Homestead on the Corner
by Homestead on the Corner | Realm
One part short-form anthology, one part fiction writing course, Homestead on the Corner is the original podcast from Wray Van Winkle, creator of Tales of the Echowood and The Sheridan Tapes. Tune in for new stand-alone audio dramas or lessons on plot, character, and other writing techniques. “Have a great day, and keep writing!”
Episodes
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State of the Homestead 2026 - Pride Month Celebrations, Kickstarter Updates, and Announcements
Gooooood evening everyone! Wray here with updates on the ANATHEMA Kickstarter, new Patreon rewards, what's coming for the remainder of the year, and the actual start of Homestead on the Corner, Phase 2. Happy Pride! ANATHEMA Kickstarter: anathemapod.com Homestead on the Corner Patreon:...
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Pride Month Announcements: New Merch, new episodes, new Homestead!
The Sheridan Tapes Pride Collection: https://bit.ly/TSTpride Homestead on the Corner Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/homesteadcorner For more information and additional content, visit homesteadonthecorner.com
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State of the Homestead 2025 - Updates, Announcements, and the Next Phase
Gooooood evening everyone! Wray here with a couple of updates and announcement about where I've been, what's coming for the remainder of the year, and the beginnings of what I'm tentatively referring to as Phase 2 of Homestead on the Corner. Here we go again! Homestead on the Corner Patreon:...
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Reintroductions
CONTENT WARNING: Discussions of transphobia, gender dysphoria, and the COVID-19 pandemic, brief mentions of pet death Hello again. Blog post: homesteadonthecorner.com/reintroductions
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State of the Homestead 2024 - New Project Announcements and Updates!
Gooooood morning everyone! After a long delay, I'm back with couple of very important updates about Homestead on the Corner, Tales of the Echowood, and The Sheridan Tapes, plus a number of NEW PROJECTS in the pipeline for the remainder of 2024! Homestead on the Corner Patreon:...
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The Sheridan Tapes: Season 4 - Trailer
CONTENT WARNING: Aftermath of a disaster, loud noises, and existential dread The end is coming... Featuring the voices of Ezra J. Wayne as Ned Leroux, Chris Martin as Robert Quincy, Jesse Steele as Bill Tyler, Virginia Spotts as Kate Sheridan, Amitola Lomas as Maria Sol, James Cain as Peter…
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Audio Experiment 02: Home
CONTENT WARNING: Some loud noises, including explosions, animal roars, and screams On the shores of the sea, two friends contemplate how we came to be and where we're going next. Written by Virginia Spotts and produced by Wray Van Winkle, with transcription by Virginia Spotts. This episode was…
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State of the Homestead - June 2023: Updates, Announcements, and Illness
On today's episode, Wray and Virginia give a State of the Homestead update on COVID, Tales of the Echowood, and The Sheridan Tapes Season 4. patreon.com/homesteadcorner
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Episode 04: Why keep writing?
CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of the threat of a school shooting, homophobia, transphobia, and abuse, creative burnout, and mental health struggles In the final episode of this season, Wray and Virginia sit down with four incredible writers from the audio fiction community and to answer the...
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Episode 03: Art and science
CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of creative burnout, brief mentions of childhood trauma On today's episode, Wray and Virginia sit down with four incredible writers from the audio fiction community and unpack the dichotomies between plotting and pantsing, art and science, structure and spontaneity.…
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Audio Experiment 01: Celephaïs
CONTENT WARNING: Strong elements of existential dread, paranoia, unreality, and coughing sound effects In a dream it was also that he came by his name of Kuranes, for when awake he was called by another name... Written and produced by Wray Van Winkle, with transcription by Virginia Spotts.…
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Episode 02: The road to writing
CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of drug use, discussions of historical homophobia, transphobia, and censorship, mental health struggles and the COVID-19 pandemic On today's episode, Wray and Virginia sit down with four incredible writers from the audio fiction community to discuss their unique paths to...
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Episode 01: The end goal of creativity is not perfection
CONTENT WARNING: Brief discussions of depression and ADHD Welcome back to the Homestead on the Corner Writing Podcast! Wray Van Winkle and Virginia Spotts return after a 2+ year absence for a new mini-season of interviews with other audio fiction writers and creators, starting with a…
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State of the Homestead 2023 - Updates, Announcements, and Thanks
Happy New Year! To celebrate the start of 2023, we sit down to discuss what's next for Homestead on the Corner, including joining the Realm podcast network, planning the final season of The Sheridan Tapes, and relaunching Tales of the Echowood and the original Homestead Podcast. The Sheridan…
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The Sheridan Tapes - The Final Season: Crowdfunding Now
Support the Crowdfunding Campaign at https://seedandspark.com/fund/sheridantapes4
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Apollo Creator Special: ”Flight of the Bumblebee”
While testing a hypersonic space-plane above the Mojave Desert, pilot Susan Hart becomes obsessed with a set of strange lights that seem to follow her flight but no one else can see. Starring Isabella Tugman as Susan Hart, Sam Taylor as Ren Park, Psalm Morant as Marcus Edwards, Sandra Espinoza as...
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Flight of the Bumblebee - Teaser
While testing a hypersonic space-plane above the Mojave Desert, pilot Susan Hart becomes obsessed with a set of strange lights that seem to follow her flight but no one else can see. This teaser featured Isabella Tugman as Susan Hart, Sam Taylor as Ren Park, Psalm Morant as Marcus Edwards, Sandra...
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The Sheridan Tapes: Season 3 Crowdfunding Announcement
Support the show: https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/sheridantapes3 The Sheridan Tapes is a serialized horror/mystery podcast written and produced by Wray Van Winkle, the creator of Homestead on the Corner and Tales of the Echowood. Now in its third season, the show uses a found-audio structure to...
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State of the Homestead 2022 - Updates, Announcements, and Thanks
Happy New Year! To celebrate the start of 2022, Virginia and Wray sit down to discuss what's next for Homestead on the Corner, including updates for Tales of the Echowood, The Sheridan Tapes Season 3, and various other upcoming projects. Tales of the Echowood: echowoodpod.com The Sheridan Tapes:...
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Introducing: Tales of the Echowood
Homestead on the Corner presents Tales of the Echowood, a 10-Part Fantasy Anthology Podcast from the creators of The Sheridan Tapes. CONTENT WARNING: Depictions of drought and famine, themes of climate change, xenophobia, and isolationism, deep rumbling noises including earthquakes, some...
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Tales of the Echowood - New Show Teaser + Kickstarter Announcement!
Deep in the heart of an ancient wood stands an archway of stone and strange magic... A doorway to another world. Here stands an aged sprite – Grael his name – on a mission borne of loss and desperate hope. And so our tale begins... Tales of the Echowood is a 10-Part Fantasy Anthology Series from...
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Lesson 27: Act 3 - Restoration
In this episode, we address the paradox of showing genuine change in the third act: if true character is only revealed through action in conflict, then how do you demonstrate the completion of a character arc after the main conflict ends? Learn how to maintain a level of stakes through the entire...
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Lesson 26: Act 3 - Return
In this episode, the protagonist reaches the final, and perhaps most difficult, threshold in the journey: the return to the ordinary world. Learn how and why characters must come home at the end of their arcs, how to use this moment most effectively for your premise, and how this beat works in...
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Lesson 25: Act 3 - Resolution
In this episode, we arrive in the final act of the story, and discuss how and why the resolution should not just be an afterthought to your climax. Learn how to create a resolution that serves your reader, concludes your story's plot lines satisfyingly, and fits the thematic premise of your...
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Lesson 24: Act 2 - Climax
In this episode, Act 2 comes to an explosive end, as the effects of the crisis decision ripple out into a final confrontation between protagonist and antagonist. Learn how to use the climax's connection to the inciting incident to show character growth, deliver on reader expectations, and craft…
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Lesson 23: Act 2 - Crisis
In this episode, Wray discusses what is perhaps the most important part of any story -- the final crisis before the act 2 climax. Learn how to bring your characters to their lowest point using their inherent flaws and set the stage for an emotionally satisfying and cathartic conclusion. For more...
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Lesson 22: Act 2 - Midpoint Marvels
In this episode, Wray talks about what to do when you hit the halfway point in your story: how to use this moment to increase the effect of your crisis and climax, improve pacing in the second act, and give your plot a greater sense of structure. For more info about the show, check out...
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Lesson 21: Act 2 - Revelations and Reversals
In this episode, Wray talks plot reversals and revelations, how to twist your story without losing your reader, and ways to effectively set up big story payoffs in your own writing. For more info about the show, check out homesteadonthecorner.com Help support the show at...
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Lesson 20: Act 2 - Subplots and Somebodies
In this episode, Wray talks about how to develop your supporting cast, create compelling subplots, and find the organic structure of your narrative. Learn how to humanize the bit parts of your stories and why it's so important to treat characters like real people when writing. Homestead on the...
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Lesson 19: Act 2 - The Big Bad
In this episode, Wray talks about the distinction between villains and antagonists, how to humanize them in the story, and ways to create memorable, necessary opponents for your protagonist. For more info about the show, check out homesteadonthecorner.com Help support the show at...
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Lesson 18: Act 2 - Whole New World
In this episode, Wray discussed how to use the tools of effective world building to create the extraordinary world of the second act. Learn how to utilize your story's premise to inform your design, raise the stakes, and create a memorable world your reader will want to return to again and again....
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Lesson 17: Act 2 - Friends and Foes
In the first episode of our Act 2 series, Wray talks about how to use allies and enemies in the extraordinary world to move your protagonist towards the change they need to undergo. Learn how to balance friends and foes in the world of adventure to create compelling threat, increase conflict, and...
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Lesson 16: Act 1 - Liftoff
In the final episode in our act 1 series, Wray discusses the break into act two: how to send your characters into the unknown and prepare the reader for their journey of change. See how the classical act structure is based in the psychological realities of risk and adaptation, and how to make the...
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Lesson 15: Act 1 - Countdown
In this episode, Wray discusses techniques and ideas for developing characters within the first act of your story. Learn how to create empathy for your protagonist, demonstrate the problems with their ordinary world, and introduce readers to fundamental flaws through character's reactions to the...
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The Sheridan Tapes - Teaser
www.homesteadonthecorner.com/sheridantapes A quick teaser for our new weekly fiction podcast! The Sheridan Tapes begins April 24, 2020. In 2018, famed horror writer Anna Sheridan disappeared, leaving behind only a box of mysterious cassette tapes. Detective Sam Bailey is tasked with piecing...
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Lesson 14: Act 1 - Ignition
In this episode, Wray talks Inciting Incidents: what they are, how they work, and ways to use them to generate strong narrative momentum. Learn how to put story in motion and pull in your audience with strong disruptions of the protagonist's world that force them to evolve and grow. For more info...
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Lesson 13: Act 1 - The Hook
In this episode, Wray discusses ways to use the opening of your narrative to pull readers into your story with effective hooks, questions, and setups that will strengthen and enhance your plot, characters, and structure. Learn how and when to use cold opens, prologues, and in media res openings,...
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Lesson 12: Keep Writing
In the season finale of Homestead on the Corner, Wray offers advice and encouragement on how to keep writing in difficult times, ways to make creative writing a habit, and strategies to stick with and finish long-form projects. For more info about the show, check out www.homesteadonthecorner.com...
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A few Quick Announcements
Support the show: patreon.com/homesteadcorner A few quick announcements as one chapter of this podcast comes to an end and another begins. Featuring music by Lauren Baker. For more info about the show, visit www.homesteadonthecorner.com
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Lesson 11: The Power of Premise
In this episode, Wray talks about how finding and strengthening the central thematic premise of your story can help direct creative choices, strengthen and clarify your plotline, and create a stronger effect on your readers. For more info about the show, check out www.homesteadonthecorner.com…
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Story 10: The Silver Age
CONTENT WARNING: Depiction of a disaster, discussions of suicide, gun violence, and some strong language. After she is saved from a devastating earthquake by the superhero Silverman, reporter Lera Lynn begins work on an investigative report focusing on him. As they begin their final interview,...
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Lesson 10: Building the Story World
In this episode, Wray discusses the meaning created by your Story World, how to organically create it out of your central idea, and different techniques to make it more compelling to your reader. For more info about the show, check out www.homesteadonthecorner.com Help support the show at...
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Story 09: Siren's Gold
At the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, ex-pirate turned pirate-hunter Eli Barrett is found adrift at sea, raving that the infamous Anne Bonny is still alive. As he tells the captain his story, a bizarre tale of sea battles, shipwrecks, and the lost city of gold unfolds... and yet Anne Bonny is...
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Lesson 09: The Storytelling Imagination
In this episode, Wray discusses sources of inspiration, the imaginative work at the heart of all writing, healthy creative habits, and how to put your subconscious mind to work in the realm of storytelling. Learn how to listen when ideas come, capture them, and develop them into great stories.…
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Story 08: Worlds After
CONTENT WARNING: Strong language and thematic elements. Twenty years after an apocalyptic storm left the world in ruins, a mysterious scientist wanders into the small settlement of Holy Cross, Alaska. There he finds a reluctant ally in a brilliant young tavern-girl, but finds that friendship…
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Lesson 08: Finding the Framework - Plot Structure
In this episode, learn how to break down plot structure into its parts to understand how it works, and how to rebuild it more effectively. Using beat, scene, act, and sequence structure to effectively pace the events in your story, your plot will become more efficient and engaging. For more info...
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Lesson 07: Plot Mechanics
Learn to use the four fundamental forces of plot to design strong, compelling stories that will entertain and engage your reader. Discover strategies for how to ride the line between story science and intuition effectively and tell your stories well. For more info about the show, check out...
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Story 07: The Stars Eternal
At the end of a revolution they helped to lead, the crew of the ISC Elementis is ordered to execute one of their crewmates: an immortal alien traveler known as the Castaway. But when they find themselves under attack by the Castaway's oldest enemy, the captain must put aside duty and fight...
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Lesson 06: Want, Need, and Plot - Designing Character Driven Plots
Learn how to design compelling plots for your stories based on the relationship between character wants and needs, utilizing character development to give your narrative momentum and structure. For more info about the show, check out www.homesteadonthecorner.com Help support the show at...
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Story 06: Blindsights
CONTENT WARNING: Strong language, violence, and disturbing elements. A blind gunslinger, fleeing his violent past, finds solace in the small town of Santa Lucia... but when a gang of outlaws appears in town, he must defend the place and the people he's come to call home the only way he knows how....
About this show
One part short-form anthology, one part fiction writing course, Homestead on the Corner is the original podcast from Wray Van Winkle, creator of Tales of the Echowood and The Sheridan Tapes. Tune in for new stand-alone audio dramas or lessons on plot, character, and other writing techniques. “Have a great day, and keep writing!”
Hosted by
Homestead on the Corner | Realm