Creating a Three Dimensional Character

Three dimensional characters are interesting. Readers care about them. So the question is: What makes a character three dimensional?

Robert Mckee, in his wonderful tome, "Story," talks about how giving characters opposing qualities helps breathe life into them.

One way to make a character three dimensional is to give them diametrically conflicting characteristics. And, of course, the best way to do this is to show and not tell. Which raises the question: if a character is, say, both generous and selfish how do we show this?

Showing opposing characteristics:

1. People. Have the protagonist interact with different people. With one person they are, for example, bold and outgoing, with another they are shy and retiring.
2. Setting. Either have one character interact with two different settings, or have two characters who have opposite characteristics interact with the same environment.
3. Time. Look at a character at different times. (This is, I think, the most common way of exploring character.)

How to show opposing characteristics:

1. Using other fictional people to develop character.

In real life I wouldn't act one way to a friend and the next second act the complete opposite way. For instance, I wouldn't give a friend—or anyone!—a big bearhug and then slap their face. That behavior wouldn't even make sense.

Obviously, our characters shouldn't behave that way either. If we want to use our character's interactions with other, fictional, people to bring out diametrically opposed aspects of their personality then we craft other characters to specifically tease these characteristics out.

For instance, with one character—perhaps a character who is absent-minded (they’re always dropping things, forgetting where they left their glasses, their keys, etc.)—the protagonist is snippy and short. But with another character, perhaps one that is polished and who comes from a wealthy family, the protagonist goes to great lengths to be pleasant. This tells the reader much more than if we either just showed one side of the protagonist or told the reader the character in question was a snob.

2. Using setting to show character.

Think of a haunted house. The dark hallways, the creaking floorboards, the mysterious groans as the house settles. You turn a corner and a sticky cobweb stretches across your face and ... what’s that? Something cold and slimy presses against your cheek. You scream and fling it off you, not really wanting to know what it was, but you can’t help it, you’re curious. You look at the object lying before you. It’s long and thin, slightly curved and covered in what looks like oil. It's a severed human finger! (Cue screaming violins.)

So there we have a setting. Now let's look at how that setting can help us with characterization.

Let's say Character A is naturally skittish and doesn't like dark old houses with ominously creaking floorboards. How would this character behave in the setting described above? I think that, like Gus on Psych, he would scream and run. (At least, that’s what I’d do!).

But what would a character like Indiana Jones do if confronted with a severed finger in the way described? I think Indy would look at it dispassionately, wonder who the finger used to belong to, then step over it. This shows us that Indy is the kind of person who has seen (and possibly done) it all. Nothing phases him. As was the case in Raiders of the Lost Ark, this is even more effective when you pair someone like Character A with Indy (as they in fact did).

Then, to show that Indy isn't just a calloused adventurer, that he is human, throw a few snakes in with him. That's right! The animal he is truly scared of. This shows us that Indy is both brave and timid, and we've demonstrated this simply by changing the environment. (The idea is to tailor the setting, the environment, to bring out these aspects of character.)

When we use a setting to show who our characters are as opposed to telling our readers who they are, not only do we avoid boring exposition, but we create movement, action and, ultimately, (hopefully!) interest.

3. Character change over time.

The most common way to exhibit opposite traits in a character is to do it over a span of time.

We’re all familiar with this. The protagonist starts his journey as, say, a cringing milquetoast and, over the course of the story, gains confidence in his abilities, in himself. At the climax, he courageously faces the very scary antagonist and defeats her.

This is also what we mean by a character arc.

That's it for today! I'll post writing exercises on my new site (www.karenwoodward.org/blog) Saturday and Sunday and share them in my Twitter feed. Then on Monday I'll be back here with a new blog post. Until then, good writing!

Other articles you might be interested in:

The Key to Making a Character Multidimensional: Pairs of Opposites
Characterization Or Plot: Which Is Most Important To Readers?
Tags & Traits: Characterization And Building Empathy

Writing Advice: The Wisdom of the Web

Today I want to share some of what I'm calling the Wisdom of the Web. There are many wonderful writing blogs out there with wonderfully helpful content. Today I'd like to share three blog posts I thought contained excellent advice.

1. The 5 Most Common Mistakes Writers Make When Seeking Book Reviews, by Gisela Hausmann.

This is from C.S. Lakin over at Live, Write, Thrive.

Top Amazon reviewer Gisela Hausmann gives advice on how to approach a reviewer with a request to review your book. This is a daunting task since top Amazon reviewers receive more than 200 requests per week!

According to Hausmann, here are a few mistakes to avoid:

• Make sure your request does not read like a form letter. You're a writer, let your distinct voice shine through. Think of your email more as an audition than as a solicitation.
• Focus on how your book is different from other books in your genre.
• Do your research. Discover what the reviewer likes to read. Study their Amazon Profile.
• Keep your email brief, 150 words or less.
• Be persistent. Don't give up! Just because a top reviewer doesn't agree to review your book right off the bat doesn't mean they're not interested in your work. They can only review so many books!

2. Five Tips For Creating Intrigue, nownovel.com.

Here are a few tips on how to keep readers reading:

• Begin in the middle of the action.
• Tell each chapter from a different character's point of view.
• Vary the format of your novel. Try including letters, journal entries or emails.
• Have varied sub-plots. (e.g., tragedy vs comedy, etc.)

3. 25 Things I Want to Say to So-Called "Aspiring" Writers, by Chuck Wendig

a. Chuck Wendig says, Drop the 'aspiring' in 'aspiring writer.' If you write then, dang it all, you're a writer!

b. Writer's write. Don't aspire. Do!

c. Push through the bad days. Every writer has bad days. A professional writer shuts out the nagging voices of negativity and writes.

d. Develop your own voice. Some writers find it natural to write from a 1st person perspective, others prefer a 3rd person perspective. Some writers find it natural to write science fiction, others mystery stories. Some writers find it natural to write in past tense, others in present tense, and so on. The only way you'll know which kind of writer you are is if you plant your butt in a chair and write.

e. Finish what you write.

f. Learn the rules so you can break them.

g. Writing is a skill and like any skill—bricklaying for example—it can (and must!) be learned.

h. Read voraciously. Read critically.

i. Don't be discouraged when your work doesn't sell. If you keep at it you'll get better.

j. Talking about writing is not writing. Thinking about writing is not writing. Reading about writing is not writing.

k. Get used to rejection. Chuck Wendig writes, "You need a leathery carapace. A chitinous exoskeleton. Writing is a hard-knock career where you invite a bevy of slings and arrows into your face and heart. It is what it is." Amen.

l. Write! Chuck Wendig writes, "You’re a writer. You can make anything up that you want. It may not be lucrative. It may not pay your mortgage. But we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about what’s going on between you and the blank page before you. It’s just you and the story. If you love it and you want to write it, then wire your trap shut and write it. And write it well. Expect nothing beyond this — expect no reward, expect no victory parade — but embrace the satisfaction it gives you to do your thing."

Let me add my own point here:

m. Invest in yourself and use an editor. Most of us don't know a professional writer who can look over our work and give us feedback. The next best thing is enlisting the help of the best editor you can afford. But don't send your editor all 80,000 words of your first novel! Find an editor who will take a 10 page outline of your book along with the first chapter. That way, if you end up having to start over from scratch it's much less work for your editor and much less expensive for you. Most importantly, you'll save time. And in the end, time is our most valuable resource.

That's it! I hope you found something of use in these points. If you did, please let me know! If you didn't, please talk to me. Tell me what your goals are as well as what is keeping you from meeting those goals. You can use the comments, below, or email me (karenwoodwardmail (at) gmail (dot) com). I would love to hear from you!

Talk to you again on Friday. In the meantime, good writing!

Short Stories And Their Structure

Do you ever re-read your old blog posts? That's what I've been doing (and, inexplicably, I've been doing it while re-watching Dr. Who). I just finished reading—or, rather, rereading, "Short Story Structures: Several Ways of Structuring Short Fiction." It seems like I wrote that an age ago, but it's only (only!) been four years. And, believe it or not, I remember writing that post like it was yesterday.

In the years since, I've written many short stories—though I must confess these days I write more nonfiction than fiction. Still, though, I have formed a more definite idea of what the structure of a short story is. That said, I believe these things can be idiosyncratic. The kind of short story structure that appeals to me, that fits my writing style like a glove, that feels right or comfortable, might not be the one that feels natural to you. And that's fine. That's great! Take what feels right to you, what makes sense to you, and change or ignore the rest.

So, for what it's worth, here's what I currently think of as the archetypal short story structure. (It is very close to Sarah A. Hoyt's story structure, the one she outlined in her post: The Structure of A Short Story).

1) In the first couple of lines introduce your audience to the most startling interesting/puzzling/desperate thing about your main character's immediate situation.

In a full length novel we have more time to introduce the protagonist and her situation, but when we have only 1,000 words the story structure becomes condensed and every word counts.

Let's look at a few examples of terrific openers for short stories.

a) Stephen King, "Autopsy Room Four"

"It's so dark that for a while—just how long I don't know—I think I'm still unconscious. Then, slowly, it comes to me that unconscious people don't have a sensation of movement through the dark, accompanied by a faint, rhythmic sound that can only be a squeaky wheel."

b) Ernest Hemingway, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"

"It was now lunch time and they were all sitting under the double green fly of the dining tent pretending that nothing had happened."

c) Raymond King Commings, "The World Beyond"

"The old woman was dying. There could be no doubt of it now."

d) Stephen King, "The Monkey"

"When Hal Shellburn saw it, when his son Dennis pulled it out of a mouldering Ralston-Purina carton that had been pushed far back under one attic eave, such a feeling of horror and dismay rose in him that for one moment he thought he surely must scream."

2) In the remainder of the first paragraph give your readers a good idea of your character's problem. At the same time, flesh out the setting and your protagonist's character.

If you're thinking that's a tall order, you're right. But short stories have to get moving quickly. The character's problem is the story hook. I think of this as the engine of the story, as what propels the events of the story forward.

Here's an example from Stephen King's "Autopsy Room Four" (I promise it doesn't include any grisly bits!) King writes:

And I can feel contact, from the top of my head to the balls of my heels. I can smell something that might be rubber or vinyl. This is not unconsciousness, and there is something too ... too what? Too rational about these sensations for it to be a dream.
Then what is it?
Who am I?
And what's happening to me?
The squeaky wheel quits its stupid rhythm and I stop moving. There is a crackle around me from the rubbersmelling stuff.
A voice: "Which one did they say?"
A pause.
Second voice: "Four, I think. Yeah, four."

What is the character's problem? The protagonist of our story is not dead and yet he is being wheeled into an autopsy room. We understand the protagonist's problem—he's not dead, but if something doesn't happen to prevent the autopsy he will be soon. That's a grizzly, and immediate, problem!

3) From the first paragraph up to Act Two. Develop the character's Ordinary World, specifically The Problem the protagonist is enmeshed in. (25%)

In a full length book, and in some longer short stories, the problem you develop in the first quarter of the story isn't the protagonist's main problem. The main problem, I'll call this the Story Problem, is introduced after the precursor problem is wrapped up (This wrapping up will require a few try-fail cycles).

On the other hand, in a short story of under 2,000 words or so I think it's best to give the protagonist the same goal throughout.

Story Goal: The goal the protagonist pursues from Act Two on.
Story Problem: What is keeping the protagonist from achieving the Story Goal.

Around the quarter mark of the story everything changes. If the protagonist had a preliminary goal, she now realizes that the forces which were keeping her from fulfilling that goal weren't what she thought they were. Now the protagonist adopts the Story Goal, acknowledges the Story Problem and enters the Special World of the adventure. From now to the end solving the Story Problem will be her focus.

4) Have the protagonist try to solve the Story Problem and fail. (25 to 50%)

I know it's a movie and not a short story, and I know I should probably update my movie references, but this movie is my all-time-favorite action-adventure story. Yes, I'm talking about Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. That movie had terrific try-fail cycles. Indiana Jones has acquired the headpiece of the Staff of Ra, the artifact he needed to discover the exact location of the Well of Souls—and now wants to appropriate the Ark.

(For more information about try-fail cycles: Try-Fail Cycles and the Gap.)

First the antagonist René Belloq steals the Ark and seals Indy and his love interest, Marion, into the Well of Souls. Of course the Well is teeming with snakes (Indy hates snakes). Indy uses his torch to keep the snakes at bay, but the torches are burning down. Then Indiana realizes he could use one of the giant statues to knock down a wall and escape the snakes. But the next room is filled with skeletons. And so on. It's a terrific sequence!

That's the idea. Put the protagonist and those she loves in dire peril, have them grasp at straws trying to get themselves out of the fix. Your characters don't have time to think, they're reacting, going on instinct, and in that pressure cooker of adversity their character is revealed.

5) The middle of the story marks a sea-change in the protagonist. She switches from passive to active, from ignorance to knowledge. (50%)

I used to characterize the middle of the story primarily as the place where a showdown occurs between the antagonist and protagonist. And this often does happen.

But over the years I've come to view the midpoint as the place where the hero's view of the world—both the Special World of the adventure and the Ordinary World—changes. This change is permanent. There's no going back. The information, the knowledge, she acquires at the midpoint indelibly marks her. As a result it changes the story. It twists the plot.

Also, often this change takes place as a result of confronting the antagonist, the Big Bad, of the story. The antagonist gloats, boasts, to the protagonist. He lets her know just how impossible reaching her goal is. Perhaps he laughs at her, letting her know he thinks her attempts to effect change are pathetic.

The protagonist now understands that, despite all her planning, she can't achieve her goal, at least not the way she was approaching things. What she thought she knew about the world, about her opponent, was deeply flawed.

The situation looks impossible. Still, though, the hero gets away with her life, so that's something. (Although sometimes one of her allies, possibly her helper or her mentor gives up their life for her escape.)

(List of archetypes: Archetypal Characters.)

Perhaps the hero's allies help the protagonist pick up the pieces. Or perhaps, briefly, the protagonist gives up hope. Sometimes it takes the intervention—and possibly death—of one of the hero's allies to get her to take up the fight again.

6) The hero forms a plan. (60%)

Having regained her will to fight, the hero forms a cunning plan. Of course, as we will see, this plan goes disastrously wrong! But she will adapt with the help of her allies.

7) Three trials culminating in the Dark Night of the Soul (65% to 90%)

As I've said, everyone has their own way of thinking of these things, but to my mind the middle of the third act—here I'm thinking in terms of four acts—contains three events, each of them a major setback to the hero's plans, and each one more devastating than the last. The final setback is known as the Dark Night of the Soul and it completely scuttles the hero's plan.

This is the lowest part of the story. It seems impossible the hero could win. In terms of stakes, we knew all along what would happen if the hero failed, but now we discover that things are so much worse than we'd previously thought. Not only is the hero beaten, they are (apparently) obliterated.

Note: If you're writing a short story of less than 2000 words you might want to collapse these three events into one.

The Dark Night of the Soul generally comes before the hero's 'ah-ha' moment. There's something she realizes and this allows her to change her perspective. Her worldview shifts. She sees a possibility, a way out. It's a slim chance, but at this point in the story she has given up everything. The worst has happened, or at least been set in motion. She has one—exceedingly improbable—chance to save things.

And, of course, it's up to you, the writer, to determine whether she does in fact pull it off.

8) Climax and resolution.

The protagonist confronts the antagonist. Perhaps at first the antagonist is disdainful. He feels he has thoroughly beaten the protagonist and she no longer presents an interesting challenge.

Then the the protagonist draws on the lessons she has leant in the Special World, on her new skills. This gives her a fighting chance. But, as I said, it's your story. Does she win? Does she beat the antagonist and achieve the Story Goal? Or does she fall victim? Perhaps, in the end, she chooses to sacrifice herself for what she sees as a greater good.

The thing to keep in mind is that the climax, although it is a confrontation between protagonist and antagonist, is all about their opposing goals. The question is: will the protagonist achieve her goal?

The antagonist generally wants the same thing as the protagonist, but the two work at cross purposes. For example, both Indiana Jones and Dr. René Belloq wanted the ark but they wanted to do vastly different things with it. Indiana Jones wanted to take it back to the States and put it in a museum where scholars could study it while Belloq wanted to give the ark to Hitler in exchange for wealth and power.

9) Aftermath.

One doesn't have to spend a lot of time on this part, but I think it's important to show the aftereffects of the protagonist's confrontation with the antagonist. Show the hero back in the Ordinary World (if she survives the climax). How has her life and the lives of her allies, the lives of those in her tribe, changed because of her journey, her struggle?

That's it!

Other articles you might like:

A Story Structure In Three Acts
How To Write A Horror Story
Scenes, Sequels, Sequences and Acts

The Phenomenon of James Patterson’s Book Sales

James Patterson's success is astonishing.

• Patterson has written, or co-written, 147 novels. Of these, 114 were New York Times Best Sellers.
• 67 of Patterson's best selling books have made it to the top spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list. At the moment, Patterson holds the Guinness World Record for the number of New York Times bestselling books written by a single author. 
• Patterson's novels account for 1 in 17 of all hardcover novels sold in the United States.
• In the past few years, Patterson has sold more novels than Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown combined.
• From 2008 he has been the most borrowed author in Britain’s libraries.
• Patterson has sold about 305 million copies of his books worldwide.

But perhaps the thing that startled me the most was that, in 1976, while Patterson was still a copywriter, he wrote his first book: The Thomas Berryman Number. In 1977, that book went on to win the Edgar Allan Poe award for Best First Novel. To read more about James Patterson, click here.

So, let’s get down to it: James Patterson has been insanely successful writing books that sell well. In the following I want to look at what we can learn from Patterson's practice and how we can apply those insights to our own work.

James Patterson's Work

I’ve begun many of Patterson’s books, but only finished one: Honeymoon. I finished that one because Patterson used it as an example to talk about his writing methods.

His writing, his style of writing just isn’t my cup of tea, but I have an enormous amount of respect for his work ethic and the success he has achieved over the course of his life.

So, how does he do it? (By the way, the quotations from James Patterson, below, are from World's Best-Selling Author James Patterson On How To Write An Unputdownable Story)

1. Be a very good storyteller.

It was Elmore Leonard who wrote, “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” Good advice.

Patterson says:

"I used to live across the street from Alexander Haig, and if I told you a story that I went out to get the paper and Haig was laying in the driveway, and then I went on for 20 minutes describing the architecture on the street and the way the palm trees were, you'd feel like "Stop with the description—what's going on with Haig?" I tend to write stories the way you'd tell them. I think it'd be tragic if everybody wrote that way. But that's my style. I read books by a lot of great writers. I think I'm an okay writer, but a very good storyteller."

Here's what I take from this:

• Leave out the boring bits.
• Write a story like you would tell it to a friend.
• Concentrate on telling a great story, not being a great writer.
• Find your story, your voice, and be true to it.

2. Give readers an intimate connection with your characters.

Patterson says:

"I try to put myself in every scene that I'm writing. I try to be there. I try to put the kind of detail in stories that will make people experience what the characters are experiencing, within reason."

I wrote about the importance of making the story intimate a few days ago, only I used Stephen King's masterpiece of horror, "The Shining" as an example (see: []).

Now, of course, both men are VERY different writers. Stephen King demonstrates a level of skill with his craft few can match. But, just going from what both men have said about their work, it seems that Patterson is driven by—in this area at least—one of the same concerns as King.

And that makes sense. After all, this is a point about storytelling, not just writing.

My take away:

• Let your readers see the storyworld through your character's eyes.
• Let your readers see your character's thoughts. (See: Free Indirect Discourse: How To Create A Window Into A Character's Soul & Show vs Tell: Talking About The Narrator)

3. Keep chapters short.

James Patterson's books tend to have short chapters. I did some calculations and, from the four books I looked at, the average chapter length was about 640 words. That's only about three manuscript pages!

My take away:

• Pay attention to the average chapter lengths in your genre. From what I've found, chapters in Science Fiction novels—as well as Romance novels—tend to be around 3,000 words long. On the other hand, thrillers often have chapters of around 700 words.

4. Outline.

Outlining saves time. I know not everyone outlines; there are pantsers and there are plotters, and that's okay.

Patterson creates a fairly extensive outline; each chapter is summed up in about a paragraph of text. He says:

"Each chapter will have about a paragraph devoted to it. But you're gonna get the scene, and you're gonna get the sense of what makes the scene work."

Let's say the paragraph is 100 words long. If the chapter itself is only 700 words long, then the outline represents about 14% of the chapter's content!

My take away:

• Having an outline enables you to see logical problems in your story before you sit down to write it.
• It's better to send off a detailed outline to your editor and give them the chance to troubleshoot potential structural issues before you write 80,000 words (and find out you have to re-write 20,000 of them!).

5. Have an ideal reader.

Patterson says:

"I try to pretend that there's somebody across from me and I'm telling them a story and I don't want them to get up until I'm finished."

Stephen King uses an ideal reader as well, for King it's his wife, Tabitha King. He tries to write prose that will make her laugh, or cry, or chuckle. That is, to write prose that will evoke her emotions. A very similar idea to Pattersons.

My take away:

• When you write, write to someone, write to your Idea Reader. This person could be made up or it could be someone you know.
• If you use a flesh-and-blood Ideal Reader they should be someone who likes to read the sort of thing you write. Otherwise, things can get messy.

---

When I notice that two remarkably successful writers—successful in terms of books sold—do similar things even though their writing styles could not be more different, I try to incorporate those insights into my own writing practice.

That's it! I'll talk to you again on Monday. Between now and then I'll tweet a couple of writing prompts—I find them useful and thought I'd share!

Till then, good writing!

Review: Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins

I began reading The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins in part because it was compared favorably to Gillian Flynn's spellbinding novel, Gone Girl, and partly because many of the reviews I read described the story as Hitchcockian. When I was a kid I loved watching Alfred Hitchcock's movies with my dad. He loved those movies like some love fine wine. My affection for Hitchcock's movies soon mirrored his own, so I was looking forward to reading this book.

And I was not disappointed!

By now I'm sure you're familiar with the plot. The protagonist, Rachel Watson, has been fired from her job for alienating a client because she was drunk, and yet she continues to take the train into London every workday, often taking advantage of the journey to drink herself into oblivion.

On her way to and from London the train passes the house where Rachel used to live with her ex-husband, Tom. Tom has married Anna, the woman for whom he left Rachel, and they have a child.

To distract herself from the painful reality of her life, Rachel fantasizes about another couple who live just down the street from Tom and Anna. In her imagination they are a lovely couple, upstanding citizens and very much in love. Their lives are perfect, they are perfect. This is the life she wanted, the life (or something like it) she believes she once had with her ex-husband Tom.

Of course the rest of the book systematically, relentlessly, painfully, dismantles her fantasy and forces Rachel to let go of her illusions and face the reality of her life with Tom. Somewhere along Rachel's path of self-revelation a killer is exposed in a rather delicious twist (I won't spoil it!).

My thoughts on Girl on the Train:

Rachel is about as likable as she is reliable, which is to say not much. She has her share of glaring faults—as do we all—but her life is melting down around her and, in her own confused and confusing way, she tries to grope her way through.

Strangely, I ended up relating to Rachel in part because of her unreliability as a narrator. What I found appealing was the way Paula Hawkins deftly prises apart two reasons for Rachel's unreliability. Often Rachel is unreliable because she tries to live in a fantasy but she is also occasionally unreliable because she honestly believes—and has more-or-less good reason to believe—something that is not true.

Part of the task Hawkins sets the reader is teasing those threads apart.

All in all, a wonderful—and wonderfully addictive—read.

I'm giving Girl on the Train 4.5 stars out of 5 because some (many?) of Rachel's actions appear bizarre or unmotivated. Sure one can say, Well, she's melting down, she wasn't in her right mind, but that's the thing. In real life that sort of reason might work, but this is a story. It is (in my humble opinion) supposed to make sense.

But, still, this was a wonderful book and a mesmerizing read. Highly recommended.

That's it for today! I'm trying out a new blogging schedule where I post something Monday, Wednesday and Friday. (Do you prefer only two posts a week? Three? Four? Five? Six? Seven? More? Please let me know!) So, I'll talk to you again on Friday. Till then, good writing!

Other articles you might like: 

How To Write A Murderously Good Mystery
Three Ways To Create Suspense
Generating Suspense Through Conflict

Make Your First Podcast: Frequency & Length

Once you’ve decided whether your podcast will be in an interview or topic format, the next question is: How frequently should you publish?

How Frequently Should I Publish My Podcast?

My take: It depends on what you want out of your podcast.

If you already have a blog and you currently only publish about once a week then maybe start with once a week or once every two weeks. Do whatever you’re comfortable with.

On the other hand, if you’re comfortable posting, say, five times a week on your blog then you might want to consider trying for twice, perhaps even three times, a week.

The rule of thumb seems to be: post as often as you plausibly can. Why? Because (In my experience as an avid podcast listener) the more frequently you publish the more listeners you will attract and retain.

Keep in mind, though, that a podcast—while it will suck up an inordinate amount of your precious time—will (usually) take quite a few months (or even years!) to start earning enough money to pay for the time you’ve invested.

But podcasting can be quite lucrative (I’ll look at this in another post).

So: Here are a few possibilities:

1. Once a day

Not many podcasters publish seven days a week. Actually, I know of only one, the EOFire podcast. John Lee Dumas is very successful, but doing seven podcasts a week is grooling. Granted, he doesn’t tape one a day, he does 14+1 every second Tuesday. He tapes from early in the morning to around six at night. That’s a long day.

2. Five days a week (Monday to Friday)

This is slightly more common. News podcasts are often only published Monday to Friday (or at least that’s true for Canadian news podcasts!). None of the podcasts I listen to (I listen to around 35 or 40) are five days a week but they do exist. Honestly, it seems to me that this would be pretty much the same amount of work as publishing seven days a week.

3. Three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

This would be much less work than the grueling seven-day schedule, and yet your listeners would regularly receive your podcasts and not have much of a chance to forget about you.

4. Two days a week (Monday, Thursday)

At the moment I only blog two days a week—Monday and Thursday—but am planning on moving to Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Two doesn’t feel as though it’s enough. Of course, that’s a blog not a podcast. And a lot depends on how long your podcast is going to be (more on this in a moment).

5. One day a week (Monday)

The advantage of publishing one podcast a week is that you could even record four podcasts in one day, even if each is an hour long. Then you’re done for the month!

A disadvantage of publishing only one a week is that folks have short memories. If your listeners are like me and listen to a lot of podcasts—and so need a lot of content—then a once-a-week podcast is fine, but I wouldn’t recommend going below this. Publish any less frequently and it’s possible folks will start to forget about you.

6. Once every two weeks or once a month

If you’re serious about podcasting, about growing an audience, about creating another income stream, then—and this is only my opinion—you might not want to publish any less frequently than once a week.

That said, if podcasting is something you would love to do, then do it! Even if you can only publish once a month, don’t let that hold you back. If podcasting is your passion, then that will come through and you’ll find an audience.

Also if you have some sort of hook, you can also get away with publishing less frequently. For instance, if you are well known in your niche—a well known blogger or YouTuber—then you can probably get away with publishing podcasting content less frequently.

How Long Should My Podcast Be?

Of course, this is completely up to you, the creator. But the length of your podcast will likely depend, at least in part, on the kind of content you are producing. For instance, many short podcasts (five minutes or less) give one tip. I listen to one podcast—60 Second Science—that, despite the name—lasts for about two minutes. The podcaster talks about one science fact and restricts himself (or herself) to the most important aspects of the subject under discussion. It’s a good podcast.

On the other end of the spectrum is Dan Harlin’s Hardcore History. The very first Hardcore History podcast I listened to was over three hours long! I think it’s a safe bet Dan Harlin is never going to do one a day!

MacBreak Weekly is another podcast—a video podcast—that routinely goes over two hours. I love it and I’m not the only one, it’s very popular.

In my opinion you can make any length podcast work, from two minutes all the way to three plus hours, and obviously the length is going to have a bearing on how often you can podcast. Anything over, say, 30 minutes and I would imagine publishing once a day—or even five times a week—would be exhausting! Especially if you don’t have a co-host and must do everything yourself.

---

Are you thinking of starting a podcast? I'd love to hear from you. What kind of challenges are you facing? What do you consider your biggest obstacles?

Have you podcasted? I'd love to hear about your experiences! What worked for you, what didn't. Please share!

Talk to you again Thursday. Until then, good writing!

Let's Write! Writing Prompt: You wake in the dead of night ...

You wake in the dead of night, deep in the forest with no idea how you got there.
You’re holding a dead flashlight and enough [fill in the blank] to choke an elephant.

Challenge: Write 250 (or more) words and try for a twist ending.

These challenges are designed to help us all improve our skills as writers. And, let’s face it, 250 words doesn’t take all that long to write!

I’d love to see what you come up with, please share!

Make Your First Podcast: Interview or Topic Based?

This is a question I’ve agonized over. That I’m still agonizing over!

I want to create a podcast, but what kind of podcast should it be? Should I have a co-host? If I do it by myself, should I do interviews with different writers/publishers or do something focused on a topic?

I’m going to examine these questions in more detail in a moment, but first I would like to acknowledge my debt to John Lee Dumas and his (free) Podcasting course.[1]

John’s podcast doesn’t have to do with writing or publishing but he has a successful daily podcast that I stumbled upon a couple of weeks ago and which has become one of my favorites.

What I’m going to talk with you about today is inspired by his lesson #9: “Interview vs Topic, Frequency and Length.” I couldn’t find a direct link to his podcasting course, but if you head over to EOFire.com and look for “Free Podcast Course with John Lee Dumas” you’ll find it. Okay, on with the post!

Interview vs Topic Based

I listen to a lot of podcasts. It’s my primary form of entertainment these days (I finally cut-the-cord on the TV) and I’d say that about 30% of the podcasts I listen use an interview format, 30% have a topic based format and the rest are a mix. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, Let's look at the pros and cons of each:

1. Interview Based

As I’ve mentioned, even though it’s not about writing, one of the podcasts I like listening to is John’s Fire Nation podcast. Why? In every podcast he interviews entrepreneurs and asks each of them the same series of questions. For example:

What is your worst entrepreneurial moment?
You’ve had a lot of ‘ah-ha’ moments, what is one of your greatest?
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

And so on.

The answers are always different, usually interesting and often helpful. His is one of the most effective podcasts using the interview format I’ve listened to.

Advantages to using the interview format

i. Provide value to your audience

The aim of any podcast, or any blog post, is to provide value to your audience. Each person you interview will have achieved some sort of success and will likely have knowledge you lack. Not only will your audience learn something new and of value, but you might too.

ii. Grow your audience

Your guests will likely have an audience of their own, one they will share their interview with. This helps your podcast acquire new listeners.

Disadvantages of using the interview format

i. Tricky finding guests

In the beginning it can be difficult to find people to interview. No one will have heard of your podcast so you can’t wow them with the number of your listeners.

ii. Scheduling

Even if you are able to get guests for all your podcasts, you’ll have to schedule them. That can be a nightmare.

iii. Repetitive

Asking the same sort of questions every episode might get repetitive for some listeners.

2. Topic Based

The other option is to do a topic based podcast. For me, the epitome of a topic based podcast is Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. And it works for him. In a big way. Dan Carlin's podcast was the first time I listened to a three hour podcast and enjoyed every minute of it.

Advantages of a topic based podcast

i. You can talk about what you like

You get to set your own agenda since you provide your own content. You can talk about whatever you want. And you don’t have to schedule interviews!

ii. The podcast will be your baby

When you do a topic based podcast, you know that folks are listening to the podcast because of you, your ideas.

iii. Independance

You don’t have to rely on anyone showing up for an interview!

Disadvantages of a topic based podcast

i. You are responsible for all the content

YOU need to curate whatever content you use in your podcast.

ii. You are responsible for being entertaining

YOU need to be interesting. Entertaining.

iii. You alone are responsible for growing your podcast

YOU are responsible for promotion and content. For growing your podcast.

iv. Your podcast will be limited by your own knowledge

Since you’re the only one providing content to the podcast there is the danger of it getting repetitive. Whatever you discuss will, necessarily, be limited by YOUR knowledge of the topic. In an interview you have the advantage of being able to draw from the perspectives, the knowledge, of your guests, but when it’s just you and a topic you are drawing from your own reservoirs every single podcast.

That’s it for today! Next time I’ll discuss your podcasting schedule. How frequently should you release your podcasts? How long should they be?

Until then, good writing!

Please Help Me Improve My Blog! Reader Survey

Hi! Sorry, this is a day late. I’ve picked up a freelance writing assignment due at the end of the month and I'm in a bit of a crunch right now.

My plan for next month is to write a week of blog posts in advance—especially if I think it’s going to be a busy week!—so I won’t miss another post.

Anyway, today I want to talk to you about what you’re interested in. I want to know what your dreams are as well as what you feel are the biggest obstacles to these dreams. If you have time, I would SO very much appreciate it if you would answer a couple of questions. Your answers will help me write blog posts that are relevant to what you care about.

The 1-minute Survey: Google Form
(Here’s the url: https://goo.gl/forms/XdmFmiWyU0yqUiGc2)

If you would rather take the survey as a comment to this post, or in an email to me (I’d love to hear from you!), I’ve included the questions below:

1. In terms of my writing, I want to have the following accomplished in a year:
a) I want to have sent my writing to a traditional publisher.
b) I want to have self-published.
c) I want to have written a novel.
d) I want to have written a novella.
e) I want to have written a short story.
f) I want to be a member of a critique group.
g) I want to manage my writing time better.
h) I want to have my own website and blog.
i) I want to have increased my followers on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
j) I want to have a dedicated space in which to write.

2. If there are other things you would like to accomplish in the next year, please let me know.

3. In terms of fulfilling my dreams, these are my biggest obstacles:
a) I don't know how to go about sending my work to a traditional publisher.
b) I don't know how to self-publish.
c) I don't know if I want to self-publish or traditionally publish. I don't know what would be involved.
d) I'm not sure if my story is ready to be published.
e) I don't have enough time to write.
f) I don't have a place to write.
g) I don't know how to avoid disreputable publishers.
h) If there are other obstacles to fulfilling your writing dreams, please share them with me:

4. If there are other obstacles to fulfilling your writing dreams, please share them.

That’s it! Thank you to everyone who participates, and a big thank you to all my readers (all three of you! ;).

Talk to you again on Thursday, and good writing!

Make Your First Podcast: Hosting

Podcast Hosting. Even just the phrase sends a chill down my spine.

After you record your podcast you need to upload it to a server where folks can access it over the internet. But where? There are so many choices.

If you have a hosting package with a place like Squarespace or Bluehost you could simply upload the file to your hosting package and make it public. Doing this is—and I really want to stress this—NOT a good idea.

If your podcast catches on right away (say it's plugged on a couple of popular blogs), or if you have one especially popular episode, your website will be hammered and—if your luck is anything like mine—it will crash. If that happens, at minimum, you've given a lot of people, a bad experience. On top of that, depending on your hosting package, you might have to pay extra for the excess traffic.

I don't podcast, but I've read quite a few articles and watched more YouTube videos on the subject than I care to admit. The overwhelming consensus seems to be that it will involve you in the least headache in the long run if, from the beginning, you host your website and your podcast separately. And, as podcasts soar in popularity there are more and more hosting choices.

So, let's look at a couple of hosting solutions you might want to consider:

1. Libsyn (Liberated Syndication)

Libsyn is the original podcasting solution and is widely trusted.

"In October 2004, detailed how-to podcast articles had begun to appear online, and a month later, Liberated Syndication (Libsyn) launched the first Podcast Service Provider, offering storage, bandwidth, and RSS creation tools. "Podcasting" was first defined in Wikipedia. In November 2004, podcasting networks started to appear on the scene with podcasters affiliating with one another," (History of Podcasting)

An introductory package starts at $5 a month. To see all Libsyn's hosting packages, click here.

Many podcasters use Libsyn. I'll talk about the pros and cons of using Libsyn in a moment. First let's look at ...

2. Amazon Web Services: S3

With Amazon S3, you pay for only what you use. But what does this mean? Let's look at some figures:

Let's say that an average podcast is about 50 megabytes. Let's say (we've got to be optimistic, right?) you have 50 podcast episodes stored on Amazon S3 and that you publish four podcasts a month. How many downloads could you expect? Here's what the folks over at School of Podcasting have to say:

"According to Rob Walch VP of Podcaster Relations at libsyn.com (the largest podcast media hosting company) in September of 2013 a podcast episode that has been live approximately 30 days averages 141 downloads. If you have over 3400 downloads you are in the top 10%. If you have over 9000 downloads you are in the top 5%. Lastly, if you have over 50,000 downloads per episode (again after having it live for 30 days) you are in the top 1% (this would be the Marc Maron, Adam Corrola, Jay Mohr, etc)," How Many Podcasts Do Podcasters Average?

So let's say that you have 150 downloads a month. Now let's calculate the cost:

First, let's use the Amazon Web Services Calculator to figure out how much Amazon would charge you for simply storing your podcasts through S3.

Storage: 50 mb per file * 50 podcasts = 2,500 mbs = 2.5 gigabytes = about 5 cents.

So ... that's not an issue! Now let's look at how much Amazon would charge us for bandwidth:

150 downloads per month * 50 megabytes per file = 7,500 megabytes = 7.5 gigabytes -> Costs about 60 cents.

That's for one file, but (in our example) you have 50. Now, I would imagine that new files would get the most downloads, but let's just say that ALL 50 files on your account get 150 downloads per month. So that makes it 7.5 gigs * 50 which comes to 375 gigs which would kick up your bill to $32.40! But, for giggles, let's say that all your podcast episodes got 3400 downloads in a month (in this case your podcast would be in the top 10% of podcasts). In this case your bill would soar to $1,808!

Which is one reason why folks with popular podcasts seek out hosting solutions like Libsyn. Libsyn charges you according to how much you upload, not according to how much bandwidth your podcast uses. If all you want to do is upload four 50 mb podcasts a month then you'd be fine with their $15 a month plan. $15 versus $1,808! That's quite the difference.

My Opinion: The Best Choice For A Beginner

I think that if you are already hosting your website through Amazon Web Services it makes sense to start off using S3. Unless you already have a large following, in the beginning you are NOT going to come anywhere near to getting 150 downloads a month. And, even if you do, that's going to cost you all of 60 cents! As you start to upload more podcasts and things begin to get pricier, you would probably want to switch to another solution.

If, however, you don't host your blog on Amazon and you don't mind paying $5 a month, signing up with a host such as Libsyn is a no-brainer. Libsyn is trusted and, while many folks with popular podcasts use other hosting solutions, I think it's probably the best choice for the beginner podcaster (by the way, I don't have any sort of affiliate relationship with Libsyn).

Steer Clear of Free Hosting Solutions

One thing folks should be wary of are free hosting solutions. If you upload your podcasts to one of these and the service goes out of business, your files will disappear. Also, they may insert their advertising into your podcast. I think it's important to have total control over your intellectual property.

(You may think it's odd me saying this about free hosting because I have my blog on Blogger. That's fair. A couple of things. First, I'm in the process of transferring my blog onto my own blogging platform. Second, the process has been so incredibly painful that I feel I must try and warn readers not to make the same mistakes I have!)

Links:

Here are some links I've found to tutorials about podcasting in general, but they do also talk about hosting and the pros and cons of various hosting solutions:

How to Start a Podcast - A Step-By-Step Podcasting Tutorial (YouTube series. Excellent.)
The Definitive Guide to Setting Up and Marketing a Podcast to Help Grow Your Blog
Learn How To Podcast
How to Start a Podcast: Pat’s Complete Step-By-Step Podcasting Tutorial