WM20 I Wish My Characters Would Drive me Mad
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
Release Date: 12/02/2018
WM36 Why You Should Take Part in NaNoWriMo (and why I'm pausing this show)
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
The last episode of the current season! Pilar talks about what she's gained from taking part in previous s and encourages anyone who's been thinking of writing a novel to try it too. What is NaNoWriMo Community aspect You commit for a month, that might be easier You discover the story I learned to sit and write - at least to sit and start Learn what works, what doesn't Helps you to talk about writing without saying you're a writer Why Pilar is pausing her novel writing and this podcast. If you're looking for podcast help, get in touch via
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WM35 You Create When You Start Writing
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
In today's episode, Pilar talks about: Why she's stuck. How the story's changed once she got writing, and how the idea can develop. What's she learned from Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman What's she's incorporated from Scott King's Story Pitch Here's the link to exporting synopses from Scrivener She also mentions Austin Kleon's clarification of what he means by Show Your Work, in his interview in the What You Will Learn podcast. You can find her Trello board here and you can get in touch with her through
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WM34 Making a Character Active
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
Pilar has realised that all her character was doing was living in the past, but she has a couple of things she's going to try to make the character more active. Following feedback from her writing coach, she now needs to almost go back to the drawing board, but this presents plenty of opportunities to make the piece richer. Plus: Thinking Remote: Inspiration for leaders of distributed teams is now out in audiobook format.
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WM33 Writing Fiction vs Writing Non-Fiction
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
You'd think it's obvious, but it's taken Pilar quite a while to realise the main difference between writing a non-fiction book and writing a novel. Pilar recommends Anne Janzer’s excellent book on writing non-fiction, "Writing to Be Understood: What Works and Why". A little bit of progress on Pilar's own editing the novel. Check out the Trello board for book recommendations and Pilar's website for more info
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WM32 Why Do We Write?
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
Why do we write? I struggled so much during the re-write that I almost threw it all away and gave up this "I want to write fiction" thing. Why I didn't: I hate dropping stuff before giving it a proper go - that's why I went to drama school I'm learning a lot I know that what I'm doing is hard, so if I get through it, or almost there, it will be amazing I'm paying for the process! I still don't know why we write / create art 2. Really glad I put the work in, because apparently, the writing has improved. Now the problem is the story, but that's ok, because that's fun. Now I've gone back to...
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WM31 Do Not Wait for Inspiration, Bad Habits and Dialogue
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
Pilar updates listeners on her writing retreat and how it's difficult to explain to people who don't write that writing is not driven by inspiration. She shares her struggle with technique and the bad writing habits she's discovered. This episode's wisdom is on using dialogue as exposition, borrowed from Into the Woods by John Yorke. For book recommendations: And to find out more about me and get in touch:
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WM30 Working through Feedback
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
I've finally received some feedback, at a micro and macro level.
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WM29 Not Writer's Block but Writer's Discomfort
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
Today I share how I'm struggled to write a scene which was hard for the character to go through.
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WM28 Discovering a story through journaling
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
Having never "journaled" before, Pilar has started a writing journal to help her identify the bits that need fixing.
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WM27 Editing for Point of View
Word Maze - what I'm learning about writing
Pilar has started working with a coach, and so now the hard work begins!
info_outlineWell, I really wish my characters had a life of their own and were destroying my plot, but, it's not really happening - though, as I was recording for this episode, I realised that yes, one of them has thrown in something unexpected.
Today's quoted books:
Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith
Fiction Attack! Insider Secrets for Writing and Selling Your Novels & Stories by James Scott Bell
And if you're thinking of podcasting, check out Alitu.com
https://trello.com/b/3LUWiqsc/pilars-nanowrimo2018-learning-and-podcasting-board
www.pilarwrites.com