Amie Kaufman On Writing

When I recieved a question on how to create a compelling cast of characters, I knew M.K. England was the person to answer it. M.K. is a pro at building a dynamic ensemble cast, and this episode is jam-packed with their practical advice on how to make sure your cast of characters are all distinct, unique, and play well off each other. Find out more about M.K. at their website. You will find a transcript of this episode on my website , which is also where you can sign up for my new newsletter and find out about my other podcast, Pub Dates, which is taking you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods (you can pre-order it right now).

I get a lot of questions about co-authoring, and so I'm dedicating the last three episodes of the season to answering them. This week's question is by far the most frequently asked question I get about co-authoring. What to do when you and your co-author disagree?  You can find a transcript of this episode on my website. You can also sign up for my newsletter there, which is full of information about upcoming releases and events, and my other podcast, Pub Dates, which will take you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.  

I get a lot of questions about co-authoring, and so I'm dedicating the last three episodes of the season to answering them. If you missed last week's episode, it was about the practicalities of preparing to co-author a book. This week, I'm talking about the writing itself. A transcript of this episode is available on my website. You can sign up for my newsletter there, which is full of information about upcoming releases and events, and my other podcast, Pub Dates, which will take you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.  

The most frequent questions I get are about how co-authoring works. So I'm going to devote the last three episodes of this season to co-authoring, answering one question each week. This episode kicks us off with some advice on how to set up a co-authoring relationship for success from the outset. A transcript of this episode is available on my website. You can sign up for my newsletter there, which is full of information about upcoming releases and events, and my new podcast, Pub Dates, which will take you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.  

My books are famously huge, so I am very intimate with this issue! A long word count isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if it feels like your book is long because the story has gotten away from you, I offer four tips for what you can do about it.  A transcript of this episode is available on my website. You can sign up for my newsletter there, which is full of information about upcoming releases and events, and my new podcast, Pub Dates, which will take you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.

When you come to a story, you might have a very basic idea of who a character will be. But how do you go about building those characters, making them feel real and engaging, so the reader cares what happens to them? A transcript of this episode is available on my website. You can sign up for my newsletter there, which is full of information about upcoming releases and events, and my new podcast, Pub Dates, which takes you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.

Let's talk about point of view. What's the difference between first and third person, and how does a novel change depending on which you choose?  A transcript of this episode is available on my website, as well as info about my books and how to sign up for my newsletter. That's also where you can find out more about my new podcast, Pub Dates, which will take you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.

This week, I am giving you a quick tour through the basics of the three act structure: what it is, why it matters, and why you might want to keep it in mind when crafting your story. A transcript of this episode is available on my website, as well as info about my books and how to sign up for my newsletter. That's also where you can find out more about my new podcast, Pub Dates, which will take you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.

If you want, or even need, to write, but you're having trouble finding the time, this one's for you. This is a guide for busy people that I hope will help you carve out that time while encouraging you to rest when you need it. You will find the transcript for this episode on my website, as well as info about my books and a place to sign up for my newsletter. That's also where you can find out about my new podcast, Pub Dates, which will take you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.

You might find you're immediately inclined to lay out your story before you begin, or you might be showing up to give it a try because your writing stalled out. Either way, there are lots of good options, so let's get into them. You'll find the transcript for this episode on my website, as well as information about my books and access to my newsletter. That's also where you can find out about my new podcast, Pub Dates, which will take you behind the scenes on my upcoming novel The Isles of the Gods.

Welcome to Season 3! To kick us off we have a question about plotters and pantsers. We often say that writers fall on a continuum from plotter at one end, all the way to pantser at the other. What do these terms actually mean and which approach works best? You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. And you can find my new podcast, Pub Dates, wherever you listen to your favourite shows.

I am thrilled to announce the new podcast I'm making with my friend, and this show's producer, Kate Armstrong. Come behind the scenes on the making of our books, The Isles of the Gods and Nightbirds, which are coming out in 2023. This is your backstage pass to our characters, our worlds, and all the stories of their making. 

Abby Ranger is a brilliant editor. Over the years, she's worked at HarperCollins, Disney-Hyperion, and Scholastic, with a who's who of authors. In fact, she was my editor on my first book, These Broken Stars. She's smart, insightful, and she doesn't just make your current book better - she teaches you to make all of your future books better too. In this episode, she's going to share tips for setting yourself up for success in editing your novel. You can find out more about Abby at her website. I'm thrilled to introduce my new podcast, Pub Dates, a collaboration with my friend (and this show's producer) Kate Armstrong. To hear an introduction to the show, simply search for Pub Dates wherever you listen to podcasts. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss episodes when they start dropping in 2022. You can find me at my website – you can subscribe to my newsletter there, for behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast there. You can find me on Instagram at @AmieKaufmanAuthor or on Twitter at @AmieKaufman. 

When I asked you all who you'd like a guest episode from in our break between seasons, today's guest was a very popular answer. I think Jay's sense of storytelling is incredible, and when I saw today's question in the mailbag about what makes for a satisfying ending, I knew I wanted you to hear from him. You can find Jay on Twitter or on Instagram at @misterkristoff or at his website. If you loved this advice, you're going to love his latest, Empire of the Vampire, which is out right now! You can find me at my website – you can subscribe to my newsletter there, for behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast there. You can find me on Instagram at @AmieKaufmanAuthor or on Twitter at @AmieKaufman. 

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

I love animal companions! A couple of my favourites are Mogget the cat from Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy, Doe-Eyes the dog from Meagan Spooner’s Hunted, and Maruman the cat from Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn series, but my list is very long. One thing I know for sure is that you can’t just put an animal in your story, mention it’s there and declare your work done. An animal companion is woven right into the story’s fabric—they have a part to play and a purpose to serve. Done right, they enrich your work, so here are three tips for making the most of your animal companions. I also give you my monthly book recommendation: this time it's The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

When I think about writing from the deepest parts of myself – something I’ve done often – I always think of an incredible spoken word poet called Abe Nouk – his surname is spelled Nouk, if you want to look him up – who I once saw speak at a conference. He said, ‘Do not be afraid to reveal yourself to your pen.’ And I wrote that down, took it home, and it’s been pinned up in my office for all the years since. You make the biggest impact on your readers when you share yourself, but it’s not easy to do. Usually I offer a series of tips on how to tackle the week’s issue, but today I just want to talk about my experience of sharing my own vulnerabilities on the page, and why it matters so much. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

There’s nothing worse than finding yourself slowly growing more confused as you read a book – realizing that you’re not sure if you’re meant to know what’s going on, in which case there’s a problem, because you don’t, or whether the author wants you to stick with them because all will be revealed in good time. How do we as writers reassure them, and show them that they should stick with us? The answer to this dilemma is that we hang a lantern: shine a light on the unanswered questions they have, making them visible and acknowledging them. It’s our way of saying ‘that’s here on purpose – I know it’s there, and I’m going to do something about it. Stick with me, and all will become clear.’ Today we’re going to talk about three situations where hanging a lantern will help. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

I know we all know that feeling when you’re reading a story you should be enjoying, but it’s taking a while, and your mind is starting to wander, and… eventually you start to skim, or worse, you put the book down, and you don’t come back. Whether this is a book you’ve written, or someone else’s that you’re reading, you can feel that the pacing isn't right. It clearly needs tightening – so how do you do that? Here are three ways to look at your pacing and an easy way to fix it. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

While you’re waiting for us to bring you Season Two, I wanted to share another bonus episode, with some really inspiring advice about researching for historical novels from one of my favourite writers, Ryan Graudin. She’s the award-winning author of a stack of novels, including my favourites, Wolf by Wolf and Invictus, two of my go-to book recommendations whenever anyone asks for a read they won’t be able to put down. In fact, I love Ryan’s writing so much that we wrote a book together—it came out earlier this year. You can find Ryan on twitter @ryangraudin and instagram at @rgraudin, and at her website, where you can also sign up for her newsletter. If you loved her history advice, you’re going to love the book we wrote together, The World Between Blinks. You can find me at my website – you can subscribe to my newsletter there, for behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast there. You can find me on Instagram at @AmieKaufmanAuthor or on Twitter at @AmieKaufman. This podcast is produced by the lovely Kate Armstrong, host of one of my favourite podcasts, The Exploress, which time travels through women’s history one era at a time. 

Ellie Marney is an Aussie crime author with a huge and loyal following – I count myself as one of her fans. She’s so smart, and so meticulous with her work. She’s gone behind the scenes at Westminster Mortuary in London, interviewed forensics experts from around the world to get her stories right, and lived all over the world too. She definitely knows how to kill you so well you won’t even notice, but she’s far too nice to do it. Her latest young adult novel is called None Shall Sleep – if you like true crime podcasts, if you liked Mindhunter, or Sadie or Silence of the Lambs, then this one’s for you. You can find Ellie on Twitter and Instagram at @elliemarney, and at her website. You can find me at my website – you can subscribe to my newsletter there, for behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast there. You can find me on Instagram at @AmieKaufmanAuthor or on Twitter at @AmieKaufman. This podcast is produced by the lovely Kate Armstrong, host of one of my favourite podcasts, The Exploress, which time travels through women’s history one era at a time. 

I loved this week's question about writing morally ambiguous characters, and since we’re in bonus episode territory I thought we should do something fun. So I called on one of my dearest friends, and one of the smartest and most insightful people I know, to see how she’d answer Sarina’s question. Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of a bunch of my favourite books and is known by readers worldwide for her morally ambiguous characters.  You can find Marie on Twitter at @marie_lu and on Instagram at @marieluthewriter, or at her website, where you can also sign up for her newsletter. I’ll also remind you again that her latest release is Skyhunter, and it’s fantastic. You can find me at my website – you can subscribe to my newsletter there, for behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast there. You can find me on Instagram at @AmieKaufmanAuthor or on Twitter at @AmieKaufman. This podcast is produced by the lovely Kate Armstrong, host of one of my favourite podcasts, The Exploress, which time travels through women’s history one era at a time. 

This week we’re going to talk about how you convey it to your reader—because done well, your setting can contribute to the mood of your story, help shape the action, and guide the experience of the reader in ways they don’t even notice. We talked last week about avoiding White Room Syndrome—the feeling that your story could be set anywhere. Let’s talk now about how to weave in those details really well. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

Your setting is essentially a character in your story, and has so much to tell us. The location in which your story is set should matter—it should be relevant that the story takes place here, rather than somewhere else, and it should influence the way the story unfolds. Setting is so important that I’ve dedicated the final two episodes of season one to it—this week we’re talking about visualizing your setting, and next week we’ll talk about weaving it into your writing. Let’s get into it. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

The answer definitely isn’t to avoid familiar storylines completely—sometimes a path is well-trodden for a reason. So let's get into the difference between a cliché (something we’ve seen over and over) and a trope (a familiar storyline or story element) and talk about how tropes might actually serve you.  You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. For more on my book recommendation for this month, Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, check out author Alison Goodman's website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram. 

There’s a lot to say about the start of stories, and we’ll get to more of it in future seasons. In this episode, I talk about the tip I use to locate the start of my stories - and, if that doesn’t magically solve my problem, the two questions I ask myself from there. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

The protagonist—or the main character of your story, the star of the show—is often tricky. I’ve got two questions I ask myself about my protagonist that can be useful in figuring out who they should be if I’m starting, but they’re also useful later as a diagnostic tool—if you think your protagonist might be a bit boring, you can ask yourself these questions and use the answers to help spice them up a bit.  You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

This is something that happens to everyone—I don’t buy it when people say they never have writer’s block. They might call it by another name, but there’s no creative out there who doesn’t sometimes have a moment, or a day, or a week… or longer… when they either don’t know how to push forward with their story, or can’t seem to make themselves. So how to you get past writer's block when it happens? I have four suggestions for ways to tackle it. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

I work hard to make my stories unputdownable; there’s an art to getting a chapter just right. I’ve got four tips for you when it comes to keeping readers up well past their bedtime. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

When we hit those paragraphs that are just the author telling you stuff they want you to know about their world, we call them infodumps. We need to show readers what’s different about our world, but the truth is that we don’t think or speak about this stuff very often. Nobody gets on their commuter train every morning and thinks: “Once upon a time this would have been a steam train, but these days modern technology has advanced.” So why should our characters? How do we show our reader what’s different about our world without just dumping it in there?  You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

Welcome to Amie Kaufman on Writing, a short podcast that answers one question each week about how writers do what they do. If you’re a writer, or you’re a reader interested in how your favourite authors craft their stories, then you’re in the right place. This season, we’re going to cover lots of topics: worldbuilding—how to do it and how to show it—figuring out who your protagonist is and where your story starts, dealing with writer’s block or getting stuck, figuring out where to end a chapter, plotting techniques and more. But in this first episode, I want to talk a little about who I am and why this stuff matters so much to me. You can find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.

Building a world for your story or your series is a huge job, and though we all know the one about how the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, how do you figure out which step to take first? This isn’t just a problem if you need to invent an original world—say, for a sci-fi or fantasy novel. Your novel can be set at a high school in America and still need worldbuilding. So where do you begin? You'll find a transcript of this episode at my website, where you can also subscribe to my newsletter, get behind-the-scenes peeks at how I write, and any other news about new books, events or the podcast. You can also submit a question for the podcast on my website. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram.