Dear Writer

This week on Dear Writer we tried out another creative exercise. This involved creating a scene between two characters, using only gestures to have a conversation. Listen in to find out how we found the exercise and how we think it could be useful for creativity and writing.

This week, we continue our discussion about creating side characters. We talk about the difference between flat and round characters, and how to use them effectively in your novel. We also share our tips for creating compelling supporting characters.

This week, we discuss the importance of side characters in your novel. We talk about the different archetypes of supporting characters, how you can blend archetypes to make your characters more compelling, and try to iron out how many side characters you should have in your novel.

This week on Dear writer we had another of our author spotlight interviews, and we were excited to host Ashley Kaplan. Ashley is a YA fiction author based in Ontario, Canada. Outside of writing, Ashley is a stay-at-home mom of two toddlers and is enjoying discovering a new chapter of her life as a mom and author. We had an interesting discussion about her writing journey and her hopes for expanding her writing career.

This week on Dear Writer we tried another creative exercise from the Reedsy blog, called 'Room'. The instructions were: using a character from your current WIP, describe the room you are currently located in. We tried out the exercise and discussed how we found the experience. If you are are interested in this exercise and would like further information, visit the reedsy blog here: https://blog.reedsy.com/writing-exercises/setting/room/

This week, we continue our discussion about creating compelling protagonists. We chat about character motivations, how supporting characters can aid your protagonist, and give some handy tips for getting to know your hero better.

This week we discussed how to write compelling protagonists. We talked how character flaws and backstory can make your hero's interesting and realistic.

This week on our author spotlight section we had Rhonda Renee. Rhonda is an elementary school teacher with two grown daughters and she enjoys imparting her passion for books in those around her. Rhonda has written two novels; Antique Dreams and Moments in the Soul of a Man. We enjoyed having Rhonda on the podcast and hearing about her writing journey.

This week on Dear Writer, we tried out doing some personality quizzes as our characters. Our chosen quizzes were a Myers Briggs personality test from 16personalities.com, and Love Languages from 5lovelanguages.com. The results we got were unexpected and interesting. We discussed the way we thought this could be used to help write our novels and increase creativity.

This week, we continue our discussion about writing sequels and series. We give some tips about writing a series, chat about some of the technical aspects of series writing, and talk about how different cover designs can help show your book is part of a series.

On this week's craft episode, we discuss writing series and sequels. We chat about the pros and cons of writing a series versus a standalone novel, and some of the writing elements that need to be considered before embarking on a series.

This week on our Author Spotlight we had Sue Glamuzina and Kynan Wright, the organizers of the Auckland Writers' Anthology, 'Tales of the Domain'. We both partook in this Anthology, and it was interesting to have a behind-the-scenes chat to glean how the anthology was created. Click here --> https://mybook.to/talesofthedomain

This week on Dear Writer we tried another creative exercise, called "eight" which Ashley found on the Reedsy blog. It involved using the 8th sentence from the 8th chapter of a random fiction book, and using it to create a poem eight lines long which relates to your current work in progress.

This week we continued with our discussion of short fiction, in particular discussing short stories. We talked of our (limited) experience in writing short stories and how we had found the experience coming from a background of primarily novel writing.

This time on Dear Writer we talked about writing short fiction. In part one, we discussed what short fiction is and some of the elements of short fiction that are important in creating an engaging story.