In this week’s podcast, Angie and Elizabeth reconnect with Micah Perks and discuss her new book of linked stories. Micah has always been a fan of episodic work, and after working with a longer forms of writing, she decided to turn to a short story collection. She took short, stand-alone stories she had written in between projects and morphed them into something new and connected, realizing that working with completed drafts made for a faster process than she was used to. Micah admits that she can often be guilty of over-revising, wondering at what point the work is just different instead of better. Is she just wasting time? There are so many worries about what we “should” be doing. In the end, do what makes you feel the fullest.

True Love and Other Dreams of Miraculous Escape by Micah Perks

The Weird Sisters: William Shakespeare

Kelly Link - MacArthur Fellow

Tana French: The Witch Elm

This week, Angie and Elizabeth chatted with Laurie Ann Doyle about her process transitioning from writing short stories to writing her first novel. From doing research, to choosing the right words, both short and long stories are all about crafting a narrative. They focus on one of Laurie’s stories Or Best Offer from World Gone Missing, a collection of short stories with the theme of people going missing. Angie and Elizabeth asked if the theme came first, Laurie believes that the theme should evolve naturally, and that people can disappear in more ways than one.

Laurie Ann Doyle - Website

Nina LaCour - Interview

Barbara Oakley - Learning How to Learn

Wayne Dyer - Before You Go To Sleep 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 we discuss the editing process on macro and micro levels. While Angie gets color and sound ready for her film, Elizabeth exists in a waiting period as equanimical as ever (ha ha), and the Book In A Year course gets underway, editing is on all of our minds. Whether we prefer sentence by sentence editing or big picture, it all eventually needs to be done. A listener asks how to go macro with an edit and get out of the weeds that sentences can become… so we talk about how to take a step back and look the project as a whole, considering theme, logic, premise, etc. Make an outline of your scenes, and then look for causality. Ask what function it serves, what would I lose if it were missing, and why is that scene where it is? While it may not be pretty, sometimes we have to kill our darlings. So take out your book, put on your reading glasses, and ready your chainsaw.

Links Discussed:

Episode 70: Breaking the Rules - 7 Steps of Editing

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

The Gunners by Rebecca Kauffman

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

The Comedy Bible by Judy Carter

Sonoma County Writers Camp - Scene Workshop with Elizabeth Stark and Ellen Sussman from October 10-14

Don't forget to send in your questions!

This week we delve into the functions of scene while taking a few detours to touch on apostrophising as well determining what exposition really is. Angie continues to put all of her ducks in a row on her film as the deadline steadily approaches, and Elizabeth is recovering from her most recent novel deadline before launching into the next project. We chat about the relationship between the author and the reader, we give away a few SPOILERS for Angie’s film, and we readily admit how hard the creative process can be at times. Challenge yourself in those areas. It is worth it every time.

Links Discussed:

San Francisco Writers Grotto

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss

“Speech is what people do to each other.” Elizabeth Bowen

Before and After Florence, New York Times Video

On the Page with Pilar Alessandra

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

The Art of Fiction by John Gardner (The Barn Exercise)

Jeanne Stark and Trailer

Sonoma County Writers Camp - Scene Workshop with Elizabeth Stark and Ellen Sussman from October 10-14

In today’s episode, we discuss the art of not being subtle as well as the merits of exaggeration. Elizabeth is working towards the deadline of her newest draft by revamping crucial scene, and Angie is working on her new script for a PTA heist. Angie talks about pushing beyond your original idea because sometimes it can give you exactly what you’re looking for. We chat about ballet and how similar that can be to a writer's process, making your art seem effortless. And in these discussions of exaggeration and pushing it further, we look at subtlety as delicious tool instead of the mark of a master.

Links Discussed:

Wired for Story by Lisa Cron

Russian Ballerino Bad Boy (Sergei Polunin) dancing to modern music

The Art of Fiction by John Gardner (The Barn Exercise)

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz

Learning how to Learn by Barbara Oakley

Sonoma County Writers Camp - Scene Workshop with Elizabeth Stark and Ellen Sussman from October 10-14

Judi Scherrer, advocate for saying "and" not "but"

In this week’s podcast we discuss the before and the after of realizing a project. In it, I consider the logistics of when to print out my manuscript, and Angie reflects on her almost picture locked film Lost in the Middle. We chat about the limitations of technology and the need to prioritize, as well as what we have learned throughout our own processes. I also ask Angie about what she would keep in mind for the next project while recognizing the reality of deadlines.

Links Discussed:

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Hannah Gadsby

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sonoma County Writers Camp - Scene Workshop with Elizabeth Stark and Ellen Sussman from October 10-14