Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for April is Word Choice and Micro Craft, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Steven James and I discuss:

• The importance of what is, not what appears to be.
• Giving readers what they don’t know they want.
• How plot isn’t about events, but about the collision of desires.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Steven James

Steven James is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of eighteen novels that have won or been shortlisted for more than a dozen national and international awards. His thrillers have been praised by Suspense Magazine, Booklist, and the New York Journal of Books and received starred reviews from both Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, who called his work “thought-provoking” and “riveting.” He has also written two award-winning books on the craft of writing, Story Trumps Structure and Troubleshooting Your Novel. When he’s not writing, he teaches storytelling at events around the globe and hosts the weekly podcast, The Story Blender.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Art of the Tale

Whether your audience is a boardroom of executives, a classroom of students, or an auditorium full of eager listeners, the right story, well told, can transform and impact your presentation like nothing else. The Art of the Tale shows you how.

Everyone, regardless of their background and training, can improve their storytelling abilities. But what is a story? How can you tell it in a way that delights and informs your listeners? Take a journey into the keys to great storytelling with two of the country’s top experts on story presentation and speech writing.

In The Art of the Tale, seasoned storytellers Steven James and Tom Morrisey team up and tap into their decades of experience to show you how to prepare stellar presentations, tell stories in your own unique way, adapt your material to different groups of listeners, and gain confidence in your ability as a speaker. In this book, you’ll learn why:

• practice doesn’t make perfect.
• you should never tell the same story twice.
• it’s best to avoid memorizing your stories.

You’ll also find helpful hints on:

• gaining confidence in your storytelling ability.
• connecting with your audience.
• matching your expectations with those of your listeners.
• shaping your memories into inspiring messages.
• understanding what makes a story work.
• drawing truth out of the stories you wish to tell.
• crafting and remembering stories.

Learn how to tell stories more effectively, lead and teach more creatively, and prepare your message in less time by using this unique resource provided by two of the nation’s premier communicators.

Broker of Lies

When Travis Brock, a high-level Pentagon redactor with an eidetic memory, finds a clue to solving the tragic arson that took his wife from him, he risks everything to find the truth―and chances losing himself in the process.

With a terror attack looming on the horizon and a pair of assassins on his tail, Brock drops off the grid and joins forces with a disavowed Homeland Security operative. Together they race to stop the attack before Brock is neutralized by the people he trusts the most.

From critically acclaimed, bestselling novelist Steven James comes a smart, wire-tight, and emotionally resonant thriller that asks just how far across the line we might go to see justice carried out.

If you decide to check out the books, we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links: The Art of the Tale and Broker of Lies, where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 452

(Right-click to download.)

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 452: Pivot, Payoff, and the Geometry of Story – Interview with Steven James appeared first on DIY MFA.

In fact, it was this time last year that I read DIYMFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build Your Community by this website’s founder Gabriela Pereira. And here I am, only one year later, writing a regular column for the companion website. If you only stumbled on this site and didn’t realize it was based on Gabriela’s book, make IT the writing book you read this Fall. It’s extremely practical and well-structured and I flew through it in just a few days.

DIYMFA.com is chock full of articles about favorite writing books and I’ve listed some of our greatest hits at the end of this article. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun (and interesting) to hear which books librarians routinely recommend to writers. The questions below are actual ones I’ve received from writers (with names removed of course!) and the corresponding book I recommended.

Try one, and if it doesn’t speak to your truth, try another until you find one that does.

Question: I had a dream I was writing a book. How do I get started?

Recommendation: Writer’s Market 2018

Nicknamed the most trusted guide to getting published, this book for beginning or advanced writers is in its 97th annual edition. Beginners can read chapters in the “Finding Work” section such as “Query Letter Clinic.” For more seasoned authors, there are essays on “Managing Work” covering advanced topics like promotion. Most of the book provides an overview of the publishing industry with listings of literary agencies, book publishers, and magazines that accept submissions from freelancers. For instance, the current edition lists an inflight magazine called “Horizon” that pays $100 minimum per accepted article. Similar titles from the same publisher include Poet’s Market, Children’s Writers & Illustrator’s Market, Songwriter’s Market, and Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market.

Question: I’m participating in NaNoWriMo in November. Do you have anything that will help me prepare?

Recommendation:  No Plot? No Problem! Revised and Expanded Edition: A Low Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty

This was the book that started the NaNoWriMo movement. If you’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo or even if you have, you owe it to yourself to read this book. The author provides week-by-week checklists to realistically complete a novel in a month. Spoiler alert: The editing process takes place over the next year.

Question: I wrote an engineering manual and need to find agents, publishers and proofreaders specializing in technical writing or textbooks.

Recommendation: Literary Market Place

LMP is an in-depth, two volume directory of publishers, literary agents and other professionals employed by writers including proofreaders, translators, and editors. Multiple indexes help you locate publishers with specialties such as “travel & tourism” or “academic textbooks.”  Literary agencies list their current wish lists (e.g. health related nonfiction) and submission guidelines (“Paste word count and summary into body of an e-mail, no attachments.”). Tip: Once you’ve found a few contenders, it’s always best to confirm the information by going to the corresponding website and checking under “submission guidelines.” Finally, LMP is a great source of awards, prize contests, fellowships and grants for writers. Did you know the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction was started to encourage new Canadian authors by giving winners $10,000?

Question: My writing group said they didn’t connect with my plot. Any suggestions?

Recommendation: The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker

Rags to Riches, The Quest, Overcoming the Monster. There’s a reason stories with these themes are timeless and adored by all ages. After covering all the basic plots with examples, the author shares his views about how today’s writers have lost their way and how they can get back on track. Warning: This book is thick and, at first glance, you’ll wonder if it covers more than seven plots. Yet, the chapters are short, sub-divided into two to three-page snapshots, and so vivid you’ll feel like you’re reading a great story rather than a writing manual. Plus, you’ve got to love the author’s last name.

Question: I’m a veteran, retiree, world traveler, etc., and want to write a memoir of my experiences.  What’s a good book I could read?

Recommendation: Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction by Jack Hart

I’m amazed that I find this book at even the tiniest libraries and bookstores. Filled with outstanding visual diagrams, journalist and award-winning professor Hart masterly teaches that the best way to create memorable nonfiction is to borrow devices from fiction (point of view, character, scene and dialogue.)

Question: What will you be reading this fall?

Answer: I’ll be reading The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations by Mike Figgis.

George Polti wrote the original book in the 1800’s using examples from French plays of the day. When Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Figgis read it, he couldn’t believe how much his creativity increased. He’s updated it for today’s writers using modern-day references. I’m also looking forward to the October release of Amy Tan’s Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir.

For other ideas, check out previous DIYMFA.com columns:

• Essential Reading List:  Must-Read Books for Your Writing Library by Gabriela Pereira
• #5onFri:  Five Tips for Reading Like a Writer by Kolina Cicero
• #5onFri:  Five Books to Help You Craft a Stronger Narrative by Elisabeth Kauffmann
• Top 10 Book Picks by Rebecca Ann Jordan

And from BookRiot:

• 100 Must-Read, Best Books on Writing and the Writer’s Life

Terri Frank is a professional librarian and holds a Master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working in a library, she’s probably visiting a library with her husband and two kids. Her current writing projects include a novel about a tuberculosis sanitorium.

The post Six Writing Books Librarians Recommend appeared first on DIY MFA.

It’s a whirlwind month of writing with community support. We’re all in this together, pouring our hearts out through our fingers onto the screens of our laptops or the pages of our notebooks, making the worlds of our imaginations come alive.

But let’s be honest, drafting a 50,000 word manuscript, like the course of true love, never did run smooth. There are plot holes a mile wide, characters’ motivations that fall flat, and worlds that come out in black and white like Dorothy pre-Oz instead of in that Technicolor vibrancy we were expecting them in. Sometimes the whole manuscript seems in danger of crashing and burning in a maelstrom of Fiendfyre, a la Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

When this happens to me, I find that having handy these five books on craft helps me, if not to smooth out the bumps in the road, at least to make the most of them.

5 Craft Books For Every Writer

Save the Cat

By: Blake Snyder

This book is meant for screenwriters, but hey! Screenwriters really know how to plot. If I’m having trouble figuring out what scene comes next or what’s missing from my overall storyline, I grab this book. Snyder has included a plotting beat sheet with detailed descriptions of each stop on the way from Opening Image to Final Image. When in doubt, I use this handy road map to get me back on track.

The Plot Whisperer

By: Martha Alderson

For another great reference on how to get your characters from “Once upon a time…” to “…happily ever after…” check out this great book! It’s full of tips and tricks that authors can use for tracking not only their plot, but their characters’ development as well. I won this book in a blogging giveaway a few years ago, and I’ve never been so lucky!

On Writing

By: Stephen King

Need a dose of inspiration? Check out this great tome by Stephen King, master of horror. I have never read a book by King aside from this memoir/writing guide and I still found it fascinating and highly useful. King first shows us how he became the writer he is, then gives us the tools we need to become the writers we are meant to be. Each writer has their own method for success, and reading about King’s process will help you find your own.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

By: Renni Brown and Dave King

I don’t recommend you make use of this until you have a complete draft. Editing should be saved for after you’ve crossed the finish line. Still, this book is my favorite of the bunch. As a freelance editor, I find myself pulling this book off the shelf almost daily to reference some fine-tuning technique for one of my clients. It’s a good rule of thumb to have someone else help you edit your manuscript before you pronounce it finished, but this book will save that someone else a lot of time and will teach you a few tricks to help your next draft shine even brighter!

Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

By: James VanderMeer

Full disclosure: I haven’t yet read this book in its entirety. But I can’t wait to! Jeff VanderMeer has assembled thoughts from the masterminds of the fantasy genre and included them with his own brilliantly illustrated guide to writing creative fantasy fiction. The illustrations alone are enough to inspire some pretty imaginative writing sessions. Come for the pictures, stay for the in-depth writing instruction. If you’ve read it already, let me know what you think, as well!

There are oh, so many excellent books out there on the craft of writing. These are just a few of my current favorites. I’d love to hear what books you use to help you fill in plot holes and make your characters pop off the page!

What are your favorite books on writing craft?

…………………

Elisabeth Kauffman is a freelance editor in California. Her favorite genres are YA fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. She regularly obsesses over board games, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter. Come share your ideas with her on Facebook and Twitter–@WritingRefinery–and on the web at www.writingrefinery.com

The post #5OnFri: Five Books To Help You Craft a Stronger Narrative appeared first on DIY MFA.