Practical fiction craft, down to the sentence.
Writing Roots is a craft-focused writing show led by Leigh Hull and Leigh Esses, with advice anchored in fiction choices rather than abstract rules. Episodes move from weird text and number formatting to body description, multiple points of view, countdowns, prophecies, and character rules.
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Writing Roots is a fiction craft show about the small choices that make a story readable and the larger choices that make it feel alive. Leigh Hull and Leigh Esses keep the focus on decisions writers can actually make on the page. A FAQ run works through formatting problems such as numbers, text messages, headlines, advertisements, dialogue, and other odd bits of written or heard communication inside a scene. The advice is not one-size-fits-all. It repeatedly weighs style guides, genre, point of view, draft stage, publisher expectations, and the way a character experiences information. That makes the show useful at the editing level. It is also interested in character. Episodes on body types and body sizes stress respect, specificity, and the difference between describing a person and reducing that person to a physical trait. Other episodes move into structure and trope work, including numbered rules, chosen-one stories, two sides of a conflict, and the rhythm of countdowns. The show treats those devices as tools with consequences. A prophecy can narrow a character’s agency. A second point of view can sharpen conflict or spoil a mystery. A countdown can create tension, comedy, coordination, or a small ticking clock inside a scene. A character’s personal rules can hint at backstory without turning into an exposition dump. The register is conversational and practical, with examples from familiar stories and a willingness to say when a device is hard to use well. It does not chase literary mystique. It asks what the reader needs, what the scene needs, and what the writer needs in order to keep going. The repeated phrase write selfishly gives the show its philosophy. Drafting is treated as exploration first. Revision can sort out the format, the polish, and the final choice later.
Made for: Suits a listener who writes fiction and wants grounded guidance on choices inside drafts, scenes, characters, and familiar tropes. It fits writers who prefer examples over abstract inspiration.
What sets it apart: Writing Roots stands out by moving between tiny manuscript problems and broad storytelling patterns without treating either as secondary. Its advice keeps returning to point of view, reader clarity, and the writer’s own drafting process.
A 10-minute podcast to improve your writing skills
A character's rule about carrying honey can make you want the backstory more than an explanation would.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A playful craft discussion shows how character rules can carry backstory, survival instincts, and story momentum.
Character rules can sound like a gimmick until they begin to carry the weight of a life. Writing Roots follows that idea through Gibbs's rule about never involving a lawyer, Dexter's survival-minded code, and Reacher's rule to never volunteer for anything, framing rules as…
Writerly chats from manuscript to book deal.
Craft talk from the working writer trenches.
Screenwriting shop talk from working writers.
Writing Roots' "S59 Bonus - Creating Numbered Rules in Your Story" uses The Doctor, Gibbs, Zombieland, Reacher, Dexter, Fight Club, and Lestat to show how numbered rules define a character.
This episode explores the use of numbers as character names in fiction, using examples like '24601' from Les Misérables and 'Sierra Six' from The Gray Man.
A bonus episode exploring unusual historical methods of torture and execution, starting with impaling and Vlad the Impaler.
Writing Roots hosts Leigh Hull and Leigh Esses explain how first-draft writers can create stronger stories by withholding unnecessary information.
Writing Roots hosts Leigh Hull and Leigh Essence explain how pantsers can trust instinct while auditing finished manuscripts against structures such as the three-act, seven-point, hero’s journey, and genre-specific formats.
Hosts analyze the film Jaws to discuss writing techniques like pacing and character creation.
The hosts analyze Pixar's Up, focusing on character names and storytelling techniques.
Hosts Leigh Hull and Leigh Esses interview Rick Gualtieri about his long-running podcast Authors and Dragons, which combines fantasy writing with D&D gaming.