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Revision – The Big Picture
Welcome back to The Writing Apothecary and to our new lesson on revision: the big picture. All of the work we have done to get here has actually been foundational. We’ve looked at what makes up a story and what is so important to a story but now we’re turning it on its head and looking at it from a revision point of view and not a writing point of view. Both are very different. This is something I can’t stress enough. Don’t beat yourself up if this doesn’t really compute the first time. It takes a bit of getting used to. But with revisions, you just need to be…
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Welcome to Revision
Welcome back to The Writing Apothecary Podcast and back to another new topic! Cutting down the monthly topic to bimonthly has helped clear space and allow for me to have the mental capacity to work with my creativity instead of against it. I’m appreciative to everyone for still supporting the podcast. Our bimonthly topic is: Revision and I’m so excited. The aim is to take the lessons that are so personal and make them digestible and easy to follow. The first thing you need, before you even start revisions, is a first draft, which means if you haven’t done that, you need to put in that work before you can…
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Genre: Interview with Urban Fantasy Writer Lindsay Elizabeth
Welcome back to another episode of the Writing Apothecary Podcast and today do I have an amazing guest for you this week. As we look at our last lesson on genre we have the most amazing guest on board. Lindsay is such an amazing writer and so sweet. Our chat left me energised and so excited to tackle what was coming up. We chat about her favourite genres and what genre tropes work the best to entice readers. We go on a Nora Roberts tangent that brings us right back to mixing genres and how successful it is once you know the rules and you’re able to break them and…
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Genre: Sci-fi, Horror and Thriller
Welcome back to the Writing Apothecary and our last lesson for Genre. Today we’re looking at sci-fi, horror and thriller. Science fiction or sci-fi as it’s commonly known is another sub-genre of speculative fiction. It typically deals with imaginative and futurist concepts such as Science technology Space exploration Time travel Parellel universes Extra terrestrial It’s also known as the literature of ideas because it often explores the consequence of scientific, social and technology innovations. Sci-fi has beginning in ancient times where it blurs the lines between myth and fact. Some of the elements of sci-fi include: Temporary settings in the further or alternate histories. Spatial setting or scenes in outer space…
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Genre: Fantasy, Romance and Mystery
Welcome back to another lesson of The Writing Apothecary. Today we’re going to look at three different sub-genres: Fantasy, Romance and Mystery. If you’re wondering why these three? Well, fantasy is my jam, I really love everything about it and it’s the genre I know the most about. You know the age-old advice of write what you know applies here, ha! First, did you know that it was a genre of speculative fiction? It features magical and supernatural elements that don’t exist in the real world. Some writers, like myself, like to use the modern world and add fantasy elements and some are inspired by myth and folklore. Fantasy is…
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Welcome to Genre
Welcome back to The Writing Apothecary and this month we’re looking at Genre. If you’re on the podcast’s newsletter list you would have read that we’re changing up the format a little. The podcast is moving to bi-weekly /fortnightly episodes to help with my sanity and give me some much needed space. It takes a lot to write, record and edit these episodes and I’m doing it all solo. I’m also taking time to focus on my novel and give you guys the best episode we can get. Genre is the French term for type, species, kind or glass of composition. It’s a term that is used to distinguish a…
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Dialogue: Interview with Romance, Fantasy and Sci-Fi Author Alyce Johnson
Welcome back to The Writing Apothecary and to our interview all about Dialogue with romance, fantasy and sci-fi writer Alyce Johnson. In our chat we have a cover: How important dialogue is to a story. What classifies as bad dialogue. If a story can survive without dialogue. How Alyce uses tension in her stories. I had so much fun and her novella was a brilliant read. If you love this episode feel free to send it to someone who would love to listen to it. Alyce’s BioAlyce moved to Victoria from sleepy Tasmania in 2013 to attend the Victorian College of the Arts and study Screenwriting, completing her bachelors in…
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Dialogue: Bad writing and character
Welcome back to The Writing Apothecary and our last lesson on dialogue. I’d like to think that we all agree on how good dialogue is and what its purpose can be. You can use dialogue to make a story more lifelike and really it’s the part that allows your characters to speak for themselves. In real life, you can’t really get to know someone unless you talk to them and it’s the same principle for fiction. Your readers will decide if they like your character just by what they say and then they will make the assumption of whether or not they want to actually spend time with them. The…
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Dialogue: conventions, indirect and direct dialogue
Welcome back to The Writing Apothecary and to our next lesson on dialogue. Today we’re going to dig into the conventions of dialogue and have a look at indirect and direct speech. I think this is such an important aspect of writing dialogue. Without I think it’s harder to understand how to write it and how to get it down on the page. We all know that when we are reading a story there are conventions that are required when it comes to signifying who is speaking. The main points in today’s lesson:– Dialogue conventions include: quotation marks, new paragraphs, and tags.– Using conventions consistently will make sure that your…
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Welcome to Dialogue
Welcome back to another lesson and a new month. We’re going to explore dialogue, a topic that can make or break your story. We’re going to look at the purpose of dialogue, indirect and direct dialogue, bad dialogue and conventions when it comes to dialogue. Today is a little introduction and some of the important points we cover in this episode: It’s exactly why a reader is so invested. Your character moves through the story with the ability to gives us dialogue, whether it’s indirect or direct. Dialogue is everything in fiction that isn’t narration. Two main ways to show dialogue: Summary and Scene. Summary is where the action is…
