Download | Duration: 00:24:22

This is a special edition of the FictionRight.com podcast.  We interview Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files series, and Shannon Butcher.  Please provide any comments to feedback@fictionright.com

Jim Butcher's website is http://www.jim-butcher.com/

Shannon Butcher's website is http://www.shannonkbutcher.com/

And a special Thank You to the Pike's Peak Writers Workshop for allowing us to interview the Butcher's.  http://www.ppwc.net/

Alan and Rebecca Lickiss discuss dialog and how to make it better.

Writing exercise: Write a scene that takes place around a dinner table where a common problem or a person is the object of discussion.

Download | Duration: 00:17:22

Alan and Rebecca Lickiss interview Connie Willis while attending CoSine in Colorado Springs, January 2007. Connie provides information and advice for writers of all levels.

Download | Duration: 00:43:23

Alan and Rebecca Lickiss answer questions they've received about manuscript format and submission. Writing exercise: Take the story that was written for the last exercise, format it properly, and submit it to an editor. If it is rejected, immediatly submit it to another editor.

Download | Duration: 00:18:23

Alan and Rebecca Lickiss discuss what plot is and how it is used to start a story, make a story interesting, and provide a satisfying ending. Writing exercise: Take the character, setting, and idea created in previous exercises and use them to write a short story.

Download | Duration: 00:14:54

Alan and Rebecca Lickiss discuss where writers get their ideas, and how to generate ideas for problems, stories, characters, and settings if the idea well is dry. Writing exercise: write down one or more problems that would be suitable for a short story.

Download | Duration: 00:17:31

Download | Duration: 00:34:44

Alan and Rebecca Lickiss interview Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Robert J. Sawyer while attending MileHiCon in Denver, October 2006. The three provide information and advice for writers of all levels.


Robert J. Sawyer's web site is http://www.sfwriter.com/

Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens web site is http://www.reeves-stevens.com/

Alan and Rebecca Lickiss discuss the importance of well defined characters to a story, and how to create them. Writing Exercise: Create a character, define their name, gender, age, physical attributes, any quirks, their past, and their future/hopes and dreams.

Download | Duration: 00:17:34

Alan and Rebecca discuss the importance of the use of multiple senses in providing descriptions in writing. Writing Exercise: Go to a place and write a paragraph describing the place using only one sense. Do this twice more with two other senses. Then write a fourth paragraph, pulling from the first three, to create a multi-sense description of the location.

Download | Duration: 00:12:40