This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 271 episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors

podcast. As we're rounding out Thanksgiving week I just want to take a moment to

send a shout out to all my word players. I say this every year, but every year I mean it a little bit more. You guys are awesome.

And I feel so incredibly blessed to get to share this writing life with you.

You are not just incredibly smart, talented, thought-provoking authors.

You're also some of the kindest, most generous, funniest, and generally coolest people on the planet.

Thanks for letting me do what I do and for letting me walk even just a little bit of the

riding road with you. Hope you enjoyed

a wonderful Thanksgiving. The latest post in the video series on my blog is

don't let this sloppy technique kill the tension in your story's climax.

It points out one of the most egregious mistakes you can make in your story's climax

and how to make sure readers never look away from your

exciting finale. To find the post, visit my site at helping writers become authors.com. And now I hope you enjoy this week's podcast entitled

Want a Powerful Theme, Play Devil's Advocate. Here's the thing about a powerful theme. It's not black and white, it's not the moral of the story, it's not an answer, it's a question. And here's the thing about questions. They very often have more

than one answer. Let's say you're writing a story that asks a simple little question like,

is lying bad? That seems pretty black and white, yeah. But what about

when the mafia hit man walks up to your door and asks if your debt-ridden old man is

home? He's in the living room hiding under the coffee table. if your debt-ridden old man is home.

He's in the living room hiding under the coffee table,

hyperventilating, but you look Mr. Hitman in the eye

and swear up and down that Dad moved to Cali. Was that down and dirty lie a bad thing? Truth isn't

subjective but our individual takes on it are and its applicability in varying situations definitely is.

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