Continuing the series examining the art of the scene, Angie and Elizabeth delve into an early scene from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Nickel Boys. A deft scene by a highly skilled author. Elizabeth and Angie discuss how what a character wants in a scene ties into the themes that drive the whole book; the balance between abstract and concrete; choosing scenes that matter to create your story; changing and building desires; what marks the end of a scene and what happens in a scene; the definition of a sequence; how questions drive scenes and stories; setting up surprises and revelations so we believe them; character change; rising stakes and how they prevent repeat beats; how to integrate backstory actively in the moment it’s necessary to the present scene. Use this scene as a template to write your own, and your strength as a reader to inspire you! In other news, Angie is working on Math, Climate Change and Comedy and Elizabeth is expanding her definition of noticing…and affirming that reading counts in the work of a true writer.

Links in this episode:

Intro to scene episode

Elizabeth Strout final scene episode

The Nickel Boys

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.

After kicking off a series about scene in the last episode, Angie and Elizabeth introduce a specific scene, the final scene in Elizabeth Strout’s short story “The Sign” in her book Anything is Possible. The discussion reviews the criteria established in the last episode and uses these as a framework for analyzing how the scene works, touching on sequence, build, goal, desire, need, want, unexpected outcome,  surprise and discovery, change, subtext, complications, secrets and misunderstanding, obstacles, setting, details and action—and where we don’t need detail. It ends by encouraging you to write a scene--and “steal” anything that inspires you to write!

Links in this episode:

“Sonny’s Blues” in Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin

“The Sign” in Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Angie’s new Voting Video

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.

Today’s episode informally kicks off a series where Angie and Elizabeth will be discussing scene, that key unit of storytelling across many formats and genres. As an overview, they present a number of elements of scene, including purpose, new information and forward movement of the story, character’s desire, and an acute focus on significant detail and action the two discuss. They are fans of scene and illuminate the power of scene, of moving from abstractions and generalizations to vivid action in your revisions. In addition, they discuss voting, videos, deadlines, focus and exploration, linearity v. simultaneity,  and pre-writing time--how much is enough?

Links in this episode:

Angie’s one-minute voting video 

Samantha Bee

Ann Napolitano Dear Edward

Brandon Taylor Real Life

Lily King Writers & Lovers

Adaptation film

Susan Orlean The Orchid Thief

Uta Hagen Respect for Acting

James Baldwin “Sonny’s Blues” in Going to Meet the Man 

John Gardner The Art of Fiction

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.

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

Links in this episode:

#BlackoutBestsellerlist

25 New Books by Black Authors 

Rick Riordan’s Some Great Books by Black Authors Collected from My Previous Reviews 

45 Best Black Young Adult Books to Read 

Best Books by Black Women: Highlight Black Publishing Power When You Pick Up Some of These Great Books

Blackowned Indepentant Bookstores You Can Order from Today

Jesmyn Ward 

Kiese Laymon 

Roxane Gay

Jacqueline Woodson

Copperfield’s Books 

Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett 

Real Life by Brandon Taylor 

Side Chick Nation by Aya de Leon

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead  

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.

After a two-week hiatus, Angie and Elizabeth are back asking, how can a story-making show co-hosted by two white queer women serve this moment? They look at balancing forward movement with the state of the world, and then deep dive into the urgency of reading critically and writing cogently. As a reader and a writer: evaluate your sources, questions your biases and assumptions, look for your blind spots, develop empathy, and keep learning and discovering.

Links in this episode:

The Onion

Michelle Goldberg: Tom Cotton’s Facist Op-Ed 

Michael Che Black Lives Matter stand up clip

George Lakoff on framing

Hostage negotiator MasterClass

Brandon Taylor

Lorrie Moore

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.