Writing Roots

S39E9 – Using Subtext in Dialogue

30 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When we communicate with each other, most of what is relayed and understood has nothing to do with the words we actually say. When you’re dealing wi...

S39 Bonus – Giving Your Characters Choices

28 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Choices are the crux of your character’s progression through a story. Those choices will paint the picture about who your character is and what is i...

S39E8 – Starting Sentences Without Using the MC’s Pronoun

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve been writing for any length of time, you may have noticed a habit that is easy to fall into. From new to experienced writers, all of us ha...

S39E7 – Understanding Psychic Distance for Your Writing

23 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Psychic distance is a useful tool to understand in order to improve your writing in a way that will help the reader connect with the story. After all,...

S39E6 – Knowing How to Use Italics in Your Novel

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Emphasis can completely change the meaning of a sentence. Too much emphasis and the sentence looses meaning entirely. That’s why knowing how and whe...

S39E5 – Going Outside Your Writing Comfort Zone

16 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you really want to improve your writing, you need to start pushing yourself. Try things you never would have considered before. Even if it turns ou...

S39E4 – Improving Your Writing Through Short Stories

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Short stories take all of the nuances of crafting a novel and slam them into fewer than ten-thousand words. No, you won’t have a lot of sub-plots or...

S39E3 – Learning to Critically Read

09 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve often said that reading is one of your best tools to learn how to write. It’s more than simply consuming the stories, though. To learn the a...

S39E2 – Giving and Getting Feedback

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An important step in improving your writing is learning how to participate in the feedback process. It’s more than just learning how to to take crit...

S38E1 – Understanding Writing Community Lingo

02 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s time to level up your writing. If you’re new to writing communities, you may be daunted by the amount of acronyms, abbreviations, and jarg...

S38 Bonus – Who Are You?

31 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re new to the podcast, you may have asked these questions. “Who are you? Who are these people telling me about writing?” To wrap up 2022 ...

S38E9 – How Do I Make a Podcast?

29 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A surprising question we get often is “how do I make a podcast?” Though it may not be directly related to writing, it is still a topic we wanted t...

S38E8 – How Do I Write Women/Men?

26 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

New authors are constantly asking how to write someone of a different gender or background. Readers are constantly making fun of authors who wildly mi...

S38E7 – How Do I Write a Story with a Plot Twist?

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A good plot twist is a wonderful addition to a story. It can reframe how the reader views the rest of the story, spark a strong emotional reaction tha...

S38E6 – What Do I Do At a Live Author Event?

19 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Once you’ve hit “publish” on your manuscript, knowing what to do next is overwhelming. You get inundated with all sorts of marketing ideas. For ...

S38E5 – How Do I Add Sensory Details to My Writing?

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of the main jobs an author has is to immerse their audience in the story. One of the most effective ways to do this is to engage all of the reader...

S38E4 – How Do I Kill a Main Character?

12 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Not all main characters have perfect plot armor. There will be times in your writing career where you will need to kill of the main character of your ...

S38E3 – How Do I Write a Scene With Several Active Characters?

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s becoming more and more common to have a large cast of main characters, especially in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. Having a dozen or more name...

S38E2 – How Do I Format My Book For Publishing?

05 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you want to self-publish your book, you may be considering doing the formatting on your own. While we often advise to turn to professionals who kno...

S38E1 – Does Taking a Break Mean I’m Not a Real Writer?

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a question we see frequently. Does taking a break mean I’m not a real writer? Does it mean I’m a bad writer? This is the first question we ...

S37E8 – It’s Published, It Must Be Good

29 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve all done this at some point: picked up a book and assumed it must be of quality because it’s gone through a traditional publishing process. ...

S37 Bonus – Write What You Know

26 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

No piece of advice is shared more often than this: write what you know. We hear it constantly, often as encouragement to help us write better. It’s ...

S37E7 – Those Who Can’t Do, Teach

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you encountered a fork in the road of your author journey, which would you take? One path appears to be a well-groomed road with guidance along the...

S37E6 – Characters Must Be Practically Perfect in Every Way

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Few things are worse for your book than making a character perfect. We don’t mean perfect for the story. That’s a good thing. We mean perfect as i...

S37E5 – You Should Publicly Respond to Criticism of Your Books

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Responding to critics, especially in a public forum, is one of the fastest ways to get people to remember you in all the wrong ways. While this piece ...

S37E4 – Other Authors are Your Competition

14 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Few things are more damaging to the writing community than this thought. Other authors are your competition. Not only is that incorrect, it creates un...

S37E3 – Don’t Write Dark Things, It Just Glorifies Them

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One piece of common bad advice we see among authors is the suggestion that by writing detailed dark topics, the author is glorifying it. They suggest ...

S37E2 – If You’re Good Enough, You Don’t Need a Second Draft

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There are few pieces of advise worse than this one. There is a misconception that to be a truly good author, you don’t need a second draft, that you...

S37E1 – You Should Only Write When You’re Inspired

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Writers get bad advice all of the time. Often, it’s the same pieces of bad advice heard again and again and again. Why, though? If it’s bad, why d...

S36E9 – Dark Psychology: Supernatural Curses

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Supernatural curses have been a large part of storytelling for centuries, if not millennia. Many of us grew up on tales of curses because of Disney mo...

S36 Bonus – The Dark Triad: Psychopathy, Narcissism, and Machiavellianism

29 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers in 2002 coined the phrase The Dark Triad to describe three main personality traits that share often malevolent aspects: psychopathy, narci...

S36E8 – Dark Psychology: Writing Realistic Dissociative Identity Disorder

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), while not understood well in the world of psychology, has been explored in fiction for a long time. Formerly kno...

S36E7 – Dark Psychology: Writing Realistic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

24 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a common element when writing fiction. Authors are known to put their characters through traumatic events ...

S36E6 – Dark Psychology: The Effects of Imprisonment

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Imprisonment has a major effect on the minds of both the captives and the captors, which is important to remember when including this theme in your st...

S36E5 – Dark Psychology: Including Munchausen Syndrome in a Story

17 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re writing a thriller with a caretaker character, you may consider Munchausen Syndrome as a plot device. It’s when someone either pretends ...

S36E4 – Dark Psychology: Brainwashing in Fiction

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Of all the topics we’ll talk about this month, brainwashing is the one with the least basis in reality. Certainly, brainwashing is absolutely a real...

S36E3 – Dark Psychology: Adverse Childhood Experiences

10 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When you’re building a backstory for your main character, it’s likely that you’ll include an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). Psychologists w...

S36E2 – Dark Psychology: Writing Domestic Abuse

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of the more common types of abuse in fiction is a form of domestic abuse. It can range from physical or verbal, to psychological or financial. For...

S36E1 – Dark Psychology: The Use of Gaslighting in Fiction

03 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The human mind can be a dark and scary place, capable of much more evil than most people would even consider possible. As writers, we have a unique ki...

S35E9 – The Confusion Caused by Bad Blocking

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Few things throw readers off in a book like characters or objects suddenly teleporting in middle of a scene. We’re not talking about actual teleport...

S35E8 – When the Cliché is Too Cliché

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve been listening long enough, you’ve heard us tell you that clichés are a good thing. When applied correctly, they can help provide a fra...

S35 Bonus – Bad Writing Distracts from the Book

24 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The last thing any reader wants is to be distracted while they’re reading. There are memes galore about it. What’s worse than someone deciding to ...

S35E7 – Slow Beginnings Ruin Stories

22 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In media res is a common phrase used to describe how to start a story or scene. It means to get into the action quickly, to what really matters right ...

S35E6 – The Problem with Annoying Main Characters

20 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When we talk about main characters being annoying, we aren’t referring to their personality traits which may be annoying in a real person. For reade...

S35E5 – When Characters Make Bad Decisions

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Few things are more annoying than when a character makes a bad decision. We’re not talking about ones which are bad within the context of the world ...

S35E4 – One Impossible Thing in Fiction

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s no secret that people turn to books to find an escape from the reality of the world. It’s why fantasy and science fiction are so popular. Eve...

S35E3 – When There’s Buildup Without a Payoff

08 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Plot points set up within a story need to be resolved. That’s pretty straightforward, right? That, however, is not how it turns out for a lot of new...

S35E2 – Bad Beginnings Ruin a Story

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Start too slow and you bore the reader. Start too quickly and you confuse them. Finding the right balance for the start of your story is essential. Un...

S35E1 – The Problem with Head-Hopping

02 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There are a few red flags in writing that will cause nearly all readers to set down a book and never pick it up again. It can range from something as ...

S34E9 – Two Publishing Paths: Pros and Cons

29 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The path to publishing a book is never the same for different authors. It varies widely depending on the author, their genre, the book itself, and oft...

S34 Bonus – Elements of a Villain

27 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

No story is complete without an antagonist. They don’t need to be the classic, mustache-twirling villain, but there needs to be some point of confli...

S34E8 – How to Know When to Stop

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Writing is a difficult journey. Not every story will come easily and quickly. Sometimes it’s a fight to get the words onto the page. This is why it’...

S34E7 – Imposter Syndrome and Your Writing Skills

22 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Are you a good writer? This is a topic we wanted to revisit because it’s a question that revisits every writer through their career. There is always...

S34E6 – Writing Humor and Comedy

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Comedy is an essential part of most writing. Even if you aren’t focusing on it as a genre, some humor can go a long way in helping readers enjoy you...

S34E5 – The Rule of Three in Writing

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Humans like the number three. Political, religious, societal, and even superstitious structures are often divided into threes. It’s the smallest num...

S34E4 – What’s in a (Book’s) Name?

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Book titles are vital for sales. A title that’s too generic won’t catch a reader’s attention. A title that’s too far from the genre trends wil...

S34E3 – What’s in a (Pen)Name?

08 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Pennames are a hot topic in the writing world. There are a lot of reasons to have one, but just as many to use your own name. The name you publish und...

S34E2 – Plotting vs. Pantsing, Take Two

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Plotting or pantsing? It’s a question of how you decide to take on your writing project. Are you more of an architect who builds out a story before ...

S34E1 – The Lessons We’ve Learned

01 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Writing is a never-ending learning process. In the three years since we started this podcast, we at Writing Roots have grown in our individual writing...

S33E9 – Avoiding the Info Dump: The Villain Monologue

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You’re nearing the end of the story. You need something to tie all of the threads together which you’ve woven through the pages. What better way t...

S33E8 – Avoiding the Info Dump: Within Dialogue

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Just because you have a character say it doesn’t mean you’re actually avoiding exposition. In some ways, having a character share backstory inform...

S33 Bonus – It’s Okay to Info Dump, If You Do It Right

25 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There may come a time in your writing where you simply can’t avoid the exposition. Some piece of history may need to be explained, or you need to di...

S33E7 – Avoiding the Info Dump: Backstory

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Backstory is a wonderful thing that will help make your characters feel rich and developed. Authors need to at least know the important events that le...

S33E6 – Avoiding the Info Dump: Personalities and Descriptions

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of the fastest ways to pull a reader out of the narrative flow of your story is to inundate them with descriptions. This is especially the case wh...

S33E5 – Avoiding the Info Dump: Character Abilities

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Every character has skills. Every character learns new skills. The question is, how do we – as authors – show that? The reader needs to know that ...

S33E4 – Avoiding the Info Dump: Magic Systems

13 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When you’ve spent time and effort creating a magic system for your story, you naturally want people to know just how awesome it really is. The magic...

S33E3 – Avoiding the Info Dump: Your World’s Culture

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It would be impossible to show every aspect of a culture within a story. Whether you’re representing a real culture or creating a fictional one, the...

S33E2 – Avoiding the Info Dump: Your World’s History

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The history of a world, especially when you’re writing science fiction and fantasy, tends to play a large part in the story overall. It is, after al...

S33E1 – Avoiding the Info Dump: Your World’s Politics

02 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Exposition – also known as information dumping – can drag a story down more effectively than any other form of bad writing. When you spend too muc...

S32E9 – Misunderstandings Between the Reader and the Story

30 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Misunderstandings happen. Sometimes it’s the reader skimming too fast and missing a detail. Sometimes it’s the author who named two characters too...

S23 Bonus – Evoking the Right Emotions in the Reader

28 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Emotions are complicated, difficult things that tie humanity together or break them apart. Emotions are what keep readers invested in stories. Readers...

S32E8 – The Debate About Trigger Warnings

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Content and trigger warnings are becoming increasingly obvious throughout our daily lives. Warnings in the form of ratings have been around for a whil...

S32E7 – The Reader and the Fourth Wall

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Readers are fully aware that they’re reading a book. However, for just a moment, they pretend they’re inside the story, that they are the characte...

S32E6 – How Tropes and Clichés Play Into Reader Psychology

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Readers have come to expect certain things from books, including certain tropes and clichés that help establish pieces of the story within a line or ...

S32E5 – The Psychology of Names and Sounds

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Meme culture has given us plenty of names with strong stereotype associations. Karen, Chad, and Kyle, for example. As an author, it’s good to keep i...

S32E4 – Because I Said So: When Readers Accept Fudged Facts

12 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There are some things that reader will simply accept as fact because they are reading fiction. We’re not talking about magic or futuristic science. ...

S32E3 – Impact of Opinions on the Reader

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It is impossible to keep opinion out of your writing. It is impossible to keep current events from swaying the flow of a story. Both of these things c...

S32E2 – Reading to Escape

05 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Why do you read? That simple question determines so much about how authors approach their books. Whether they’re writing a cook book or an epic f...

S32E1 – The Mechanics of Reading

03 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Part of becoming a successful author is knowing your target audience. You need to know what they like, the kinds of stories that will interest them, a...

S31 Bonus – Using Writing Skills from Multiple Mediums

30 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Part of why we’ve taken this whole month to introduce you to the writing skills involved in various kinds of storytelling is because all of those sk...

S31E8 – The Art of Writing Monologues for Actors

28 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re not looking for much notoriety, but enjoy writing flash and short fiction, consider getting into the world of actor monologues. These time...

S31E7 – Finding Story Within Gaming

25 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s no secret that our hosts are into gaming. We talk about Dungeons & Dragons constantly, especially how to use it to build characters. It’s...

S31E6 – Artistic Storytelling Through Comics

21 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of the easiest ways to consume a story is through a visual medium, which includes comic books or web comics. All it takes is a bit of artistic ski...

S31E5 – Journalistic Storytelling

18 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re looking to get paid to write, a good place to look is in journalism. Even if you don’t want to stay in the field, it’s a wonderful lea...

S31E4 – Stories in Advertising and Commercials

14 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re interested in making money with flash fiction, consider advertising. Honestly. Good commercials and ads tell some kind of story. They pres...

S31E3 – What Makes Playwriting Unique

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you decide to write a script for a play, there are certain things you need to know and understand about the world of stage acting. Though some of t...

S31E2 – Writing for the Silver Screen

07 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Probably the second most-desired route to take as an author, besides writing for novels, would be writing screenplays. Choosing to write for movies or...

S31E1 – Storytelling for the Internet: Blogging, YouTubing, and Podcasting

04 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re looking to get into writing but the idea of writing a whole novel is daunting, this series is for you. We’re starting off our series abo...

S30E9 – Coming of Age Stories

31 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of the main staples in any Young Adult fiction is the Coming of Age theme. This is when the main character experiences personal growth and change ...

S30E8 – The Odd Couple

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One way to keep the tension – whether comedic, romantic, or dramatic – going within a story is to make two characters at odds with each other thro...

S30BE – The Unreliable Narrator

26 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Not every narrator in a story needs to know everything. They don’t have to be omniscient, nor does the knowledge the get and share with the reader n...

S30E7 – The Fake Dating Experience

24 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Among popular romance tropes, the Fake Dating scheme can be seen again and again. This is when two characters begin dating out of a mutual need rather...

S30E6 – Heist Stories, aka The Caper

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A good heist plot line can fit neatly into nearly every genre of writing. It’s part of what contributes to the trop being such a popular one. There’...

S30E5 – A Descent Into Villainy and Madness

17 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Not every character arc is a progression upwards into goodness. We can’t all be the hero who prevails and becomes brighter for it. Sometimes, the ma...

S30E4 – The Portal Fantasy

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

While this plot trope is often restricted to certain genres (implied in the title), Portal Fantasies can be versatile and interesting, no matter how m...

S30E3 – The Locked Room Mystery

10 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

People love a good mystery. It’s the intrigue and the puzzle that draws readers in and keeps them enthralled with the story. One of the best plot tr...

S30E2 – Rags to Riches

07 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rags to Riches has long been a popular trope in fiction. It occasionally falls out of favor (especially during times of widespread poverty), but alway...

S30E1 – Enemies to Lovers

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Enemies to Lovers has been around for centuries, but it has recently become an incredibly popular trope. Authors and other writers have used this trop...

S29E8 – Making the Most of Keywords and Blurbs

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Keywords are the vital piece of marketing which people never see, but rely upon in order to find what they want. As an author, you need to use the bes...

S29 Bonus – Marketing Professionals with Janine Pangantihon

26 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You don’t have to go on the marketing journey alone. There are people out there who specialize in the field – specifically in selling books – th...