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Story Grid Writing Podcast
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Helping you become a better writer.
Join Shawn Coyne, author of Story Grid and a top editor for 30+ years, and Tim Grahl, struggling writer, as they discuss the ins and outs of what makes a story great.
More at www.StoryGrid.com.
Join Shawn Coyne, author of Story Grid and a top editor for 30+ years, and Tim Grahl, struggling writer, as they discuss the ins and outs of what makes a story great.
More at www.StoryGrid.com.
292 Episodes
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2This will be the final episode of the Story Grid Podcast for the foreseeable future. Tim gives some background on why this decision was made along with an update on his current writing project and other happenings around Story Grid.
Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy.What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film?This is the final in a four part series analyzing Crazy Rich Asians. The screenplay was written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and the movie was based on a 2013 book of the same title written by Kevin Kwan.This episode is hosted by Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl, writer and CEO of Story Grid.
Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy.What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film?This is the second in a four part series analyzing Crazy Rich Asians. The screenplay was written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and the movie was based on a 2013 book of the same title written by Kevin Kwan.This episode is hosted by Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl, writer and CEO of Story Grid.
Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy.What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film?This is the first in a four part series analyzing Crazy Rich Asians. The screenplay was written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and the movie was based on a 2013 book of the same title written by Kevin Kwan.This episode is hosted by Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl, writer and CEO of Story Grid.
Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy.What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film?This is the first in a four part series analyzing Crazy Rich Asians. The screenplay was written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and the movie was based on a 2013 book of the same title written by Kevin Kwan.This episode is hosted by Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl, writer and CEO of Story Grid.
Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick.This is the final in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Grid methodology. This 2014 movie, written by Derek Kolstad, is a genre leading action movie.Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl start by looking at the Story Grid Five Leaf Genre Clover before diving into the quadrants and controlling idea.
Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick.This is the third in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Grid methodology. This 2014 movie, written by Derek Kolstad, is a genre leading action movie.Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl start by looking at the Story Grid Five Leaf Genre Clover before diving into the quadrants and controlling idea.
Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick.This is the second in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Grid methodology. This 2014 movie, written by Derek Kolstad, is a genre leading action movie.Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl start by looking at the Story Grid Five Leaf Genre Clover before diving into the quadrants and controlling idea.
Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick.This is the first in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Grid methodology. This 2014 movie, written by Derek Kolstad, is a genre leading action movie.Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl start by looking at the Story Grid Five Leaf Genre Clover before diving into the quadrants and controlling idea.
We're down to line edits on Tim's iteration of the masterwork Eye Witness by Ed McBain.Shawn, Danielle, and Leslie provide final feedback on how to clean up the last few error messages still coming through. Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yma-xAE77UnQMNAjTyOUPxF21P_DaFxuNXyQin-0gHo/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-283—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 283 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
Now that Tim has had a breakthrough on his iteration of EYE WITNESS by Ed McBain, we're getting down to fixing individual Beats and checking to make sure he's adhered to the Story Grid 624 Analysis.You really see the Story Grid Tools shine in this episode as Leslie and Danielle apply them to Tim's writing to find places still left to fix. Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b-RzszE7YzLEn5fSlWAqVQ_OkXhuJg3cxfZImXzIkYI/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-282—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 282 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
Does Tim Actually Get It Right? How to Nail the Narrative DeviceOn Tim's 10th draft, he finally makes a breakthrough on his iteration of EYE WITNESS by Ed McBain!And it ended up being a simple practice that got him over the hump.Listen in as Shawn, Danielle, Leslie, and Tim discuss how to nail the narrative device. Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RRmqjv90vYpi20B7kbxgdHQwdhFRvB3pESZD6Y52XEg/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-281—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 281 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
In this impromptu episode, Tim and Danielle discuss the ongoing problems with the work on the Ed McBain EYE WITNESS scene and why Tim can't connect with his characters.
Shawn takes a crack at rewriting Tim's scene to help him understand what he's missing on the Narrative Device.Then we hear Leslie and Danielle's edits and feedback on what he got right and wrong.When they ask Tim what he thinks of all this, lots of emotions start coming out including his feeling that he's not writing anymore... he's pretending to write. Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QZGyUNetvNGfKAjwyfF3m4r9RPoMQN4g3Q18oWXoLOw/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-279—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 279 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
There are lots of insights in this week's episode of the podcast.We look at the emotional connection between the hero and victim, ensuring there is conflict at every level of the story, and how better to lock in to the narrative device.Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V6ja3HN4uKuS0J4x6pvWBUwkZUiE5uJov5jM3Gj-Yvw/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-278—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 278 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
Nobody is innocent in your story. Everyone is hiding something.You must adjust these levels correctly in order for your reader to connect with the right characters.This is the focus Danielle, Leslie, and Shawn take on Tim's scene this week.Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M_rP2ARaDQbSlGBmNRESszzYuNN-nrxa0pdJjt0qQRU/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-277—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 277 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
Who is the Hero, Victim, and Perpetrator in your story?What are the relationships between each of them?The more vague or ungrounded each of these relationships are, the more the story will not read as believable.This is the focus Danielle, Leslie, and Shawn take on Tim's scene this week.Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OQd5NxTcn2JLwrphueCX91A4wXN9BEQFBYwbyN7NJ1M/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-275—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 275 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
Figuring out your Story Theme is the key to unlocking the entire roadmap of your story.Scott Mann is the author of the new book → Operation Pineapple Express: The Incredible Story of a Group of Americans Who Undertook One Last Mission and Honored a Promise in Afghanistan.Randall Surles is a Story Grid Certified Editor and worked with Scott to develop and produce the book under an extremely tight deadline.In this interview, they discuss what went into writing the book, how they worked together, and what it meant to write a book like this.
How do you ground your characters in a reality that your reader will believe even though you are making the whole thing up?This week Tim makes the mistake of sterilizing his protagonist to the point where he is no longer interesting or believable. Shawn, Danielle, and Leslie walk him through the steps of using character development and a strong narrative device to fix these problems.Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10bdr_tF4ASohz0cHoNjlbNmsLOVXiDpFw54ugHYLZI8/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-274—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 274 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
Who is telling your story? Who are they telling it to? Why are they telling it?This is the Narrative Device!The Narrative Device consists of three main components:Author: The Author is someone who is capable of telling the POP premise as a story to shed light on the problem another person has.SAM: The Single Audience Member is a person with a problem related to the one the protagonist faces in the POP premise.Problem: A specific problem that the POP premise can shed light on.What Shawn, Danielle, and Leslie are trying to teach Tim this week is how this affects every single word of his writing.Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ugNstol1I3DGyIcOQ13pdkkgyKKGddFvAE7LH_-OLng/edit?usp=sharingTo see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-273—Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.comThis is Episode 273 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast
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...when an editor and a writer cannot get on the same page.
This was such a frustrating conversation, because I feel like Tim was asking perfectly legitimate questions and Shawn was not understanding what was being asked, and then got kinda shitty at Tim for even asking. The instructions simply weren't clear. Good on Tim for pushing for clarity, as well as for not going off on Shawn (who came off rather pompous in this episode!). Furthermore, I really enjoyed hearing Tim's thought process as it mirrored my own. Very unusual, because normally I'm more a fan of Shawn than Tim. Overall I'm glad they decided to share this recording as it was interesting to hear the frustration between a writer and editor who are absolutely not on the same page! Uncomfortable yet ultimately fascinating - what a strange combination!write
This was such an interesting take on both dialogue AND networking! Very helpful!
I love listening to you two.
I've been working on the first draft beginning hook of my first novel for a while now and have been frustrated with the feeling of not getting my thoughts to translate to the page. I appreciate Shawn's encouragement to let it suck and keep writing, coming back to it when the whole first draft is done. It's amazingly freeing! I also was inspired from his thoughts on having a little lead up or explanation of the circumstances to establish the world before the inciting incident. I tried it with my novel and it really punched up the understanding of who my character is, making my inciting incident more potent. So much accomplished with the addition of one simple scene! My thanks to Tim and Shawn for doing this podcast. I learn new skills and concepts I can apply right away with every episode.
Tim's story sounds so cool! and I loved listening to Sean spitball possibilities for rewriting stronger scenes. Such a great podcast for #writing #writers
Someone got a couple of emails ^_^ lol
Fantastic podcast!!! Please release more books!
loving this podcast! such a thrilling learning expirience
I wish the episodes were shorter or that there are mashups of the best advice.
You forgot to say what the six questions are.
Go Back to the Genre is one of the densest episodes. I took a ton of notes, and I need to listen to it a third time to retain it all.
Quotable @ 33:02: "The great thing about secondary and tertiary characters is that they always make the same choice, they are going to be consistent. The only character who changes course is...the protagonist. So when you get stuck, ask what would serve the order best? And that is what he (the character in question) would do."
Shawn wraps up basic element of all story, great 10,000 ft view to take a look at when revising your story
48:04 the five commandments
37:55 get inspiration from other stories