If writing a lot and cranking out hundreds of thousands of words was all it took to be a great writer, then many people would have turned pro years and years ago. But it just does not work that way. So, yes, keep practicing your craft by writing and, yes, keep reading books to see how published authors have constructed their stories, but also get feedback on your pages. Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming, so each week, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So, whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started.

In today's episode, we're going to do something a little fun and different. Since we're nearing the end of 2024, I thought it would be fun to continue with last week's theme of lessons learned over the past 12 months. Now, I hope some of the lessons that you've learned this year came from this podcast, and I hope you walked away each week with a new strategy to implement or a new idea to explore and, most of all, I hope you're closer to accomplishing your big, beautiful writing goals. So, as we inch our way closer to counting down until the ball drops, I wanted to count down some of the best clips from the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast in 2024. You're going to hear clips from the top 10 most listened to episodes, so I know it's going to be full of good stuff.

So, with all of that being said, let's dive right in, starting with tip number 10. With all of that being said, let's dive right in, starting with tip number 10. The first tip on the list tip number 10, comes from episode number 135, mastering, point of View and Voice Expert Tips from Gabriela Pereira of DIY MFA, and in this episode we talk about some point of view, best practices, as well as where writers tend to go wrong or feel confused when it comes to point of view. In this clip, gabriela talks about what she calls the narrator's sphere of knowledge. I won't spoil it for you, so let's dive right into the clip.

So the thing with point of view, like the most important thing to understand, to really wrap your head around what point of view is and how it works, is you have to understand that it's all about sphere of knowledge. So, like the narrator, the entity that's telling the story has a certain sphere of knowledge. You, the writer, have a bigger sphere of knowledge. You know more things than the narrator necessarily knows, because you need to know all of those things like who your character's third grade teacher was and all of that stuff so that you can write amazing characters. But that doesn't need to go into the book. And then the narrator's sphere of knowledge isn't necessarily the same sphere of knowledge as the characters. So there are going to be some characters who have information and know things that are outside the range of what the narrator has access to. And the narrator's access is what's going to determine how you tell your story. So, going back to your question, how do you choose your point of view? There's sort of two things. One of them is sort of artistic preference.

Do you have a certain point of view that speaks to you? Like there's some people who they can only write in the first person. That is their jam. That is how they write, that is how they experience their characters. I'll admit, that tends to be my direction as well. I tend to lean into first person a bit more than third person. But that's an artistic choice. But then there's also the logistical choice, like, do you need to be able to get inside the head of your villain? If that's the case, then maybe a multiple point of view is the way to go, because then you can be in one character's point of view in chapter one and then in the villain's point of view in chapter two and then back to the protagonist's point of view. Because I think a lot of people kind of think oh, like first person's my way of doing things and that's how I'm going to do it, and then they paint themselves into a corner where they need access to a character's brain and they just don't have that access. Like, what are they going to do?

All right. This next clip comes from episode number 139. That's called five multiple point of View Mistakes and how to Avoid them, and you guessed it in the episode I share what not to do when writing a story with multiple point of view characters. But this tip is about dual timeline stories, which may or may not contain multiple points of view. So let's take a listen.

Now I want to talk about dual timeline novels for a second, because dual timeline stories are different from stories with multiple points of view that intersect. So dual timeline novels have two separate but parallel storylines set in different periods. Typically there's going to be one timeline set in the present and one timeline set at a point in the past. So they offer two different but connected plots. Each plot line in a dual timeline story is going to have its own main characters, its own specific settings and time periods. So on all accounts they are two stories that are distinct but somehow connected, and they're usually connected by the parallels that exist between them, which helps to harmonize the two different realities or the two different timelines.

So an example of a dual timeline novel this is something like the Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. In this story there are two timelines. The first is in the 1700s, which revolves around a woman named Nella who runs an apothecary, and long story short, a 12-year-old patron makes a fatal mistake which kicks off a string of consequences that echo from her timeline out through the centuries. In a different timeline, in present-day London, there is a character named Caroline who stumbles upon a clue to the unresolved apothecary murders that haunted London 200 years ago. So it's a dual timeline story that's connected by these murders 200 years ago. So it's a dual timeline story that's connected by these murders. Now, in contrast to that think about something like Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo there are six main point of view characters technically seven if you include the first point of view, which only appears once and all six of these point of view characters are brought together by the heist that makes up the plot. So they're all connected and affected by the heist, and all of the plot lines occur in the same time period. Okay, so the key point here is to make sure that if you're writing a true multi-point of view novel, you want to make sure that the point of view characters are all connected in some way. So, generally speaking, this means your point of view characters should be in a relationship together, have their fates bound together and or face a common form of conflict. This is what connects them together and allows you to weave their individual storylines together to create a cohesive whole.

Alright, tip number eight comes from episode number 130, how to Craft Romantic Chemistry and Tension Between Characters, and in this clip you'll hear three ingredients for sizzling chemistry between your characters. Now, if this sounds interesting, or if this tip piques your interest, you'll definitely want to check out this episode, because I do a whole breakdown of the chemistry and tension between Violet Sorengale and Zayden Ryerson in Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros, and I compared their chemistry to that of Violet and Dane Atos. So it's kind of fun. I'll put that link in the show notes for you, but here is the clip. So, with all of this character work, what you're ultimately looking for when crafting chemistry between characters are three ingredients.

Number one vulnerability. Number two, desire. And number three, resistance. Okay, so when I say vulnerability, I'm referring to the willingness to show emotion or let one's weaknesses, insecurities, fears and or hopes and dreams be seen by another person. Okay, so that's number one. When I talk about desire, I'm referring to the strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen, and since we're talking about relationships, you know we can say of wanting something to accept or comply with something, or the attempt to prevent something by action or argument. So we want to identify the vulnerability, the desire and the resistance that's occurring between these two characters. If you can identify how your characters will be vulnerable with each other, what they like about each other, both physically, mentally and emotionally, and their reason for not wanting to be together. This is what's going to help you create the push-pull dynamic that makes for really great on-the-page chemistry.

Tip number seven comes from episode number 149, called Five Questions to Develop Better Antagonists, and in this episode I talk through how giving equal attention to developing your antagonist, as you would for your protagonist, can actually make the writing process so much easier and more straightforward, and this clip is an example of why and how. So let's dive right in. So we kind of talked about this a little bit earlier, but once you know what your antagonist's goal and motivation are and what's at stake should they succeed or fail, it's time to break their goal down into action steps. So what is their plan for getting what they want? And to flesh that out, you can consider the following questions. So, number one what steps would they take to get what they want? Number two in what order would they take those steps and why? So why would they take the steps in that order?

Sometimes, just forcing yourself to think through that will help you find plot holes or holes in logic, even as early as in the outlining or brainstorming stage. Number three what kind of roadblocks might naturally get in their way as they pursue those action steps or their goal? So this could be, you know, just things that would occur in the world, things that would make it difficult, things like that. And then, number four how does your protagonist specifically start to get in their way? So how do their goals interfere with each other? And then, number five what consequences would your antagonist naturally face for their actions? So, like I mentioned earlier, the goal is just to kind of come up with a list or a brain dump of all the possible action steps and consequences and things like that that will come into play as your antagonist pursues their goal.

Once you're done brainstorming, you can consider how your antagonist's goals and plans will interfere with your protagonist's goals and plans. This is what's going to help you create some really nice organic conflict for your story. So, as an example, consider Lord Voldemort's goal of acquiring and using the Sorcerer's Stone. Voldemort's plan is to use Professor Quirrell to steal the stone for him. And to do that, quirrell needs to find the stone, he needs to figure out how to get past whatever's guarding it once it gets moved to Hogwarts, and then he has to actually steal it, right? But then Harry starts getting curious about what's hidden on the forbidden third floor, which we know is the stone, and he starts getting in the way of Voldemort and Quirrell's plans. And this causes problems for them, right. And these problems result in new actions or different actions being taken against Harry to stop him from interfering.

And I like this example because in real life this is how conflict works, right? The person who's in control of a conflict in this case the antagonist doesn't really plan their actions around the other person, which in this case is the protagonist. Usually what happens is the reactive person who, at the beginning of the story, is almost always the protagonist. They are bombarded with events outside of their control and then from there they struggle against that antagonistic force to bring their life back into balance. So that's just kind of how conflict occurs in real life right Now.

A lot of writers go about this backwards. So if you're someone who's used to planning the conflict in your story by deciding what you want your protagonist to do and then deciding what your antagonist should do, then you are going about things a little bit backwards, and that's OK A lot of people do this but this will create a less than solid plot and it's also going to make your job of plotting and outlining your novel way harder than it needs to be. Alrighty, tip number six comes from episode number 146, six ways that mindfulness can make you a happier and more productive writer with April Davila, and in this episode, april shares some really fantastic mindset shifts as well as practical things you can do to have a happy and more fulfilling writing life. But in this clip, april talks about how important it is to mind our thoughts and how, if we don't mind our thoughts, they can run wild and start to create a narrative that just isn't true. So let's take a listen to the clip.

So I don't believe in writer's block. I think it's kind of a catch-all phrase that we use to describe whatever reason we're not writing. But when we start to get better at noticing those thoughts, we can start to think like why am I not writing? Like, as an example, I was on a retreat one time and I was teaching at it and I was getting up early to write on my novel before I went and taught and the alarm went off one morning and I was like, oh, I don't want to go write.

And I heard that thought in my head and I was like I love writing. Where did that thought come from? And when I stopped and I took the thought and actually analyzed a little bit, I didn't want to go write in the space that I've been writing because it was full of gossiping ladies and it was very distracting. I'm like, oh well, I'll just go somewhere else. And so the writer's block of what that woo-woo like magic phrase of writer's block suddenly starts to dissolve when you can notice the thoughts that are around it and be like okay, is that really true or is it just? It's kind of just getting pushed into a like general, I don't feel like writing idea.

Okay, we're about halfway through. Now we're at tip number five, and this one comes from episode number 155. That's called 10 Things that Will Not Make you a Better Writer, and this episode is exactly what it sounds like. I share 10 things I see writers doing all the time that don't actually move the needle and, as a result, don't make them better writers. This tip specifically, is about not understanding the importance of getting outside feedback on your work. So here's the tip Now.

I know we've all heard the advice from Stephen King that says if you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others Read a lot and write a lot, and I do agree with Stephen King. Practicing your craft by writing and reading other books is really important. Of course it is right. But if you write, let's say, a thousand words a day for an entire year and you never get feedback on what you're writing, well, guess what happens In most cases? You'll probably end up making some of the same fundamental mistakes that many aspiring writers make over and over again, and turning those mistakes into ingrained habits. So imagine that, without getting feedback on what's working and not working in your pages, you might actually end up becoming a worse writer than when you started. Now, I know that's not the case for everyone, but I do see it happen often enough that I wanted to include it in this list.

So it's really important to get outside feedback on your work. It's important to know what you're doing well so that you can keep doing it, and what you need to work on so you can actually improve your writing. Because here's the thing if writing a lot and cranking out hundreds of thousands of words was all it took to be a great writer, then many people would have turned pro years and years ago. But it just does not work that way. So, yes, keep practicing your craft by writing and, yes, keep reading books to see how published authors have constructed their stories, but also get feedback on your pages.

So find someone you trust whether that be a developmental editor, a book coach, beta readers, a critique partner, whoever it is and get some feedback on your work. This is what's going to help you become a better writer, not just writing an arbitrary number of words each day to tick a box. All right, moving on to tip number four. Tip number four comes from episode number 158, how to strengthen your Writing with the Power of Social Media with Lara Ferrari, and in this conversation, lara shares a ton of great advice for using social media to become a better writer. If you haven't heard this episode yet, I do recommend checking it out, because what she shares is probably not what you think. And in this little preview, lara talks about how important having a community is for writers. Let's take a listen.

Talking about your book with other people people who get it, people who are also passionate about books and stories and storytelling like it's fun. I mean, it's not if you're talking to somebody who's just like I don't care, like I have no interest in this. It's draining. But the opposite is true when you're talking to people who are on the same wavelength as you. So if you have a community of people, this is, you know, kind of crossing over, but getting to talk about your book, it can be really exciting, especially when you get excitement back, and then that can be really exciting, especially when you get excitement back, and then that can be motivating and it's kind of this cycle, that sort of feeds on each other, that excitement, that motivation.

Let's be honest, like when you, a lot of us write by ourselves, right, we're just alone with our thoughts for long stretches of time. It's just us and us. You know us and characters. I haven't written for a really long time, but I'm going to gonna, I'm gonna talk as if I'm an author as well, yeah, and and yeah, sort of it can. It can also be a bit draining. You can talk about mindfulness. You know that we get that imposter syndrome sometimes, all of us and we sort of doubt whether we're really any good, whether this story is worth telling. So to be able to kind of share that with other people and kind of get a different perspective can help to sort of reinvigorate that and kind of just remind you about what it is that you love about your story in the first place. So yeah, creativity, inspiration, passion, motivation I think that all increases when you are kind of bouncing these ideas around with other people who, like I said, they just get it.

Tip number three comes from episode number 131, five steps to start planning a book series, and this episode is great for anyone who knows they want to write a series but is feeling overwhelmed about all the moving pieces and all the planning that goes into writing a series. So if this sounds like you, then you'll definitely want to go check this episode out. Now, this tip is actually kind of a bonus tip I shared in the episode and it's all about world building. So let's take a listen. After this point, it's kind of natural to start thinking about your story world, right? So I always get questions about how to develop a world across your book series and although this is not something you totally need to have figured out in the planning stage, it is something to be aware of, right? Because you want to make sure the world building is consistent across all your books and you want to build a world that plays into your story, so that plays into the themes and that impacts the central conflict and your protagonist arc of change and all that stuff. And also, you know, just as your character needs to change, so can your story world. I find that often it's the same, you know conflict, the same events that trigger things in your character or trigger that kind of internal change that also can start to trigger change in your character or trigger that kind of internal change that also can start to trigger change in your world. So we talked about this a little bit in the Hunger Games example, remember, you know the things that start to change Katniss. It also ripples out into the bigger world and causes the districts of Panem to rise up against the capital. In Harry Potter, voldemort coming back to full power definitely spurs the world into action and once he's defeated, the world is left in a different place than it was before. So just something to keep in mind. At this stage you can start to kind of think about how your world or how you're setting the groups and the communities, the political systems, whatever it is, how those things start to change in your world as well.

And I really wanted to include this kind of as a bonus tip, because sometimes, when it comes down to growing, escalating and complicating the goals and the conflict from book to book in your series, sometimes you need to think in terms of expanding the story world or exploring. You know different parts of the world and different characters, so, for example, you might need to kind of expand where your character goes in the world. They might need to visit new countries, new territories or lands that were maybe previously mentioned, but we haven't been to those yet. An example of this is in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. In the second book we see the main character, feyre. She goes to the Night Court. So you know that was mentioned in book one but we've never actually been there.

By visiting this new location it broadens the world and causes conflict for the characters to face. Also, taking your protagonist farther away from home usually organically triggers new realizations about themselves and can often either aid or kind of halt progress along their series arc. So just something to keep in mind and just something to think about. The other thing to think about is exploring different characters in different parts of the world. So sometimes as we progress further through a series there are different points of view introduced. I'm thinking of the books in the Lunar Chronicles, right, we see different points of view in that series as the series progresses and things like that.

So thinking about your story world definitely isn't one of the first five steps I would take, just because you know things like character and theme are probably more important in the planning stage, but you can still think about your story world and how it may undergo its own arc of change and how it can provide conflict for your series and for each individual books and things like that. So, as you can probably see from this episode, there is a lot that goes into planning a book series right. As I've said multiple times throughout the episode, I don't want you to expect to have everything figured out in one or two sittings. This is something that you're definitely going to need to start and then, you know, add to over time. So I really want you to know, going into the process, that it's totally normal to go through these steps once and then kind of start over and go back through them again, just to, you know, continue to develop and add to your ideas. So it's not just one or two times, it's probably a handful of times you're going to need to go through these steps. Totally normal, totally okay. But at least this will help you get your ideas out of your head and onto the page and hopefully get your series underway. All right.

Tip number two comes from episode number 145, how to develop your character's backstory and, as you can imagine. This whole episode is about how to discover your character's backstory or what made them the person they are today. But in this clip I'm talking about how your character's backstory can actually influence their current present day behaviors and motivations. So let's check it out. Now, moving on to step three, step three is to brainstorm how this will all show up in the present day and by present day I mean from page one of your story to the end of your story.

And like I just kind of hinted at your character's backstory in this inner obstacle and this wounding event, they can all help you decide how to start and end your story. Because at the beginning of your story your character is going to be acting and behaving from a place of believing that inner obstacle and if they don't learn the lesson of the story or they don't, you know, learn that theme, they're not going to get what they want right. So in order for them to get what they want and to move on and find happiness or succeed or whatever that is, your character will need to dismantle that inner obstacle and basically dampen the effect that that wounding event has on their present life. And I will say here this is not always true for every single story. This is true if you're writing a story with a positive change arc. So if you're writing the kind of story where the protagonist learns a lesson and they grow by the end, even if that growth is painful, you're probably writing a story with a positive change arc, and what I just said will apply. If you're writing a story with a negative change arc, change arc and what I just said will apply. If you're writing a story with a negative change arc, then your character's most likely not learning that lesson. So in that scenario, usually they're doubling down on their inner obstacle or that outdated belief. So just something to keep in mind.

But at this stage you want to use all the information you've already fleshed out to further develop your character's flaws, behaviors and traits. So you can consider things like okay, if my character has lived with this specific internal obstacle for this amount of time by the start of page one, how are they going to act on a daily basis? You can also think about what their emotional armor looks like. So, because of that wound and trying to, you know, protect this inner obstacle and not get triggered, what kind of emotional armor did they have to develop? What are some behaviors they've developed based on that inner obstacle and that wound. And what flaws do they have now? So there might be, you know, flaws that came out of this wounding experience, but there also might be some really good things too. So what qualities and flaws do they have now?

All of this brainstorming work around your character's wound and internal obstacle can also help inform your plot.

So the plot of your story should be constantly challenging your character's internal obstacle. It should force them to choose repeatedly between upholding that flawed belief or clinging to that inner obstacle or finally dismantling it. And each time they fail to change, there should be consequences that further complicate your plot. So this is also where it helps to think of, you know, what are those things that trigger my character's wound or that make them put up that emotional armor? What kinds of events are they not going to want to be in that are actually quite good for them in terms of learning their lesson and growing and changing? Just some things to think about.

So that's step three just thinking about how the wound and their inner obstacle and their backstory can show up in the present day. And it's not just reminders of how it shows up, right, it's how your character has internalized that wounding event and the fear and the inner obstacle that is birthed from that wounding event and how it shows up in their behavior and their actions. And I think that's a really key piece of the puzzle that writers can dig into a little bit more and use to their benefit. All right, we've made it all the way to tip number one and this tip comes from one of my most popular episodes of last year and I'm not surprised that you love this episode as much as you did, because I really love it too and I'm talking about episode number 126, save the Cat, troubleshooting Common Plot Problems with Jessica Brody, and in this clip Jessica talks about how to marry the external plot of your story to your characters and their inner growth. Let's have a listen.

When you look at Save the Cat method, it was based on a screenwriting method. Screenwriting is all visual, it's all external and things are happening to the character. But it has to be portrayed by the actor and it does come out in the writing. But as novelists, we have this opportunity, this golden, wonderful opportunity, to get inside a character's head which you know we call it interiority and see exactly how each of these external plot points are changing them. It's the part of writing that I love the most is that kind of deft hand it requires to externally show something happening and then allow the reader to piece together how it's changing the character without really spelling it out for the reader, which we call telling instead of showing. So really, the beat sheet is designed to help you construct external plot points that are designed to change your character, and that's why I tell writers that it's easier to start with a character first at least those three things We've got the flaw or the big problem that the character is facing. We've got the want or the thing that the character is externally pursuing, and then we've got the need, which is really what they require to internally transform by the end of the story and if you come into the beat sheet. With those three things in mind as kind of the pillars or the rudders that guide you, it's a lot easier to design plot points for that character. So if you have a character who really needs to learn how to trust, for example, then yeah, one of those external plot points needs to be a betrayal, because that's the thing that's going to really test them and push their boundaries. So there's about five beats in the beat sheet. I call them the foundation beats.

I talk about this in the book as well. Those are the external plot points that trigger all of these things. That kind of are tent poles in the story and they direct the story and they turn the story into different directions. So you can call them the five major turning points, and those are the catalyst, the break into two, the midpoint the all is lost and the break into three. These are the places where you really want to lean on external devices, things happening from the outside to the character. For example, you don't want your catalyst to be something like my character realizes that, because that's an internal thing for somebody to realize. You want the catalyst to be this happened to my character therefore causing them to realize something Right. So that's where I guide people to really lean into external.

All right, there you have it. Some of the best clips from the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast in 2024. If any of these clips sparked your attention and you haven't checked out the full episode yet, be sure to go back and take a listen. I'll have all of the episodes linked up for you in the show notes. Thank you so much for joining me, not only today, but week after week or whenever there's a new episode. I'm so grateful that I get to show up for you and share all of these writing tips and strategies with you, and I'm really excited to see all the wonderful things that 2025 has in store for us. So, with all of that being said, I will talk to you in the new year.

So that's it for today's episode. As always, thank you so much for tuning in and for showing your support. If you want to check out any of the links I mentioned in this episode, you can find them in the show notes listed in the description of each episode, inside your podcast player or at savannahgilbocom forward slash podcast. If you're an Apple user, I'd really appreciate it if you took a few seconds to leave a rating and a review. Your ratings and reviews tell Apple that this is a podcast that's worth listening to and, in turn, your reviews will help this podcast get in front of more fiction writers just like you. And while you're there, go ahead and hit that follow button, because there's going to be another brand new episode next week, full of actionable tips, tools and strategies to help you become a better writer. So I'll see you next week and until then, happy writing.