What makes a story grab you? This episode grapples with that question alongside the challenges of making a best of the year reading or watching list. As they examine what makes a story unforgettable, Angie and Elizabeth discuss imperfect characters, clear goals, enemies, relationships, humor, compassion and the struggle to live up to impossible goals, stakes and power, as well as voice, vivid characters and worlds, structure and conflict that really matters and is relational.They also looked at what they hated until they loved it. Timing. Perspective. Paying attention. Metacognition. Pleasurable political art! And the incitement to be courageous in the way you most enjoy.

What was your top book of the year? Email us at questions@storymakersshow.com

Links in this Episode

Marvel movies

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Queen & Slim

Chloe Plus Olivia by Lilian Faderman

The Farewell

Jojo Rabbit

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai 

Heavy by Keise Laymon

Normal People by Sally Rooney 

Chemistry by Weike Wang

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead 

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout 

Cantoras by Carolina DeRobertis

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Possession by AS Byatt

Walt Whitman

Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir

Education website: the education foundation  UK

Ultralearning by Scott Young 

Side Chick Nation by Aya De Leon

Story Makers Show Episode with Aya De Leon: Episode 51: Creative and Political Action: an inspirational guide to momentum for the writer

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, Angie and Elizabeth examine the importance of knowing why you are writing what you are writing—the core of your story. When do you need to know? How can you discover the point if you’re not sure? Why does it matter? Jumping off from a story boarding lessons Angie taught to some middle schoolers, the conversations covers responding to assignments, giving yourself assignments, digging deeper into what you want to say about what you want to write about, and strategies for improvising and brainstorming the next level of understanding of your story. Angie role models talking about the why behind one of her narrative film ideas, and then they consider how you move between idea and character/ story.

Links in this Episode

Meredith Meran on Story Makers Show about her Why We Write books

Imagine Dragons

Simon Syneck Start With Why

Cal Newport Deep Work

Danzy Senna New People 

Bong Joon Ho Parasite

Elon Musk

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 begin this episode by musing on the ending of the film Home for the Holidays, and what it tells us about memory and story. Then they continue on to other stories in films and books for which they are grateful, from Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader from 1999 to Almadovar’s latest film, Pain and Glory, and Taika Watiti’s Jojo Rabbit and What We Do in the Shadows. This is a conversation about creative courage, increidble shots, taboo items and ideas, shame in storytelling and religion, and books that show you how it’s done or what is possible. The conversation delves into ho- to advice for nurturing your creativity during the holidays. Grow as an artist in the midst of challenging family gatherings by developing your understanding of character, dialog, body language, gesture, and action. Additional subjects include irony, the surreal, politics, newspapers, fake video footage, the uncanny valley and the suspension of disbelief, the high level juxtaposition of characters, tennis tips, and much, much more.

Links in this Episode

Home for the Holidays

But I’m a Cheerleader

Pain and Glory 

JoJo Rabbit

What We Do in the Shadows

Colson Whitehead The Nickel Boys

Carolina DeRobertis Cantoras 

DuckDuckGo

Copperfield’s Books 

Amitav Ghosh The Great Derangement 

Mirian Toews Talking and All My Puny Sorrows 

Matt Bird 

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 topic of this podcast is audience--who you write for and how knowing that can help or hurt your efforts and your authenticity. But first, Angie is still excited about mindset and mathematics and what the artists and activists of us can learn from these ideas. And Elizabeth is once again waiting for response to her book(s). They start their conversation about audience by touching on corporate approaches to understanding audience, and how that can work and not work for artists. The belief in one’s own universality is born of privilege, but can you make it if you aren’t addressing the mainstream? What does it mean for a work of art to be accessible to a broader audience? If you are not in the dominant culture, you’ve learned to identify across differences, to engage with stories that are not “for you.” Can’t everyone do that? Also discussed: the truth and artificiality of narrative arc, what you leave in and what you take out,

Links in this Episode

SNL Wells for Boys

FitnessForward

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

The Parents’ Guide to Climate Revolution by Mary Democker

The Mario Effect

Feedback Study

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.

Elizabeth and Angie were thrilled to talk with author and journalist Vanessa Hua about her award-winning novel, A River of Stars, her collection of short stories Deceit and Other Possibilites, and her work as a journalist. Vanessa is in the process of revising her actual first novel, which will be forthcoming from the publisher of her official first novel. Topics of dicussion include: Juggling and balancing projects and genres; thinking about a book of stories as an album not a series of singles; focused v diffuse thinking and the varying role of outlines or “scaffolding” for journalism and for fiction; the way the context of the present impacts the writing of historical fiction; and how and what to get right about, for example, the flow of time in your story. Research, Vanessa says, should be the floor and not the ceiling. They delve into the limits and freedoms of historical fiction and how to write about what is outside the historical record; platform, engaging in the conversation, building relationships with bookstores and festivals, as a fan and maybe as a volunteer; disclosure and concealments; theme; and to whom a narrator addresses a book.

Links in this Episode

Tana French

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua

Deceit and Other Possibilities by Vanessa Hua

VanessaHua.com

Twitter: @Vanessay_Hua

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 episode was recorded before mandatory evactuations forced us south, and it is being released a week late! Is it ironic that we touch on the fires as our way into dicussing emotional logic in narrative? We delve into the importance of understanding why your character is making a particular choice. We understand character through action. When actions don’t reflect common sense, we readers want to undderstand where those actions and decisions are coming from so the reader can connect with the character. This taps into world views and limiting beliefs. Angie pokes Ebineezer Scrooge for what underlies his despicable actions and then turns to Thanos and King Lear to prove that complex motives create more interesting characters. Tools and techniques offered include flexible thinking and resisting the sense that you are going after a single right answer.

Links Discussed:

Elizabeth’s Tiny Love Story

Carla Lucero 

Monster (feature about Aileen Warnos) 

Aileen Warnos: Life and Death of a Seriel Killer 

Dexter

A Christmas Carol 

The Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

Screenplay of Alien

Dorothy Hearts

Jo Boaler Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead, and Live Without Barriers

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis

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.