This is Kiam Weiland and you are listening to the 95th episode of the word play podcast.

While editing outlining your novel map your way to success this week,

I've been going through my old outline notebooks from Behold The Dawn and Dreamers

and looking for fun personal illustrations to add to the instructions

and suggestions in the book.

It's been a fun stroll down memory lane to read through my old journals which date back to 2004. Beholds journals in particular have been a blast.

I've forgotten how much the story had changed from conception to publication.

My original conception of the story included an altogether different cast, different plot twists, and a dramatically different ending.

Without question, the story improved over the course of its evolution,

but it's been fascinating to go back and be reminded of how certain ideas came

to be in the first place.

Plus I love flipping all my inky pages.

They always make me feel inexpressibly writerly. Use a question to create an unforgettable opening chapter.

The latest post in the video series on my blog simplifies the trick of hooking a reader at the beginning

of a story by showing how Elizabeth Gascal peaked curiosity

in Lizzy Lee. You can watch the video on my blog at wordplay-K-M-Y-L-N-D that's W E I L A N D.

BlogSpot.

New videos are posted every Wednesday.

Meanwhile, enjoy this week's podcast.

Understanding and accepting the reasons you write.

Why do you write?

This is a favorite question in writing forums, polls, and interviews.

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