On this week’s episode of the Story Blender, award-winning mystery writer Lori Roy joins me to talk about getting to know characters, evocative settings, and her latest novel LAKE COUNTY. We also discuss the importance of having an emotional plot shift within every scene and the benefits of doing so. Check it out, give it a listen, and subscribe!
Transcription available on request.
This week I caught up with award winning author Cara Putman as we chat about suspense, motivation, what creates tension and weaving ethical and mortal dilemmas into your stories to write books readers won’t want to put down. Grab a copy of her latest book “The Vanish”. Check it out, give it a listen and subscribe!
Transcription available on request.
This week I catch up with author and fiction instructor Matthew Salesses. He has written a book on writing called CRAFT IN THE REAL WORLD and tackled some of the big questions authors have regarding critiquing each others’ work. Learn how to offer and receive helpful feedback on your writing, how to stay motivated, and how to remain on-task in your project. Join us for a fun and interesting interview and check out his book if you are in a writing critique group. Check it out, give it a listen and subscribe!
Transcription available on request.
Listen as I chat with Kathleen Antrim, and D.P. Lyle, both some of the mastermind behind the outliers online writing university program. Doug is one of the countries, foremost, experts on forensic medicine in fiction, catheters written, and planned many writers conferences over the years. I pick their brains about what makes a story work the best advice that their mentors have shared with them how to shape a better story, and what to avoid as you do. Check it out, give it a listen and subscribe!
Transcription available on request.
Listen to the fascinating conversation I have with humorist and acclaimed storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin. He shares insights on coming up with stories of your own to tell by looking at quests, obstacles, choices, and new wisdom. We talk about the difference between a comedian and a humorist, what (actually) makes something funny, vegetarian roadkill, and more. Check it out, give it a listen, and subscribe!
Transcription available on request.
This week I catch up with #1 international best selling author Robert Dugoni. As both an acclaimed writer and popular conference speaker, Robert is an expert at both understanding story and delivering thrilling novels. Join us as we chat about trusting your reader, leaving out what readers can presume, what it really means to show and not tell, and creating honest and authentic characters. We also talk about his latest release THE KILLING ON THE HILL. Check it out, give it a listen, and subscribe!
Transcription available on request.
This week I chat with New York Times, bestselling author, Christopher Reich, about his latest novel, Matterhorn, and his writing process. We talk about the importance of believability in stories (even if they’re spy thrillers and international intrigue novels), some of his favorite authors, how to get started if you have the passion to write a story, and the dangers of reaching for a sandwich on a mountain in the Alps. Check it out, give it a listen and subscribe!
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Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer. She wrote articles and speeches for, among others, the Cabinet Office, Home Office, and Department for International Development. Her enthusiasm for travel has taken her around the world several times, from Madagascar to the Galapagos, Guatemala to Zimbabwe, Japan, Russia, and South Korea.
A playwright and screenwriter, she penned the feminist Shakespearean stage comedy NetherBard and cowrote the feature film Retreat. She lives in London and is the author of The Examiner, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, The Appeal, The Christmas Appeal, and The Twyford Code.
Transcription available on request.
Troy DeVolld has been, for more than two decades, one of America's leading experts on the unscripted storytelling process. His credits span more than 50 projects reaching as far back as regional television in the 1990s to modern hits like The Surreal Life, Dancing With the Stars and Basketball Wives. He's currently a partner in the fledgling Big Picture Collective, has written five bestsellers including Reality TV and And Another Thing, and is a sought-after keynote speaker and industry pundit.
Transcription available on request.
Mark Greaney is the #1 NYT Bestselling Author of The Gray Man series, the 13th of which, The Chaos Agent, will be released in February 2024. The film version of his first novel, the Gray Man, was released in July 2022 starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. He is also the author or co-author of 7 Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Novels, and the co-author of Red Metal, a NYT Bestselling thriller released in 2019. In research for his novels Mark has visited dozens of countries and trained alongside military and law enforcement in firearms tactics and battlefield medicine.
Mark lives in Memphis, Tennessee.
Transcription available on request.