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Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice
Do you have a story you can't stop thinking about? Maybe it's still just an idea. Maybe it's half a draft you haven't opened in months, or a finished manuscript that doesn't quite work yet. Wherever you are, it can be hard to know what your story needs next.
Fiction Writing Made Easy is a podcast for aspiring fiction authors who want clear, practical guidance on what to do next with their novels. Hosted by developmental editor and book coach Savannah Gilbo, the show breaks down complicated writing concepts into simple, actionable lessons. Savannah explains why storytelling techniques work, how the different elements of a story fit together, and what that means for your own writing—often using examples from familiar books and movies.
Topics include developing your story idea, outlining a novel, creating characters readers care about, writing scenes that move your story forward, and figuring out what to fix when your draft isn't working. You'll also find genre deep dives on romance, fantasy, thrillers, and horror, mindset tips for difficult writing days, and advice on querying agents and self-publishing.
You'll also hear from editors and industry experts, as well as writers Savannah has taught who share how they finished—and often published—their books. With hundreds of episodes and over 3.8 million downloads, there's plenty to explore wherever you are with your book.
Hit follow for new episodes every week—and take the next step toward a novel you're proud of.
Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice
#7: 5 Questions to Help You Write Better Characters
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, I'll walk you through five questions that will help you write compelling characters. I highly recommend using these questions to flesh out both your protagonist AND your antagonist, but you can also use these questions to help you develop your secondary characters, too. Here's a preview of what we'll cover:
[01:45] Question 1: What does your character want? Your character's goal will help you shape the external plot of your story as well as each of your story's scenes.
[05:00] Question 2: Why does your character want to achieve this goal? Your character's motivation needs to be strong enough to push them through the story without allowing them to give up.
[06:55] Question 3: What's standing in his or her way externally? What's the external conflict? This is essentially the antagonist or the antagonistic force in your story.
[8:20] Question 4: What's standing in his or her way internally? What's the internal conflict? This is essentially any inner demons, fears, or an outdated worldview that your character needs to overcome in order to succeed in accomplishing their goal.
[10:30] Question 5: What's at stake if they fail to accomplish their goal? In other words, what are the consequences for your protagonist if they fail?
[12:30] Key points and episode recap.
[14:00] How many characters should you answer these questions for?
[14:45] Bonus exercise: Grab your favorite book and see if you can answer these five questions for the protagonist. Were the answers easy to identify?
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If you're already a subscriber, and if you enjoy the show, I would be really grateful if you left a review over on Apple Podcasts, too. Those reviews help other writers find my podcast and they’re also super fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the show is. Thanks in advance!
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Episode Freebie: 5 Questions to Help You Craft Compelling Characters
- How to Handle Character Backstory in Your Novel (blog post)
👋 FREE TRAINING: Why You Keep Getting Stuck & How to Finally Finish Your Novel - Give me 60 minutes and I'll show you how to turn your ideas into a complete first draft—without getting stuck in the middle, constantly second-guessing, or spending years rewriting instead of finishing. Click here to save your seat!
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