PODCAST · education
Evident Ink
by YouTube channel
Lead editors of Evident Ink share tips and tricks to make your stories shine, based on years of editing fiction for authors.
Episodes
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Episode 59 Live Story Coaching
Curious about story coaching? Wondering if a quick call with Dawn or Nancy might actually give you what you need to write a better story, tighten your conflict, or build layers of tension into your plot? This episode is for you! Dawn and Nancy chat with two real authors who volunteered to do mini...
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Story Strategy, Episode 58: Building Story from Character
Some writers build stories from a plot idea, while others begin with the characters first. Dawn and Nancy explore the merits of beginning with character and offer tips on how to build from there.
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Story Strategy Episode 57: Writing Stories, Starting from Plot
Maybe you've got a great idea but you're not quite sure how that idea turns into a full-fledged story. Or maybe you know part of your plot but aren't sure what's missing to get it all the way to a bestselling book. This episode is for you. Story coaches Dawn Alexander and Nancy Smay talk through...
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Story Strategy Episode 56 - Story Structure
You've got an idea - but how do you actually begin writing a story? What are the options between plotting and just writing, and where do you find help when you need it? Join story coaches Dawn and Nancy for some tips on how to get started structuring your story.
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Story Strategy Episode 55 - Where To Begin
Have you always wanted to write a book? Now is a great time to start! But even if you're certain about your idea, or that you want to write, it's not always easy to get going. Dawn and Nancy share tips and tricks to help you take the first step.
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Story Strategy Episode 54: Finding Your Audience
Do you know who your reader is? Or are you writing books and sending them out into the world, hoping for the best? Learn tips and tricks for figuring out exactly who your audience is or will be as Dawn and Nancy from Evident Ink offer insights gleaned from NYT and USA Today bestselling clients.
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Story Strategy Episode 53: Co-Writing with Marika Ray and Delancey Stewart
We'll chat with USA Today Bestselling Authors Marika Ray and Delancey Stewart about their latest co-writing project, the Digital Dating series. They'll offer some hard-learned lessons and advice for how other authors might set up a co-writing project.
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Story Strategy Live Episode 52: Indie vs. Traditional Publishing
This is a topic that gets considered a lot, and it's important to say that these are not two points on one line. Plenty of authors do both in some way, shape, or form, and we'll talk about that as well as about how to get started down each path.
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Story Strategy Live - Episode 51: Writing Serialized Fiction with Tamara Lush
Serialized fiction is not new, but Amazon's Vella platform is the newest entrant into a market that's been around for centuries. Other short fiction platforms like Wattpad and Radish have been a boon for some authors who've figured out how to capitalize on a totally different market. Learn more...
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Story Strategy: 50th Episode Party!
Join Nancy and Dawn as we celebrate fifty episodes of Story Strategy! We'll have games and giveaways, and we'll be talking about what's coming up in the next 50 shows! - bring a friend!
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 49 - Twisted Tropes
Join Dawn and Nancy as we discuss the age-old tropes readers love and how to make them fresh and new!
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Story Strategy Live: Injecting Humor
Just because you're not writing comedy doesn't mean your book shouldn't have light moments or even downright comic moments - after all, life is often funny, even in the midst of drama. Join us while Nancy and Dawn discuss using humor to build relatable characters and realistic stories and explore...
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 47 - World Building
You've heard this term used in reference to fantasy fiction, but it has applications through all genres. Dawn and Nancy talk about the value of building a believable world, whether it's a small town in the US or a planet in a distant galaxy!
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 46 - Creating Character Backstories with Special Guest Roni Loren
Join Dawn and Nancy as they chat with USA Today and NYT Bestseller Roni Loren about how to build characters with angsty backstories to help drive the story forward!
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Story Strategy Live Episode 45: Writing Authentic Characters
Editors Dawn and Nancy explore the multi-faceted skill of writing authentic characters. We'll explore creating real emotion readers can feel and illustrate ways to connect readers to characters they won't forget.
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 44 - Voices in Your Head
How do you ensure your characters have distinctive voices as you write your story? And how do you find your own voice as an author? Both are skills that must be developed as you grow into your craft. Dawn and Nancy explore the difference between character voice and author voice, and give some…
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 43 -- Writing Sex Scenes, or: "but what if my mom reads this??"
If you're writing anything besides a sweet and clean romance, you're going to have to eventually write a sex scene. And even if your book is more of a fades-to-black kind of story, you'll still need to write the emotional and physical intimacy leading up to the door shutting. How do you write sex...
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Story Strategy Live - Episode 42: Love Hurts - Using Character Wounds to Build Your Story
Writing a believable wound is critical to giving your character's internal conflict and motivation enough power to drive the story forward to the climax and dark moment. Dawn and Nancy talk about how to write a compelling wound, how much to reveal when, and how to use that to break your…
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Story Strategy Live Episode 41: Real Love Stories to Fuel your Romance
Looking for an idea for your romance novel? Look no further. Dawn, Nancy, and several best-selling romance authors share their real-life love stories and make book recommendations to get your wheels turning. You'll hear from Melanie Harlow, Claire Kingsley, and more! Don't miss this one!
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Story Strategy Live Episode 40: Writing Romance - What You Need to Know
The romance genre is a world unto itself (that's why they call it Romancelandia!) Dawn and Nancy will give you a guided tour, honing in on the key elements of successful romance and identifying what makes this genre unique -- and different from the "love story" ...
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 39 - Setting Realistic Writing Goals and Honoring Your Process
Writers all compare themselves to others -- it's human nature. But the practice can be harmful when you decide to follow a process that's working well for another writer but may not be well-suited for you. Learn how to uncover your own unique writing process and use it to set goals that matter to...
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Story Strategy Live: Defining Success - Building a Meaningful Writing Practice (or Business!)
What does success look like? Does your version of success differ from that of the writer next to you? The answer? It should. Dawn and Nancy help you explore ways to set achievable but meaningful goals to help you build your writing life and make progress in your writing practice.
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Story Strategy Live: Blocked - When Words Won't Come
Dawn and Nancy talk about writers' block today and offer some tried and true techniques for luring back the muse.
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Story Strategy Live: Meet Evident Ink
If you're curious what we do at EI, this is our first of the year roundup show. We'll talk about the services we offer, how we work with authors at different levels of their career, and preview some of our new offerings for 2021! Come hang out and meet your editors!
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Story Strategy Live - Episode 35: Back to Basics - The Dark Moment
Join Dawn and Nancy of Evident Ink as they guide you through a key plot element in any story, any genre: the dark moment. Find out how to make readers desperate to see your characters come out the other side!
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Story Strategy Live Episode 34: Back to Basics - Mid-Point Shift
Dawn and Nancy discuss a key plot element today, the mid point shift. This is the moment where everything changes! The door that closed at "crossing the threshold" is officially locked, sealed, and barred. Find out how to utilize this critical plot point in your own fiction!
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 33 - Pinch Points
Join Dawn and Nancy as they talk about the intermittent action drivers your book needs to have -- pinch points! And if you have no idea what these are... join us and find out!
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Story Strategy Live: Back to Basics - Key Events / First Plot Points
Join Dawn and Nancy as they continue to cover the basics for Nano month! This episode will delve into the crucial first plot point -- also known as "crossing the threshold" or "the point of no return." Find out how to write it so that your characters (and your readers) can't go back!
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Story Strategy Live: Back to Basics - The Inciting Incident
Join Dawn and Nancy as they discuss what constitutes an inciting incident across fiction genres, give some examples, and explore how you can strengthen the start of your story!
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Story Strategy Live: Back to Basics - Hooking Your Readers!
Find out what makes readers keep going after those first couple lines. Get the goods from Dawn and Nancy on how to craft those critical first scenes and how to deliver on the promise you make there to keep your readers flipping pages all the way to the end of your story!
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 29 - Building the Perfect Scene
How is a scene different from a chapter? What are the essential elements of a scene? How do you know what each scene needs as you build your story? Find out today with Dawn and Nancy from Evident Ink.
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Story Strategy Live Episode 28: Conflict and Tension
Join Dawn and Nancy as they discuss how great storytellers layer tension and build realistic conflicts that keep readers turning pages.
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Story Strategy Live: Back to Basics - Focus on Plot
Dawn and Nancy will review the basics of building a plot, providing a scan of some of the most popular methods available, along with a few tips and tricks they've gleaned from their experience.
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Story Strategy Episode 26: Back to Basics -- Creating Characters
Join Dawn and Nancy as they start at the beginning - building stories one piece at a time. In this episode they explore how to build compelling characters with enough conflict and backstory to drive a narrative (but not so much that readers will put the book down!)
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Story Strategy Live: Stories in the Wild - Plot and Plausibility
Dawn and Nancy discuss the stories they've been watching and reading lately, focusing on plot devices, believability (and whether it matters) and more!
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 24 - What is the "Meet-Cute"?
Romance, and specifically romantic comedy, relies heavily on the "meet-cute" to set up the story. Nancy and Dawn explore the origins of the meet-cute and talk about how to avoid cliche when developing yours.
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 23 - Talking Dark Romance with Bestselling Author Eva Charles
Join Dawn and Nancy as they chat with bestseller Eva Charles about what makes "dark" romance -- and how to draw readers through the pages using suspense, intrigue and even a little bit of fear. Please note, this episode will discuss kink and other topics that are likely to be not safe for work or...
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Story Strategy Live Episode 22: Intro to Coaching Part 2 - Coaching through Early Writing Phases
This week Dawn and Nancy chat with a romcom writer who's working on her first book. She's looking for basic guidance and steering -- tune in to see what coaching looks like at this stage!
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Story Strategy Live: Episode 21 - Build Stronger Stories with a Coach
Today Dawn and Nancy will host a live story coaching session on air, in honor of the launch of Story Strategy Coaching. Watch how it works live, and then go here to learn more: https://evident-ink.teachable.com/courses
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Story Strategy Live Episode 20: Building Book Trailers with Author Terry Shepherd
Dawn and Nancy chat with thriller/mystery author Terry Shepherd about how he selects pieces of his stories to highlight in book trailers as part of his promotional toolkit. Just like blurbs, trailers require authors to select only certain aspects of their stories in hopes of attracting readers…
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Story Strategy Live Episode 19: Exploring Deep POV with USA Today Bestseller Sierra Simone
Join Dawn and Nancy as we chat with author Sierra Simone about how she pulls readers inside her characters' heads, grounding them in the story and building atmosphere that feels immersive and real.
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Story Strategy Live Episode 18: Stories in the Wild - Exploring Character
In this recurring series-within-the-series, Dawn and Nancy discuss some of their favorite stories. Sometimes they'll talk about books, but often, this discussion will focus on what's working across genres and mediums to help storytellers tell stories. Today they'll explore character, discussing...
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Story Strategy Episode 17: Making Readers Care with Melanie Harlow
Dawn and Nancy welcome guest USA Today Bestselling Author, Melanie Harlow, to talk about writing stories that give readers all the feels. Harlow is an expert at building worlds and drawing characters that readers invest in and really care about. Learn her secrets with us!
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Story Strategy Live Episode 16: The Style Guide - What You Need to Know - with Guest James Gallagher
We're getting into the trenches today with EI guest editor James Gallagher, discussing style guides -- the big ones (like Chicago and AP) and house- or manuscript-specific guides. We'll talk about how they're helpful (and how they're sometimes not!) and how to use them to make your book the best…
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Story Strategy Episode 15: Building Your Blurb
Write a whole book? Sure! Write a 200 word blurb? Most authors cringe at the prospect. Never fear! Dawn and Nancy investigate what makes a good blurb and offer tips for creating blurbs that sell books.
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Story Strategy, Episode 14: Using Dialogue to Strengthen Story
Dialogue is about a lot more than one person talking to another. The action tags, the tone of voice, and the words left unsaid are often even more important than the words between the quotation marks. Learn some tips from Dawn and Nancy to make your dialogue drive your story forward!
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Story Strategy Episode 13: Using Idioms to Strengthen Characterization
Dawn and Nancy discuss idioms and their place in fiction. Specifically, they'll talk about how idioms can make characterization stronger (or weaken it!)
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Story Strategy Episode 12: Q&A - All Your Editing Questions Answered
Dawn and Nancy answer questions submitted by clients and viewers about the editing process and the craft of building stories.
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Story Strategy Episode 11: Self-Editing Tips to Employ BEFORE You Pay an Editor
You want your editors focused on your story -- not on niggly details like formatting your manuscript or adding quotation marks to dialogue. Get tips and a downloadable checklist to make sure your editor can focus on what you're paying them for!
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Story Strategy Episode 10: Ten Tips to Make Your Story Shine
Avoid these common story pitfalls - Dawn and Nancy reveal some issues they see often and give ideas for how to make your story stronger. Learn more about Evident Ink: https://www.evidentink.com
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Lead editors of Evident Ink share tips and tricks to make your stories shine, based on years of editing fiction for authors.
HOSTED BY
YouTube channel
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Evident Ink have?
Evident Ink currently has 59 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Evident Ink about?
Lead editors of Evident Ink share tips and tricks to make your stories shine, based on years of editing fiction for authors.
How often does Evident Ink release new episodes?
Evident Ink has 59 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Evident Ink?
You can listen to Evident Ink on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Evident Ink?
Evident Ink is created and hosted by YouTube channel.
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