In today’s theme-park themed episode, we talk about what we can learn from amusement parks about story and more. Topics include the journey of waiting in line, the impact of production design, and creating the whole experience from start to finish using narrative, voice, world, sound and all the senses. We discuss the ways those 3D rides both fool and fail to fool your senses.

We also talk about structure, deadlines and motivation: reasons to take a class, even in your area of expertise, and the similarities and differences between classes.

Links Discussed:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
J. K. Rowling Harry Potter series
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Scott Meyer blog Go into the Story
De Young soundscape installation
Jeanne Stark-Iochmans, pianist
Sonoma County Writers Camp

We had a terrific conversation with arts organizer, filmmaker, multi-media artists and writer Celeste Chan. We talked about The Queer Ancestors Project and the writing portion of the program for queer and trans youth that Celeste started this year. She had some great advice for them that works for us, too: normalize the blocks. “Sometimes is is just really hard,” she acknowledges. Strategies for dealing with this include breaking down the writing process, lowering your expectations, and Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Vertical Read, a very cool writing exercise for finding the fragments, phrases and words that “have some heat” in your work. In talking about the obstacles, Celeste noted that while we often struggle to write, story requires obstacles to function. We talked about her process in creating and screening her documentary in progress about Riot Grrl. That lead to talking about coming out into riot grrls, finging riot grrl at the library, becoming polticized, reading zines and getting schooled in her community arts organizing that continues to this day. We also talked about the challenges and pleasures of finding balance and inspiration between mentoring and creating. About audience--expanding and narrowing it, juggling the experimental with accessibility, resonating across generations, writing with intimacy, explaining and leaving things unexplained. And another terrific exercise from Celeste inspired by James Baldwin. Links in the bio and below.

Links Discussed:

Dorothy Allison

Mini Nguyen’s Evolution of a Race Riot
or visit
http://475mimi.wixsite.com/mimithinguyen

The fabulous Vicki DeArmon of All Things Book joins us to talk about the publishing industry and what prospective authors need to know to succeed, and how to marshall your resources and see what you can do in the face of the short shelf life, unpredictable market, and changing, shortening seasons of the industry. We also talk about Book Expo America, the state of the industry, including some good news, the relationship between creativity and the market, collaboration and integration, resources and more. This episode also touches on tension, withholding, self-editing and short scenes, the value of thinking differently from everyone else, and the ‘90s publishing world in San Francisco.

Links Discussed:

All Things Book
American Booksellers Association (including Book Expo and Winter Institute)
Northern California Booksellers Association (including Discover Show)
Shelf Awareness
Publisher’s Weekly
California Summer Reads
Leif Enger’s Virgil Wander
Charlie Jane Anders All the Birds in the Sky
Martin Seligman The Hope Circuit

It was great to catch up with Marian Palaia from her home in Missoula where she was a day or so away from a final, ready-to-submit to publishers draft of her next novel. We delved into the parts of writing we hate and why, the agony of waiting for a response, countering the criticism that a novel is quiet, the tricks of adding tension to a story, working against Chekhov’s gun rule, the possibilities of chronological order, flashforwards, questions, the refusal to outline, where to start, and then starting over again...and again...and again, empathy, time and poetry’s sudden turns. We also touched on what you need to know when you are negotiating with an editor who wants to buy your book!

Links Discussed:

Rachel Kushner's The Mars Room

Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life

Rabih Alamedine’s I, the Divine

An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn

Tom McGuane Panama

Facebook link for Marian Palaia

The Given World by Marian Palaia

Levon by Elton John

Owen Meany by John Irving

Joan Frank

Peter Carey

In today’s episode, we discuss non-traditional narratives and shaking it all up. Angie reviews the framework of the 7 Steps of Story and the importance of character psychology and the protagonist’s limiting belief in developing plot. Want to break out from that structure? Get clear on your goal, the reason you want to break the mold/ rules, and what you are trying to do and then try going backwards, reorganizing elements, using POV to limit information, creating an altered consciousness and controlling information. We also talk about how we’ve applied and broken from these principles in our own work, conscious versus unconscious creativity, tracking and organizing your work, the challenges of teaching writing or describing the writing process, ignoring the voice in your head that is full of doubt, observing character and group dynamics in the real world, theme, and, yes, more...

questions@storymakersshow.com 

Links Discussed:

Momento

Tony Kushner Angels in America

Linda Aheensen 21st Century Screenplay

Requiem for a Dream

Girl on a Train

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonard Carrington

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith

The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley

Carolina deRobertis episode

Sonoma Country Writers Camp Free Class

Today we are answering a listener question about making ordinary actions significant in a story--the moments such as having dinner v. the moments of jumping off a bridge to save your own life. What makes readers care? What makes readers pay attention? We dig the importance of character: character change, character reaction to the given events, and the breaking of a character’s cardinal rules. We examine the roles stakes and history play in making a moment matter. Cliche, expectation and subtext feature as factors. And we muck about in Elizabeth Strout’s brilliant short story “The Sign,” from her linked collection/ novel ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Angie asks, How do you chose the detail that signifies?

Other topics include:

the courage to make/ let a lot happen on the page.

ways to fill the well, including artist dates, inspiring websites, and shaking up your own routine

Links Discussed:

Elizabeth Strout Anything is Possible

The Artist’s Way

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid