Angie is learning about teaching math and either making connections to learning and writing...or developing a unified theory of everything. Elizabeth is in diffuse, “what if” mode, exploring her real values. As they delve into conversation about premise--an expression of values in a story--and limiting belief--the thinking that needs changing in a character, Angie asserts that what can seem like a blunt tool in writing, can come across subtle, enriching ways in reading. They explore how to use these tools to brainstorm and tap into the unconscious, how to develop and understand the psychology behind a character’s behavior, and how structure might mirror premise.

Links in this episode:

Link to free class on Writing in the Time of Covid.

Book in a Year

Craft Class and Story Development 

Dorothy Allison sorry about Shannon Pearl/ fire -- is embedded in her novel Bastard Out of Carolina

Lindsey Doran

Tony Robbins

NLP

Lajos Egri The Art of Dramatic Writing

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol

Heather Young The Distant Dead

Story Makers Episode with Heather Young 

NYT What’s Happenjng in this Graph? Pandemic Consumer Spending

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 brings the study of scene to a conclusion with a third scene, this one from Danzy Senna’s non-fiction Where Did You Sleep Last Night? A Personal History. Angie and Elizabeth look at the work an opening scene does in establishing vital information--here, establishing a relationship  dynamic, a core theme, and stakes. With deft details and action, Senna creates a strong cinematic scene while also allowing for a narrator grappling with the meaning and interpretation of a scene from the past, one of the strengths of narrative prose on the page. The discussion also covers action as dialog, the interweaving of researched history with personal history, and the power of ambiguity. The episode kids off with a look at the trials, tribulations, and pleasures of reviewing morning pages, and of completion-centric project planning, as well as learning, revision, and imperfection in writing and math.

Links in this episode:

Sontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser

Cal Newport completion-centric and Einstein theory

The Einstein Principle: Accomplish More By Doing Less

The Art of the Finish: How to Go From Busy to Accomplished

Scott Young UltraLearning 

Story Makers Show scene episodes:

Scene It All: What Makes Scene Work?

The Final Scene: Elizabeth Strout

Establishing Scenes: Setting Up Desires, Character, Theme in Action in Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys

Denzy Senna Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

Danzy Senna New People

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.

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.