This is K.M. Island and you are listening to the 92nd episode of the Word Play Podcast.

I'm juggling projects like crazy right now.

While outlining your novel, Map Your Way to Success, is off visiting my editor.

I finished off the tweaks to the first draft of my historical work in progress, the deepest

breath, and printed it off.

I've had to delay its preliminary edits for three months due to a collection of more pressing

activities, so I'm itching with excitement to get my hands studio collection it up with more pressing activities.

So I'm itching with excitement to get my hands deep into its inky papers and start scratching

it up with my trusty red pin.

Fiction junkie that I am.

I can't wait to get back to working on my worlds of make-believe.

One way to tell if your prologue and epilogue are unnecessary.

The latest post in the video series on my blog uses a historical movie to illustrate why and when,

it's better to fore go-prologs and epilogues.

You can watch the video on my blog at Wordplay- k m whyland that's W e i l a n d dot blog spot dot com new videos are

posted every Wednesday meanwhile enjoy this week's podcast. Three traits your hero and villain should share.

When we think of good guys and bad guys, we think of people who are diametrically opposed to one another.

But what if I told you that the best stories are those that feature protagonists and

antagonists who share more uncommon than not. The more similar your heroine

villain, the stronger your story, the more realistic your characters, and the deeper

your exploration of theme. Consider what screenplay consultant John Trueby writes in the

anatomy of story. The contrast between hero and opponent is powerful only when both characters have strong similarities.

...