The Author Wheel Podcast The Author Wheel

Do you have an intentional author brand?If not, today's guest is bound to help. In fact, in this interview, she did an on-the-spot workshop with Megan, helping her rethink her own social media content strategy! If you want practical tips and real-world examples, you have to listen in on this one. Melanie Herschorn wants to help you step into your spotlight as an authority. As a book marketing and publishing strategist for business owners, consultants, and speakers worldwide, she’s on a missio...

Ever wonder why some books grab you from the first line, while others fail to spark your interest? This week's quick tips are all about the opening hook. Tip #1: Some people never read past the first paragraph, let alone the first page. Make it count! Tip #2: Know the difference between in medias res and place en scene. Choose your start carefully. We will be taking a break for the summer, so we're turning off paid sponsorships. Make sure you subscribe on your favorite podcast player so you d...

Walking the knife's edge between depth and brevity...Today's guest is a master of the short story and professor at George Mason University. He's built a career in the trenches of the literary magazine world, where every word counts.Our conversation digs deep into the art of the scene, with a ton of practical advice to keep readers turning pages no matter the length of your book.Art Taylor is the Edgar Award-winning author of two collections: The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other E...

Don't be a bunny. Avoid head hopping. We're tackling one of Megan's biggest pet peeves this week; head hopping, or changing character point of view without a visual transition in between.It happens when authors switch from the internal monologue or emotions of one character into another character, within the same scene, without a scene break or chapter break to identify the new point of view.Tip #1: Know your point of viewTip #2: Put yourself in the head of the character. Only write wha...

The journey of a writer is a blend of art and commerce, heart and head."Intuitive Editing is the process of taking the hard craft skills and melding it with creating the story that you're trying to create, not the one that some writing guru or dogma has suggested would be the right structure for you."This week we're thrilled to have editor Tiffany Yates Martin on the show. She is strong believer there's a difference between editing and revising. Editing gives you the map for revising your sto...

In this week's quick tips, we're taking a deep dive into the info dump.What's that, you ask?An info dump happens with the author writes everything they know about a character, setting, or their worldbuilding into a single stretch of prose. It's really common, especially for newer writers who feel like they need to explain everything for the reader.TL:DR - You don't.But how can you avoid it?Tip #1: Beware the prologue. Readers don't care about the world until they care about the characte...