All Episodes

Episode 162: Mystically Curious: an interview with author Sanjena Sathian

Episode 161: Leading with Images: Interview with Yang Huang

Episode 160: Rest and Revolution: a conversation with author Hari Ziyad

Episode 159: Is Tomorrow Yesterday? Chronology in Structure

Episode 158: Loving Flawed Characters

Episode 157: A Toast to the Friction Between Non- and Fiction

Episode 156: What Shall I Work on Next? Deciding and Getting Started

Episode 155: And That is When the Murders Began

Episode 154: The Character of Intuitive Planning

Episode 153: Time Management for Narrators

Episode 152: A Generous Frugality: Uses of Poetic Language in Prose

Episode 151: Systems to Submit Your Work

Episode 150: Angie Liked a Book

Episode 149: Omniscient First Person: A Thanksgiving Episode

Episode 147: Only Connect

Episode 146:Stop the Presses! An Interview with Debut Novelist Carole Stivers

Episode 145:Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Plot?

Episode 144:Having Your Cake: Character’s Driving Desire Story

Episode 143:The Intersection of Premise and Limiting Belief

Episode 142:A Non-Fiction Scene from Danzy Senna

Episode 141:Establishing Scenes: Setting Up Desires, Character, Theme in Action in Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys

Episode 140:The Final Scene: Elizabeth Strout

139:Scene It All? What Makes Scene Work

Episode 138: Change in Story and in the World!

Episode 137: Necessary Skills: Empathy and Reading #BlackLivesMatter

Episode 136: Suspects, Motives, and Red Herrings: A Conversation with Author Angie Kim

Episode 135: A Jumping Off Point: Getting and Processing Notes on Your Manuscript

Episode 134: Salting the Soup: Getting Metaphor Right

Episode 133: Back to the Basics: Survival, Sleep, Gardening, and Yes, Writing in a Time of Trauma.

Episode 132: Happy Earth Day: A Conversation about Conflict, Crisis, History, and Story

Episode 131:The Baby and the Bath Water: What to Throw Out

Episode 132: Rule Britannia: the Queen’s Speech

Episode 131:She’s Got Help: Sheltering in Place

Episode 130:Robotic Dogs, Epistolary Novels, Compassion: What Gets Us Through

Episode 129: Giving Notes: What You Need to Know

Episode 128: Arresting and Amusing to the Drunk: a discussion of politics, persuasion, and story

Episode 127: Leveling Up: Lessons in Story and the Gamification of Learning

Episode 126: An Adventure That Will Change Her Forever: a Conversation with Aya de Leon

Episode 125: The Rubric of Risk: characters and writers learning and growing

Episode 124: Chapters: A Dinner Party

Episode 123: As Simple as Possible: a guide to story

Episode 122: Curiouser and Curiouser: A New Year’s Podcast!

Episode 121: Unforgettable: Examples and Theories on What Makes a Story Stick

Episode 120: What’s the Point? Why We Write

Episode 119: Shoe in a Cage: The Thanksgiving Episode

Episode 118: Audience, Stories and Syllogisms

Episode 117: Horseshoes and Grenades: A Conversation with Author and Journalist Vanessa Hua

Episode 116: The Fire (2019 Edition): Emotional Logic

Episode 115: Brain Training for Writers

Episode 114: Breaking Down Burnout

Episode 113: What Did You Expect? Set Ups and Reversals in Story ?

Episode 112: Like a Novel, Like a Movie?

Episode 111: The Same Tool: Planning and Intuition

Episode 110:The Showdown: Summary v. Scene

Episode 109: Free Class!

Episode 108: Experiments in Storytelling

Episode 107: Grocery Shopping and Making Art

Episode 106: Authenticity

Episode 105: Exit Your Comfort Zone

Episode 104: Can Fiction Save Your Life?

Episode 103: 3-7 Tips and Tricks for Summer Writing

Episode 102: Improv and First Drafts

Episode 101: Reaction Shots

Episode 100: Story is a Side Effect

Episode 99: Waiting for the Steaks

Episode 98: Writing It and Reading It

Episode 97: Rachel Howard – Working on Why Now

Episode 97: 16 Tweets from Mira Jacob

Episode 96: The Soul of Wit

Episode 95: ‘Tis a Gift? Simplicity in Story

Episode 94: Of Mice and Marie Kondo

Episode 93: The Love and the Hate (of Writing)

Episode 92: The Rush and the Risk: Talking Novelistic Nonfiction with Christine O’Brien

Episode 91: The Revelations of Revision

Episode 90: Daniel Jokelson – Finding the Medicine

Episode 89: Devi Laskar – Taking it Day by Day

Episode 88: Reversing the Expectation

Episode 87: The Good, The Bad, and Just Writing

Episode 86: Let’s Talk About Goals

Episode 85: Ours Is to Reason Why

Episode 84: The Outer Limits of Limiting Belief

Episode 83: Keep ’em Laughing: Irving Ruan

Episode 82:The Blind Date or Why Your Rejection is Your Fault

Episode 81: Nothing You Can’t Change? A Talk with Peter Coyote

Episode 80: Solving a Moving Puzzle: Micah Perks

Episode 79: Getting Lost to Find Your Theme: Laurie Ann Doyle

Episode 78: Texas Chainsaw Massacre Your Darlings

Episode 77: Taking the Scene-ic Route

Episode 76: Earn Your Subtlety

Episode 75: Here’s to Deadlines

Episode 74: Stealing from Theme Parks: Story in the Happiest Place on Earth

Episode 73: The Riot Grrl Library Tapes: a conversation with Celeste Chan

Episode 72:The Girl on the Bookstore Train: What Authors Need to Know to Market Their Books

Episode 71: Little Knots of Why and What

Episode 70: Breaking the Rules

Episode 69: The Drama of Ordinary Moments

Episode 68: Waltzing: One, Two, Three Steps to Story

Episode 67: Squeezing It In

Episode 66: A Pleasurable Masochism: the secrets of story with Matt Bird

Episode 65: Don’t Fear the Process