Episode 85: Everyday Heroines, Layered Alphas, and Backstory in Broken Harbor
...what this pairing teaches about writing love interests with variety, real family dynamics, and backstory that means something.
Story Deep Dive
Join editor and USA Today bestselling author Dana Pittman and developmental editor Rachel Arsenault for a weekly deep dive into great novels.
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Episode 84: Prologues, Stakes, and the Breakup Scene in Broken Harbor
...what a small-town hockey romance teaches about prologues, rising stakes, and the breakup scene every love story needs.
Episode 83: Romantic Suspense, Found Family, and Tropes in Broken Harbor
...how to run a full romance and a full suspense side by side without one swallowing the other.
Episode 82: First Chapters, Earning Trust, and the Genre Contract in Sharp Objects
...the tools to build a theme-bearing cast, write a first chapter that promises, and earn trust page by page.
Episode 81: Authentic Characters, Backstory, and Generational Wounds in Sharp Objects
...the tools to build a cast that carries your theme and a hero readers stay with even when they disagree.
Episode 80: Crime Construction, Stakes, and Theme in Sharp Objects
...how to build conflict from your protagonist's job, marry plot to theme, and dial tone up or down on purpose.
Episode 79: Crime Story, Psychological Thriller, and Tone in Sharp Objects
...what this book teaches about matching tone to theme, reading a story's context, and making a first-person narrator do real work.
Episode 78: Reader Trust, Show Don't Tell, and Magic Limits in Fourth Wing
...what two developmental editors took away from the biggest romantasy of the decade, and how reader trust is won or lost on the page.
Episode 77: Love Triangles, Secondary Characters, and POV in Fourth Wing
...what Fourth Wing teaches about anchoring every character to your protagonist's journey, and the three questions that keep that journey on track.
Write a Novel with Rachel
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