtowritegoodHTWG Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpoppieHTWG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtowritegoodOne Last Toast for Ebenezer Fleet:https://www.spreaker.com/show/one-last-toast-for-ebenezer-fleet

Creating Characters: Three Ways to Find Ideas for Your Characters

The writing podcast that isn't about how to write. Looking at writing, creativity, and other artforms through a philosophical and lighthearted lens.

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How to Write Good

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