The First Draft Club

S11 E07 How to Fix a Character’s Arc Without Rewriting Your Whole Plot: A Revision Lesson from My General Contractor

I was talking recently with a writer in The Book Incubator who'd hit a very specific kind of revision fear, and that conversation (along with being mid-remodel and thinking about load-bearing walls) led to today's podcas

S11 E06 Beware of These Common Publishing Scams Everywhere Right Now

There's a scam going around publishing right now, and I couldn't stop thinking about it until I made an episode about it. A few months ago I got targeted. Then three different writers emailed me asking if an email they'd

S11 E05 Rufi Thorpe and I Talk About How, Why, and What We Teach (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of Mary's conversation with Rufi Thorpe, where they finally try to take on the question everyone in this world pretends is already settled: can writing actually be taught? Mary and Rufi get into what they

S11 E04 Rufi Thorpe and I Talk About How, Why, and What We Teach (Part 1)

If you've ever wondered whether creative writing can actually be taught—or felt discouraged by a workshop, MFA program, or critique group—this conversation is for you. In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Mary Adkins

S11 E03 Redefining “Success” as a Writer and Author: Interview with Crime Novelist & Fellow Texan Mary Lowry

Mary Pauline Lowry is a crime writer and fellow Texan who just published her debut novel Last Night Was Killer. In this interview, we talk about what success actually looks like when you're a working writer. In this epis

S11 E02 Hey Plot-Haters! This Just In: People Only Change

I used to hold two competing ideas in my head. I believed "people don't change"—I sort of prided myself on this vaguely cynical outlook. But then I'd teach the definition of story, which is that a story is about someone

S11 E01 How I Deal with Rejection and Negative Feedback: Why “Thick Skin” Isn’t Realistic or Helpful

S10 E24 How to Write a Great Query Letter: Interview with Hannah Brattesani, our New In-House Literary Agent at The Book Incubator

This is the season finale of The First Draft Club—and we have huge news. The Book Incubator has a new in-house literary agent! Her name is Hannah Brattesani. She's worked at the Friedrich Agency and Folio Literary Manage

S10 E23 Hearing “No” is Part of the Process: How 150+ Rejections Led to a "Big 5" Book Deal at Auction

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

S10 E22 When to Tell and When to Show: Lessons from Rufi Thorpe & Shel Silverstein

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

S10 E21 How to Write a Book During Summer

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

S10 E20 NEW TOOL: The Real-Time Outline, a.k.a. an Outline I Can Actually Stomach

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

S10 E19 Hot Take on Book Marketing Advice that Makes Me Want to Claw Out My Eyes

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

S10 E18 The Small Thing You Can Ask Beta Readers That Makes All the Difference

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

S10 E17 Why You're Burnt Out on Your Book (And How to Fix It)

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

S10 E16 The Psychology Trick that Helps Writers Finish Their Books

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

S10 E15 How to Keep Writing When You Don’t Know What to Write Next

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

S10 E14 What to Do with Scenes You Don’t Want to Write (but “Have to”)

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

S10 E13 14 “Out of the Box” Fixes for Your Novel

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

S10 E12 A New Method for Memoirists: How to Structure Your Memoir Memoir in 3 Steps

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