Host Carma Spence chats with Guest Ben Winter about his formula for dealing with unmet expectations head on.

Host Carma Spence shares books she recommends reading if you want to write books. You might be surprised by some of her recommendations.

Fiction can be a tricky thing. It can look so easy to do on the outside. But then, when you get into it, it starts to morph and you can get off track. Or, you can use a variety of tools that keep you on track so that you shorten the learning curve. In this episode, Dave Reed shares his unique journey of discovering his author's voice and how he learned how to develop and structure his stories. Runtime: 47 minutes, 34 seconds Show Notes for Episode 20: Author Dave Reed on Story and Structure Dave Reed has had a love affair with high fantasy and horror since he “published” his first novel in the 2nd grade. He’s figured out it’s a lot harder to write commercial fiction than to be the teacher’s pet in elementary school, but he’s happy to share the lessons he’s learned along this journey. Mentioned and related links for Episode 20: Dave Reed * Michael Hauge, author of Storytelling Made Easy * Lisa Cron, author of Wired for Story, Story Genius and Story or Die * Damon Suede, author of Verbalize: Bring stories to life and life to stories * Robert McKee, author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting * John Truby, author of The Anatomy of Story * Shawn Coyne, author of The Story Grid * The Heroine's Journey by Gail Garriger (not mentioned in the podcast, but a predecessor to Gail's book is From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine's Journey through Myth and Legend by Valeri Estelle Frankel) * The Better-Faster Academy with Becca Syme * The War of Art: Break Through the Block and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield * 2,000 to 10,000: How to write faster, write better, and write more of what you love by Rachel Aaron * Writer's Block Assessment * Episode 19: The Monster Method for Beating Writer's Block You can find Dave Reed here: * Raven Queen Arise * Author website Video Version https://youtu.be/7OtbosGkZ7U Have a Question About Writing, Publishing, or Marketing Your Book? Submit it to The Author's Switch! Learn More Here About The Author's Switch The Author's Switch is a podcast dedicated to helping aspiring and new authors turn on The Author’s Switch to success in their minds. You can learn more about the show on its page. Information about how to submit your question t...

You've been sitting at your desk for hours – possibly days – and just can't get the words out. Writer’s Block isn’t fun, it isn’t pretty, and it certainly isn’t an excuse so that you can twiddle your thumbs. In this episode of The Author’s Switch, I going to share what writer’s block really is, and a framework that can help you bust through it forever. Runtime: 19 minutes, 26 seconds Partial Transcript for Episode 19: The Monster Method for Busting Through Writer’s Block NOTE: Due to some ad libbing, this may not be an exact transcript. Writer's block is a frustrating phenomenon that can happen to any writer – even famous writers such as Leo Tolstoy, Stephen King and J.K. Rowling have experienced it. I, myself have experienced it. Writer’s Block makes you feel like there's nothing in your head, no ideas for stories or articles and it can seem impossible to write anything that matters. It can even make you feel like you’re suddenly stupid. In this episode, I’m going to talk about the following things: * What writer’s block is * The six types of things that cause writer’s block * And my Monster Method for Busting Through Writer’s Block If you were to search the internet looking for a remedy for your writer’s block, I’m afraid you won’t find much that is of any use. I’ve done some extensive research and here’s what I’ve found: Most of the articles are lists with only 1-3 sentences of suggested advice per tip. Light on details, mostly fluff. And not much information on whether the advice is backed by research or not. Some are just lists of quotes from authors sharing what they’ve done. After noticing this, I decided to do a semi-scientific study of what was available. I pulled the top 14 articles that promised to provide advice on how to beat writer’s block and analyzed them. * Only 11 provided advice. * Of those, 52% of the advice addressed creative issues and 26% addressed mindset. * The remaining 22% were a mix of physical, emotional, or multiple cause solutions. What I found most surprising, and, frankly, most disappointing, was that the most common piece of advice was some version of, “suck it up and stop worrying that you’re not good enough.” But not one of the articles gave any indication of how to do that. In addition to the very poor selection of usable advice for overcoming writer’s block, I found a lot of articles that basically said writer’s block didn’t exist. How could this be, you might ask when there are famous cases for it? Well, those who don’t believe in writer’s block say it is: * A myth. That the writers who claim to have it really have something else and are misnaming it. * An excuse. That the writers who claim to have it really are lazy or unprofessional and are hiding behind this romantic label. As I dug into this, I began to realize what was really going on. Because of many things that have gone on in literary history and in Hollywood, Writer’s Block had begun to be thought of as a thing in and of itself, as if writer’s block were a malady, in its own right. But it’s not. Writer’s Block is a symptom, not a disease. You would no more say, "A sneeze does not exist, you have a cold," than you should say,

Author Switch host Carma Spence chats with guest Tina Koenig about publishing options and book marketing methods for authors today.