Writer Unleashed

You know everything about your character. Her history. Her wounds. What she ate for breakfast the morning her life fell apart. So why doesn’t your reader love her the way you do? The answer isn’t in your character’s backstory. In this episode, you’ll learn three moves that turn the character you know so well into one your reader believes, worries about, and follows all the way to the last page.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THS EPISODE

Educated by Tara Westover

Remains of the Day of Kazuo Ishiguro

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin

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If this episode helped, subscribe wherever you listen and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Every review helps another writer finish their story. Thanks for tuning in to Writer Unleashed!

Your dialogue sounds natural. It’s exactly what these two people would say to each other. So why does the scene still feel flat? Making your characters argue won’t necessarily help. Neither will giving them clever things to say. What gives an exchange its pull runs deeper than the words on the page. Today, I’ll show you what gives dialogue its tension, and how to make even a quiet conversation feel like something readers can’t afford to miss.

IN THIS EPISODE

• The shift that turns every line of dialogue into something your character does
• What every character needs to bring into a conversation, even a quiet one
• How a single word choice can reveal the way a character sees the world
• A simple exercise to try on any scene that feels off

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Roger Alan Skipper

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If this episode helped, subscribe wherever you listen and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Every review helps another writer finish their story. Thanks for tuning in to Writer Unleashed!

You've written chapters, studied craft, maybe tried an outline or three. So why is it still so hard to decide where your story begins, which scenes belong, or what needs to happen in the middle?

Often the trouble isn't effort. It's what you've been taught to believe about writing a book. In this episode, I clear up three misconceptions that make finishing harder: that you have to have it all figured out before you write, that a story needs big events to keep readers hooked, and that struggling with your story means you're not cut out for this. Plus, one simple question to bring back to your work-in-progress this week.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Final FREE Masterclass: From Stuck to Story: 3 Simple Shifts to Find the Structure in Your Pages. Wednesday, October 21 at 7 pm Eastern. Grab Your Seat

3-Act Story

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

When your story feels stuck, it's tempting to keep adding things: another scene, more backstory, a new subplot. But often the answer isn't to add more. It's to reconnect with why you're writing this story in the first place.

In this episode, you'll get three questions that lead you back to that reason, and you'll see why it's what keeps you writing from first draft to finished book. Whether you're working from notes, a partial draft, or your fifth revision, what you need to get moving again is already in your pages.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Final Free Masterclass: From Stuck to Story Wednesday, October 21, 7 pm ET. Register Here.

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

Most writers can describe their plot in detail: what happens, in what order, how it ends. Far fewer can describe what their character actually gains, loses, or finally understands by the time the story's over.

In this episode, I walk through how plot and character work together: what to ask about a plot event before you decide it belongs, how to tell if your character has changed, and how to find your next plot step by following your character's response, instead of inventing one out of thin air.

RESOURCE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

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If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your support helps more writers find the show, strengthen their craft, and finish the stories they want to tell.

Thanks for tuning in to Writer Unleashed. See you next week!

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

You've revised your first chapter so many times you could recite it, and it still isn't pulling a reader in. After years of reading first chapters, here's what I've learned: when one works, it's rarely because of the prose. It's because of what's happening underneath it. Today, I walk you through the three things a reader needs from your first chapter, and how to tell whether yours delivers.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why your first chapter doesn't have to be perfect before you write the rest of your story
• The difference between exposition that stalls a chapter and exposition that reveals character
• The question to ask before any piece of backstory goes into your opening
• Why the strongest first chapters are built around one event, and how to find yours
• The difference between your character's big story goal and what they want right now
• Three questions to ask when your first chapter still isn't working after another round of revision

RESOURCE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to Youby Peter Cameron

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your support helps more writers find the show, strengthen their craft, and finish the stories they want to tell.

Thanks for tuning in to Writer Unleashed. See you next week!

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

You've written the scenes. Your characters are doing things. So why does the middle of your story still feel like quicksand? If your first instinct is to add more, hold that thought. In this episode, I share what actually creates momentum in the middle of a draft, and why the answer may already be on your pages.

You’ll learn the questions to ask when your middle starts to feel too big, too slow, or too difficult to navigate, so you can find the through line that’s already there.

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your support helps more writers find the show, strengthen their craft, and finish the stories they want to tell.

Thanks for tuning in to Writer Unleashed. See you next week!

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

You’ve read the craft books, tried the frameworks, written hundreds of pages, and you still can’t quite see what your story needs.

In this episode, I’m talking about what changes when your story finally starts to come into focus, when you can tell what belongs, recognize why something isn’t working, and make decisions without knowing every scene in advance.

Because clarity doesn’t mean you’ll never get stuck. It means you know how to find your way forward.

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

You can Google anything about writing. Ask AI. Read every craft book on the shelf. And still sit down to your own pages and feel exactly as stuck as before.

It's not a lack of talent. Or motivation. It's the gap between having a story you're desperate to write and knowing how to write it.

This episode is about why that gap is so easy to miss, why the excitement of a new project always seems to run out at the same point, and why more information isn't necessarily what you need to get unstuck.

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

There's no shortage of writing advice out there. Outline everything before you start. Don't outline, you'll kill the magic. Follow a beat sheet. Trust your instincts instead. Structure will flatten your story. Structure will save it.

No wonder so many writers second-guess every choice they make.

Some writing advice gets handed down as gospel when really it may only apply to certain writers, certain stories, or certain stages in the process. And when you take it on as an absolute, it can lead to hesitation, self-doubt, and the nagging sense that there’s a “right” way to write a book that everyone else understands and you somehow missed.

In this episode, I'm taking on four common writing myths about structure, plot, planning, and the "right" way to write, and giving you something more useful to believe instead.

Because the goal isn't to follow someone else's process. It's to understand your story well enough to trust yourself inside it.

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

Is the middle of your story really the problem, or is something else going on?

If you've ever stared at word forty thousand wondering how you lost your way, you're in the right place. In this episode, I'm sharing why the muddy, messy middle usually isn't where the real trouble starts. It's just where it becomes impossible to ignore.

You'll learn the difference between chronicling events and building a story, plus a simple three-chapter exercise you can use right now to see where your story's breakdown is really happening.

If your middle feels stuck in the murk, this episode will show you exactly where to look.

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

If you have a story worth telling and still feel completely lost, you're not behind, and you're not alone. After years of working with first-time novelists and memoir writers across every genre, I've noticed the writers who struggle the most aren't the ones without talent. They're the ones who lean on off-the-shelf beat sheets and outlines instead of trusting their own instincts. This episode is about what's actually going on when writing feels so much harder than you thought it would, and why that has nothing to do with whether you have what it takes.

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

You’ve heard “show, don’t tell” a thousand times. But what does it actually mean to show effectively? And when is telling exactly what your story needs?

In this episode, we’ll look at common ways writers get showing wrong, what strong showing does, and when telling can deepen a scene or keep your story moving.

You’ll learn a more useful way to think about showing and telling - one that gives readers room to participate while bringing them deeper into your character’s experience.

Book mentioned in this episode:

The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

Your story has several characters, multiple storylines, and probably some childhood flashbacks that keep sneaking in. And you can't quite answer the question every writer eventually has to face: what is your story about?

If you've ever struggled to answer that in one sentence, this episode is for you. I'm walking through why ambitious first drafts get overcrowded, how to find the single core desire your story should orbit around, and what to do with everything else. You'll walk away with a clear way to tell a rich story instead of a crowded one, and the confidence to cut what's creating noise instead of clarity.

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

Ever thought about quitting your draft and starting something new? You're not alone - lots of writers do. But before you abandon your story, listen to this episode first.

Most of the time, the urge to start over isn't really about the story at all. It's one of three specific things, and each one has a way forward that doesn't involve throwing out everything you've built. In this episode, I walk through all three, along with examples, so you can figure out exactly what's going on with your draft, and what to do next.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand

Autobiography of a Faceby Lucy Grealy

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

Whether you're staring at a blank page or halfway through a draft, overthinking can bring your novel to a standstill. Different symptoms, same root cause: both writers are trying to solve problems they're not ready to solve yet, overthinking to the point of paralysis. In this episode, I share a four-part framework to help you stop chasing certainty and start getting more clarity and direction for your story.

Links Mentioned In This Episode:

One Dayby David Nicholls

Lolitaby Vladimir Nabokov

The Perfect Coupleby Elin Hilderbrand

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

For years I measured my work ethic by how many hours I put in at my desk. I'd arrive, coffee in hand at 7am, break around Noon for lunch, back at my desk till 6 or 7pm, sometimes later. I thought putting in the time was the thing that would move the needle. It was actually the thing keeping me from doing my best work.

In this episode, I share two small, counterintuitive shifts I made to change not only the volume of creative work I get done, but the quality — and in half the time it used to take me.

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

How much exposition is too much? Should you begin your story with exposition? And how do you write exposition in a way that isn’t excessive, awkward, or dull?

In this encore episode, we'll talk about how to write exposition in a way that doesn’t sound like exposition.

We'll cover:

• What exposition is, and why it's essential;
• When to begin your story with exposition and when not to
• Two different types of exposition; and
• How to slip exposition into the action so the reader isn't aware it's even there.

Episode Website

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

Most writers know when their dialogue isn't working. What they don't know is why. In this episode, I'm breaking down the three mistakes that make dialogue read false, and what to do to turn it around. So your reader feels like they're eavesdropping on a private conversation.

[00:00:00] Why dialogue feels so hard to write when conversation comes so naturally to us in real life.

[00:01:04] The eavesdropping illusion -- why the moment your characters start performing for the reader, the dialogue falls flat.

[00:02:21] Mistake #1: Your characters are explaining things they both already know -- and why this rings false even when the reader can't name why.

[00:04:57] Mistake #2: Your characters are saying exactly what they mean -- and why directness kills tension and deflates the scene.

[00:07:11] Mistake #3: The dialogue isn't doing anything -- why every line needs a job and how to know when a line isn't earning its place.

[00:11:04] All three mistakes come from the same place -- and what to do instead.

[00:12:24] Your final dialogue checklist -- three questions to ask every time a scene feels off.

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Your support helps other writers find this podcast and get the insights they need to write, revise, and finish their books. Thanks for tuning in!

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/

If you've been writing your novel or memoir for months, maybe even years, and you still can't seem to cross the finish line, this episode is for you. Because the writers who finish their books don't have more talent, time, or a better story concept. They're separated by how they think about the work while they're inside it.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the five mindset shifts that make the difference. And the good news is that how you think is something you can always change.

What You'll Learn:

[00:01:00] Why the writers who finish aren't more talented than the writers who don't, and what actually separates them.

[00:01:45] Mindset #1: Why trying to write perfectly and finish at the same time is guaranteed to stall you, and what writers who finish do instead.

[00:04:00] Mindset #2: How to stop treating difficulty as a sign that something's wrong with you or your story, and what it actually means when the writing gets hard.

[00:06:00] Mindset #3: The identity shift that lets writers cut what isn't working, even scenes they spent weeks writing.

[00:09:00] Mindset #4: Why gripping your original concept too tightly keeps you from writing the book your story is actually trying to become.

[00:11:00] Mindset #5: The one practical strategy that keeps the weight of the whole book from flattening you every time you sit down to write.

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Your support helps other writers find this podcast and get the insights they need to write, revise, and finish their books. Thanks for tuning in to Writer Unleashed! See you next week!

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me/