5 More Podcast Episodes To Help You Write Better John Helps You Write Better is a podcast available everywhere. Spotify. Apple Podcasts. Amazon. iHeartRadio. Overcast. Podchaser. All the places you can think of that distribute podcasts. It’s a daily shot in the arm of writing advice and motivation, and it’s…

We need to take a look at the business of busyness. It’s A Day Of The Week There’s Whitesnake playing on the tiny speaker. I just unplugged the microphone after recording two podcasts, though I know I’m going to have it back on within an hour or two to record for Patreon. …

This is the story of a guy, some dice, some books, and how things come back around full circle. I Backstab Him, I Guess I was 14 when I played my first game of Dungeons and Dragons. I didn’t know that’s what it was called back then, I thought it was just this weird thing…

Tone Loc and Tony Toni Toné were not harmed in the writing of this blogpost What Was The Point Of Those Poems Anyway? Tone. It’s something I’ve struggled with, and even writing about it now reminds me of those difficult conversations, the phrase “Watch your tone” and those miserable tone poems that so many of my English teachers…

Where Does Your Story Fit? Today’s topic is Genre, and for something we talk about a lot, you’d be surprised how few people actually know what it is. So let’s start with a definition. What’s A Genre? Genre is a category of media based on stylistic criteria. …

Beats By Author, Blog By Me Bring Out The Manuscripts One of my favorite things to do is take stories apart. I do it every week on Patreon. I do it in my spare time. I do it for clients. It’s the best. Taking a story down to its smallest pieces is a practical…

Who’s doing what, why, and how? Does it matter? Part of my job is to ask questions. One of the first thing I ask anyone who comes to me for help is “What can I help you with?” And over the years I’ve gotten some wild answers like: “I want…

This will make a difference for you. If Saturday Is Alright For Fighting, Sunday Is Pretty Good For Questions Every week I am fortunate enough to do a Q&A on a writing Discord (Story Valley, if you’re working on something, give them a look). I’ve been doing it now I think for about a year, if not longer. It’s a pretty good…

Don’t skimp on these as your story starts. Who doesn’t love a good opening? In publishing, a lot (and maybe too much) of emphasis gets put on an opening, but no one really defines the boundaries on an opening. …