On today’s episode, Angie and Elizabeth talk about what changes between the ordinary world that starts a story, and the new ordinary world where the characters end up, their limiting beliefs having been utterly challenged, and either changed or tragically failed to change. They look at a “what if” brainstorming exercise, the ways the beginning and end mirror each other, the ways limiting beliefs shape actions, the limits of backstory in understanding how a character internalized a particular message, and the uses of metaphor as learning devlises. This episode also gets behind #BlackoutBestsellerList, the movement to fill the Bestseller list with African-American authors this week by doing one of their favorite things: buying books. They also talk about some real challenges to creativity, and you might be surprised to learn that after they recorded this episode, Angie went and made a one-minute video, which you can see HERE, on The Daily Dose.

As always, send your comments and questions to questions@bookwritingworld.com

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.