John Helps You Write Better
John Helps You Write Better is your all-in-one better-than-college help and advice in writing and publishing your books. It's all about giving you the career as a successful author you've always dreamed of.
Don't fear the tropes and cliches
In today's episode, I want to talk you about tropes and cliches. They're nothing to overthink or fear.
I've been sick. Have a podcast episode.
In today's episode, I've gotten out of bed to talk to you about pushing yourself to work and being kind to yourself about doing it
You need to start AND finish AND finish what you start.
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about that first draft you've been working on since the dawn of time and somehow still haven't finished it yet.
You're going to need to learn to take a punch.
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about how you're handling rejection and the less-than-ideal feedback you might be getting.
Why do you want to rush? What's the hurry?
In today's episode I want to ask you why you think "taking too long" matters and why you want to go faster.
And why exactly are you using AI?
In today's episode, I'd like to ask you about why you're using AI to "edit" your work.
Separate your character from your plot
In today's episode, I want to encourage you to make your character not just the being doing the plot, but a wholly formed person who happens to be doing a plot.
Local royalty vs global royalty AKA Who's the most specialest person?
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about the royalty problem in your story.
Global global versus local global - Worldbuilding and scale
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about how a character can operate in their world versus the world of the story.
Have you been complicating your world-building?
In today's episode, I've got the audio from a workshop I did this past weekend on world-building. I think it'll help you.
We never know what we're doing or where we're going, and that's fine.
As the year ends, I want to talk you about the not-knowing of making things and how it's okay to not know how things are going to be.
Answering 27 questions from webnovelists and new writers
In this nearly 90-minute Q&A session, I answer 27 questions from webnovelists and new writers. I think you'll find it really useful and enjoyable.
You and your voice and trying to be like other authors
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about trying to ape someone else's style.
Let's talk about beats and scenes
This is the audio from a workshop I gave on 12/21 to some webnovelists and self-publishing authors about scene and beat usage in their writing. I think you'll find this helpful
How are you feeling about your progress?
In today's episode, I want to talk you about your goals and what you're doing to reach them.
What the hell happened to Superman in the Superman movie?
In this episode, we need to talk about Superman.
And now, a word for co-authors
In today's episode, I'd like to talk to you about co-authorship.
How's that fantasy going?
In today's episode, I want to talk you about your fantasy of being a writer.
What do you think you're doing?
In today's slightly cantankerous episode, I want to ask you what you think you're doing.
How Do I Make A Plot? (Audio from A Plot Building Session)
In this bonus audio from this past weekend, here's me talking to a group of writers about what plot is and what plot isn't and how to build an effective plot.
Why are you waiting?
In today's episode, I want to ask you about why you're waiting and not making art.
Just start.
In today's episode, I want you to just start.
The anti-pants system of writing
In today's episode, I would like to tell you how to get away from pantsing forever.
The #1 excuse of pantsing.
In today's episode, I want to take the bite out of pantsing's number one excuse.
Pantsing is making it harder for you to succeed, here's why
In today's episode, I want to keep talking to you about pantsing. It's a theme all week.
Why Pantsing is Bad, part 1
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about why pantsing is ruining your writing.
You should be reading critically
In today's episode, I want to explain what people mean when they say you should read more.
At and To and With
In today's episode, let's talk about how we talk to or at or with our readers.
"New" and "experienced" are labels that don't matter
In today's episode, I want to explain how two labels so many writers use don't actually matter.
Can you connect with someone else?
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about abandoning the right/wrong dynamic.
The audio-only re-do of the Writers Chat for 11-19
In this re-do of a crashed stream, I answer questions about the state of the world, webnovels as pulps, cozy mysteries, grammar, and two brothers. Lots of good stuff here.
How's that voice going?
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about your voice and how you can be using it do to what you want.
Are you asking questions in your exposition?
In today's episode I want to talk to you about those times where you're asking the reader questions directly in the text.
11-12-24 Writers Chat
In this week's Writers Chat, I answer questions about insecurity, editors, prologues, conversations, payment plans, and genres.
How familiar are you with your genre?
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about genre and conventions.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about not trying so hard to do something "new" in your writing.
We all face stairs.
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about my mom and some stairs.
Some disjointed thoughts on art and no one seeing it
In today's episode, I want to talk to you about what happens if you paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling in your garage.
Don't forget to connect to your reader
In today's episode I want to talk to you about your reader and the bridge you're trying to build to them.
What kind of backstory are you writing?
In today's episode I want to talk to you about the backstory you're using.
