Angie and Elizabeth explore the relationship of story events to character as they respond to a listener’s question about how much each scene in a story must be shaped by the main character’s limiting belief. They discuss single protagonists and ensemble or roving points of view, and the emotional impact of a single death versus a million. Far ranging conversation takes them from Marvel comics to the Holocaust. Please note that Angie’s use of the term “muselmann” was slightly off: it is not someone who arrives at a concentration camp without hope but someone whose hope is worn out through the experiences there.

Modern Family

Eddie Izzard

“Bashert” by Irena Klepfitz

Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels

The Secrets of Story by Matt Bird

Black-ish (TV)

Alicia: My Story by Alicia Appleman-Jurman

Barbara Kingsolver

Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival–everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.

The hosts:

Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.

Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.