Best-selling author and fabulous writing teacher Ellen Sussman joins us to talk about conflict--why it matters, why it’s hard to go there on the page, and how to get there. Why do we resist creating conflict in our stories?

What are we afraid of? Vulnerability, danger, melodrama,? We investigate some of the ways in which women, especially, might be socialized to avoid conflict, and the way that impacts our stories. This is an episode about permission and courage. We discuss narrative questions and uncertainty, tension versus conflict--clarifying definitions and nuances and approaches to raising the stakes in your story. We look at the strong relationship between character and conflict, and the necessity of character arc or transformation. Ellen gives us a clear pantser’s perspective on finding your way to character and conflict. That leads us into the pleasures and process a first draft writing, "wallowing in it," and the long haul of revision, and why for some, it’s the other way around! Angie discusses switching hats from screenwriter to director, and what it teaches you about screenwriting. In the second part of the podcast, we discuss the benefits of writing retreats, and some suggestions for making them powerful, rejuvenating, productive and creative. We started the Sonoma County Writers Camp last year, and based on our experience, we give you some specific tips for making a writing retreat wonderful--and of course, you are invited to join us this May at ours!

Links Discussed:

Sonoma County Writers Camp

EllenSussman.com

Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaimen

Carol Wolf

Carol Lashoff

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth (book)

Trespasser by Tana French

Marissa Silver Critic’s Take in the New York Times Book Review 

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 today’s show we discuss Curtis Sittenfeld’s short story, “The Prairie Wife,” which appeared in the New Yorker, January X&X issue. Spoiler alert! We reveal everything about the story. You can listen to or read it at the links below. Angie breaks down the story into its seven steps, and we revisit James Scott Bell’s definition of short story--"A great short story is about the fallout from one shattering moment."--to examine this tale and a few others in passing. We then discuss the midpoint of a story, how to create a midpoint large enough to shake up and recalibrate the story. How about the idea of starting in the middle. We talk about ways to make sure your middle is not forgettable and does not flag, including misdirection, indirection and other more subtle ways of creating change besides high drama.

Links Discussed:

More about Curtis Sittenfeld and her new books

Curtis Sittenfel reads "The Prairie Wife."

The Lori Moore story "Terrific Mother" about dropping the baby is part of her collection, Birds of America

Start Your Book in the Middle by James Scott Bell

Sarah Waters' Fingersmith

Gospel Song in Dorothy Allison's Trash

Heather Young's The Lost Girls

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 today’s episode, we grapple with confidence, the lack there of, and working toward it. We dip into the question of what makes a book sell, and we give you James Scott Bell’s definition of a short story. This leads to a conversation about the importance of having a feedback loop when you are writing, and what constitutes good feedback, as well as the importance of a deadline, and how to give it leverage. To top it off, we touched on the pleasurable/ funny unreliable narrator, intuition and exploration, and novelizing a screenplay.

We’d love your thoughts on the definition of a short story, or anything else you’d like to share at questions at StoryMakersShow dot com.

Links Discussed:

James Scott Bell, How to Write Short Stories

Emergency Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson

Finishing School

Ellen Sussman

Sonoma county Writers Camp

The Rosie Project by Grahame Simesion

Creative Filmmaking

The Happy Brain Book

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.