Podcasts about plottr

Cameron Sutter is a sci-fi/fantasy author and the inventor of Plottr – the popular visual story planning software. Many authors have used Plottr to outline and flesh out their book creation process. Now, Cameron joins us to talk about Storysnap, a tool he designed to help authors create story bibles and streamline their creative process. //Draft2Digital is where you start your Indie Author Career//  Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We'll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way—and we won't charge you a dime.  We take a small percentage of the royalties for each sale you make through us, so we only make money when you make money. That's the best kind of business plan.  • Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog  • Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com  Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

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In this episode of Brave New Bookshelf, hosts Steph Pajonas and Danica Favorite welcome back Cameron Sutter, creator of Plottr, to discuss his latest innovation, Story Snap — an AI-powered tool that creates detailed book bibles in minutes. Cameron dives into how Story Snap works, its game-changing potential for authors and developmental editors, and the exciting ways it integrates with existing workflows like Plottr. Whether you're a writer looking to organize your series or an editor seeking to save time, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Visit our website https://bravenewbookshelf.com to view the full episode notes, links and apps mentioned in the episode, and the full transcript.

This week on the Grendhill Chronicles Podcast, I'm giving away a free book—again! I'm thrilled to bring you Season 4, Episode 3 of the Grendhill Chronicles Podcast! This week, I'm joined by Cameron Sutter, author and creator of the writing tool Plottr, to discuss how he bridges the gap between storytelling and technology. Plottr is … Continue reading S4E3: Plottr with Author and Inventor Cameron Sutter The post S4E3: Plottr with Author and Inventor Cameron Sutter first appeared on Grendhill Media.

In this week's episode, we continue with our November Writing Challenge, and discuss how outlining can be a helpful tool in writing your novel and building a writing habit. TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 226 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is November the 8th, 2024 and today we are discussing Part 2 of our November Writing Challenge and that will mostly discuss the usefulness of making outlines. Before we get into that, we will have an update on my current writing projects and Question of the Week. We will also close out the episode with a preview of the upcoming audiobook Cloak of Spears, as narrated by Hollis McCarthy. First up, writing progress. The rough draft of Cloak of Illusion is done at about 96,000 words, and I'm about 25% of the way through the first editing pass. I also wrote a short story called Trick or Treat that will be a companion to the book. Newsletter subscribers will get a free ebook copy of that short story when Cloak of Illusion comes out, hopefully before the end of November. So now would be an excellent time to subscribe to my new release newsletter. After Cloak of Illusion is published, my next project will be Orc Hoard, the 4th book in the Rivah Half-Elven series, and I'm about 21,000 words into that. In audiobook news, as you may have already heard, Cloak of Spears is done. That will be narrated by Hollis McCarthy and it is working its way through processing right now. Shield of Conquest narrated by Brad Wills is also still working its way through processing on the various audiobook platforms. So you can get both audiobooks on my Payhip store right now if you don't want to wait. So that is where I met with my writing projects. 00:01:25 Question of the Week Now let's talk about Question of the Week. It's time for Question of the Week, designed to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's question: what is your favorite book cover (like in terms of the artwork, the design, etcetera)? No wrong answers, obviously. We had a few answers this week. Justin says: For that, I go back to the guilty pleasures of my youth, a teenager on a Burroughs kick at the time, digging for paperbacks in a secondhand bookstore. Savage Pellucidar, cover by Frank Franzetta (the 1974 Ace edition reprint), which I still have stashed away. Franzetta was an incredible artist. I love his Sea Witch and Death Dealer, but we're talking about book covers here. Savage Pellucidar was the one for me. Mary says: Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon. Then, that cover was a work of art with three detachable bands. Surabhi says: Hard to choose one. I personally love those young adult “Book Tok” book covers: Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows, The Cruel Prince. I don't know. Something about such covers immediately sparks interest in me. Randy says he always liked the Heinlein juvenile covers. Gary S. says: This was difficult for me because I like hardcovers, but I like to take the jacket off while I read so it doesn't get torn. Consequently, I seldom look at the covers. Gary B says: Anne McCaffrey's The White Dragon. I've got a poster/artwork of it and pretty much anything by Michael Whelan. Becca says: Stoner by Tad Williams, pretty much tops my list of favorite covers, then maybe The Dragonstone by McKiernan. Catriona says: Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic. MG says: That's quite difficult to answer, but I have a Return of the King copy with this Alan Lee cover, going to have to go with this. For myself, I think I would go with a hardback edition of The Silmarillion from the late 1990s. I think it was published in ‘99. It was illustrated by Ted Nasmith and the cover image shows Maglor throwing the final Silmaril into the sea in despair for his deeds. If you know the context of that scene, it's an amazingly powerful cover. So that is it for Question of the Week and tune in again for next week's Question of the Week. 00:03:22 Main Topic of the Week Now it's time to our main topic for our second week of our November Writing Challenge. This week we're going to talk about building story structure and how outlining can help with this. If you haven't heard of my November Writing Challenge, the idea is that you write 300 words or a similarly small number every day in hopes of building up a small but sustainable writing habit. I was thinking of NaNoWriMo, where you write 1600 words a day in an effort to get to 50,000 words a month, is well and good for someone like me, where I essentially write a book every month unless something comes up. But for someone starting out, it can be a bit like the sort of crash diet where you lose 5 pounds in a month and then gain 10 back over the next two months as your habits snap back. That's because you didn't lose the weight through sustainable means, so that is the goal with the November writing challenge: to build the base of a sustainable writing habit. So let's talk about how story structure can help you do that. In last week's episode, I mentioned that making the outline of your story can help with the process of writing. In this week's episode, we're going to go into more detail about story structure and conflict. Knowing how these work in your stories is essential to building an outline. You will find that having a proper structure to your story makes it easier to write, in the same way that having a proper foundation for your house makes it easier to construct. We'll talk about what I call the five iron laws of storytelling and the importance of your story having conflict and at the end of the episode, we will get a quick update from my podcast transcriptionist, who is following along with the November Writing Challenge. We will see how that is working out for her so far. So first, why write an outline? I think the main value of writing an outline, especially for beginning writers, is that it forces you to think about the story in advance and forces you to work out any potential plot holes in advance, since it's very easy to find yourself writing yourself into a corner and not knowing how to proceed. Obviously, writing an outline is not for everyone, and some writers say it impairs their creativity and they can't write with an outline. And that's fine, if you know that about yourself. But if you're just starting out, you may not be experienced enough to realize that about your writing style, and you may in fact benefit quite a bit from having written an outline in advance. So with that in mind, what does an outline need? First thing you need to understand is the shape of the story. Who is the protagonist? What is the protagonist's goal? What is the conflict, and what will the protagonist have to do to resolve that conflict? You can, if you want, put in the number of chapters in the outline. The way I usually do it is I write a 2,000 word or so synopsis of the book, and then I chop it up into chapters, though lately my final drafts don't have the same number of chapters as the outline because as I go through, I'll think of things to improve or scenes to move around and so forth. You may find a similar experience when writing from an outline yourself. It is nothing to worry about and can happen. It's also important to keep in mind that the conflict does need to escalate, and you do need to have a strong central conflict. So what do I mean by having a protagonist with the conflict that escalates and he takes action to it? This is something I actually have talked about in this podcast quite a bit, and in my nonfiction book Storytelling: How to Write a Novel. I have something I (rather tongue in cheek) call the five iron laws of storytelling, where if you want to write a good, compelling story, you need to have these five rules you should follow. Now, this is not, you know, true at all times in all places. But I do think you will probably get good results by following these five rules. Now what are these five rules, the five iron laws of storytelling? #1: The protagonist must have a problem that results in a conflict. #2: The protagonist's problem and conflict must be consequential and have real stakes. #3 The protagonist must take action and struggle to resolve his or her conflict and problem. #4 The protagonist must face challenges and setbacks, and his or her efforts to resolve the problem may even backfire. #5, The ending must absolutely provide satisfactory emotional resolution to the problems raised in the story. That might be the most important one of all. Where outlining can help you with this is if you see the story laid out in an outline as in a chart in something like Plottr or something like that, you can look it over and see- do I have a protagonist who has a interesting problem? Is the problem consequential for the protagonist? Is the protagonist trying to resolve the conflict? Is the protagonist experiencing setbacks and challenges, and perhaps even unintended consequences as he or she tries to resolve the problem? And finally, is the resolution emotionally satisfying? It doesn't have to be a happy ending. It doesn't have to be a totally sad ending. It can be a bittersweet ending. But whatever the ending, it has to resolve the conflict of the story in an emotionally satisfactory manner. Anything else can be absolutely disastrous. So if you are writing an outline for your novel or story, and you follow these five iron laws of storytelling, then I think you are on good track to have a good, well written story with a conflict and a protagonist that readers will find enjoyable and interesting. It is important to have a good conflict in the story. You can jump back to Episode 222 of the podcast, in which we talked about story conflicts, which offered much valuable advice on introducing conflicts. Some of the key points of that episode are there are many different types of conflict the story can have. The word conflict by its very nature seems to pull up images of like, violent conflict. That's often the word we use to describe conflict, to describe violence as conflict, but it doesn't have to be a violent conflict at all. It can be, you know, certain types of legal thrillers. There's no violence at all. It can be, you know, conflict between a man and a woman who are romantically attracted to each other but are unable to resolve these feelings, which can, you know, that kind of conflict drives a significant portion of the entire publishing industry. Ideally, a story should have multiple conflicts and even different types of conflict. There are numerous ways to add conflict into a story. They include putting characters into an unfamiliar environment, forcing your characters into making decisions, and having different characters face the same conflict in different ways. For more details on that, you can check out Episode 222 of this podcast. For tips and tricks on introducing more conflicts into your novel, I would recommend Episode 110 of this podcast, Three Techniques for Starting Your Novel and Introducing Conflict. In Episode 110, I said that there are lots of fun and exciting ways to introduce the conflict. I say fun and exciting because this is often where the story starts getting quite energetic. In a fantasy novel, it might be when the hero's village is attacked by orcs. In a mystery story, it's when someone stumbles across a dead body. In a thriller novel, perhaps the hero finds that a sinister terror plot is already well underway. The conflict can also be introduced more sedately. In an action-themed book, it is easy to introduce the conflict via sudden violence, the attack of orcs, or a surprise murder. Other kinds of stories may not involve so much physical danger. The central conflict of most romance novels, for example, is whether or not in the heroine and the love interest will get together and whether or not they can overcome the assorted obstacles preventing them from having a relationship. Romance novels might introduce conflict by having the love interest antagonize the heroine in some way, which is a common trope. Perhaps the love interest is a lawyer who represents the heroine's business rival, or the heroine is a local law enforcement official and the love interest is an FBI agent who threatens to take over her case. Regardless of how the conflict is introduced, the most important part of the conflict is that it must compel the protagonist to take action. If the conflict or the antagonist isn't serious enough to force the protagonist to act, then nothing happens and you don't have a story, so that perhaps is the main take away from conflict. The conflict has to be emotionally significant for the protagonist, and the protagonist has to take action to resolve it, even if the action makes things worse or causes setbacks. If you have a passive protagonist, that will very quickly turn off quite a few readers. So to sum up, the advantage of outlining is that it lets you work through potential problems in advance, and what you want in the outline is a protagonist with an emotionally relatable problem, a protagonist who takes action to resolve the problem, and a resolution to the story that is emotionally satisfying in terms of the conflict being resolved. The five iron laws of storytelling are a good checklist to look over your outline and make sure that you have a good, solid story structure. You can use them in fact as a checklist to see whether you think your outline is going to work and whether or not you can write a, you know, satisfying novel off it. So now we come to the update from my transcriptionist. As I mentioned, she was doing our November Writing Challenge and as part of our series of shows on that, she will send in weekly updates with her progress. Here is how she did this past week. “My goal for the challenge is 300 words a day. I picked a number that felt really low to help with the problem I have of not starting something when the goal is too undefined or too big. I also tend to do something intensely or not at all, with most days tending to the latter when in real life or obstacles get in the way. 300 words a day felt like something I could commit to without any worry, provided nothing really major comes up this month. So far I'm averaging 484 words per day and it's taking me an average of 15 minutes per day. I picked a specific chapter from my outline that was not the introduction I've been stuck on and a specific time of day to write. Doing both has made the process easier. In that vein, my questions for you are: do you write chapters or any pieces of the story out of order, or do you stick to the outline order when writing? Do you recommend people try writing out of order if they feel stuck?” So those are both interesting questions. For the first one, do you write chapters or any pieces of the story out of order, or do you stick to outline order when writing? I almost always write in the order of my outline. What changes is that when editing, I will very often split chapters up and move them around because I tend to write long chapters. In the editing for Cloak of Illusion so far, one chapter was like 10,000 words and another was 7,000 words, both of which are too long to be chapters. So the 10,000 word chapter got split up into three smaller ones and rearranged. The 7,000 word one got split into two chapters and moved around. So to give a shorter answer to that question, the answer would be no. When writing I tend to stick to the outline, but during editing I do tend to move things around as I think works best for the story. But editing is a different topic entirely. The second question: do you recommend people try writing it out of order if they feel stuck? You can try that. The pros are if you feel stuck on a particular scene, you can go ahead and write a different scene and then come back to that scene later. Or maybe it will turn out that the reason you're stuck is because the story didn't need the scene. You know, I do know some people who do write from an outline, but then tend to write out of order. The downside of that is if you're not careful, you can get your story's internal continuity mixed up a bit, but then that is another problem to fix in editing once the rough draft is finished, since right now we're at the stage where you get all the words down on the page or the word processor and then worry about fixing them later. So that is it for this week. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful and that you are finding our November Writing Challenge series to be useful as well. A reminder that you that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week. 00:15:45 Audio excerpt from Cloak of Spears, as narrated by Hollis McCarthy  

Welcome back to Alchemy for Authors! In this week's episode, I chat with bestselling author and Plot Dude, Troy Lambert. Troy shares his own recent experiences with pivoting and gives advice on how to utilise pivoting to create a sustainable author career. Some of the other topics we discuss include: ·       Why writing is the easiest job in the world to quit. ·       The importance of work-life balance and rest for sustainability. ·       Why writing for a living is not a job but a lifestyle. ·       Why the people you surround yourself with matter. ·       The importance of being you! Visit Troy's website here: https://troylambertwrites.com/ Visit the Plot Geek Academy here: https://theplotacademy.com/ Follow Troy on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/authortroy Follow Troy on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/authortroy/ Listen to Troy's previous interviews on Alchemy for Authors here: Episode 52: Making a Living as an Author with Troy Lambert Episode 47: Plotting with Plottr with Troy Lambert  Other resources mentioned in this episode: ·       Visit Claire Taylor's website to learn more about the Enneagram for authors: https://www.ffs.media/author-services-all ·       Visit Becca Syme's website to learn more about CliftonStrengths for authors: https://betterfasteracademy.com/ ·       Grab a copy of the book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman here: https://www.oliverburkeman.com/books ·       Between: A Gothic Novella by Jo Buer. Purchase the eBook direct from me and use the coupon code ALCHEMY to receive 50% off until October 31st 2024. Go to https://payhip.com/b/mckaF ·       Rest Easy Resort by Jo Buer. Buy direct from me for a special discounted price at the checkout. Go to https://payhip.com/b/v6Uu (No code is needed – the discounted price will show up automatically when checking out.) If you enjoyed this episode please subscribe, rate and review. You can also support the show by buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jobuer. Your support helps me keep this podcast going and is greatly appreciated. If you have a question you would like answered on the show, or a topic suggestion for a future episode, leave a voice message here: https://www.speakpipe.com/AlchemyForAuthors Follow me on Instagram: @alchemyforauthors and @jobuerauthor. Follow me on Facebook: @alchemyforauthors and @jobuerauthor. Join the Alchemy for Authors Facebook Group here.  Join my Alchemy for Authors newsletter and download your FREE copy of Manifestation for Authors here.  If you enjoy Gothic Suspense, you can join my reader's newsletter and download a FREE copy of my short story collection, Between the Shadows, here. You can find all my books at https://jobuer.com or visit https://Books2Read.com/JoBuer for links to your favourite store. Visit my website for the full transcript of this episode: https://jobuer.com/alchemy-for-authors/

Being an author requires you to have hundreds of online accounts for different software and services. Websites such as Amazon, ConvertKit, Publisher Rocket, Patreon, K-lytics, Bookvault, AuthorMedia.social, AuthorsXP, BookBub, Kickstarter, Teachable, Bluehost, WordPress, Grammarly, and Plottr (to name a few) all require a username and password.Some authors avoid using helpful tools simply because they don't want to create and remember yet another username and password. It seems like too much hassle, and their writing and publishing efficiency and quality suffer as a result.But what if there was a simple way to eliminate your password problems? There is!In this week's episode you'll learnFour password mistakes to avoidWhich tools provide password securityMy recommendation (which has changed in recent years)If you're ready to eliminate your password problems, listen in or check out the blog post version of this episode to find password peace of mind.You can become a patron at NovelMarketing.com/patron. Support the Show.

Send us a Text Message.If you're a new writer the idea of creating a plot for an entire book, before you've written your draft, can seem overwhelming. I want to break down what plot and structure are for you so that you can see that writing a book is 100% achievable. RESOURCESRelated: episode 206, The Unlocked Creative podcastSign up to use Plottr at bit.ly/plotuctroylambertwrites.com Masterclass.comThewritepractice.comReedsy.com The resources may contain affiliate links which means I receive payment when listeners use it to make a purchase.Support the Show.Connect:W: theunlockedcreative.comIG: @unlocked_creativeSupport the show I write, record, edit and produce the show. By supporting the show, you'll get a shoutout in a future episode and the warm glow of knowing you're helping new writers everywhere to start and finish writing their first book!

In this episode of Brave New Bookshelf, hosts Steph Pajonas and Danica Favorite chat with Cameron Sutter. Cameron is the creator of Plottr and writes the blog Real Human Writers. They talk about how AI is changing the publishing world. They discuss how writers can use AI, the ethics involved, and how to balance it all. Cameron shares his story with Plottr, a tool for visual storytelling, and talks about how AI can help writers. This episode is great for authors who want to learn about using technology in their writing. Visit our website https://bravenewbookshelf.com to view the full episode notes, links and apps mentioned in the episode, and the full transcript.

In this week's episode, we take a look at the pros and cons of some of the most popular writing software, and a share a preview of the new HALF-ELVEN THIEF audiobook narrated by Leanne Woodward. I'm hoping to start on SHIELD OF DARKNESS soon, so let's look back at some of the DRAGONSKULL audiobooks! This coupon code will get you 25% off the audiobook of DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store: SPRINGSQUIRE The coupon code is valid through April 23rd, 2024. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! Transcript   00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 195 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is April 5th, 2024 and today we are talking about the pros and cons of different types of writing software. We also have an update on my current writing projects and as usual, Question of the Week. Before we get into that, let's do Coupon of the Week. For this week's coupon, I'm hoping to start on Shield of Darkness soon. So let's look back at some of the Dragonskull audiobooks. The following coupon code will get you 25% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire at my Payhip store and that is SPRINGSQUIRE. Again that is SPRINGSQUIRE and that will be in the show notes. This coupon code will get you 25% off Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire audiobook, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills. This coupon code will be valid through April the 23rd, 2024. If you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing projects. The rough draft of Wizard Thief is done. It came to about 74,000 words, which means it is about 15,000 words longer than the first book. I suspect no one will complain. I am now writing Thief's Favor, an ebook short story set in the world of Wizard-Thief. Newsletter subscribers will get a free ebook copy of Thief's Favor when Wizard-Thief comes out, hopefully before April is over. I am also 19,000 words into Cloak of Titans and after Wizard-Thief is published that will be my main project and then once Cloak of Titans is done, it'll be back to Ridmark and Andomhaim with Shield of Darkness. In audiobook news, the audiobook of Half-Elven Thief is done, as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward. You can get it at all the usual audio bookstores, Audible, and all the others except for Google Play. For some reason, they seem to be having slow uptake on audiobooks for the last couple of weeks, and hopefully that should be cleared up soon. Otherwise, you can get Half-Elven Thief, as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward at all the usual audiobook stores, and we will include a sample of the audiobook at the end of this podcast episode. So hang around for that. 00:02:13 Question of the Week Now, for this week's question of the week, which we do have interesting discussions on my blog and Facebook page. This week's question of the week was: what was the first musical album you ever purchased with your own money? No wrong answers, obviously. The idea for this week's question arrived because over Easter weekend I helped someone set up a device for ripping LP records to MP3. This was an interesting experience because it was in fact the first time I had ever attempted to use an LP record in any form, since by the time I became interested in purchasing music (more on that at the end of the segment), the LP era was well and truly over. Or was it? I thought it was amusing that vinyl outsold CDs in 2023 because as I learned firsthand, when I was setting up this LP ripper, vinyl is so much more cumbersome and fragile than either CD or streaming. Anyway, we asked people what their first album they purchased with their own money was and here are some of the answers. Malcolm says War of the Worlds LP vinyl. Justin says Rush, A Farewell to Kings on cassette tape. In the mid ‘90s, my daughters found my box of cassettes, a legacy of my military days, and it immediately became theirs. ABM says my first album (well in this case, CD) was Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. Chris says Grand Funk Railroad, Survival. I'm that old, lol. Bonnie says Chicago Transit Authority and K-TEL Hits of the Month. Had “Cover of The Rolling Stone” on it. Brad says Jaws 1975 and that set me on the path of being a lifelong fan and rabid collector of film music. Venus says: my last day of 8th grade, I bought Annihilator-Alice in Hell and Metal Church-Blessing in Disguise. Same day, same store, same transaction. Cheryl says my very first purchase at the age of 14 back in the ‘60s was an album by the Walker Brothers from a secondhand shop. The first new album was Sticky Fingers, Rolling Stones, 1971. Tom says the Trainspotting soundtrack. Pamela says the Letterman 1968 Going Out of my Head. Michael says the soundtrack for Mad Max-Beyond Thunderdome, a musical feast of Jean Michel Jarre crossed with Tina Turner. On cassette tape, naturally. Scott says Guns and Roses, Appetite for Destruction. Brandy says Sisters of Mercy, Vision Thing. Rhion says I grew up in a college town and by age 4 I had a full, green milk of LPs from the discount bin. By five, I had four. I had my own personal collection and my own stereo because my uncle would go to dorm dumpsters at the end of the semester to grab stereos, et cetera, to refurbish. My first purchase was Oingo Boingo's Only a Lad and my second was Men at Work. They were $0.75 each. I remember because it was $0.25 over my budget. I had to ask for a quarter from my uncle. And finally, John says Leonard Nimoy Sings at a garage sale for twenty-five cents. It had The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins on it. Oh dear. If you have never seen The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, which is a song about Bilbo Baggins sung by Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame, once you've finished listening to this podcast episode, go to YouTube, search for The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins and watch the music video of Leonard Nimoy singing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. It is hilarious. Thanks to everyone for their comments for Question of the Week. For myself, my answer for what the first musical album I ever purchased was a bit odd because it was, I suspect it was later than most of the people who mentioned this and the reason for that is I have a very odd relationship with popular music because for some reason I almost always have a hard time understanding song lyrics. Song lyrics usually sound like either monotonous droning or warbling to my ear. I don't know why. My brain just works that way. One of the few exceptions is Johnny Cash, who I can usually understand on the first try without any difficulty. Because of that, I've never really connected with most popular music, whether way back when I was a teenager or in the modern age. To this day, I still gravitate towards the soundtracks of computer games and movies that I like. So the first soundtrack I deliberately purchased with my own money was part of a computer game collection, specifically, the Quest for Glory collection, which came out in 1997 and that came with a CD of Quest for the Glory 5: Dragon Fire soundtrack, which I wanted. I already had all the Quest for Glory games on CD or in some cases floppy disk, but I bought that collection just so I could have the soundtrack CD. 27 years later, I still have it and I listened to that soundtrack while working on the final scenes of Wizard-Thief. 00:07:12 Main Topic: Pros and Cons of Writing Software Now let's venture into our main topic of the week, the pros and cons of the best writing software. I got thinking about this because a few years ago I was at the gym. Usually when I'm at the gym, I go on the treadmill and I bring a tablet with me with an ebook and whether I'm running or walking or whatever, I will read on the treadmill. While I was doing this, an elderly gentleman came up next to me on the next treadmill and asked if I knew of any word processing programs that would work on an Android tablet. Boy, did I have answers for him. I started to describe the various pros and cons of different writing software, and he very quickly got bored, made a polite excuse, and wandered away. However, this is a writing podcast with people who are interested in the business of writing, and so I thought it would be a good topic for this week's show because if you ever want your book to be read by other people, if you're not just, you know, handwriting it in a journal for your own emotional satisfaction, then at some point you will probably have to convert your book to a digital file and you will need a software program to do that, and if you're really serious about writing, you will probably need a word processor of some kind or a similar program. So the first one we're going to look at is one that many indie and traditional writers swear by. It's called Scrivener, and it is a program specifically designed for writing books or novels. The pros: it is designed specifically for writing. It has features for outlining, breaking documents into chapters, and tracking writing goals, etc. It has a one-time cost of $60.00 US instead of a subscription, which is increasingly rare nowadays since everything seems to require a subscription instead of a one-time price. And as an added bonus, they offer a free trial so you can try it out and see if it is to your liking. They offer a student discount, where if you buy it with a valid.edu address, you should be able to get a discount. So now here are the cons. The learning curve on Scrivener is pretty high. For basic writing, for something like Microsoft Word, you just open up Word to a blank document, start typing, and if you just want to do that, then the program will definitely meet your need. Scrivener is a bit harder to learn and you would probably benefit from watching a few tutorial videos on how to use it beforehand. I personally do not use Scrivener, though I don't object to it obviously because I know many indies and tradpub writers who know what they're doing swear by it, but for me it is kind of overkill and I don't use it. If you are thinking about Scrivener, it's probably good to ask yourself, will you actually use the extra features? Because my own writing process is pretty simple. I just type out an outline in one Word document, and then I type out the rough draft in a different Word document, and I don't need fancy outlining software or something like that for my process. That's not to say you can't use fancy outlining software, or that the software isn't good. You might remember last year on podcast I had an interview with Troy Lambert of Plottr, which is a very excellent program designed to help you outline your novel but if that's not something you're interested in doing, then Scrivener will probably be overkill for you. Scribner is probably best for people who take extensive notes on their work, especially if they're trying to organize research based on the chapters where it's needed. It may be best for the kind of people who enjoy curating Notion and Trello accounts and they're able to think about their book in a visual way. It is also good for people who extensively revise blocks of text within a chapter or move chapters around a lot. If that sounds like your writing process, and it sounds like something would be good for you, then it is definitely worth giving the free trial of Scrivener a try. Now let's move on to a more general word processing program and one that probably many people out there are familiar with: Google Docs. That is part of the Google suite of office software. You can do PowerPoint-esque presentations, spreadsheets, and documents in Google Docs. The biggest pro of Google Docs is that it's free. All you need to do is sign up for a free Google account and then you have free access to Google Docs and can start typing. It is very easy to use between multiple devices since it runs primarily in a web browser. If you are using one computer, you can close out and open a web browser on a different computer and use it that way. There are dedicated apps for both Android and iOS devices. It's very easy to share between multiple people and accounts and collaborate in real time, and this is honestly its biggest advantage over Microsoft Office besides the cost. Autosave also works extremely well. However, like everything else in life, there are cons. One of the cons of Google Docs is that it gets really slow with large files. I did try to write a book in Google Docs once and I tried a couple of short stories. The short stories are fine. If you try to write a novel in Google Docs, I found that starts to get really slow after about the 25,000 word mark or so. For obvious reasons, since Google Docs is an online service, it is very hard to use without an Internet connection. Perhaps the most important con of all is to be sure to back up to an additional location. If you lose access to your Google account for whatever reason, that means you lose access to all your files, including the book you were working on in Google Docs. So if you're using Google Docs, it's a good idea, it's in fact an excellent and imperative idea, to download your document every so often and save it in another location. Now let's move on to probably the most common word processing software on the planet as of this recording, Microsoft Word. Full disclosure, that is what I use most of the time. In fact, my podcast notes are in a Microsoft Word document. The pros are that you've probably already heard of it and many people are familiar with this product through work or school. If you've had an office job, you've probably used Microsoft Word at some point. And if you have gone through the modern educational system, there's a very good chance that you used Microsoft Word or Google Docs in school. Another advantage is that it's very easy to find online tutorials from Microsoft Office products. Another advantage is that Word is essentially the industry standard for publishing, which makes it a lot easier to share with the editors, translators, beta readers, etcetera. There are a couple of cons, though. Microsoft, like many other software companies, has been switching heavily to the subscription model, so I believe they still sell individual licenses for Office where it's a one-time fee, but then it's tied to a specific computer forever. If you want to really use Office, you have to get a Microsoft 365 subscription, which is often kind of a bummer if you are on a limited budget, which is why it's good there are free options like Google Docs available. Another con of Microsoft Word is that the program is, at this point, 41 years old. The first version of Word was released in 1983. Obviously, it has changed a great deal since then but feature after feature has been built up and piled onto Word to the point where in all honesty (this is as someone who uses Microsoft Word pretty much every single day for the last 15 years), it has a monstrous maze of overlapping and interlocking features. There's a common meme about how if you try to move a bullet point half an inch in Word, you'll start hearing sirens and explosions outside and your entire document will be messed up. This is not far from the truth. For just straight typing, Word is fine, but for more elaborate stuff it quickly becomes a big headache. Another con is that the real time collaboration features like Google Docs has are definitely lacking, and you really can't do that well with Word. If that's not something you do, it's not something you need to worry about but if you do a lot of collaboration, that is something to keep in mind. Again, in full disclosure, I could sit here for the next two hours and talk about the various bad experiences I've had with Microsoft Word, but the fact of the matter is, I've written 150 novels and I've written most of them in Microsoft Word. So it is right now the program I use to write. So on to the next writing suite of software. I wrote most of my books in Microsoft Word, but the ones I haven't written in Word I've written in LibreOffice, which is a free office suite that you can download for free. It doesn't require an Internet connection once it's downloaded. So let's go to the pros. It's free and open source. The interface kind of sort of looks like Microsoft Word, so if you are familiar with Word, the learning curve is not terribly steep. Some think that LibreOffice is faster than Word. Depending on how your system is configured, LibreOffice can be quite a bit faster than Word, having used both. LibreOffice is probably the best for privacy advocates, especially for those who are concerned about Microsoft and Google storing their work in their cloud services and possibly training various AIs on it. For myself, that's not something I worry about a great deal, because all my stuff has been pirated extensively for years, and as we all know, most of the big AIs out now were trained on pirated data, which they're getting sued about now. From my point of view, the horse is already out in the out of the barn for this, so there's no point in worrying about it. LibreOffice also has the advantage of being interoperable with most file formats. By default, it saves in what's called the open document format, but it is mostly cross compatible with the Microsoft Office formats. The cons aren't quite as many as Google Drive in my opinion, because it doesn't have to be online. Even though the user interface is very similar to Word, it's not identical and some people don't care for it. LibreOffice also has no built-in cloud storage functionality like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, so if you need to store your documents in the cloud somewhere for backup, you have to piece it together with another storage option. Though this is the other side of one of the pros, because LibreOffice does not require an Internet connection in order to work once you have it downloaded. So those are the pros and cons of some different writing software. Which one you pick is up to you and your particular writing needs. So that's it for this week. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A quick word of thanks to my transcriptionist for helping me pull together the research for this episode. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on the official website at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week. And now let's close out this week's episode with a preview of Half-Elven Thief, as narrated by Leanne Woodward.

Do you use AI tools in your writing?AI is the hot button topic of the modern creative industry. No matter your position, the genie is out of the bottle, the cat is out of the bag, and Pandora's box is open. So how do we, as authors, decide where we stand and what our personal positions will be?This week, we're thrilled to have Cameron Sutter—founder of Plottr—on the show to talk about his software but also dive into the world of AI tools and use cases for authors. We debunk common AI misconceptions, clarify the difference between true AI and machine learning, and argue for the irreplaceable human touch in art. Cameron Sutter is a YA sci-fi/fantasy author, software developer, and the inventor of Plottr – the popular visual planning software for books and stories of all kinds. He's also the writer behind Real Human Writers, a substack newsletter that strives to demystify AI and show writers how to use it for their benefit . . . and when not to use it at all.Follow Us! Cameron SutterWebsite: http://cameronsutter.com/Plottr: http://plottr.com/Substack Newsletter: Real Human WritersThe Author Wheel:Website: www.AuthorWheel.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorWheelGreta Boris:Website: www.GretaBoris.comFacebook: @GretaBorisAuthorInstagram: @GretaBorisMegan Haskell:Website: www.MeganHaskell.comFacebook & Instagram: @MeganHaskellAuthorTikTok: @AuthorMeganHaskellClarify | Simplify | Implement Newsletterhttps://meganhaskellauthor.substack.com/*****⭐️ SUPPORT THE SHOW ⭐️If you're enjoying The Author Wheel Podcast, please consider supporting the show by clicking the link below! Your contribution helps us cover the ongoing expenses—like hosting and editing—that are critical to the creation of this podcast. Support the showFREE Mini Email CourseHave you ever struggled to explain to others exactly what you write? Or wondered which of the many fiction ideas running through your brain you should tackle? If so, The Author Wheel's new mini-course might be your solution. 7 Days to Clarity: Uncover Your Author Purpose will help you uncover your core writing motivations, avoid shiny-thing syndrome, and create clear marketing language. Each daily email will lead you step by step in defining your author brand, crafting a mission statement, and distilling that statement into a pithy tagline. And, best of all, it's free. Click here to learn more!

One of the most important habits you can ever develop is reflection. The pace of life today is pretty fast and it's easy to just keep going, going, going all the time. (Turns out Ferris Bueller was right!) When you stop and think about where you've been, it's much easier to figure out where you're going. In the spirit of reflection, I'm excited to share 10 lessons I've learned about life, writing, and business I've learned over the last twelve months. *** Today's podcast is sponsored by editor Karen Hunsanger, also known as “The Word Wizard.” I've worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit. Today's podcast is also sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

In our last episode of 2023, we chat to Jane L. Rosen, whose new boook 'On Fire Island' is out now. It's all about Julia, a book lover that lives on Fire Island in New York, who… dies, and then we follow the different lives of those she loves, and how her life affects theirs.Julia is also a screenplay and columnist, and we chat through how she turned a screenplay which didn't quite make it, into a novel. Also, you can hear how Jane captures a perfect sense of place in her writing, and how she balances writing novels with being in the tricky, but lucky, position of being responsible for promoting it.Get 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Like most writers, you probably have mixed emotions as we near the end of 2024. My guess is that you've had some great wins this year, but you've also had some challenges. One thing we all have in common, no matter what our specific business, is that we want the next year to be better than this one. As I've examined the past year in my business and talked to lots of writers about their experiences, I've concluded what's holding most of us back from the success we want: You're trying to do too much. If you want to grow exponentially in 2023, stop trying to do everything. Instead, focus on what truly matters in your business. The answer is not trying to do more. It's focusing on doing less. On this episode, we look at four ways to do that. 1. Determine the #1 thing you want to grow next year. 2. Be brutally honest about where you are most likely to win. 3. Maintain, eliminate, or defer everything else. 4. Have the courage to say “no.” *** Today's podcast is sponsored by editor Karen Hunsanger, also known as “The Word Wizard.” I've worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit. Today's podcast is also sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Amanda Prowse has written over 30 books. Her newest is 'All Good Things', which tells the story of life-long neighbours, the Kelleways and the Harrops, who couldn't be further apart. However, when they celebrate a big anniversary, huge secrets are revealed and change everything.She has written fiction, non-fiction, novellas, short stories, and memoir. Her novel 'A Mother's Story' was Sainsbury's eBook of the Year. Her work, 'The Boy Between' is a compelling memoir written with her son, detailing his experience with depression. Amanda often explores trauma through her writing, and we discuss how she researches these experiences...but only ever writes what she knows.We discuss how she has created an 'Amanda Prowse universe' in her mind, picking characters out that she wants to focus on, yet even through all this, she doesn't ever plan or plot, but simply knows everything that will happen, and exactly what her characters are thinking.You can hear why everything she was told about writing, turned out to not be not true, also how much she has learned about her characters over the last 30 books, and whether success has changed anything about her life and how she works.You can get 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Femi Kayode's debut 'Lightseekers' was a book of the month in many national newspapers, it was longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award, and was a commercial success.His follow up is 'Gaslight', it's the second in the Phillip Taiwo 'Whydunnit' series. Following the investigative psychologist who has been urgently called in to investigate the disappearance of the 'First Lady' of a Nigerian mega-church. We discuss why he's interested in the why, rather than the who or what, also what he's learned from a varied life of work and studies all around the world. You can hear how his family take him leaving the home to write alone, also what he tells himself when he's struggling getting the draft done, and the boring fonts that keep him focused.We chat about chapter titles, why he's perfectly happy with where he is right now, and what a Nigerian spin on crime fiction really means.Support the show at patreon.com/writersroutineGet 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're chatting to Katie Marsh. Katie has published 5 romantic fiction novels, ‘Unbreak your Heart', ‘The Rest of Me', ‘The Beautiful Life', ‘A Life Without You' and ‘My Everything', and has now completely switched genre. You can find out why in the podcast.Her new novel is 'How Not To Murder Your Ex', and tells the story of Clio, who opens the door to find her hated ex Gary dead on the lawn in front of her. It's no accident, and the eyes of blame quickly fall on her.We discuss why she holds herself back for 2 months before starting to write, also why she strives to be distraction free above all things, and why the genre switch really needs to work out for her.DISCLAIMER - sorry if your name is Gary.Support the show at patreon.com/writersroutineGet 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's email is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's email is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Terry Hayes started his career as a journalist before heading to Hollywood. He found real success there, writing on 'Flight Plan', 'Payback', and penning, 'Mad Max II'. In 2013, he published 'I Am Pilgrim' to international acclaim and success.10 years later, he's written his second novel, 'The Year of the Locust'. It tells the story of Kane, a CIA spy who can go where other's can't. We discuss the pressure of following huge success, why he's taken 10 years to publish a new book, and why that combination of thoughts made him chuck out hundreds of thousands of words.You can hear what Hollywood is really like for a writer, why writing novels is more validating than penning screenplays, and why the easiest way to stave off boredom... is to create challenges.Get 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Freya Berry's debut, 'The Dictator's Wife', was a bestselling, critically acclaimed hit, and was a BBC 2 'Between the Covers' pick. She's back with 'The Birdcage Library'.It tells the story of Emily Blackwood, a young adventuress tasked by an exotic animal hunter to track down a lost treasure hidden in a castle... it becomes a deeper, darker hunt into secrets best left untold.We talk about the article that gave her the inspiration for the novel, also the research around Scottish Castles she called work. You can hear about why it's the themes of a story that keep her going, how much she knows about the road ahead of her as she writes it down, and why she likes to leave herself space to seize ideas.ALSO hear why listening to the same song works, how to change things if lockdown is still affecting your work day, and how things change through the second novel.Get 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you a podcaster who's always wanted to write a book, but you don't know where to start? If so, you'll love the upcoming training, Podcast to Published, co-hosted by me and podcast host and coach, Jody Maberry. Click here to register for our free training In this FREE training, we will cover: - Why a book is the ultimate tool to grow your platform and influence. - How to repurpose the podcast content you've already created into a book (no matter what your show format). - A simple process for writing your book quickly (even if you've never written a book before). This webinar is a must if you're interested in leveraging your podcast and guests to promote your book, or if you want to use your book to promote and grow your podcast. Even if you don't yet have a podcast, and you haven't yet written a book, join us to discover how these two powerful tools can work together to build your impact, influence, and income! I hope you'll join us on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 4:00pm EST for Podcast to Published! * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Are you a podcaster who's always wanted to write a book, but you don't know where to start? If so, you'll love the upcoming training, Podcast to Published, co-hosted by me and podcast host and coach, Jody Maberry. Click here to register for our free training In this FREE training, we will cover: - Why a book is the ultimate tool to grow your platform and influence. - How to repurpose the podcast content you've already created into a book (no matter what your show format). - A simple process for writing your book quickly (even if you've never written a book before). This webinar is a must if you're interested in leveraging your podcast and guests to promote your book, or if you want to use your book to promote and grow your podcast. Even if you don't yet have a podcast, and you haven't yet written a book, join us to discover how these two powerful tools can work together to build your impact, influence, and income! I hope you'll join us on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 4:00pm EST for Podcast to Published! * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Denzil Meyrick has published 11 bestselling DCI Daley books, many standalones, and is back with, 'Murder at Holly House'.Set in 1952, it takes Inspector Frank Grasby despatched to investigate a strange body discovered at historic Holly House. When snow strands him there, and another body is found, we find ourselves in a locked room mystery.We talk about why Denzil doesn't like being limited by genre... he is a writer of all sorts, as that's what writers should be. Also, you can hear how working in the police, and also as the director of many companies, influenced his writing.We chat through why his routine is to simply sit down and get on with it, how to deal with missing the word count, and why he wanted to take a break from the DCI Daley stories.Get 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Dann McDorman is an Emmy-nominated news producer, working for MSNBC in New York. His debut novel is 'West Heart Kill', which is something particularly unique. It places the reader at the heart of the mystery. Dann invites you in to an exclusive country club to be an active guest over a holiday weekend... when the bodies start dropping.We discuss the decision to put a singular twist on the crime mystery genre, and how it wasn't supposed to end up that way at all. You can hear how he began writing with no idea what would happen... only for his detective to ask questions he, as a writer, had to answer.Dann runs through why he doesn't write linearly, why he likes to write outisde, and how he might change the way he writes as he publishes more novels.You can get 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

This week, we're chatting to D.L. Douglas and Donna Hay at the same time. For D.L. see Donna, and Donna see D.L. Donna Hay has published many saga novels, and worked as a journalist across magazines. She's now dipping her ink into historical crime mystery, as D.L. Douglas and her novel, 'Dr. Spilsbury and the Camden Town Killer'. It features the real life 1920's forensic pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury. It's a golden age mystery that meets CSI. We discuss how structuring crime stories and saga books are completely different, and how she refocuses her mind when switching genre, and how she deals with a year of writing stories for different audiences.You can hear what she always tells herself when she begins a book, how she found the voice of Dr. Spilsbury, why her dream of a white board soon got overwhelming, and we get a new acronym to live by!Get 10% off Plottr, at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

This week we're chatting to Claire Daverley. Her new novel is 'Talking at Night', which tells the story of Will and Rosie, two polar opposites who fall in love and are destined to be together forever, until a tragedy shatters their future.We discuss how much Claire thought about genre, and how she learned from working in the industry. Also, you can hear how she dealt with rejections and went to a writing course which helped her move into a new frame of writing mind. We run through why she takes time to create the right mood, how a house move has switched things up for her, and how Claire is dealing with a full day's worth of writing.Get 10% off Plottr at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Sarah Moorhead is busy. She's a doer who wants to achieve. She's been a teacher, a Chaplain, started youth-groups, has a black-belt in kickboxing, and writes novels. She published 'Witness X' in 2020, and is back with 'The Treatment'.The novel is all about the future of law enforcement. It looks at how ground-breaking technology could alter what we think of criminals... only psychiatrist Grace Gunnarsson discovers it could let people get away with murder.We chat through the 'what if?' that started the whole plot off, also why her creativity with books extends to more than just writing them, and why she likes to keep busy. You can hear extensively about her writing desk, why she keeps advice from other authors in her mind, and how much she thought about genre.You can get 10% off Plottr on this link - go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

This week, we're joined by Nick Hunt. He's worked as a journalist and travel writer, publishing 'Outlandish', 'Where the Wild Winds Are', and 'Walking the Woods and the Water'. We discuss how he fell into becoming a travel writer, and how in reality it got in the way of his novel writing.He's published 'Red Smoking Mirror', an alternate history set in 1521, in the Mexican City of Tenochtitlan, in which 29 years earlier, Islamic Spain never fell to the Christians, and Andalus launched a voyage of discovery to the New Maghreb. We talk about how he blended his own experiences travelling, with historical fact, to create fiction.Also you can hear why it surprised him to not be in control of everything, why writing and plotting feels like travelling, and why he's passionate about page-setups.You can get 10% off the software Plottr, at go.plottr.com/routineSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

Today's episode is sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.

You don't have to look far to discover the supposed controversy around all things AI. Whether it's ChatGPT or a hundred other tools and apps that are based in AI, writers today must come to grips with if, and how, we are going to use these tools ethically. And ultimately, we have to ask ourselves what unique contribution we make as human beings when algorithms and AI seem to be taking over the world. I'm excited to bring you this conversation today with a writer who's thought about these issues and can give us some perspective. Todd Brison is an optimist who writes. He's an Amazon best-selling author and award-winning ghostwriter featured in Inc. Magazine, TIME, and CNBC. Back in his corporate days, he worked on a global marketing team in Paris, France, so most of his ideas work across many cultures. When he's not pounding the keyboard, you'll find him walking his spoiled French bulldog, drinking dandelion coffee in the kitchen with his wife Kate, or taking a bath with a book. Todd and I work through several questions around AI, such as: - Should writers be afraid of AI and ChatGPT? - What can writers add that those tools can't provide? - What are the best ways writers can use those tools ethically? - Where do you see AI heading in the next year, or few years? I hope this conversation gives you guidance and clarity about your own approach to AI. And, many thanks to my good friend Jared Odle for introducing me to Todd! * * * A big thank you to our sponsors, who keep this email free for readers: Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE. Today's episode is also sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.