Today, we explore why writers place information in the order they do. From broad-to-narrow framing and cause-and-effect to repetition, rhythm, and surprise, we discuss how sequencing shapes the pacing, emotion, and clarity of your story. We discuss everything from “windowpane prose” and garden path sentences to recency-primacy effects and the ways readers na ... Show More
May 31
21.22: The Order of the Telling
*Time-Sensitive*Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here!This week, we are talking about the order in which we present information to the reader as contrasted with the order in which events actually progressed in the universe of this stor ... Show More
27m 20s
May 10
21.19: Getting Everything Connected
Today, our hosts discuss how to make every part of your story feel connected through causal chains, thematic resonance, and reader pattern recognition. We take the idea that each action in a story should lead naturally to the next and pair it with how readers instinctively search ... Show More
24m 21s
Nov 2019
The best crime fiction of 2019
Welcome to The Irish Times Books Podcast. In this latest episode, Martin Doyle talk to The Irish Times’s two regular crime fiction reviewers, Declan Burke and Declan Hughes, both acclaimed crime writers themselves, about their favourite crime fiction of 2019. So get your pen and ... Show More
40m 49s
Mar 2024
596 The Power of Stories (with J Edward Chamberlin) | Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson | Flannery O'Connor (with Mike Palindrome) | My Last Book with Shin Yu Pai
It's a literary smorgasbord! First, Jacke dives into the recent news of the surprising connection between Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson. Next, he welcomes Mike Palindrome, President of the Literature Supporters Club, for a discussion of why Mike has been reading Flannery O'Con ... Show More
1h 10m
Sep 2024
Book Club: 'The Hypocrite,' by Jo Hamya
<p>Jo Hamya’s novel <strong>“The Hypocrite”</strong> follows a famous English novelist as he watches a new play by his daughter, Sophia, in London. The lights go down in the theater, and immediately the novelist realizes: The play is about him, the vacation he took with Sophia a ... Show More
41m 55s
Sep 2025
The Adventure of the Devil's Foot: Part Two
When Mortimer Tregennis is found dead under the same terrifying conditions as his siblings, Holmes realises the case is far from over. A strange substance, a smoking lamp, and a private experiment lead him to the truth—but at a terrible cost. And as the final pieces fall into pla ... Show More
40m 43s
Feb 2025
#794: Brandon Sanderson on Building a Fiction Empire, Creating $40M+ Kickstarter Campaigns, Unbreakable Habits, The Art of World-Building, and The Science of Magic Systems
Brandon Sanderson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stormlight Archive series and the Mistborn saga; the middle-grade series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians; and the young-adult novels The Rithmatist, the Reckoners trilogy, and the Skyward series. He has sold mo ... Show More
3h 23m
Mar 2025
CZM Book Club: The Barrow Will Send What it May: Chapter One
Margaret reads Robert the second novella of the Danielle Cain series, Preorder the third book in the series, including all three audiobooks, on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tangled-wilderness/the-immortal-choir-holds-every-voice See omnystudio.com/listener f ... Show More
28m 20s
Oct 2025
Stephen King Isn't Always Scary (with Sean Fennessey)
<p>It's October, which means it's time for scary books and scary movies. There's one person who is well known for both: Stephen King. Since his first novel, "Carrie," was published in 1974 and adapted into a hit film two years later, his novels and short stories have been a relia ... Show More
53m 10s
Sep 2024
The Gaslight Novel Available Now!
The Gaslight novel dives even deeper into the dark, twisted universe of the podcast—revealing untold backstories, hidden motives, and what life was like behind the walls of the cult - it answers some of those burning questions you've been dying to uncover, as well as posing new o ... Show More
1m 21s