Each week, co-hosts, Alida Winternheimer, author and writing coach at Word Essential, and Kathryn Arnold, emerging writer, have conversations about the craft of writing fiction. They bring diverse experiences and talents to the table from both the traditional and indie worlds. Our goal is for each episode to be a fun, lively discussion of some aspect of story craft that enlightens, as well as entertains. Sometimes we have special guests. All episodes are available in video as well. Visit www ...
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt, with audiobook producer Jesse Ulrich, discuss the latest news from publishing, offer writing tips, and interview major authors, agents, editors, and other book-world professionals.
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On the Road to WriterCon with Screenwriter Bob Saenz
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Bob Saenz, a mutil-talented script writer who will be speaking at WriterCon 2024. Bob works in television and film, including the movies Extracurricular Activities and Help for the Holidays. WriterCon 2024 (August 30-Septemb…
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On the Road to WriterCon with #1 NYT Author Aprilynne Pike
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Aprilynne Pike, the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Wings and many other wondeerful works of YA and romantasy. WriterCon 2024 (August 30-September 2) is only three weeks away—and there’s still time to register, enter…
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SWRT 303 | Lainey Cameron interviews Alida about A Stone's Throw, novel
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This week, the Story Works Round Table is turned: Alida is interviewed by guest host, Lainey Cameron, award-winning author, podcaster, and book marketing expert. They discuss writing without genre in mind, starting with a vision only described as magical realism. Alida's novel, A Stone's Throw, explores themes of relationships, and motherhood, whil…
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Matty Dalyrimple, who writes both short stories and novels for two different crime series, the Ann Kinnear suspense novels and shorts and the Lizzy Ballard thrillers. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts With the Retreat in the rearv…
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SWRT 302 | Transitions: bridging the white space in your stories
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This week at the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn talk transitions. What are the good, bad, and better ways to keep your readers reading past narrative breaks? We want to create bridges over that white space, whether it’s a scene, chapter, or part break, no matter who, when, or where shifts on the other side. Get Alida's musings on life, …
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview, author of over thirty historical romances, plus a contemporary novel, Lizzie and Dante, and a memoir, Paris in Love. She’s published over 7 million books in 28 languages and 30 countries. Chapter 1: Opening Though…
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Writing for TV, Comics & Novels with Marc Guggenheim
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Marc Guggenheim, writer for television (Arrow, The Practice), comics (Green Lantern. Flash) and a new novel, In Any Lifetime. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts Last Call for the WriterCon Retreat, which begins July 17. C…
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SWRT 301 | 6 Things I Know That Will Help You Write Your Story
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This week at the Story Works Round Table, Alida shares 6 powerful tips that will help you get your personal story down on the page. Whether you're writing for yourself, family, or the wide world of readers, these 6 things will help you clear the hurdles that make it hard to start telling your story. Alida's latest essay was just published in Passen…
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Igniting Your Thriller with Raymond Paul Johnson
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Raymond Paul Johnson, author of a debut thriller Conspiracy Ignited. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts Bill searches for the right voice. And the pickleball net. Chapter 2: News 1) Barnes & Noble Acquires Tattered Cover …
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Lori Brand, the author of a fascinating new novel that touches on many important issues, Bodies To Die For. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts Host William Bernhardt's new novel, Justice For All (Daniel Pike Legal Thrille…
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SWRT 300 | Finding Penrose - Paula Sheridan's life to book to film journey
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This week, Alida and Kathryn welcome Paula Sheridan back to the Round Table to discuss her new project, Finding Penrose. Paula's novel has already captured the hearts of celebrities, plus the media, with 100's of articles already published. And with two renowned film producers adapting Penrose's story for the big screen, they're now in talks with a…
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Connie Berry, author of A Collection of Lies, her fifth Kate Hamilton mystery. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts It's Father's Day! And Tony Awards Day! And Picard Day! Chapter 2: News 1) AI-Narrataed Audiobooks Selling …
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Caroline Cleveland, author of When Cicadas Cry. Chapter 1: Introduction You can now order William Bernhardt's latest novel, Justice For All, the 8th Daniel Pike legal thriller, featuring a crossover with Kenzi Rivera (Splits…
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SWRT 299 | Authors Talk Women's Fiction
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This week at the Story Works Round Table, five authors sit down to talk women's fiction. Alida Winternheimer is joined by D. Liebhart, Heidi McIntyre, Amanda Speights, and Jen Telger to discuss their genre and their stories. There is a lot more to women's fiction than strong female characters or women authors. The diversity of the genre makes it di…
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Writing, Books, Pencils & Alida Winternheimer
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In this summer summer episode, bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt interview Alida Winternheimer, award-winning author, developmental editor, contributor to WriterCon Magazine, and host of the Substack newsletter A Room Full of Books and Pencils.By William Bernhardt
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This week, Alida and Kathryn discuss writing with whimsey. Whimsical writing can add humor and charm to writing, but it's not only for children's stories. Lighthearted, quirky, and funny moments add levity to otherwise serious or dark tales. After this week's episode, you might just find yourself writing whimsically. Get Alida's musings on life, wr…
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Becca Fox, author of the new gaslamp fantasy, Asta and the Barbarians, part of her Chosen by the Masters series. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts The WriterCon Retreat at Canebrake is only two months away! From July 17-21, we'll …
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LIVE from the WriterCon Cruise with Sands, Johnson & Smith!
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LIVE FROM THE WRITERCON CRUISE 2024! Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview agent Katharine Sands, SF/Fantasy author RJ Johnson, and USA Today-bestselling Romance writer Lauren Smith. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts This has been our largest group of cruise…
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn talk dialogue. We've noticed what may be some poor advice and some frightening trends in dialogue floating around out there. Time to bust some myths and pop some speech balloons! We draw on the past two Writers Book Club short stories for examples of dialogue, interiority, and narrative po…
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt (Lara Bernhardt has the week off) discusses the latest news from the book world, offers writing tips, and interviews Chaz Ebert, CEO of Roger Ebert Digital (named for her late husband, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic) and author of the new book It's Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity Through Forgive…
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn discuss Chekhov's story, "The Woman with the Little Dog." You can get the link to read it in the show notes. "Everything that he found important, interesting, necessary, in which he was sincere and did not deceive himself, which constituted the core of his life, occurred in secret from oth…
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Jake Lynch, author of action/adventure and spiritual novels including his latest, Broken to Beautiful. Chapter 1: Openting Thoughts Bill and Jesse ruminate about why tax season is particularly hard for writers. Cha…
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SWRT 295 | Writers Book Club: Gina Berriault
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn discuss Gina Berriault's short story, "The Woman in the Rose Colored Dress." At only 2 1/2 pages, it packs in remarkable sentences, the experience of time passing, incredible subtext in minimal dialogue, and a realistic coming of age story when a girl makes a discovery about her father tha…
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview S.L. Dooley, fantasy author of The Cold Moon Carnival and many other books. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts Everyone is getting ready for the 2024 WriterCon Cruise, departing April 21! Chapter 2: News 1) Poetry Had Its…
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Memoir, Moms & Muhammed Ali with Thomas Hauser
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Thomas Hauser, sports writer and author of the new momoir My Mother and Me. Btw, the sad whining you hear during the interview is our dog, Baxter—sad because no one is paying attention to him while we record, but o…
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Carlee, and Robert go deep with the question of what makes a genre a genre? Discover the nuances of crafting stories and targeting the right readership. We dissect the concept of genre as both a craft and marketing tool. It's far more useful to us writers than just a marketing category. Writing to ma…
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Bharati Sen, author of My War My Child. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts Looking forward to the WriterCon Cruise... Chapter 2: News 1) NY Pub Veterans Create a New Publishing House 2) Author Sues Amazon over Pirated Boo…
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Host William Bernhardt shares a special episode of a new podcast, Stories That Change Us, featuring a discussion of The Princess Bride. Enjoy this special interim installment! We'll be back with regular WriterCon programming next week.By William Bernhardt
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn are joined by D. Liebhart. Revision is more than just fixing typos and filling plot holes; it's about delving deep into the heart of the story and ensuring every word, every character, and every twist aligns with the author's vision. D. discusses the challenges she faced revising her award…
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Steven Joseph, author of Cranky Superpowers. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts This podcast is being released on Oscar Sunday, so the Crew make their predictions, including one involving a red carpet gown, and ponder why…
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The Child's Journey with Kelly Anne Manuel
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Kelly Anne Manuel, a children's book author who is launching 31 books at the same time. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts Only one week left to register for the WriterCon Cruise! Lara is already packing! Over 20+ hours o…
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SWRT 292 | Marketing & Community withe Alexa Bigwarfe
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"It's never too early to start thinking about marketing and building your community. It's never too early. It can be too late." Ever thought it's too early to market your book? Think again! Alexa Bigwarfe shares her wisdom on today's Story Works Round Table, in a conversation that's as inspiring as it is informative. Marketing, as Alexa says, is no…
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Navigating Modern Romance with Lauren Smith
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Lauren Smith, bestselling romance author of many popular books, including Dukes & Diamonds. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts Why don't we have the literary equivalent of a Taylor Swift? Chapter 2: News 1. Florida Censor…
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SWRT 290 | Life to Fiction with D. Liebhart
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn discover the compelling intersection of personal experience and fiction on this week's writing podcast. D. Leibhart joins us to share her journey writing her award-winning novel, House on Fire, and the art of turning life into literature. Join us for a conversation about craft and the comp…
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt interview the hosts of the new UnFreakingBelievable podcast, Betsey Kulakowski (The Veritas Codex series), Jennifer Labranche, and JB Caine, who will present incredible true stories each episode. They explain what the podcast is about and where it came from—then present a special episode for listeners …
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Find Your Writing Bliss with Katharine Sands
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news in the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Katharine Sands, the highly-sought-after literary agent from the Sarah Jane Freymann Agency. Opening Thoughts Yes, Bill and Lara are married and live together, they just broadcast from different rooms. But it doesn't matter be…
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SWRT 290 | Heroes with Screenwriter Tim Auld
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn welcome screenwriter Tim Auld back to the round table to discuss heroes. What makes a hero resonate with an audience? Tim Auld introduces us to the concept of ordinary heroism, a principle that suggests heroes should be inherently inadequate to the challenges they face. It's this inadequac…
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Debbie Babitt, thriller author of First Victim and Saving Grace. Opening Remarks The WriterCon podcast is praised on social media...by Pirr. News Your hosts make prognostications for 2024 on critical book-world topics, like …
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing and publishing tips, and interview Micah Leydorf, inspirational writer of The Unseen Battle. Opening Thoughts Bill's thriller Dark Eye (2005) has been banned in Florida. He is very excited about it. Lara is more excited about the forthcoming Wr…
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SWRT 289 | Scripting Didacticism with Screenwriter Tim Auld
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida & Kathryn welcome screenwriter Tim Auld to the Story Works Round Table to discuss the trend in film and literature toward didactic writing, when the (often moral) message of a piece overpowers the story trying to be told. Why is this still happening when audiences are weary of it? What about writing a…
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This week, Alida, Robert, and Kathryn discuss the relationship between stakes and agency. How do these aspects of plot and character work together to create forward drive in your story? This episode is from our library. It was previously published as episode 73. Show notes and more at www.StoryWorksPodcast.com Get Alida's musings on life, writing, …
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Landing Movie/TV Book Deals with Erin Heinecke
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Happy New Year! For our final episode of 2023, we're combining two previous interviews (from two separate episodes) with Erin Heinecke. Erin is with the largest firm in the US specializing in book-to-movie deals, which saw a big upswing in 2023. How can you be a part of this? Listen to Erin. We'll be back in 2024 with more interviews, more writing …
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Writing Inspirational Holiday Stories with Dan Short
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Dan Short, co-author of The Santa Claus Chronicles, with Rene Gutteridge. Note: Due to the circumstances—Dan giving us an interview between Santa gigs—the audio is imperfect. Apologies, but we didn't want you to mi…
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn talk about creating character arcs. Most characters won't utterly transform from villain to hero, like our friend Scrooge, but shift needs to happen. Our character and plot arcs are married. The internal character arc is played out in the external plot arc. Identifying your character's shi…
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Dan Martin, head writer for Star Trek: Resurgence and many other computer/video games. He has also worked as a Hollywood script reader. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts Jesse is elated by the prospect of a guest relatin…
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Finding Your Writing Process with Rebecca Hanover
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Bestselling authors William Bernhardt and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Rebecca Hanover, New York Times-bestselling author of The Last Applicant. Opening Remarks Thanksgiving has passed, but a new and bigger holiday looms on the horizon... News (4:25) 1) Pirr Ai Program Helps You Write…
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SWRT 286 | Writers Book Club: A Christmas Carol
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This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn tackle a holiday classic, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Most of us have seen the story dramatized annually, whether on television or in the theatre. But how many of us have actually read it? It was my first time and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. No surprise, however, Dickens…
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SWRT 285 | Self Discovery Through Writing
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This week, Alida and Kathryn solve the world's problems with one simple, three-part edict. We're kidding, but we're kind of not. Writing and reading are all about building empathetic connections with people who are nothing like ourselves. As such, writers are gifted with a truly great responsibility. Share this episode and a book with the people yo…
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Happy Thanksgiving weekend! We're taking the week off, but just so you don't have to go without, we're sending you this holiday re-release of two 2020 interivews with the brilliant novelist Steve Berry. You'll be amazing at how honest he is—and how helpful his thoughts are—to writers at all stages of their careers. So don't eat too much, take a lon…
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From Sports to Fiction with Jerry Izenberg
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Bestselling authors William and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Jerry Izenberg, acclaimed sportswriter, memoirist, and author of After the Fire. Chapter 1: Opening Thoughts (0;49) Would you go on a Meet Your Favorite Authors Cruise? How do we make this happen? Send me your ideas: willber…
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