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Character Development with Suzanne Nugent

14 Episodes
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Send us a text “I write about happiness. I write about people who have all the physical things that they could want but struggle finding ways to make themselves happy. I write about all the illusions that we have about what will make us happy.” In today’s episode, Suzanne talks to New York Times Bestselling author KJ Dell’Antonia about her ever-evolving writing process and the joyful themes that live within her work as an novelist and a journalist. About Our Guest: KJ Dell'ANtonia the N...
Send us a text “There were times where I'd surprised myself, where I didn't know where that idea came from. And there were these epiphany moments that became somewhat addictive, and I thought, ‘Wow, I wanna help other people have that experience.’ ” On today’s episode, Suzanne talks to Director of Executive Education at Stanford's renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Jeremy Utley about innovation, context, and collaboration. About Our Guest: Jeremy Utley is one of the world's leadin...
Send us a text “The stories we tell ourselves, that's how we understand ourselves. That's on a collective level. And so it does matter what we put out there and it does matter the process we go through to make those stories.” On today’s episode, Suzanne talks to writer Kate Van Devender about Sand Mirror, a unique and playful method that sparks intuitive creativity. Learn more about Kate and Sand Mirror | sandmirror.com About the Host: Suzanne Nugent is the bestselling author of Brunch and Ot...
Send us a text “Writing is a solitary act, but when you bring it into a community and use the community to help inspire each other and to help support each other, your own solo voice then has almost like more of a grounding around it. You know, kind of like a flower alone is just a flower, but if you put it in a vase with all the other the branches and the different colors, and a different setting, and a different background, well now, you’re giving that flower a place to really live.” ...
Send us a text “I've always been really focused on this idea of like, how do we make meaning, what's the purpose of our lives? …Even when I was in my twenties as a journalist, you know, I like to say that I wrote about how people find meaning in the mundane.” In today’s episode, Suzanne talks to author Lynne Golodner, who reveals some big news about next steps in her publishing career and talks about how she incorporates travel into her writing life. About Our Guest: Lynne Golodner is ...
Send us a text “You have to really bet on yourself and believe... For me, writing is a vocation. I don't believe that there's anything else that I would do with the same amount of dedication and the same amount of passion because it feels like this is what I'm here to do.” On today’s episode, Suzanne talks to Nicole Blades about identity and the tenacity it takes to write novel and run a marathon. About Our Guest: Nicole Blades is a novelist, speaker and journalist. With 20 years in the...
Send us a text “I've found a lot of magic and fun in the [surrender]. Just working to really create something in a moment or a scene or in a role, where I'm trying to make my co-star laugh, there's so much more lightness about it. It's a good life lesson.” Actress Jolie Jenkins talks to Suzanne about going with the flow, surrendering to the process, and to surrendering life in general. About Our Guest: Jolie has performed all her life. She started working professionally in musical theatre dur...
Send us a text “She asked me if I would want to direct [this documentary], and I said yes, even though I never directed a thing before and I didn’t know what I was saying yes to." Documentary film director Zuzana Lova talks to Suzanne about career transitions, learning new skills on the job, the challenges of shooting a documentary on a tight budget, and what it’s like to direct a film that took almost 8 years to make… Learn more about the documentary She Is… | sheisdocumentary.org O...
Send us a text " It's a practice to learn how to open the portal and let what wants to be written out. That is a process. But there's this other place where you get into your mind and you discern like, is this something I wanna share? Is this writing just for me?" Suzanne’s guest, Robin Finn, shares insight on some of the challenges of being in the early stages of a new writing project and offers unique take on writing the story that wants to be told. About Our Guest: Robin Finn is an awar...
Send us a text In part two of our conversation, actress Maggie Wheeler talks about her work as a singer/songwriter and her workshops that help communities and individuals heal through singing. “I act for my supper and I sing for my soul.” **Listen to Part 1 this interview on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. About Our Guest: Maggie Wheeler is best known in the U.S and internationally for her work as an actress in film, television and voice-over and most notably as the character of Janice on NBC...
Send us a text “Saying 'yes' to something you don't know how to do necessarily, seems to be central to a life of art-making of any kind because, or at least from my perspective, I'm always a beginner.” Maggie Wheeler talks about her career as an actress and how “saying yes” to new challenges led to her biggest career moments - from her first job with Lorne Michaels, to her big break in film… And how getting fired from a job led to her iconic role as “Janice” on the hit TV series Friends...
Send us a text “When I came on The Climate Pledge team, I started to learn about all the many incredible efforts of innovation and technology and all of the incredibly smart people across the globe working to solve these [climate change] problems… this story is not being told. I wanted to tell stories of innovation and hope and inspiration.” -Hilary Sparrow Today, we’re talking about Future Forward, a character-driven documentary series featuring the people and businesses pioneering industr...
Send us a text Suzanne talks to bestselling author and master certified coach Camille Pagán about the importance of mindset as a career author. "I realized it was this beautiful marriage of two things... coaching helps me think more about who we are as humans, which then lends itself to character development. And then having the conversations with other writers just lights me up and makes me more excited to be a novelist.” About Our Guest: Camille Pagán is the #1 Amazon Charts bests...
Send us a text Suzanne introduces Character Development, where innovators, authors, and artists talk about their creative process and real-life character arcs. New episodes of Character Development come out every Tuesday starting January 31, 2023. About the Host: Suzanne Nugent is the bestselling author of Brunch and Other Obligations and an award-winning screenwriter of heartbreaking comedies and funny dramas. Learn more | suzannenugent.com Instagram | @suzannenugent Medium | @s...