Writing Roots

S50E1 – Addressing Common Excuses

01 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to 2024! It’s a new year and many people across the world are setting those resolutions and goals. Among those goals to clean up, get fit, o...

S49 Bonus – Writing Roots Blooper Reel

30 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To end the year with a touch of levity, we decided to collect some of our best bloopers from 2023 and compile them for our final bonus episode of the ...

S49E8 – What Do I Do If All I’m Writing is Dialogue?

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you find yourself writing only dialogue – or vice versa – it’s not always a bad thing. First of all, you’re writing! That alone is an accom...

S49E7 – How Do I Determine Comp Titles for My Book?

25 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A major part of querying and even marketing is finding the right comp titles for your book. It’s a tricky business, though, to find ones that both f...

S49E6 – If I Want to Be a Career Author, Should I Stick to One Genre?

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is a question we see a lot in the writing spaces where newer authors are looking for advice as they set off on their careers. There seems to be a...

S49E5 – Why Does My Writing Seem Basic Even When I Have a Big Vocabulary?

18 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s happened to all of us at some point. We sit down to write, and the only thing our brains can think of in the moment are the most basic words. I...

S49E4 – What is the Difference Between a Complete Monster and a Regular One?

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are a variety of monsters you can have in your writing, and not all of them appear like monsters at first glance. When we dig into what a monste...

S49E3 – How Do I Build a Military for a Spec Fic Story?

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you are creating a story that is heavy with war, battles or politics, you may need to build a military structure for your worldbuilding. That will ...

S49E2 – Is Having Multiple POVs the Same as Head Hopping?

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is a question we see a lot in the writing forums and discussion groups: Is head hopping the same thing as having multiple points of view within a...

S49E1 – Why Do You Have a Podcast?

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every December, we try to answer the questions we’ve received throughout the year that don’t quite fit into a normal season theme. This first ques...

S48E9 – How to Identify Sexism

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Intentional or not, it is important to recognize when writing is sexist. It can be as simple as how you describe different characters to the stereotyp...

S48E8 – How to Identify When Nothing Happens

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Readers want a story to keep moving forward, whether that’s the plot or character development. When we are writing, however, it can be all to easy t...

S48 Bonus – How to Identify Progress in Writing, AKA The Blackmail Episode

25 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every writing journey has to start somewhere. No writer out there started with perfect stories, even the bestselling authors we know and love. One thi...

S48E7 – How to Identify Head Hopping

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Head hopping is one of those problems that, unless you know what to look for, you probably don’t realize you’re doing. Unlike an omniscient point ...

S48E6 – How to Identify Contradictions in Writing

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s too easy to accidentally create contradictions in your writing. Often it happens at the sentence level, coming through in the form of gerunds o...

S48E5 – How to Identify Poor and Excessive Descriptions

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There is a delicate balance to providing descriptions to the readers. Write too little and your characters are empty shapes on a blank stage. Too much...

S48E4 – How to Identify Sentences with Too Many Characters

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nothing can confuse a reader quite like having too many characters in a single sentence. This is especially the case when pronouns get involved. This ...

S48E3 – How to Identify: Extra Adjectives and Adverbs

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re trying to pare down a complicated sentence, you may want to look for any extra adjectives and adverbs. While clarity and descriptions are ...

S48E2 – How to Identify a Confusing Timeline

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Keeping a cohesive timeline through your story is more than simply maintaining an order of scenes. Even sentences can be out of order, causing little ...

S48E1 – How to Identify Good Writing

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We talk a lot on this podcast on how to fix problems with your writing or story. The most difficult aspect of that is figuring out if there’s even a...

S47E9 – Adding Foreshadowing During Editing

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There may come a time, especially if you’re a pantser or a flexible plotter, that you’ll find yourself needing to add foreshadowing during your ed...

S47 Bonus – How Not to Foreshadow

28 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Foreshadowing is a delicate matter when it comes to storytelling, which means there are many ways to do it wrong. In this episode, we talk about the m...

S47E8 – Foreshadowing a Descent into Villainy

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

True villainy is about the choices a character makes. If you want to write a story where your main character descends to become the villain, you need ...

S47E7 – How to Foreshadow Enemies to Lovers

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Enemies to Lovers is one of BookTok’s favorite tropes, yet it so often executed incorrectly. To create a relationship progression that doesn’t fee...

S47E6 – Foreshadowing Through a Character’s Descent into Madness

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the ways you can foreshadow is through the use of an unreliable narrator, specifically one who is descending into madness. Throughout the first...

S47E5 – Symbolic Foreshadowing

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Symbolism is a great tool to hint at what it is to come in your story. This is the kind of element your school teachers might have pointed to in class...

S47E4 – Prophecies and Omniscience as Foreshadowing

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are many ways to have prophecies in your story act as foreshadowing, even if they aren’t mystical and blatant events. It could be as simple as...

S47E3 – Foreshadowing Through Dialogue

09 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dialogue can be a powerful way to foreshadow what is to come, whether intentional to the character or not. It can be anything from a joking comment to...

S47E2 – Foreshadowing: Breadcrumbs and Misdirection

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Foreshadowing is a tool that takes careful planning and often shows up a few times through the course of the story before the event it foretells takes...

S47E1 – Using Passive Foreshadowing

02 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Foreshadowing has been a popular literary tool for centuries. We see it in Shakespeare’s collection and in ancient Greek tales. Good foreshadowing c...

S46 Bonus – About Writing Contests with Rebecca van Laer of Reedsy

30 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When we got a series of questions from our listeners regarding writing contests, we decided to get in contact with an expert. Rebecca van Laer is a wr...

S46E8 – Writing for Anthologies

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An anthology is a collection of stories or poems, often by a variety of authors, centered around a common theme. These are a great opportunity for new...

S46E7 – A Look at Writing Contest Judging

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you want to enter your stories into writing contests, it’s good to go in knowing what to expect. From having an understanding of the contest and ...

S46E6 – The “Don’ts” of Writing Contests

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Most of this month is dedicated to helping you know what to do when writing for and submitting to story contests. In this episode, we want to summariz...

S46E5 – Formatting for a Writing Contest

18 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

While every contest will have its own rules and guidelines for submission, there are some general standards across the industry that you can follow no...

S46E4 – Editing for a Short Story Contest

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Before you submit your short story (or any piece of writing) to a contest, you absolutely must edit it. This is more than simply checking for punctuat...

S46E3 – Writing for Short Story Contests

11 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Writing a short story, especially with the goal of entering contests, means breaking down the standard storytelling structure into its basic parts. It...

S46E2 – Finding the Right Writing Contest

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are many different writing contests out there, especially in this digital age. Anyone can technically host a contest and charge a fee for submis...

S46E1 – Different Types of Writing Contests

04 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Writing contests can be a foot in the door or a way to gain experience for authors of all kinds. There are many different contests you can enter, from...

S45E9 – The Editor’s Toolkit

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every editor needs to be prepared with a variety of tools at their disposal in order to help authors. From editing/writing programs to technical knowl...

S45E8 – How to Charge for Editing

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are a variety of ways you can make money from editing, but you have to have an honest understanding of your ability, experience and skill. Three...

S45 Bonus – Being an Author Editors Want to Work With

26 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A good author/editor relationship is the basis for any good editing project. They need to communicate and coordinate with each other so the story can ...

S45E7 – Questions for the Author/Editor Interview

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Editors and authors need to have a good relationship. They need to have open communication and a mutual understanding of the goals for the book or sto...

S45E6 – Personal Editing Cheat Sheets

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Even the best editors need reference guides. We all have those words we simply can’t spell (and spellcheck may not be able to fix it) or rules we ju...

S45E5 – Style Guides for Editing

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You’ve probably heard of official style guides, such as Chicago or MLA. These are standardized guidelines for how to format words, punctuation, and ...

S45E4 – The Job of a Proofreader

14 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The work of the proofreader is the final filter for a story before it goes out into the world. These are the people whose whole purpose is to catch mi...

S45E3 – The Job of a Line Editor

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When most people think of editing fiction novels, they often think of the line editor. This is the person looking at the sentence structure, word choi...

S45E2 – The Job of a Developmental Editor

07 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are many kinds of roles you can take if you want to become an editor. If you like being involved early in the process, helping guide an author t...

S45E1 – Becoming an Editor

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Editing is a vital part of the publishing process, whether you’re a self-published author or looking into traditional publishing. But what about tho...

Extended Archives: When a Story Meanders

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you want to captivate your readers, a good beginning is essential. Even more so, however, is the story needs to continue to hold them. When the plo...

Extended Archives: Choosing the Right Title

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Picking the right name for a book is about more than what sounds good to you or what feels right for the story. It is important to look at the title a...

Extended Archives: The Problems with Bad Blocking

05 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Choreography is usually something you think of in relation to plays and movies. As authors, however, having appropriate choreography as your character...

S44E9 – The Denouement and Epilogue

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The last few pages of a book are what’s known as the denouement or falling action. This is where your main plot gets tied into a neat bow and the ch...

S44E8 – During Act III: The Interior Plot

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The final act is where everything comes together. The main character’s arc reaches its breaking points, and then they succeed. A lot goes into this ...

S44 Bonus – Using AI in the Arts

24 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a hot topic in the world today. From funny TikTok filters to a partial cause for the WGA strike, AI is becoming a l...

S44E7 – During Act III: The Exterior Plot

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Everything you’ve been writing has built to this moment. While Act I draws the reader in and Act II keeps them around, Act III is where their percep...

S44E6 – During Act II: The Interior Plot

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Most of a character’s growth will happen during act two. This is where they face the most challenges, have opportunity to doubt the lie they believe...

S44E5 – Plot: The Halfway Point

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The halfway point is an often overlook key moment in stories and story creation. Yet it is vital for the character arc and the plot as a whole. It’s...

S44E4 – During Act II: The Exterior Plot

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Act II is where everything happens. It’s when the characters go through the necessary challenges to learn, grow, and change. It’s when the villain...

S44E3 – During Act I: The Interior Plot

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The first act is a key piece in establishing your character. It’s during this time that you need to show who they are, what they want, and what they...

S44E2 – During Act I: The Exterior Plot

05 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Plots often have two aspects: interior and exterior. The exterior part is often the main conflict with a villain or antagonist of some kind. In most k...

S44E1 – Plot: Before Act 1

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We are on to our third pillar of storytelling: plot. Even pantsers need to have a plot to their story. But what is a plot? What happens when? Througho...

S43E9 – Characters: Inanimate Objects

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Not all characters have to have a speaking role to be influential to the plot. One type of character you may consider is an inanimate object. These ca...

S43 Bonus – Successes and Failure of the Characters

27 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Each character needs both successes and failure. This is important especially for your main protagonist(s). They need to struggle, to fight, but they ...

S43E8 – Characters: The Greek Chorus

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Greek Chorus is a character type most often used, but least often recognized outright. In a few examples, such as Disney’s Hercules, the Greek C...

S43E7 – Characters: The Society

22 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A society can be its own kind of character within a story, designed to be the support system for the main character. It can be the team for a heist, t...

S43E6 – Characters: The Villain’s Chorus

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bad guys need helpers. These can be characters to help carry out their plan, to be roadblocks for the protagonist, or even to be the comedic relief. T...

S43E5 – Characters: The Comedic Relief

15 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Even if you’re telling a grim story, having a character to fulfil the role of comedic relief can go a long way in holding your readers. This charact...

S43E4 – Characters: The Secret Ingredient

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the process of crafting a story, you may find that you need a character that will turn the tides. Not your main character or maybe not even one of ...

S43E3 – Characters: Secondary Characters

08 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You will find in most stories that the main character is surrounded by a supporting cast. These secondary characters often fill specific roles as they...

S43E2 – Characters: The Mentor

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Even if you aren’t telling a Hero’s Journey story, you may have a mentor in your cast. They don’t have to be the wizened old person who lives as...

S43E1 – Characters: The Sidekick

01 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This month, we are covering the second of the three pillars of storytelling: characters. Without characters, there is no story. But it’s more than s...

S42 Bonus – When Not to Worldbuild

29 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Part of your job in worldbuilding is knowing when to stop. Knowing when you don’t actually need to give the information to the readers, or even know...

S42E8 – Worldbuilding: Creating a Multiverse

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is our 400th episode! Thank you to all of our followers and supporters for helping us make it this long talking about writing. The concept of a m...

S42E7 – Worldbuilding: Make it Accessible

24 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When you build your world, you also need to consider how the reader will understand what you’ve created. If you throw a bunch of new words at them w...

S42E6 – Worldbuilding: Make it Explorable

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Fans love getting immersed in the worlds of the media they consume. This can be anything from detailed worldbuilding to providing them with ways to ma...

S42E5 – Worldbuilding: Make it Immersive

17 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Scene-setting is one of the hardest parts of the author’s job, especially if you’re dealing with made-up worlds and locations. Even if you’re ba...

S42E4 – Worldbuilding: Make it Real

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Even if you are writing fantasy, sci-fi or any other speculative fiction, you need to make your worldbuilding feel real. There needs to be reason and ...

S42E3 – Worldbuilding: Make it Small

10 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Zooming in is one of the most powerful tools of storytelling. The same goes for the worldbuilding. Authors can, at times, get wrapped up in the expans...

S42E2 – Worldbuilding: Make it Personal

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Readers explore the world through the eyes of your character. This means that if you want to make your worldbuilding real to your reader, you need to ...

S42E1 – Pillars of Storytelling: Before You Begin

03 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Storytelling rests on three main pillars: the world, the characters, and the plot. All three should work together to help you craft a story that will ...

S41E9 – Writing Emotions: Confusion

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Characters don’t always know what’s happening as the plot unfolds. When they get confused, as the author, it is your job to make sure the reader i...

S41E8 – Writing Emotions: Happiness

27 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

While this is one of the four core emotions we have covered before, we wanted to take a deeper dive into it. Happiness is often forgotten in storytell...

S41 Bonus – Playing it Close to the Chest

25 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Characters have secrets. It’s a given, really, in the realm of storytelling. Some characters, however, have more secrets than others. In this episod...

S41E7 – Writing Emotions: Guilty and Apologetic

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Guilt weights heavily on many protagonists in a story. It’s not often an emotion felt by the villain, though it can be the root for a different emot...

S41E6 – Writing Emotions: Smugness

20 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Whether it’s a lovable but infuriating protagonist or a punchable antagonist, it is quite common to include a character whose defining trait is smug...

S41E5 – Writing Emotion: Vengeance

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Much like courage, the emotion of vengeance is easily a plot device. It’s common enough in stories and has seen a rise in popularity with the morall...

S41E4 – Writing Emotions: Physical Pain

13 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you ever write a physical conflict, pain will be a key element to the story. Too many authors forget about injuries or gloss over the reality of wh...

S41E3 – Writing Emotions: Terror and Horror

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

While similar, terror and horror are two different ways to represent fear in your story. Knowing when to apply each one is the important part. Most ch...

S41E2 – Writing Emotions: Courage

06 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Courage is one of the niche emotions that nearly every book will contain regardless of genre, age group or tropes. Protagonists especially will have a...

S41E1 – Writing Emotions: Reverence

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout March, we will be covering a variety of specific emotions, starting with reverence. This is not solely a religious emotion. A character can...

S40E8 – The Post-Launch Mindset

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In some ways, releasing a book to the world means it’s no longer yours. The world and its characters belong to the audience. However, the responsibi...

S40 Bonus – Crafting a Book Blurb with Jessie of Book Blurb Magic

25 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A book blurb is one of the most important steps on the road to publishing. A blurb – that text on the back of your book or in the website descriptio...

S40E7 – The Pre-Launch Mindset

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There is a lot of work that goes into publishing a book beyond writing. Getting into the right mindset and having a checklist of things to accomplish ...

S40E6 – Why to Get a Sensitivity Reader

20 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Having representation in fiction is important. It reflects the reality of our world to have a varied character base. This includes having characters w...

S40E5 – Writing an Author Bio

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve said before, when you market your books, you want to market yourself as an author. You want people to be as much a fan of you as they are of y...

S40E4 – Meeting Target Word Counts

13 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Audiences have certain expectations for books, from the plot and themes to how long it should be. And while there is no set standard and plenty of exc...

S40E3 – What Makes a Good Chapter

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you divide your chapters as you write or do it as you edit, picking the right beginning and end of each chapter is vital. It can dictate the f...

S40E2 – Finding Motivation to Edit

06 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Editing your story is vital, but it can be one of the most difficult things to begin. Writers often have a passion, a fire driving them to continue to...

S40E1 – Accepting Imperfection

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When you are getting a book ready for publishing, the first step is going to be accepting that the book will never be perfect. And then you need to ac...