How Fiction Writing Podcasts Help Writers Develop Better Stories

This might come off a little biased since I have one, but I think fiction writing podcasts can be an extremely useful tool for authors. I certainly consume a lot of content about writing - typically made by other writers - myself and I have definitely learned a lot both about writing and the writing industry as a result. 

Before I get too deep into that though, I do want to clarify something early on. Listening to fiction writing podcasts and similar content is definitely a good way to view things from the perspectives of other authors and to improve your writing. But it isn’t something that should be done in isolation. You still need to invest time in actually studying the work of other writers directly. That means you should still be reading often and consuming other media with a critical eye. As with developing any skill, you also still need to practice. So you need to do plenty of writing too. That is how you learn to practically implement the methods you have learned about in theory. 

So, to amend my initial statement some: when not taken in isolation, fiction writing podcasts are a fantastic educational tool for writers. Let’s take a look at the ways in which such content can benefit you.

Improving Your Writing

Obviously, I think fiction writing podcasts can help you write better stories. That is the entire premise of this article. But, how exactly do they do that? The simple answer is education, especially for people just starting out on their writing journey. 

Sometimes you read a story and you understand intrinsically that it is a well-crafted work. But that doesn’t mean you have developed the vocabulary and critical eye to break down why that story feels so good to read and has such an impact on you.

A good writing podcast can be a lot like a lecture in a classroom in that it can provide you with that vocabulary and take you step by step through the reasons a story resonates with you as a part of its audience. You can learn practical lessons about useful writing techniques, put names to them and then apply those lessons to your own writing.

Listening to other writers break down stories and explain their strengths and failings in their own eyes also opens you up to new perspectives. You don’t necessarily have to agree with everything your chosen podcaster or content creator says, but you can still benefit from gaining a perspective outside of your own because you can learn how other people might perceive your writing in turn. People with different personal experiences won’t necessarily experience stories the same way and you can use that information both to improve the accessibility of your stories and also to inform how your characters respond to different types of experiences in-universe.

Inspiration

Fiction writing podcasts and other similar content can also be valuable sources of inspiration if you’re stuck in a rut, dealing with writer’s block or just searching for fresh new ideas. You should never just outright lift ideas from other creators, of course, but you can still develop new ideas of your own through engaging with other media.

Other creatives will often discuss different genres, moods, scenarios and ideas that can help you generate new concepts of your own. It might start with putting your own twist on something discussed in a podcast episode or with your own answer to a question raised by another author whose content you follow, but that can quickly lead down a rabbit hole of questions, answers and associations that lead to the birth of your own unique story. Much like how reading a book, watching a movie or listening to a song can trigger that creative spiral in any artist's mind.

And on the note of how other media can inspire your own creations, writing podcasts can also introduce you to a lot of new media to inspire you. I’ve discovered a lot of amazing stories through hearing them talked about by creators I enjoy. Exposing yourself to more media is never going to be a bad thing for a writer. You can get a lot of ideas by consuming stories written by other people and, as I’ve said before, paying attention to other stories is also a great way to develop your own skills as an author.

On a simpler level though, talking about writing is also just a very good way to get excited about writing. Listening to other people talk about writing can have a similar effect. If you’re struggling with motivation or writer’s block or something like that, listening to someone else talk about their own writing journey or stories they enjoy can help jump start your own creative juices. Enthusiasm is catching.

Industry Education

There’s a lot more to being an author than just writing your story. In fact, putting pen to paper is rarely the most difficult aspect of this job. The really hard stuff is what happens after you write your book or draw your comic. It’s editing, publishing and marketing - the stuff your audience doesn’t really see and that you only really learn about by hearing it from people who are already involved with the industry you are trying to break into.

Fiction writing podcasts don’t always just talk about the art of writing, shows like Eva Langston’s The Long Road to Publishing are a great way to learn about the complicated and grueling world of publishing and marketing your work. Whether you choose to brave the hyper-competitive query trenches of traditional publishing or attempt to do everything yourself and go it alone as an independent, self-published writer, there is bound to be a lot of things you don’t know about when it comes to the hard task of actually getting your stories out there to your audience.

Other writers and publishers are, by far, going to be your best resource for learning about the nitty-gritty, business side of writing that people rarely think about when they want to decide to be an author. And one of the best ways to hear from those people is to do something like follow their blog or listen to their podcast.

Conclusion

While they shouldn’t be used in isolation, fiction writing podcasts are excellent educational tools for hobbyists and both new and experienced authors alike. They are a great way to learn about invaluable writing techniques and methodologies or view storytelling from a different perspective, they can be used to generate ideas or act as sources of inspiration and they can even inform you about the sides of the writing industry that people don’t talk or think about as often.

Importantly though, they are also extremely accessible. There is a veritable mountain of writing podcasts out there that approach their subject matter in a multitude of different ways, most of them being informative. And that mountain is not hard to climb. Most podcast platforms are available completely free and are easy to find and search through. That accessibility is arguably the greatest educational strength of the medium.

Given all the ways you can stand to benefit from writing podcasts as a resource, I highly recommend taking advantage of that accessibility.