Grounding the Reader

Every writer has strengths and… not strengths. One of the areas I personally like to work on is grounding, which is where you invite readers into a scene and help them feel at home in your story. 

In this episode of the long-running podcast Writing Excuses, Erin Roberts, DongWon Song, and Mary Robinette Kowal focus on ways to do just that. 

Writing Excuses 21.09: Grounding The Reader

Grounding a reader starts in the very first lines of a story. Where are we? Who are we with? What kind of story are we in? Our hosts explore how emotion, context, and sensory detail work together to create immersion, and why action alone isn’t enough without an emotional lens.

It’s only 20 minutes long and includes a helpful writing exercise to get you going.

If you’ve realized that (for example) just being dropped into the middle of a gunfight wasn’t enough to engage your audience, or your reader said “I wasn’t quite sure where I was at first,” this advice could help!

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Question about the business of podcasting:

I listen (irregularly) to Writing Excuses. Great discussion. Lately it seems to be at least 50% ads, and hasn't always been.

My feed comes from feeds.redcircle.com.

I don't begrudge them an income from the podcast (really), but with 50%+ ads, I wonder: is redcircle adding these ads? Are the hosts? (They voice a few of them but not most.) Do the hosts provide the podcast audio complete with ads to a syndicator who then publishes it on several different sites?

How does this work?

#podcasting #podcastingBusiness #business #advertising #ads #podcasts #writingExcusesPodcast #writingExcuses

The #writingexcuses podcast is doing a close reading series, highlighting specific books that shine in specific areas (voice, worldbuilding, etc)

As often happens, it has me wondering what it would look like to apply that to code. 🤔

https://writingexcuses.com/19-10-introducing-our-close-readings-series/

Interesting listen - Writing Excuses - NaNoWriMo Week 1

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/writing-excuses/id990871441?i=1000632969464

#NaNoWriMo #Writing #WritingCommunity #WritingExcuses #Podcast

I was catching up on old Writing Excuses podcasts (I'm way behind) and the homework for one episode on poetry was to come up with a line from a novel or short story that really speaks to you and use it as the basis for a poem.

The only line I could come up with was, "Do you just. Hate. Trash cans!?"

#WritingExcuses #Animorphs

@maryrobinette @HowardTayler #writingexcuses Episode 18.08

Wanted to add that The Dresden Files is a good addition for supernatural detective fiction.

I think I’m developing a #podcast problem. I’ve had people yapping in my ears all day, no breaks. Even blasted it while I was in the shower.

Today I’m mostly listening to #Sawbones (comedy/info about medical history, the latest eps: anthrax, farts, RSV, 3 great eps about pirate medicine 🏴‍☠️) and #RichRoll (ultra-athlete interviews people - plant-based, self-improvement, misc content)...

Might do #Ologies, #QDropped, #DuolingoFrench and #WritingExcuses next…

Really enjoying the latest #WritingExcuses series, “Eight Embodied Episodes About Disability”
#podcast #AmWriting

https://writingexcuses.com/2022/10/16/17-42-eight-embodied-episodes-about-disability/