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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
#27: The 6 Scenes Every Performance Story Needs
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about the key scenes that every performance story needs to have in order to work and to satisfy fans of the genre. Here's a preview of what's included:
[01:30] Performance stories center around a character who wants to achieve something specific in order to prove their worth to the world. For example, they might want to win a certain award, climb Mount Everest, be the best in their field, or be famous.
[02:25] Readers choose performance novels because they are extremely relatable. Every day we deal with the pressure to perform on the world’s stage, and we are constantly faced with decisions that could result in success or failure.
[03:00] Obligatory scenes are the key events, decisions, and discoveries that move a protagonist along their journey from point A to point B. They help us writers craft a story that works AND a story that will deliver a specific emotional experience.
[04:35] Key scene #1: A scene where your protagonist faces some kind of challenge or opportunity to perform.
[05:45] Key scene #2: A scene where your protagonist’s initial plan for achieving his or her goal (or gaining some kind of external validation) fails.
[06:45] Key scene #3: A scene where your protagonist commits to a specific “big event” which could be a fight, a play, a tournament, a recital, a solo performance, or anything like that.
[08:15] Key scene #4: A scene where your protagonist suffers some kind of defeat and realizes he or she must change their approach in order to succeed. Is the external validation still worth it?
[09:30] Key scene #5: A scene where your protagonist participates in the big event and either wins or loses.
[10:25] Key scene #6: A scene where your protagonist is rewarded (usually on multiple levels) whether they’ve won or lost.
[11:45] Key points and episode recap.
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Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode! Especially because I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. So, click here to subscribe to the show in Apple Podcasts!
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: Performance Genre Key Scenes PDF Cheat Sheet
- Performance Obligatory Scenes: The 6 Scenes Every Performance Story Needs (article)
- Performance Conventions: The 10 Things Every Performance Story Needs (article)
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