The Family Writing Journey

A few episodes back, Michael talked about wanting more internal and external accountability. In this mini episode, we follow up to see how he's doing!

In this episode, Matthew's back as we talk about our experience with one unique (and challenging!) element of fiction prose: character dialogue.

In this episode, Sarah joins us as we talk about the experience of giving and getting book feedback.

In this episode, we discuss the role of the audience in our writing. Do we write for ourselves or for someone else? Do we write for an audience or to an audience, and what's the difference?

In this episode, we talk about how we hold ourselves accountable to ourselves, and also to others, and which accountability strategies we find most helpful as new writers.

In this episode, we share some of our current and past struggles as new writers.

In this episode, we discuss common strategies for improving our prose. This includes: diction, syntax, grammar, figurative language, feedback, and more.

In this episode, we talk a bit about prose and the mechanics of our writing. We'll focus on four common aspects of fiction prose.

In this episode, we experiment with a commonly-suggested editing technique: reading your work out loud. Only, instead of reading it himself, Michael has Google software read some of his draft for all of us to hear and discuss.

In this episode, we share our thoughts on pacing, including how to balance the movement of the plot with the development of characters and the world.

In this episode, we discuss common expectations for characters in the genres of fantasy and sci-fi, and how we have (or haven't) used them in our own writing.

In this episode, we talk about the inner journey of characters, sometimes called a “character arc.” We discuss strategies we use to create characters who change over the course of our stories.

In this episode, we start the new year by thinking about how we each experience creativity, and how creativity shapes our writing and other activities.

In this episode, we wrap up the year with some updates on our work and a discussion of goals for the new year.

In this episode, we talk about how we develop and build our characters, during the planning process and also during the writing process.

In this episode, we begin a discussion of character by talking about some of the common types and the purposes they serve in our writing.

In this episode, we discuss worldbuilding, which is the process authors and others use to create fictional worlds.

In this episode, we talk about why a novel's beginning and ending are important, plus share our perspectives on epilogues and prologues and how (if?) we're using them.

In this episode, we talk about the pros and cons of sharing your work with others, and our experiences with sharing and getting feedback.

In this episode, we talk about strategies and resources for improving one's writing. Some are things we've done, others are things we've heard about or might try!

In this episode, we discuss our experiences with first person (“I”) and third person (“she, he, they”) points of view (POV).

In this episode, we'll be talking about plot development. We'll describe our own experiences, including our understanding and use of plot structures.

In this episode, we'll have some casual conversation about how our personal experiences (or lack thereof) influence our writing.

In this episode, we'll describe the elements and focus of our own stories, plus what we're learning about how to tell a good story.

In this episode, we each talk briefly about what we're currently working on. We're each in a different stage of the writing process, so this episode lets our listeners catch up on our current goals, successes, and struggles.

In this episode, we're recording from a peaceful location in western New York, where we've gone to spend a weekend focused on writing and writing support. We're joined by Sunny's sister Sarah, also a novice author. Hear our conversation about goals and expectations on Day 1, and our assessment of how things went on Day 3.

In this episode, we talk a little bit about fiction genres and sub-genres. We also touch on genre expectations and common tropes, and how these have affected our writing so far.

In this episode, we describe our understanding of the basic forms of fiction stories, including short stories, novellas, novels, and series. We discuss our own experiences and preferences as readers and also as novice writers.

In this episode, we talk about how we first got motivated to start writing, our early roadblocks, and how we got our initial ideas. We also reflect on the value that writing as a “shared occupation” has had for us as a family.

In this episode, we discuss different approaches to outlining, including “pantsing” and “plotting.” We each share our strategies and experiences with this part of the writing process.

In this episode, we describe when, where, how often, and how much we write. We discuss which writing habits work well for us, which don't, and how we keep our writing fun

Welcome to the Family Writing Journey! This is our inaugural episode where we introduce ourselves and discuss the purpose of our podcast. We hope you enjoy!