This is KAMWylind, and you are listening to the 107th episode of the word play podcast.

Aside from churning through some emotionally tough scenes in my work in progress the deepest breath,

I've also been putting the old nose to the grindstone and grinding out proof checks on outlining your novel

map your way to success.

One of my favorite ways to double check for typos is to use a highlighter to place a little

dot beneath each word as I'm reading. This can get a little tedious and a

little physically exhausting after a few hours. But it's such a great technique for making

certain your eyes are reading what's really on the page versus what you think is there. and your

reading what's really on the page,

illustrate your character through his surroundings. The latest post in a video series on my blog

takes an example from George Elliot's debut novel, Adam Bede,

to show how you can use setting to explain character. You can watch the video on my blog

at Wordplay-KM Wy i w e i n d dot blog spot dot com new

videos are posted every Wednesday meanwhile enjoy this week's podcast. What the story knows best really means.

When writers start talking about the autonomy of their stories, non-writers are likely to give

us looks that range from confused to concerned, especially when our comments include the following.

Nothing was working for me until I quit fighting my story and let it do what it wanted.

I have no control over my story. I just sit back and let it take off.

My characters made me do it. The story knows best.

These comments may sound like wild exaggerations to our stories

stories often do seem to have minds of their own and those minds usually seem to

understand the subtleties of storycraft, much better than we do.

...