The Writership Podcast Editing Tips For Fiction Authors

Leslie & Alyssa critique "The Man on the Motorcycle," a short story by Sean Seebach. They discuss point of view, character and plot arc, and genre considerations.

Alyssa & Leslie critique the opening of Saralee Etter’s Mystery at Blackstone’s Stables, and discuss deft character descriptions, bridging tension, and setting.

Leslie & Alyssa critique the opening of M.N. Arzu’s Underneath, and discuss foreshadowing, verb choice, repetitive sentence structure, and genre considerations.

Alyssa & Leslie critique the opening of Lincoln Cole’s Raven’s Peak, and discuss tone, using secondary character reactions to develop your reader’s understanding of the protagonist, restraint in deli…

Leslie & Alyssa critique the opening of Genya’s literary fiction novel, Martha’s Dream. They discuss sentence and paragraph length, poetic language, and reconciling adult-like observations with the p…

Alyssa & Leslie critique the prologue and opening of chapter one from JF Erickson’s Hard Reboot. They discuss worldbuilding, advanced dialogue punctuation, maintaining tension, and stage direction.

Leslie & Alyssa critique the prologue of Chris Tick’s The Humanarium, a science fiction novel. They discuss classic scene structure, grounding the reader, worldbuilding, and characterization.

Alyssa & Leslie critique the opening of Mary Pat Lynch’s Feather the Painter, a fantasy novel. They discuss repetitive sentence structure, tension, sensory detail, dialect, and getting to know settin…

Leslie & Alyssa critique the opening of CS Manley’s Awakened. They discuss the opening device (amnesia), tension, setting, and the high polishing techniques that will make your writing lean.

Alyssa & Leslie critique the opening of J.H. Lucas’s Generation Havoc. They discuss panoramic vs. intimate openings, developing tension, tone, diction, and worldbuilding.

Leslie & Alyssa critique the opening of Luke K’s The Hipster Who Leapt Through Time, a science fiction/fantasy novel by Luke Kondor. They mention echoes and strengthening verbs. They discuss how the …

Alyssa & Leslie critique the opening of Simon Cantan’s The Bite of Rust, a fantasy novel. They discuss unusual protagonists, characters’ emotional reactions, and effective hooks and world building.

Leslie & Alyssa critique Alysia Seymour’s “The Quirky Old Couple,” a fantasy short story. They discuss tension, action, and conflict, repetitive sentence structure, and earning back story.

Alyssa & Leslie critique the first five pages of Kinda Ra Harashal’s Society, an urban fantasy/thriller novel. They discuss grounding the reader in a fantasy world, nailing your genre and audience, a…

Leslie and Alyssa critique the first chapter of Edward Antrobus’s The Book of Fawla, a fantasy serial. They discuss telling detail for characterization, setting, and props, amping up your verbs, payi…

Alyssa & Leslie critique the opening pages of a thriller by AD Davies. They discuss the genre and maintaining tension, and get into some granular detail on verb tense and dialogue tags. Put your gram…

Leslie & Alyssa critique Todd Gerring’s middle grade horror short story. They discuss considerations when writing horror for this audience, 3rd person distant POV, building sympathy for your characte…

Alyssa & Leslie critique the opening of Jennifer Evans Kochalka’s novel, Pleasure Point. They discuss the romance genre, character reactions, and get into the nitty gritty of compound words, spaces a…

Leslie & Alyssa critique the opening of Mark S.R. Peterson’s novelette, Guest of Honor. They discuss the suspense genre, prepositions, present tense, tension, characterization, and point of view.

Alyssa & Leslie critique the opening of a science fiction adventure story, “One’s Place,” by Edwin Downward. They discuss characterization, setting, lingering questions, plot devices, and diversity i…