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Hi Rachel and Ari!! Scrivener sounds cool! It's neat how you can use folders within it to seperate and store different types of documents. Also cool how you can create PDFs and use ticks to decide what to share. It sounds helpful how it allows you to make notes and colors to differentiate :). Icons too? Awesome! Would you say it takes a lot of trial and error? I should check out video tutorials. The episode isn't messy, Rachel. It is awesome! Both of you brought up really helpful information. Take care, my friends. Much support always. You both are awesome. The episode is good and informative. I use Word but want to try Scrivener. Take care 😊.

I used to use Scrivener for all my books but ended up going back to Word due to my lifestyle. First, I loved using all the Scrivener features which was very easy to understand. I did end up using the corkboard and would have a wall of index cards that laid out the structure of my story. I could see at a glance the title of the scene, the summary and I could move the index cards if I felt one scene was in the wrong location within the story. I was also a huge fan of the word progress bar like Ari because it helped focus me on hitting word count goals for each scene. I also made use of the folders and created a research folder where I uploaded google images of places where I wanted a scene to happen. The photos helped me visualize the scene and write out where the characters would go and how they interacted with the environment. But one of my favorite features was the full screen writing mode. I changed the color from default white background, black text, to black bg and grey text. It looked like a classic MS-Dos prompt but it didn't hurt my eyes and helped me focus on my writing. What ultimately turned me away from Scrivener were a few things: 1. I kept running into formatting and style issues when exporting the file from Scrivener to EPUB. My fonts would get locked and my spaces and returns wouldn't save properly. 2. Scrivener on PC always felt behind the Mac version. I remember I bought a book on Scrivener tips and all of the features the author listed were specifically for Scrivener on Mac. This was frustrating as I was struggling with formatting errors and wanted the features the Mac version had. 3. Lack of cloud support. As someone who is either in the office or on the move, I needed an application that I could access anywhere (my career doesn't really allow work from home). At the time when I used Scrivener I couldn't save it on the cloud and resume work from my mobile phone. I had to go home and launch on my PC. I personally do not run into Word crashing issues anymore because I tend to keep my word files lean and don't add images or tables. (Even on my crappy laptop Word works fine) What I like about Office 365 is that I can write my book from my home PC, go to work, open the web browser of my One Drive and work on the web version of my book, and if I go to the doctor's office I can open my mobile phone and continue writing from there. The flexibility to go anywhere and continue working on my project was more important to me than the cool features Scrivener has. With Microsoft Word constantly backing up my files, I always had an opportunity to open the latest or go back to an earlier version if I didn't like what I had written. Now that technology has changed I might consider going back, but I am super dependent on OneDrive backup and cloud and being able to write on the move. So I'm still not sure if Scrivener can do that for me.

Great episode.

Way to go Ari!! Thank you for getting in Rachel’s face to talk about her book!!!

Hi Rachel and Ari!! I know it's been forever and I'm sorry for not being able to listen for a while. I listened to this latest one and am so happy for you, Rachel! Congrats! I'm proud of you!! My local bookstore doesn't have results for it yet. BUT, I will check with them (I'll email them) :). I hope you both are doing well. All the best to you both! Congratulations again, Rachel! Take care :) Have a great one :) :). Wishing you both a great week also :).

You make a lot of good points. I can relate.

I'm publishing a collaboration book

I suppose my greatest regrets were being impatient when I was young and then becoming a perfectionist later. But, like you said, they may have been the best decisions at that time to help me learn to be a better writer. I had those preconceived notions about what being a writer meant, too. For a while it looked like I was also going to pursue being an artist before I turned to writing. The reason I didn't is because I sold myself short in that regard.

Ooof, going into the weeds with this topic. I'm in agreement with Rachel in not believing in regrets and basically going with the mentality of everything happened because it was supposed to happen. But I do have a regret (and no I'm not going to repeat my reboot story, ha ha ha.) My biggest regret was not reading more and wide when I was younger. I thought that reading other people's work would cause me to steal ideas and not generate my own original ones. As a result, I don't have a thorough understanding of tropes and formulas found in most stories specific to their genre. My writing is very visual focused (cinematic) some would say, and I find that as a result a lot of my intimate dialogue scenes read as boring or melodramatic. It took me 10+ years to get caught up with something I would have had a stronger understanding of if I had read more sooner. Now I feel like I'm playing a game of constant catch up. Catch up on my reading, practice my writing, master structure, etc. Of course, my life probably would have turned in a completely different direction maybe one I would like less than the life I have now. Everything happens for a reason.

I really can't stand it when an author explains a key feature of a character's appearance but not at the start of the book. I have already imagined what the character looks like, now I need to re-imagine it! Recently read a book where I imagined the lead female to have brown hair, about 50 pages in the author said she struggled to control her fire red hair. Well that has now changed the character for me!

Video begins at 8:20

Something we have worked with in our writing is to show appropriate ways a typically problematic trope would have a healthy spin. I wrote an arranged/never met before couple but they were long distance for years before actually getting to meet face to face and deciding to have a physical relationship. One of the story lines my sister wrote has basically a insta love trope but it’s between mind readers so the important get to know you stage wasn’t really skipped as much as it was compressed into a few seconds. We are working on a “love triangle” where the central character is very clear from the beginning she has no intention of being in a romantic relationship with anyone at this time.

The only time I have seen a comparison to something that is totally different spice that works is when they say something like extra spicy lord of the rings or extremely mild game of thrones. I definitely like to know what I’m getting myself into when reading a book.

Oh I looooove this topic! I can handle any spice level and even tried reading some erotica to get some insight behind the appeal. My personal experience is that writing spice is as difficult as writing comedy. It's one of those topics that I personally feel, is enhanced through implied versus explicit. Describing a sex organ penetrating another in juicy detail, in my opinion, diminishes the appeal of the spice. It's spicy, but in a painful and not enjoyable way. Whereas if the writer said something along the lines of, "I would hook (genders) ankles over my shoulders and pull (genders) to the edge of the table." There is a lot of spice without having to go into crass detail. I once read an erotica that described squeezing or pinching a sensitive part of a man's body, and it immediately turned me off to the whole experience. I find that the most satisfying part to a spicy scene is having that buildup of sexual tension. That constant conflict of will they, won't they. Then once the lovers hit that climactic moment, I think it's best to give just a tiny tease of description and then fade to black. Or cut to another POV where sounds could be heard. The minor amounts of description can lead to a very effective use of spice. But there definitely has to be a buildup. Spice without buildup is straight up erotica. I am also against promoting or romanticizing toxic relationships. I can let it slide as long as the character learns and gets OUT of the toxic relationship. But if they stay or want to be in a toxic relationship, that's a no from me. I don't think it's healthy for impressionable people to think toxic treatment is acceptable in a relationship. Either the couple learns how to be nicer and healthier to one another or they breakup. "Its okay that (gender) hits me because I'm so in love with them." NO.

Solid advice. I've tried a few things that he's mentioned and saw results. My problem is doing the steps to overcome the block. I need to get better at engaging myself in freewriting, exercise, hydrating, moving around, writing things out. I think I struggle with writing things with pen and paper because I'm left handed and I never learned a proper technique to write that doesn't cramp my hand. I know it's super beneficial but man... it really hurts to write for long periods of time. Great episode!

I changed the internal formatting in my upcoming book as well as my current book in some areas to make it look more professional internally as well as reduce the page count, though people who've already bought the first will notice a difference now (or the original publisher's version, which had a smaller size). I actually prefer pronunciation guides in the back because I feel putting them up front could distract readers who may simply overlook it. But that's just me.

Oof, am wounded by the different book sizes, specifically the width. (God that sounds so wrong.) The issue with the size of the book is cost. The larger the book, the more expensive to print. I hadn't planned on making a print version of Narco Hotel because I am (coincidentally) ALSO ANNOYED that it is thinner than A Bitter Winter. Ha ha ha. I guess my books should be a mandatory word count from now on, can't mix n match novellas with novels.

When I first started writing I thought I could get discovered and at least a hundred people would download my free short stories and I would get at least twenty five reviews/ratings. However, after writing for about ten years I get excited if I get a download notification even though I am pretty sure no-one is reading my work. I don't think it is that our ideas or ability get worse, they definitely get better, we just realise the bar is so much higher than we originally thought.

You guys are doing great work

Glad you mentioned origin stories or characters in different scenarios as I have a novella that has been out for a while but I have re-edited and am going to re-release with a new cover. As you have to pay for it, I was going to write a short story for free set before the novella with the same characters. In the book the characters talk about other smaller missions they have been on, so plan to pick one of those and write it. Let's hope it gets people into the story and boosts sales!

My use of Goodreads is pretty basic. I don't do any of the challenges. I just keep track of what books I want to read and am reading, as well as rating/reviewing those I have read.

Hello old friends. Far from Deviant Art you have come.

My signature is the only cursive I remember too.

Long time no comment! I'd like to add on to these great self-editing tips with a few of my own. This advice will cater specifically to new authors using WORD. Also, I will include non-editing tips that are vital. 1.) 100% agree with read aloud in word. The word female voice has also been improved. She now adds inflection and emotion while reading. The male voice has not been updated yet. 2.) If you're working in Word and not on physical media, USE TRACK CHANGES. Track changes may make your manuscript look messier but it will also help you keep track of your editing. For example, it recently took me 4 weeks to re-edit one of my older titles. If I hadn't used track changes and took a break, I would have to remember where I left off in order to resume. Track changes will also help you decide whether the edit you made was warranted or something that got caught in the whirlwind. You can reject the changes and move onto the next. Going one-by-one with each track change will also allow you to re-read and either tweak or accept the changes you've made. Super useful for long manuscripts. 3.) If your manuscript is over 80k words and you have long chapters. I recommend breaking up the chapters into separate word documents. I know that sounds crazy but hear me out. If you're a new author, the first time you receive your manuscript marked up in red from an editor, it's daunting. You will feel like it will take forever to get the editing done. However, if you break them up into chapters it will be easier for your mind to process the information and make your edits at a consistent pace. Seeing 4 pages of edits for 1 chapters versus 200 pages is a huge difference mentally. NON-EDITING TIPS: - I do not recommend using Google Drive. I know it's free, but I've found that the longer your book is the more google drive struggles with an enormous amount of edits. Maybe this has changed over the years but I really do not like google drive for editing. Get word and take advantage of... - ONE DRIVE backups! I've read online from too many people crying about losing their precious manuscript because they were writing their document on a drive that failed. Why go through that grief? Put your manuscript on OneDrive, enable autosave and sync, and throw a copy into a backup drive or external. One Drive let's you edit from your cellphone because your document becomes available on all Microsoft Office enabled devices. If you have a personal PC, a laptop you bring to work, a mobile phone, all of these devices can be enrolled in OneDrive and sync your manuscript. Stuck at the grocery store or doctor's office? Open onedrive on your phone, open the word doc, and edit away. Have some free time at work? Sign into your onedrive, sync the files (or edit them on the web) and edit from your laptop. Keep backups. Use the cloud, use physical media, do everything you need to do to ensure you have a document to work from. There is nothing more heartbreaking than losing years of work and over 80k words due to hard drive failure. I've been there, done that. Use the cloud, use backups. If you have no choice and have to use google, then use google. I don't recommend it but it will work in a pinch. - If you're ready to publish, make sure you keep track of what version of the book you're printing. Therefore, use dates rather than titles to keep track of what version you're on. E.G. 2024-5-29_Book_V2. This way you will know at a glance which document is the most recent. You may find yourself revisiting older documents or creating multiple versions. Make the date prominent and keep the books in their own folders so they don't get confused. My pain words are: So, Well, That, She, Looked, Stood

I haven't tried flash fiction, but I have written micro memoir.

Great topic!

I've certainly had to deal with people asking when Beneath the Deep Wave would be completed, and there were times where I feared I might never finish it. Thankfully, it's finally coming out in late August! Side note: writing/editing can occur after publication sometimes too. Even famous authors have done that; it's comforting to know that.

Ugh. When I was unpublished and a teenager, I could bang out an 40-60k draft in two weekends. As an unpublished adult living at home, 2 years. As a married published author? 3-4 years. Ughhhh.... and the word count hasn't increased, it's gotten less! My own personal experience with writing is that real-life, especially "adulting" is full of urgent distractions. Need to cook dinner, vacuum the house, do an intensive project at work, attend an important meeting. So many things demand our attention right away and once we've given that attention it drains from our brain energy pool. Once work is done, the last thing I want to do is expend more energy brainstorming how to get myself out of writer's block. What seems to work for me is to have a specific time that I'm going to commit to writing. It means that on this day, I will skip playing video games or watching movies in favor of getting some writing done. I will happily sacrifice leisure activities if I'm at a section where I feel particularly inspired. But when I'm going through writer's block and I've had a hard day at work, it's almost impossible to muster the energy to write. Sometimes I can but oftentimes I just want to go home and veg out. Anyway, thanks for covering the topic. Reminds me to get my butt back in gear.

Reminds me of the third of Orwell's writing rules, which is to always cut a word out if it can be cut out (though his sixth says to break any of the first five rather than say anything barbarous).

Fascinating discussion. Thanks for providing this.

Good discussion, ladies. I think sometimes we forget how difficult childhood is.

Oh man, this topic is calling me out. Perfectionism is definitely a state of mind that needs to be programmed. I see so many writer's online complain about having their story ideas stolen by movies. When they explain how long they've been writing this one book, they say 10+ years. Then there's other writers who say, "Is it a mistake if I follow the POV of the villain? I don't want to mess up!" I think it's important to stress to newbie writers that perfectionism is the enemy of progress. The more you worry about having the perfect plot, the perfect character arc, the perfect grammar, the perfect writing style, the less and less likely it is you will ever finish. I say this as someone who struggles with this and is constantly trying to undo my natural perfectionist programming. All new writer's need to learn to accept that their first draft is going to be 100% trash. Too many writers are obsessed with just getting it right the first time and it's not a realistic goal. We can only improve by making mistakes. Just because you hate your first draft doesn't mean you need to trash it and start again from scratch. There are exceptions to the rule but for the most part it's definitely a keep going no matter what. I'm personally trying to accept the philosophy of "it's better to be done than perfect." I've found I've been much more satisfied with my work by being finished rather than obsessing over the quality of my work. Tweaking everything until it's absolutely perfect has brought me nothing but misery. I'd rather write twenty mediocre books than one perfect one.

I mainly just read for pleasure and I don't care if people think the stuff I read is rubbish! You read what you want to and I'll read what I want to.

Stephen King had written an epic fantasy book titled The Eyes of the Dragon, which apparently many fans rejected because it wasn't horror, and thus was one inspiration for his story Misery.

I know what you mean about names and repeatedly used words.

Congratulations on 200 episodes!

Great podcast all! So... MURDER MYSTERY! My wife and I hosted one when we first moved into our house. We hired an acting company to send an actor who brought the props, clues, and sheets needed to participate. Since it was halloween we decorated the inside of the house and put colored gels to add ambience. We had about 25 people, mostly friends and family (I have a big family and my wife has a lot of friends) but you could easily do a murder mystery with 6-8. We actually had too many people because there wasn't enough space to sit and have food. Totally doable though. Also, I would totally blow my money on office upgrades too. New PC for gaming, repaint my room, install some shelves. Yeah, sounds like a great investment!

I know that fact about some people not having an internal video or voice, but I keep forgetting about it. I'm learning to embrace my very descriptive writing style and just know that it won't be for everyone, and that's okay. My wife, for example does NOT have an internal video. My writing irritates and confuses her a lot of the time. I really enjoyed your discussion!

Great episode. I try to find a balance, and in my case, some critics have felt my dialogue has been one of my weaker points (how I write it, not how much I have).

Having different computer files and subfiles helps a lot.

The list of differences goes on. Things like football vs. soccer, restroom/bathroom vs. loo, and even gray vs. grey.

I've listened to every episode! I can't remember which episode it was, but in one you mentioned 4theWords. As a bit of an RPG lover I took the free trial after you mentioned it, I now pay for a subscription and it has vastly increased my word count this year. Maybe you can get some commission from that!

I’m a west coast girl. We normally just say store. Sometimes grocery and sometimes supermarket but mostly just store, I know in the UK they say shops instead.

I stayed to the very end.

Is there anything this Luna character can't do???

This was a very fun episode to participate in, thank you for having me! I will make sure to repost on my blog before the end of the year! Have a good one all!

Hi gals! my favorite type of endings too are the unpredictable endings, and not a flat happy ending but something that the character is transformed in the process of getting the resolution, and is well deserved. but i also love open endings with something open to interpretation, that even if it doesnt connect to a sequel the thought that leaves me speculating the fate of certain characters is fun to let it marinate in my mind. ur channel podcast is always fun to lsiten thank you and keep up the good work

Gone with the Wind is probably a good example of the confusion between Cliffhanger and Ambiguous endings. I think Mitchell intended for it to be the latter, but readers saw it as the former, probably because in most cases, when it comes to romance, readers/fans long for HEA. Your comment about epilogues and secondary characters reminds me of an article that described four categories of prologues: past, future, alternate POV, and exposition. These could be used for epilogues too, but then again, epilogues, like prologues and even all endings, can use elements of more than one as sort of a blending.

thank you for this, as an autistic writer I infodump in talking pretty often. It is nice to see others mention the writeing aspect of my neurodivergence situations. Keep up the good work !

Great points, especially about how it can happen with dialog.