The Novel Writers Podcast

Episode Two: Inciting Incidents

She woke up, walked down the stairs, made herself some breakfast and then posted her podcast about how you decide the right place to start the story. Mer and Bri discuss the fine balance between hooking readers’ interest and forcing an inciting incident too early into the plot, and how just because TV executives want big action to come within the first thirty seconds—to keep audiences from changing the channel—that doesn’t mean you should shove your first chapter full of dead bodies. Come for our honest reaction on some bad writing advice, and stay for us working through Big Feelings about editorial feedback.  Books we recommend on this episode: Last Stop at Union Station by Sarah James Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang Murder on Sex Island by Jo Firestone

Episode One: What is Good Writing?

With the pop culture spotlight on genre books such as Heated Rivalry and Project Hail Mary, there has been some heated discourse about what constitutes “good writing.” Join Bri and Mer as they discuss genre expectations, why those don’t equate to low standards, and whether the current state of Capital L literary fiction is as dire as pearl-clutchers might have you believe. Come for the discussion on whether forgoing quotation marks is deeply artistic or deeply annoying and stay for advice on how to level up your own prose.  Books we recommend in this episode:  The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives by Elizabeth Arnott Heated Rivalry series by Rachel Reid Crux by Gabriel Tallent The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts by Kim Fu  Check out our books! https://briannalabuskes.com/ meredithhambrock.com