The Writership Podcast Editing Tips For Fiction Authors
On the Writership Podcast, professional book editor Leslie Watts critiques five pages of fiction from writers who are, or soon hope to be, traditionally or independently published. The submissions come from actual authors who understand they may need help seeing the flaws in their stories and are brave enough to share this experience so that you might improve your writing too.
- Update frequency
- every 8 days
- Average duration
- 40 minutes
- Episodes
- 136
- Years Active
- 2015 - 2019
Ep. 138 World Building
In this episode, editor Leslie Watts takes a small detour from the usual format to discuss World Building, the way you craft the domain your characters inhabit. She offers several exercises to help i…
Ep. 137 Strengthen Your Setting
In this episode, story editor Leslie Watts takes a small detour from the usual format to discuss story setting, the place and time where your character gets into and hopefully out of trouble. She off…
Ep. 136 Resolutions
We all have some idea of what a resolution is, but what are these scene- and story-enders meant to do? In this episode, story editor Leslie Watts explores scene and story resolutions in the context o…
Ep. 135 Scene and Story Climaxes
What are story and scene climaxes? Why do you need them? In this episode, story editor Leslie Watts discusses the decisions your characters make, as well as the actions they take, when faced with a d…
Ep. 134 Crisis Questions for Your Scenes
What are crisis questions? Why do our stories and scenes need them? In this episode, story editor Leslie Watts discusses the dilemmas your characters face on the way to scene and story resolutions in…
Ep. 133 Progressive Complications for Your Scenes
What are progressive complications? Why do our stories and scenes need them? This week, story editor Leslie Watts discusses the people, places, things, and events that stand between your characters a…
Ep. 132 Inciting Incidents for Your Scenes
What are inciting incidents? Why do our stories and scenes need them? What are the elements of a solid inciting incident? This week, story editor Leslie Watts discusses these story event catalysts in…
Ep. 131 Analyzing Your Scenes
You’ve written lots of scenes for your work in progress, but how do you know whether they work? In this episode, story editor Leslie Watts shows you how to analyze your scenes by looking at the openi…
130. Writing with Abandon with Grant Faulkner
In this episode, story editor Leslie Watts discusses writing with abandon with Grant Faulkner, the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month. They talk about what it means to write with aban…
Ep. 129 Essential and Literal Action in Your Scenes
In this episode, editors Leslie Watts and Anne Hawley discuss literal and essential action in the context of “Madeline,” a short horror story by Nathaniel Patterson.
They show you how to identify the …
128. How to Take Your Story from Pretty Good to WOW!
In this episode, editors Leslie Watts and Lori Puma critique “Night Fishing,” a coming of age short story by Kevin Glasgow. They discuss how to take your story from pretty good to WOW.
You’ll discover…
127. Meeting Reader Expectations for Your Fiction Sales Category
Leslie welcomes James Thorn, an author of dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction and Story Grid Certified editor, to discuss how you can discover reader expectations related to your sales category.
T…
126. Second Person Point of View
Intrepid editors Leslie Watts and Anne Hawley talk about when you might want to use second person point of view in the context of David Austin's short story "All American."
This week's editorial miss…
Episode 125: Putting Your Writing First with Mark McGuinness
In this episode, Leslie talks with poet and creative coach Mark McGuinness from the 21st Century Creative podcast about why it’s important to put your writing first—both for you personally and for yo…
Episode 124: Your Character’s Internal Journey
In this episode, story editors Leslie Watts and Rebecca Monterusso critique “The Flight,” a science fiction short story by Scott Adam Gordon. They discuss the internal journey or change that characte…
Epside 123: Leslie's Approach to Editing and Why You Need to Tell Your Story
In this episode, story editor Leslie Watts and Writership’s first officer, Liz Green, discuss the way things have changed around the podcast and answer some burning questions about story structure, L…
Episode 122: Do Your Scenes Contain Conflict?
In this episode, editors Leslie Watts and Courtney Harrell critique the first chapter of Seeker, a science fiction novella within the Chaos Nova universe by Smith & Kaos. They discuss conflict within…
Episode 121: Structure for Character-Driven or Literary Stories
In this episode, fiction editors Leslie Watts and Rachelle Ramirez critique “How I Stumbled into the Golden Cage,” a short story by Jose Arroyo. They discuss genre and how stories that emphasize the …
Episode 120: Crisis Questions
In this episode, story editors Leslie Watts and Valerie Francis analyze a scene from Lock and Key: the first book in The Essence Riven Trilogy by Emily Bowie. They discuss the crisis question, a mome…
Episode 119: Scene Value Shifts
In this episode, editors Leslie Watts and Jay Peters critique the beginning of “What Lives Beneath,” a short story by A.V. Herzberg. The author’s synopsis for the story suggests that the main genre c…