Episode 46: Passive Voice
“What do you want for dinner?”
“Whatever.”
“Hotdogs okay?”
“Fine.”
Chances are, you read aggression in the voice of one or more of the above characters, and chances are, also, that you’ve been a party to such a conversation yourself, and in that moment thought, “(S)he is obviously upset, and not saying so. I wish (s)he would just tell me what the problem is, already!”
Just like no one likes passive aggressive behavior, very few readers can get down with a work that is loaded up with passive voice. Often, the trick to eliminating passive voice from your writing is identifying it in the first place, because it isn’t always as obvious as an attitude being flung at you by your spouse or your teenager.
Join us on the Christian Indie Writers’ Podcast this week as we discuss how to identify passive voice in your writing, how to fix it, and if it is ever a good idea to just leave it alone.
See you there,
Jamie
Episode 39: Short Story Guidelines
This 100 word story (aka a “Drabble”) was written in honor of today’s episode. We started out sending out thoughts and prayers to Jen, who was absent due to an incident on the ball field.
(Way to put your heart, and face, into the game, Jen!) Honestly, though, we missed her and hope she is feeling better. We then discussed the benefits of writing short stories. Finally, we
listened to 8 pieces of short story writing advice from Kurt Vonnegut. If you’d like to take a stab at writing your own Drabble using our prompts, we’d love to read it!
–
Jamie
Episode 36: Giving Voice to Your Story
This week on the podcast we explore Point of View as it pertains to writing. The following is a tribute to the woefully underutilized second person point of view.
It is ten am on Thursday – time for your favorite podcast to go live. You sit down at your computer, a mug of your favorite beverage at hand. You click play. You hear Jamie’s unreasonable-for-ten-am level of perky chatter. You grit your teeth, and sip from your mug. The mellow, honeyed tones of Jenifer’s voice fill the room. “Ahh, better,” you sigh.
Tina chimes in with some acerbic wit and you narrowly avoid performing a spit-take. Rhonda’s infectious laughter is missing today, and you suddenly realize why the podcast has felt a bit less than “complete” – it’s not quite the same without her. Still, as the trio of hosts finish their discussion about point of view, you find yourself nodding your head as you tap your chin thoughtfully.
“Hmm,” you think, “perhaps I should try writing my current work in progress in a different point of view, to see if it helps me with the trouble I am having with the piece.”
Satisfied, as usual, with your Christian Indie Writers’ Podcast listening experience, you open up your current project and set to work.
-Jamie
Episode 34: Social Media and the Writer
Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have made it easier than ever for us to communicate with our friends and family. Many writers are harnessing the power of social media to advance their writing careers. How does one do this? What are some first steps? Also, how does one protect his or her privacy when venturing into the realm of social media?
We discuss all of this and more on today’s episode of the Christian Indie Writers’ Podcast. Tune in and join the discussion.
See you there,
Jamie
Episode 32: The Art of Research
The other day, my son asked me why Friday the thirteenth was considered an unlucky day. Finding the answer was as simple as sitting down at my computer and clickety-clacking on the keyboard.
Amazing.
I don’t know about you, but I’m old enough to remember life before the internet. I remember, upon being assigned to write a report, pedaling my bike up to the library to do the necessary research. In those days, asking the librarian to help you locate a book was tantamount to asking for a particularly long and exasperated lecture on how to use the card catalogue for yourself. There was no efficient clickety-clack of keys to provide almost instantaneous book location information, much less today’s rows of multiple terminals which allow patrons to find the information for themselves. So, those of us on a quest for information would head straight to the card catalogue, pull open its tiny drawers, and thumb through yellowing pieces of cardboard to get a hint on where in the library we might find information on pilgrims, potatoes, General Eisenhower, etc. Armed with a location code as long and as potentially confusing as modern-day GPS coordinates, it was off to the indicated shelves.
Kids today will never know the feeling of hopeful anticipation we (ahem) older folks had as we found the right row of shelves and started down it, glancing at the numbers on the book spines as we endeavored to locate the section where our book would, hopefully, be found. Then the real hunt began. All the books in the same subject matter were grouped together, and often had numbers very similar to one another. Though they were supposed to be standing on the shelves in number order, they were often plucked from their correct locations, browsed, then shoved back into a random spot on the shelf, resulting in much squinting and chin tapping as one tried to locate a particular title. Then it was possible that after all your effort, the book you wanted had already been checked out by another patron.
Today on the podcast, we talk about research in these modern times. With the advent of the internet, we have a world of information available at our fingertips. With so much false information mixed in with the good stuff, how does a writer find reliable sources of information online? Or, is it perhaps wiser to eschew online sources in favor of good old fashioned paper – reference books or county records or journals? What are some strategies or preferred methodologies to follow when doing research for writing? What are some “tools of the trade?” Come join the conversation as we answer these questions and more.
See you there,
-Jamie
Episode 27: Tropes
This week our encouragement for writers focuses on one aspect of improving your writing craft. Tune in to the podcast each week for more encouragement for writers and self-publishing tips!
Imagine you are six years old. Papa has come in to your room to tell you a good-night story. He tells you, “this is a fairytale about a knight, a dragon, and a princess.”
You snuggle under your down-alternative comforter, prop your head on your copper-cooling memory foam pillow, and settle in for a good, old-fashioned fairytale, where the dragon is beastly, the princess is imperiled, and the brave and handsome knight rides to the rescue.
But, what if, in Papa’s tale, the Princess is a World War II fighter pilot, the dragon is a personal trainer with a penchant for self-help books, and Prince runs away to Kansas to open a combination coffee shop and 10 minute oil change?
Chances are, while you may learn to appreciate this “different” sort of story, you’d feel a bit confused, or maybe just a bit disappointed. That list of things you expected to happen in our imagined story are examples of genre Tropes. Whatever genre you write in, you want to make sure you are delivering what the reader expects, which means you need to be aware of the Tropes of that genre.
On today’s episode, we discuss tropes and their importance in your story. Let us know what you’ve discovered about your genre in the comments below. And, don’t forget to join our Patreon for even more fun and informative content.
Until next time,
Jamie
