Episode 228 - Avoiding dullness in our story. episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 31, 2026 · 25 MIN

Episode 228 - Avoiding dullness in our story.

from Essential Guide to Writing a Novel · host James Thayer

Every element in our story should contribute to entertaining the reader including our settings.  We can replace our dull settings with fascinating locations, and here's how to do it.  Also: what's wrong with this sentence?  Running along the street, the purse bounced against her leg.  It's a funny dangling modifier.  Funny if it doesn't appear in our story.  Here are thoughts on dangling modifiers, and how to avoid them.  Plus, the rule of exceptions.  Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.Support the showBuy the master class.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 31, 2026

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Every element in our story should contribute to entertaining the reader including our settings. We can replace our dull settings with fascinating locations, and here's how to do it. Also: what's wrong with this sentence? Running along the street, the purse bounced against her leg. It's a funny dangling modifier. Funny if it doesn't appear in our story. Here are thoughts on dangling modifiers, and how to avoid them. Plus, the rule of exceptions. &...

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Episode 228 - Avoiding dullness in our story.

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