Pros Talking Prose
Pros Talking Prose
Podcast Description
Writing a book is hard. Publishing it is even harder. Succeeding as an author? That’s practically wizardry.
Good thing you don’t have to figure it all out alone.
Pros Talking Prose is your backstage pass to the writing and publishing world, hosted by seasoned pros Stacey Smekofske and Troy Lambert.
We’ll help you skip the mistakes, laugh through the chaos, and build the writing career you actually want without the smoke and mirrors.
New episodes every week. Therapy not included — but highly encouraged.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores various themes pertinent to authors including mental health awareness in writing, navigating market shifts, understanding publishing dynamics, and effective marketing strategies. Episodes tackle specific topics, such as protecting mental health while writing, the unspoken rules of publishing, and the importance of email engagement for authors, offering concrete examples and actionable insights.
Writing a book is hard. Publishing it is even harder. Succeeding as an author? That’s practically wizardry.
Good thing you don’t have to figure it all out alone.
Pros Talking Prose is your backstage pass to the writing and publishing world, hosted by seasoned pros Stacey Smekofske and Troy Lambert.
We’ll help you skip the mistakes, laugh through the chaos, and build the writing career you actually want without the smoke and mirrors.
New episodes every week. Therapy not included — but highly encouraged.
What happens when your entire travel plan falls apart and you suddenly realize you’re living through the exact kind of story structure you teach authors to write?
In this episode of Pros Talking Prose, we do something a little different.
After a travel day filled with changing gates, missing pilots, canceled flights, expensive mistakes, unexpected allies, and one very important business conversation, we realized our disastrous trip had accidentally become a near-perfect example of story structure, escalating conflict, try/fail cycles, character change, and the difference between plot and story.
So we broke it down.
Because one of the most common problems we see in manuscripts is that authors are too nice to their characters. Conflict isn’t something you sprinkle into a story to make it exciting. Conflict creates stakes. Failure forces characters to react, change, make decisions, and eventually become capable of doing something they couldn’t have done at the beginning of the story, and what your character wants from the journey isn’t what they actually need to get from it.
We talk about:
Why try/fail cycles make stories stronger
How escalating conflict keeps readers invested
Why the dark moment needs to actually hurt
Reactive characters versus proactive characters
How minor characters can change the direction of a story
Why every scene needs to move the character toward the climax
How failure reveals character
Why your protagonist should be capable of something at the end that they couldn’t do at the beginning
The surprisingly important difference between “and then” storytelling and “if/then” storytelling
Sometimes the difference between a plot and a story really is only two words, and sometimes failure makes the better story.
If you enjoy conversations about writing craft, publishing, author business, and all the strange things that happen along the way, subscribe to Pros Talking Prose and join us each week.
And tell us in the comments: Are you making things hard enough for your protagonist, or are you still protecting them?
LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED
🧭 Wayfinder Summit
WayfinderSummit.com
The first 250 registered attendees will receive a Wayfinder Welcome Kit. Learn more about the virtual working retreat for authors and reserve your spot above.
Craft Lab: Poisons with Troy Lambert
https://theplotabides.com/free-plot-dude-webinars-2026
Power Sessions
https://printtopro.com/powersessions-2026
Print to Pro
PrintToPro.com
We’ll be at Killer Nashville this August, so if you’re attending, come find us and say hello.
#WritingCraft #StoryStructure #WritingTips #NovelWriting #ConflictInFiction #CharacterDevelopment #WritersCommunity #WritingAdvice #Authors #ProsTalkingProse
Disclaimer
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