Let's Talk Novels

Do it yourself, or hire an editor? In this episode Jack reveals the three phases of editing as he helps indie authors make this crucial decision. 

You've completed your first draft. In this episode Jack gives you 12 questions to guide you through the rewriting and revising phase to make your good story great. 

Unless you can design covers that are good enough to compete with bestsellers, the investment you make in hiring a professional cover artist will be worth the money. Here are your options. 

·         If you want to cultivate a readership, you must go to where they hang out online and interact with them long before you have a book to sell them.

In this episode Jack reveals how you can know what readers of your genre want to see in a novel before you start writing it. This information not only lets you write to your audience, but it also lays the groundwork for promotional efforts. 

It has never been easier to get published, but that doesn't mean getting published is easy. In this episode Jack gives an overview of indie author self-publishing. 

In this episode Jack teaches how to create settings that are as dynamic and alive as any character. 

Will the advice that launched Jack's traditional writing career also be the key to successful indie publishing?

Is your idea novel worthy? Does it have high-concept mass audience appeal? Here's how to test it.

Trust your readers. In this episode Jack warns against micromanaging your story.

Humor - a tool that should be in every writer's toolbox. In this episode Jack teaches how to use humor to spice up your novel.

In this episode Jack shares quotes and anecdotes he uses that inspire him to write. 

In this episode Jack takes a unique look at the author's final pass on a novel manuscript before sending it in for publication.

If Shakespeare had written Macbeth on a Mac would it be as good? A light-hearted look at modern day writing. 

An irreverent look at breaking the rules of grammar and making up your own words.

In this episode Jack takes a humorous look at a personal affliction.

In this episode Jacks provides daily practical and creative ways writers can defeat the dilatory dragon.

In Part 1 Jack explores the nature of this five-headed dilatory dragon with strategies on how to defeat it. 

Where do you learn how to write a novel? In this episode Jack relates some of the lessons he's learned from novelists living and dead, with some fascinating anecdotes about JRR Tolkien and The Lord of The Rings.  

In this episode Jack takes a humorous look at an adventure in writing the dreaded author bio, something every novelist will be called upon to write. 

In this episode Jack draws from more than three decades of crafting speeches, articles, and novels, to convince writers that mastering the art of writing good sentences is the best investment a writer can make in himself.

In this writer to writer episode, Jack shares a moment in his career when everything was great, then . . . . 

In this episode Jack explores how to craft scenes that will keep the reader turning pages. 

In this writer to writer episode Jack shares two experiences that were influential to him in learning to build memorable characters. 

In this episode Jack reveals ways novelists can keep readers reading by torturing the characters readers love. 

In this episode I invite readers to look over my shoulder as I pull from my files one of the worksheets I compiled from bestselling suspense novelists identifying the techniques they used to write first chapters. The one page worksheet is available for FREE in PDF format on http://letstalknovels.com 

In this episode Jack teaches how to develop a plot that will keep readers reading.

In this episode Jack explores the difference between traditional and indie publishing for the novel writer.

In this podcast Jack teachers authors how to learn the craft of writing a novel by learning the techniques of their favorite authors. 

In this episode Jack encourages writers not to be satisfied with good writing, but to do justice to their story ideas by polishing their writing until it shines. 

In this episode Jack reveals the 8 elements of novel writing that characterizes bestselling fiction.

In this first Writer-to-Writer episode, Jack relates the story behind Dean Koontz's personal inscription to him in the novel Intensity.

As readers, we’ve all experienced the magical phenomenon of getting so involved in a novel it's as though this world no longer exists. How does a novelist achieve this effect? What things break this story bubble?

In this podcast Jack talks about the two essential abilities every novelist must have. 

This is the first podcast in the Let's Talk Novels series. Drawing on an intriguing event at an awards banquet, Jack narrates the events that led up to the making of this podcast for novelists.