Hosted by Unknown Host · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 158 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
A podcast to help you overcome resistance and write with more joy, clarity, and confidence. If you’re working on a novel or memoir, stick around. Whether you haven‘t written a word since your 5-paragraph essay days or you have an MFA in Creative Writing, this weekly podcast is now your favorite writing companion on your journey to finish your first draft.
Unknown Host hosts The First Draft Club, a arts show with 158 episodes published.
Stephanie Webb, our marketing director at The Book Incubator, just got a dream book deal with Simon & Schuster. But it didn't come easily—or quickly. In this episode, we talk about: • Why rejection is completely baked in
Of all the writing adages I tend to whine about, "show, don't tell" is probably at the top of the list—because it just isn't true. Good writing involves plenty of telling. The actual craft question is: When is it best to
Book ideas have their own timeline. They can be persistent, demanding, and impatient—like a kid begging to go to Dave & Buster's. If you sit on an idea too long, it might just leave and find another writer to collaborate
A new outlining tool for writers who hate outlining. Outlining a novel feels to me like writing a novel by spreadsheet. I'm not an outliner. But I also learned early on that pure pantsing doesn't work for me, either. I n
If you've Googled "how to market my book," you've probably come across the same advice: show up on Instagram, film yourself, build a following, cultivate your author brand. Here's the thing: most of that advice is not go
There's a kind of feedback that fills you with relief and gratitude, and there's a kind that leaves you with low-grade anxiety—even when the feedback is good and you want to use it. The difference is just one simple thin
Coming in with a hot take today: You're allowed to write what's fun. You're allowed to have a good time, to be silly, to write oddball, funny, quirky stuff that brings you pleasure—even if it isn't what would have earned
You're allowed to bribe yourself to finish your book. In fact, you should. In this episode, I'm sharing the story of the Goal Reward—a surprisingly powerful tool I've used to finish three published novels and now teach i
You're in the middle of writing a scene. Everything's flowing. Then suddenly—you stop. You don't know how your character is going to react to what someone just said. Or you're about to write what you planned to write nex
You know those scenes you're dreading? The ones that feel like a slog, where you're just "filling in the blanks" between the parts you're actually excited about? Here's what you need to know: just because something has t
Sometimes the simplest solution to a revision problem is something you've forgotten you're allowed to change. This is the forest-for-the-trees phenomenon. It's normal. It's human. But it can suck a bunch of energy when y
If you're writing a memoir, you've probably realized: covering 20, 30, even 40 years of your life in one book feels impossible. Where do you start? Where do you end? How do you fit everything in without writing a 500-pag
Don't solve a minor problem by making your draft "mid." This comes up when writers are quick to assume something "isn't working" because an early reader expressed confusion or skepticism (which is often confusion by anot
This week's episode is a little different. Less practical craft advice, more mindset. Because something's been on my mind lately: earnestness. A few weeks ago, my friend sent me a meme where women were sharing the most b
"How do I give my characters distinct voices, especially when one of them is male and I'm not?" This question came from Barbara in a recent Wordshop call, and I have opinions on this based on years of trial and error. I'
"I'm handwriting my novel and finding that I'm not putting in much dialogue. This didn't feel like a struggle when I was typing. Is this common?" This question came from Miranda in a recent Wordshop call, and I'd never h
Here's my hot take: more research while drafting isn't always better. Not just because research is a procrastination rabbit hole (though it definitely is), but because too much research can actually squash your creativit
Writing from multiple points of view? Here's the secret to making it work. A writer in The Book Incubator asked: "How do I tell three different but related stories in one novel where they all come together in the end?" I
Ever wonder how to end a chapter in a way that makes readers want to keep going—without using the same trick every single time? In this episode, I'm answering a question from Shannon, a writer in The Book Incubator, who
Welcome to episode 100 of The First Draft Club! 🎉 We're celebrating by talking about something every author needs to know: book marketing. It's the thing every author dreads—and honestly, I'm not a book marketing expert
Sponsor detection runs nightly. Check back soon.
No public pitch examples yet for this show.
Generate your own personalised pitchBased on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:
Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.
Shows with the most semantically similar episode content. Pitch one, pitch all; producers cluster.
To pitch The First Draft Club, visit https://thefirstdraftclub.podbean.com for contact information, then craft a tight one-paragraph hook that ties your expertise to a gap in their recent arts coverage.
The First Draft Club is hosted by Unknown Host. The show is categorised under arts (books) and has published 158 episodes.
The First Draft Club has published 158 episodes.
The First Draft Club regularly covers arts, books, education. It sits in the arts category, with a books focus.
The First Draft Club is accessible for guests with genuine arts expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
The First Draft Club hasn't explicitly signalled guest openness in recent episodes. That doesn't rule out pitching. your hook just needs to be especially compelling and relevant to their recent content.
Episodes of The First Draft Club average 16 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
Our data rates The First Draft Club's guest bar at 80/100 (Premium tier). Established thought leaders with verified media credentials. Sign in to PitchCentric to see how your own Pod Score compares against this show.
Methodology. Booking Probability™ blends Listen Score, 30-day Virality, open-to-guests detection, and Apple ratings. Data refreshed every 60 minutes. Listen Score and Booking Probability are calculated by PitchCentric. Last enriched 10 days ago.
