Craft

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In this week’s episode, we dig into the strength of your protagonist, and how that strength depends upon your antagonist.

If you don’t yet have your copy of Liars’ Legacy, you can get it wherever books are sold, or if you want to support an indie bookstore you may still be able to get an autographed copy from Interbang Books here:

https://www.interabangbooks.com/

Taylors upcoming schedule:

• January 21 – Murder by the Book – Houston Texas
• January 24 – Arboretum Barnes and Noble – Austin, Texas
• February 13 – Interbang Books – Dallas Texas (6:00 PM)

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patreon only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

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Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

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In this week’s episode, we dig into the need to avoid the easy route in our writing. This will become an over-arching topic for us, but in this episode, we’re focusing on Dialogue.

Taylor also mentions that autographed copies of Liar’s Legacy will be available at Interabang Books in Dallas, and they can also be ordered online. You can find contact information for Interabang books here:

https://www.interabangbooks.com/

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patreon only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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In this week’s episode, Taylor and Steve expand on the idea that every scene needs a purpose, with a focus on description. She also shares some thoughts on how unnecessary details can bog down readers, and she reminds us of the ultimate purpose for description.

The Ultimate Purpose of Description is to provide the context and environment that your characters inhabit so that they aren’t forced to exist in a spatial void.

— Taylor Stevens

Here is the original section that’s Taylor is using for example purposes, from Chapter 4 of Steve’s Reggie book.

***

Chez Reggie is a 1,452 square feet cottage that has survived three hurricanes, six owners and the relentless march of bigger, newer, and more expensive since 1956. Originally built as a winter getaway for Chuck and Brenda Powell, the cottage passed through several hands before I bought it for a song from an old-timer who didn’t want it torn down and replaced with what he called a “damn monstrosity”. 

The house is a boxy structure that was completed before things like floodplains were a part of city planning. That meant that it didn’t need to be built on a mountain of fill dirt. My home sat sedately at ground level, where all of Elan had been back in the day. Each time one of these old cottages are demolished to make room for a new three-story temple of success the city loses more of its charm. At least in the way I define charm. Granted, I may be in the minority.

I’d had the shingle roof replaced with tin a year ago, and the sound inside the house during rainstorms is magical. Some female guests of Chez Reggie find the sound of rain on a tin roof to be an aphrodisiac, making me one of the few people in Elan who look forward to multi-day tropical storms. 

Unfortunately, the only sound inside my lonely home tonight was the sound of my pen scratching against a moleskin notebook. 

***

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patreon only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

In this week’s episode, Taylor and Steve discuss a process for dealing with manuscripts that you’ve written and tucked away in a (digital) drawer.

We also discuss a chance meeting Steve had with author Echo Miller at the 20books Conference in Las Vegas. Echo’s book is The Insider Club, which you can check out at Amazon here.

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patreon only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.