Episode 209 - Avoiding blunders in our story.
From Essential Guide to Writing a Novel by James Thayer
March 20, 2026 · 27 min
About this episode
This episode discusses how to avoid common blunders in storytelling, focusing on character travel and the importance of action in scenes.
How and why should we avoid our character traveling? And how does Orson Scott Card not make blunders in his novels? Here is his tool for having a mistake-free novel. Also: here is why our scenes--almost all scenes--should have some action, and how to write that action. Support the show Buy the master class.
People in this episode
Host: James Thayer
Topics covered
- character development
- storytelling techniques
- action in scenes
- fiction writing
- novel writing
Keywords
- blunders
- character travel
- Orson Scott Card
- action scenes
- fiction writing
- novel writing
- storytelling
More episodes of Essential Guide to Writing a Novel
- Episode 221 - Writing that is more intense than real life. · June 12, 2026 · 24 min
- Episode 220 - Cut to the chase. · June 5, 2026 · 30 min
- Episode 219 - How to get our story going. · May 29, 2026 · 25 min
- Episode 218 - Our writer's voice. · May 22, 2026 · 27 min
- Episode 217 - Why and how to practice. And Edgar Alan Poe. · May 15, 2026 · 27 min
- Episode 216 - Too many characters is a scene. · May 8, 2026 · 27 min
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