Angie and Elizabeth regroup after Angie’s intensive film production and Elizabeth’s recently completed novel draft to talk about iterations of projects, what to do in between, how to juggle vision v. footage/ pages, and the importance of knowing what you are working towards when you edit. We also discuss concrete story goals--what they look like, why they matter, and what they allow in terms of resonance and larger themes. Other topics we touch on in this conversation include: releasing ownership, film v. prose, want v. need, mindset, and the level of risk we are willing to take.

Links Discussed:

Jill Soloway
Lex Vaughn
Lauren Groff
Barbara Sher
Austin Powers
John Truby The Anatomy of Story
Colum McCann Transatlantic
Carol Dwek Mindset
Annie Dillard The Writing Life
Matt Bird The Secrets of Story

Don't forget to send in your questions!

Please review us!

If you’re curious about how to leave a review on iTunes, here’s an article about how to do it!

And here’s our iTunes Page. 

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.

Our dear friend and talented writer Devi Laskar’s first poetry chapbook, Gas & Food, No Lodging, has just been published, and we celebrate with a far ranging converstaion about language v. narrative poetry, ad how story influences the organization of a collection, challenges and constraints, the “garbage disposal method of writing,” playing tennis with and without a net, revision, abandoning a work of art,  journalism, finding the story, the shadow poem, tackling long middles, daily practices, erasure poems, rogue sonnets, and the dramatic and terrible events that Devi and her family suffered, as recently described in The New York Times. We also talk about the dangers of political burnout and the necessity of taking time for art, as well as why it's more important than ever that we all represent ourselves through art so that we can't be erased.

Links Discussed:

Emily Dickinson
Mollie Fisk
“The Art of Losing” by Elizabeth Bishop
“Do Not Go Gentle” by Dylan Thomas
Mark Rothko
Robert Frost
NY Times article about Joy Laskar
Julie and Julia link
Austin Kleon erasure poems
Finishing Line Press

Books

Citizen by Claudia Rankine
The Likeness by Tana French
The Secret History by Donna Tart
Gas & Food, No Lodging (Finishing Line Press)

Devi’s web site and Joy’s Story

http://www.devislaskar.com/
http://joylaskarstory.com/

Don't forget to send in your questions!

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.

In this episode we get into the books we loved in college. Ecstasy ensues as we revisit Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldua, Jeanette Winterson, June Jordan, Adrienne Rich, Nikki Giovani and others who changed us, stretched us, challenged us, enraptured us. We suggest several writing exercises that have inspired us, touch on Shakespeare’s writing process, investigate revision, logistical constraints, types of focus, humanity’s resistance to losing rights we’ve gained as compared to our willingness to fight for rights we’ve never had, and finding a cohort of readers in middle age. It is #TryPod month--a time to explore new and unusual podcasts, and we recommend several, as well as discussing how we use podcasts to survive domesticity and overcome the limitations of our world. Other topics include: interiority, mystery, intuition v. planning, ambiguous endings and the uses of resonance in story.

Links Discussed:

Jeanette Winterson's The passion

Nikki Giovanni, Poet

Adrienne Rich, Dream of a Common Language

Audrey Lorde

June Jordan

Gloria Anzaldùa

Class:A Guide Through the American Status System

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture

Meliza Beñales on StoryMakersShow

Don't forget to send in your questions!

Please review us!

If you’re curious about how to leave a review on iTunes, here’s an article about how to do it!

And here’s our iTunes Page. 

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.

Angie and Elizabeth discuss auditions, revision, our autobiographies in books part 2, balancing collaboration with your individual vision, getting feedback in film v. in prose, influence and the sharing of ideas, articulating your vision and trusting your gut as a practice, dialog and listening--pacing, pauses, action, gestures and description, and humor--what makes something funny?

Links Discussed:

Seth Godin

Bonjour, Tristesse

9-5

The Hardy Boys Mysteries

Hermann Hesse

East of Eden by Steinbeck

Alice Walker

Alex Buono

I'm On My Way Running

If you're curious about how to leave a review on iTunes, here's an article about how to do it!

And here's our iTunes Page. 

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.

This podcast asks, "What does it take to let your imagination be as free as it needs to be to create story?” We touch very briefly on some traditional means of accessing the imagination, such as drinking, drugs, and writing naked... Somehow this leads us into politics, redemption, magic and the books that most shaped us when we were children. Also rereading books you loved as a child with your own (or other people’s) children, film adaptations of these books, and the surprising role gender plays in these old favorites. We discuss world building, and the magic that is part of creating all memorable both worlds, even realistic ones. That leads to the relationship between character and setting. Finally, we dive into many aspects of starting, nurturing and getting the most out of a writing group, whether it’s generative, workshop or support!

Ann Carson's New Translation of Antigone!

L. Frank Baum

Betsy Tacy Books

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Danny, Champion of the World

Picaresque by the Decemberists with Infanta

National Novel Writing Month

It Happened One Night - IMDB and Hitchhiking Scene

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.