As a writing coach, everyday writers come to me asking how they can improve their writing.

Using “Active Voice” is one of the easiest ways to improve the quality of any piece of writing.

Sentences written in Active Voice organize words so that the subject of the sentence is doing the action, not the object.

Confused? Don’t worry, I break it down for you in this episode of The Writing Coach podcast.

Listen to the episode now!

Many writers draft an entire manuscript before learning the fundamentals of the art form.

When they come to me looking for editorial advice, only to discover their characters lack an arc, and/or the book's theme is murky, and/or both their scenes and story as a whole lack structure, and/or the story doesn't demonstrate clear causality, and/or any other of a number of common problems that can emerge in a first draft, they are often startled.

After all, no one becomes an artist because they want to follow rules.

And no one wants to write a story only to be told they are doing their art "wrong."

But creative writing, like all art forms, has fundamentals.

Many writers see these fundamentals as "rules" limiting their creativity, and the question thus becomes:

Are there actually rules to writing and, if so, can you break them?

That's the question we tackle in this episode of The Writing Coach podcast.

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Writing a book is a complicated process and figuring out where to start can be confusing, especially for new authors.

Some writers start with character.

Some writers start with a theme.

Filmmaker and painter David Lynch starts with transcendental meditation!

In this episode of The Writing Coach, I describe the perfect way to begin developing a story and exactly where you should start.

Listen to the episode now!

Amazon's billion-dollar streaming series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has now been released . . . and it's not very good.

In this episode of The Writing Coach podcast, I explain the biggest problem with the show and then describe how you can avoid making the same mistakes when developing and drafting your fiction writing.

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I love these kinds of episodes.

I just love it when one of my clients works hard, makes steady process, and keeps with it through all the highs and lows that go into creating a book.

Then, one day, the book is launched, and I’m able to interview them here on the show as a published author!

Today is one of those days.

In this episode of The Writing Coach podcast, I speak with my client, author Phillip L. Wray.

We discuss the creative process of his debut novel, THE PONTCOURT MURDERS, how his love of French culture inspired the story, as well as his approach to combining musketeer adventure with Agatha Christie-style murder mystery.

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There are, of course, many ways to go about writing a book.

But having worked with hundreds of authors over the last decade, I’m absolutely convinced the most efficient, effective, and productive way of doing so is by planning ahead.

Knowing where your book is going, who it’s about, what it has to say about the world, and why readers are going to love it before you even write the first page frees up creativity, relieves stress, and speeds up the entire writing process.

In this episode of The Writing Coach podcast, I explain my personalized approach to story planning and outline how you can create a rock-solid outline for your novel in thirty days or less.

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Conflict is central to storytelling.

But too often when I tell my coaching clients that one of their scenes needs more conflict, they think I mean"big" conflict. They think of building exploding, dragons being slain, and lovers breaking up.

Conflict, drama, and tension, however, do not require life and death stakes to evoke emotional resonance with a reader.

In this episode of The Writing Coach podcast, fresh from vacation, I share examples of real-life everyday conflicts I witnessed at a children's resort focused on fun and happiness.

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