Let's Talk Novels

Do it yourself, or hire an editor? In this episode Jack reveals the three phases of editing as he helps indie authors make this crucial decision. 

You've completed your first draft. In this episode Jack gives you 12 questions to guide you through the rewriting and revising phase to make your good story great. 

Unless you can design covers that are good enough to compete with bestsellers, the investment you make in hiring a professional cover artist will be worth the money. Here are your options. 

·         If you want to cultivate a readership, you must go to where they hang out online and interact with them long before you have a book to sell them.

In this episode Jack reveals how you can know what readers of your genre want to see in a novel before you start writing it. This information not only lets you write to your audience, but it also lays the groundwork for promotional efforts. 

It has never been easier to get published, but that doesn't mean getting published is easy. In this episode Jack gives an overview of indie author self-publishing. 

In this episode Jack teaches how to create settings that are as dynamic and alive as any character. 

Will the advice that launched Jack's traditional writing career also be the key to successful indie publishing?

Is your idea novel worthy? Does it have high-concept mass audience appeal? Here's how to test it.

Trust your readers. In this episode Jack warns against micromanaging your story.

Humor - a tool that should be in every writer's toolbox. In this episode Jack teaches how to use humor to spice up your novel.

In this episode Jack shares quotes and anecdotes he uses that inspire him to write. 

In this episode Jack takes a unique look at the author's final pass on a novel manuscript before sending it in for publication.

If Shakespeare had written Macbeth on a Mac would it be as good? A light-hearted look at modern day writing. 

An irreverent look at breaking the rules of grammar and making up your own words.

In this episode Jack takes a humorous look at a personal affliction.

In this episode Jacks provides daily practical and creative ways writers can defeat the dilatory dragon.

In Part 1 Jack explores the nature of this five-headed dilatory dragon with strategies on how to defeat it. 

Where do you learn how to write a novel? In this episode Jack relates some of the lessons he's learned from novelists living and dead, with some fascinating anecdotes about JRR Tolkien and The Lord of The Rings.  

In this episode Jack takes a humorous look at an adventure in writing the dreaded author bio, something every novelist will be called upon to write.