The Writer's Block Podcast

Switching Roles

Normally the ladies of the Writers Block are the interviewer.  Today Debby will switch roles and share her experience being the interviewee.

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

When You Finish Your Memoir...

Shelly and Debby have both finished their memoirs and will share what they learned through this very personal experience.

• How does it feel to finish?
• It’s done what question should you ask your self before moving to the next step?
• What did writing this book teach you?

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

Why Most Memoirs Fail

Join the ladies of The Writers Block as they explore the pitfalls to writing memoir. The last thing you want is for your book to fail, pick up a few tips and some easily guidelines to create a masterpiece, because a Memoir done right is an art!

• Should you write a Memoir?
• Books fail because of poor voice
• Transformation
• What is your pace?
• Its good to have a writing group to help you with all of the aspects of pacing and voice
• Bad sentences lack the five senses
• If you are writing about something that is a popular you should have more or more vetted credentials

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

Weak Endings - #10 of the Ten Most Common Mistakes

Barbara Wallace award winning author of romance and mystery will continue her discussion of the most common writing mistakes.  Weak endings are bad in lovemaking and in stories.  Debby, Shelly and Barbara will help you reach a great climax to your book.

• If the reader remembers the ending, they will forgive any early misgivings
• Don’t let your deadline stop you from flushing out your endings
• Is the pot so complicated that you can’t get out of the story satisfactorily?
• You should have an arc for your character (the murder gets solved, someone dies…)
• Readers like when the story ties up the loose ends
• You shouldn’t drag the ending out too long either
• Happy ending are not always satisfying endings

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

Happy New Years!

2019 has been a crazy ride for the women of the Writer's Block.  Join the ladies as they revisit the resolutions, they set one year ago today.  The past year has been like a shot of adrenaline so 2020 is sure to sparkle.  

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

Telling, Not Showing - #8 of the Ten Most Common Mistakes

Barbara Wallace award winning author of romance and mystery will continue her discussion of the most common writing mistakes.  Debby and Shelly will explore the benefit of showing rather than telling, which include how to emotionally connect your readers with your characters.

• It’s a weakness many authors have
• Telling is just giving the information
• Showing is demonstrating the narrative through the Human experience often through the
• Use all the senses
• Who is noticing what and why?
• Lay off the “ly” words
• Small details rather than the big picture
• Powerful verbs and adjectives
• Be specific to the character
• Dialogue vs simple narrative

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

Inconsistent Pacing - #6 of the Ten Most Common Mistakes

Pacing is the speed with which your narrative unfolds. The Writer’s Block welcomes Barbara Wallace to talk about the importance of pacing.

• Your book should be like a symphony
• The pace should be variable
• There should be a purpose to your pacing
• At what point in the writing process should pacing be addressed?
• Language and sentence structure can be used to control pace

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

Failing to Use Setting Effectively - #4 of the Ten Most Common Mistakes

A good setting isn't just where your story takes place.  It is an integral part of your story, sometimes to the point where it could actually become a character itself.  When you are in your characters POV, you're not just writing what they're saying and thinking... you are writing where they are, what is happening around them, and what stimuli is involved.  Written correctly, what they notice about their environment can tell so much about a character.  What a real estate agent notices about a house will not be the same thing as what a criminal breaking in will notice.  Barbara and Debby will share ways to make your scene stand out by using setting most effectively.

• Setting is one of the main characters of the book
• The setting is another way to reveal hints about different characters. A criminal is going to look at a room different than someone who stages homes for sale
• Choose your scenes that will work your plot
• Setting can be similar archetypes: Sad theme set on a rainy day
• Setting can be opposing archetypes: Sad theme on a bright sunny day

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

Character Derailment - #3 of the Ten Most Common Mistakes

Barbara Wallace, award winning author of romance and mystery, will continue her discussion of the most common writing mistakes. 

This week's topic is Character Derailment.  This is when the character does something so "out of character" that the writer loses credibility and the reader loses interest.  Characters need to feel like real people to the reader so the writer can't make them do things just to move the story along or to hit a plot point. 

• Is your hero too stupid to live?
• Every scene should have conflict but it needs to stay within the confines of the character that you have created
• When you really understand your character you will be less likely to derail them
• What is pre-writing?
• What is your character's motivation?

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.

Starting at the Wrong Place - #1 of the Ten Most Common Mistakes

Barbara Wallace, award winning author of romance and mystery, will join Debby today to discuss the ten biggest mistakes writers make.  They will show you how to identify them, how to avoid them, and how to fix them when you do make them.  This week they're discussing what makes a good beginning that will grab your reader and hook them into your story.  A good opening scene will introduce us to the main character and their big problem.  It will set the tone of the book and hint at the story's theme.  Most of all, a good beginning will make the reader want to keep reading!

• A good beginning should grab the reader
• Set the tone
• Introduce the main character
• Identifies the main conflict
• Never break the promise with the reader
• Story action vs action action
• What is your character's motivation?
• Do you really need a prologe or is that cheating?

May you be inspired, feel empowered, and B. Well.

All this and more on this week’s episode of The Writer’s Block Podcast recorded at the Studio 21 Podcast Café and hosted on the United Podcast Network.