When I’m not reading fiction or books about writing, I’m reading business books.

A recent favorite, Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. Now, I want to tell you all about it. Why? Because there are so many gems in this book that also apply to the writing fiction.

And no, I don’t mean the business side of publishing (but you should totally check it out for that aspect as well, especially if you’re self-publishing). These insights also apply to the process of writing fiction.

Here are four insights from Who Not How that will help you write a better book:

1. You Will Need Feedback to Finish - Unless you’re solely writing for yourself, you need to make sure that your writing works for other people. How does that happen? Feedback!
2. Know What "Done" Means To You - Give in to perfectionism and you’ll end up tweaking your novel for eternity. Call it done when key elements still aren’t working? You’ll fall short of your goals. Finding the happy medium means knowing what done means to you and holding yourself to that standard.
3. Don't Struggle Alone - Writing a novel isn’t just hard on a craft level, it’s grueling on an emotional level. When you’re feeling stuck or just plain hopeless about your book, it’s time to call on writer friends for support.
4. Stop Striving Solo - Other writers aren’t your competition. After all, you can’t possibly write enough books to fully satisfy your readers. Trying to do everything on your own is a recipe for toxic thinking that keeps you stuck.

If we haven’t met, I’m Olivia, a developmental editor & book coach who helps genre fiction writers master a repeatable writing process so they can create books their future readers will love without overwhelm.

Here are the resources mentioned in this episode:

• Learn more about Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy here
• Want to be the first to know when Reader Ready Revisions opens? Join the waitlist here
• Grab my FREE Revision Kickstart Guide and join my newsletter here
• Have a response to this episode? Hit me up on Instagram @oliviahelpswriters

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/21.

Disclaimer: I am not at all affiliated with Dan Sullivan, Dr. Benjamin Hardy, or Strategic Coach.

I did something big this week: I closed to sample edit requests for the first time since I started my business.

That decision was partially logistical, but only partially. It also represents a philosophical shift in my business. I’m transitioning away from an editing-focused model to a book coaching focused model.

Whether you’ve ever intended to work with me or not, I hope this episode helps you think through the options open to you as a writer so you can make an informed decision about what kind of help is right for you, no matter where you are in your writing journey.

Here are the resources and tools mentioned in this episode:

• Want to be the first to know when I open to sample edits on June 9th AND get a head start on the first phase of the revision process? Grab my FREE Revision Kickstart Guide right here: https://olivia-helps-writers.ck.page/94b0145ae9
• Have a response to this episode? Hit me up on Instagram @oliviahelpswriters
• Learn more about working with a book coach here: https://www.authoraccelerator.com/

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/20.

This week, I’m talking about my favorite topic: revision!

Revision a novel is a lot like climbing a mountain. It’s difficult, requires planning, and not everyone who starts out will reach the end. I don’t want your novel to end up in the back of a drawer or some dusty corner of your hard drive, so let’s talk about why revision is so overwhelming and how you can make the revision process work for you.

Here are four reasons revision is overwhelming:

1. You haven’t trained before starting your climb (you don’t yet have the skills to revise)
2. You haven’t mapped out the right route (you don’t have a clear revision strategy)
3. You’re trying to climb alone (you don’t have emotional support or critical support)
4. You don’t know what the peak looks like (you don’t have a clear vision for your finished book)

Here are the resources mentioned in this episode:

• Need help figuring out what your peak looks like? Grab my FREE Revision Kickstart Guide and set a vision that will guide your revisions!. You can download it here: https://olivia-helps-writers.ck.page/94b0145ae9
• Want to get my weekly newsletter for writers? You can subscribe here: https://olivia-helps-writers.kit.com/better-writer-newsletter
• Have a response to this episode? Hit me up on Instagram @oliviahelpswriters https://instagram.com/oliviahelpswriters

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/19.

This week, I’m continuing my discussion of “show, don’t tell,” by introducing your show, don’t tell secret weapon: writing in scenes.

There are three ways that writing in scenes can help writers show instead of tell:

1. Scenes lock us into a specific moment in time which primes us to narrate specific actions as they happen instead of summarizing them.
2. When the scene is narrated through a specific character’s perspective, all information (worldbuilding, backstory, etc.) is filtered through their perspective, giving you a simple metric for deciding what gets added on the page and what gets left out because it’s not necessary for readers to know in that particular scene.
3. Scenes happen in a specific time and place which means adding specific details and that immerse readers in the world of your story and keep us focused on what is happening in that specific time and place instead of just feeding us information detached from space & time.

Here are the resources and tools mentioned in this episode:

• Download my scene writing checklist here - perfect for making sure your scenes have all the ingredients they need, whether you plan them in advance or shape them up in revision. Grab the checklist here!
• Have a response to this episode? Hit me up on Instagram @oliviahelpswriters

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/18.

This week, I’m continuing my discussion of “show, don’t tell”.

This time, I’m taking a step back and instead of talking about how show, don’t tell works, I’m talking about what makes it so difficult for writers to show in the first place.

Here’s the headline: showing in fiction runs counter to our default storytelling mode, the way that we are taught to share stories from childhood on.

In this episode, I’m sharing three specific ways that “showing” requires us to break free of our storytelling defualt mode and instead craft stories in a different way. They are:

1. Showing runs counter to the natural way we tell stories verbally.
2. Showing requires more words than telling. The opposite of writing for school and business where being concise is put above everything else.
3. Showing is often linked with writing in scenes, but most people write their stories as one long series of things that happen.

Here are the resources and tools mentioned in this episode:

• Want to get my weekly newsletter for writers? You can subscribe here
• Have a response to this episode? Hit me up on Instagram @oliviahelpswriters

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/17.

This week, I’m talking about another of the most common mistakes I see in client manuscripts: a misunderstanding of show, don’t tell.

It’s a writing rule that gets thrown out ALL THE TIME. But how often do you hear someone diving deep into what it really means? Not often enough.

Writers often think of show, don’t tell as one thing and usually something that happens at the line level. But it’s not that simple. Show, don’t tell is really a collection of techniques that make your writing feel alive and immersive to readers and it operates at every level of your manuscript.

In this episode, I’m sharing three ways that show, don’t tell shows up in manuscripts and what you need to do to create an immersive experience for your readers.

Here are the resources and tools mentioned in this episode:

• Want to get my weekly newsletter for writers? You can subscribe here: https://olivia-helps-writers.kit.com/better-writer-newsletter
• Have a response to this episode? Hit me up on Instagram @oliviahelpswriters: https://instagram.com/oliviahelpswriters

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/16.

This week, I’m addressing a hot-button issue in our industry: AI. I’m giving you a behind the look at all the ways I am and am not using AI in my business and my life.

Here’s the headline: I do not use generative AI to create any content that I share online (blog posts, emails, etc.) and I do not, will not, ever use any AI tools in client work, but there are some non-generative AI tools that I use in the process of getting work done and I want to talk transparently about how I’m using these tools and the principles that I use when deciding which tools to use or not.

Here are the three principles: 1) I will never use AI to create content I present as my own writing; 2) I don’t use AI to replace work I would hire a human to do; and 3) I try to be mindful of the environmental cost and only use tech tools that are worth it.

Here are the resources and tools mentioned in this episode:

• You can check out my public AI policy here: https://www.oliviahelpswriters.com/faqs-policies
• Learn more about dictation with Sarah Elizabeth Sawyer here: https://www.fictioncourses.com/dictation
• Check out Author.AI’s analytical tools here: https://authors.ai/
• Have a response to this episode? Hit me up on Instagram @oliviahelpswriters: https://instagram.com/oliviahelpswriters
• Want to my weekly newsletter - including the ones I write while driving? You can subscribe here: https://olivia-helps-writers.kit.com/better-writer-newsletter

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/15.

This week’s episode is all about conflict. Conflict is an essential element of every novel, but it’s also misunderstood and often leads writers astray. In fact, conflict issues have shown up in every editorial letter I’ve written for a client. In this episode, I’m discussing why more conflict isn’t always better and key ways that you can go wrong by just shoving random, unstrategic conflicts into your story.

Want help revising the conflict in your story? Check out my services here https://www.oliviahelpswriters.com/services

Or sign up for the Better Writer Weekly and be the first to know when Reader Ready Revisions opens for enrollment this spring. You can join here https://olivia-helps-writers.kit.com/better-writer-newsletter

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/14.