Podcast Episodes

The Shape of Water: kooky and clever

Season 5 Episode 504

Melanie loves this film but it gives Valerie the creeps. They'll never see eye-to-eye on this one, but thanks to story theory, their subjective opini…

3 years ago

View Episode

The Accidental Tourist: oh, so this is miniplot!

Season 5 Episode 503

It's easy to think that a Miniplot story is simply one where the protagonist has a strong internal arc. But that's only part of it. There's much, muc…

3 years, 1 month ago

View Episode

Lego Batman: holy product placement, batman

Season 5 Episode 502

The marketing people at Lego are geniuses. In 2014 they released The Lego Movie, launching a lucrative movie franchise and driving sales of their pro…

3 years, 1 month ago

View Episode

Men in Black: invasion lit is a thing?

Season 5 Episode 501

Season 5 kicks off with Men in Black. Valerie is studying plot structure, and Melanie is studying resonance. Now, admittedly, plot structure doesn't …

3 years, 1 month ago

View Episode

Story 101: Read Like a Writer

Season 4

We've all heard this advice from A-List authors...if we want to be better writers we have to read more. What they don't tell us is that reading like …

3 years, 1 month ago

View Episode

Best Advice: middles + subtext

Season 4 Episode 411

That's a wrap for Season 4! In this episode, Valerie and Melanie pull out their a-ha moments from the past ten shows, and they give you their best ad…

3 years, 1 month ago

View Episode

The Devil Wears Prada: simply solid storytelling

Season 4 Episode 410

Sometimes, studying a story that you love can be a bit scary. What if it turns out that the story is rubbish, and what you really like is the soundtr…

3 years, 2 months ago

View Episode

Story 101 : start your story right

Season 4

How are you starting your story, and is your global inciting incident fulfilling its two most important functions? In this episode, Valerie fills you…

3 years, 2 months ago

View Episode

Four Weddings and a Funeral: saggy middles?

Season 4 Episode 409

Want to keep the middle of your story from sagging? In this episode, Valerie reveals the one thing writers need to understand about the second act an…

3 years, 2 months ago

View Episode

Announcing Story 101!

Season 4

Thanks to you, our fellow story nerds, this little passion project of ours is growing by leaps and bounds. We're already in 76 countries and are near…

3 years, 2 months ago

View Episode