Get a bird’s-eye view of A Wizard of Earthsea while Leslie and Valerie offer a macro analysis of this fantasy origin story using Story Grid’s Editor’s Six Core Question. The 1968 story was written by Ursula K. Le Guin. Click here for the full show notes.
This season on the Story Grid Writers’ Room podcast, Leslie and Valerie are doing a full Story Grid macro analysis of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. We'll review the Editor’s Six Core Questions and look at each of the acts in detail. The Story Grid Writer’s Room is a show dedicated to offering a practical approach to the Story Grid method so you can put it to work. Valerie and Leslie analyze stories and scenes to help you understand how to apply Story Grid tools to masterworks and yo...
Stay tuned to discover the final takeaways from Valerie and Leslie’s deep study of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel, Gone Girl . Find out what they’ve learned from applying Story Grid’s Editor’s Six Core Questions and breaking down each quadrant of this compelling Psychological Thriller. The Story Grid Writer’s Room is a show dedicated to offering a practical approach to the Story Grid method so you can put it to work. This season Valerie and Leslie will spend six episodes analyzing Gone Girl by Gilli...
Wonder how to deliver a powerful and satisfying finish to your story? On the Story Grid Writer’s Room podcast this week, Valerie and Leslie analyze the ending payoff of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl to unpack what makes this story work so well. The Story Grid Writer’s Room is a show dedicated to offering a practical approach to the Story Grid method so you can put it to work. This season Valerie and Leslie take six episodes to analyze Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn to help you understand how to apply St...
Feeling stuck in the middle of your story? On the Story Grid Writer’s Room podcast this week, Valerie and Leslie analyze the middle build 2 quadrant of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl to unpack what makes this story work so well. The Story Grid Writer’s Room is a show dedicated to offering a practical approach to the Story Grid method so you can put it to work. This season Valerie and Leslie take six episodes to analyze Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn to help you understand how to apply Story Grid’s macro ...
How can you keep readers turning pages through the middle build of your story? On the Story Grid Writer’s Room podcast this week, Valerie and Leslie find out by analyzing the middle build 1 quadrant of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl . The Story Grid Writer’s Room is a show dedicated to offering a practical approach to the Story Grid method so you can put it to work. This season Valerie and Leslie will spend six episodes analyzing Gone Girl to help you understand how to apply Story Grid’s macro tools ...
What makes the opening of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 Psychological Thriller, Gone Girl , so compelling? On the Story Grid Writer’s Room podcast this week, Valerie and Leslie analyze the beginning hook to find out. The Story Grid Writer’s Room is a show dedicated to offering a practical approach to the Story Grid method so you can put it to work. This season Valerie and Leslie will spend six episodes analyzing Gone Girl to help you understand how to apply Story Grid’s macro tools to masterworks and you...
Follow the clues this week to uncover the genius behind Gillian Flynn’s 2012 Psychological Thriller, Gone Girl . Valerie and Leslie analyze the macro story by applying Story Grid's Editor’s Six Core Questions. They identify the global genre, the conventions and obligatory moments of the genre, point of view and narrative device, objects of desire, the controlling idea, and the beginning hook, middle, build, and ending payoff. The Story Grid Writer’s Room is a show dedicated to offering a practic...
Ever since the Story Grid Editor Roundtable started three years ago, we've been asked to apply the Story Grid method to a novel. Well, this is it! This season we're doing a full Story Grid macro analysis of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. We'll review the Editor’s Six Core Questions in the first episode. Haven't read it yet? Grab a copy of the novel now and follow along with us on December 9, 2020, when we'll post the first episode of the new season. To whet your appetite, we’re sharing our Story Gr...
Ever since the Story Grid Editor Roundtable podcast started three years ago, we've been asked to apply the Story Grid method to a novel. Well, this is it! This season we're doing a full Story Grid macro analysis of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. We'll review the Editor’s Six Core Questions and look at each of the acts in detail. Click here for the full show notes.
It’s a wrap! In this episode, Valerie and Leslie close out the first season of the Story Grid Writer’s Room Podcast with a review of takeaways and lessons learned. This season we're analyzing scenes from novels, short stories and films because scenes are the basic building blocks of story. To be able to write a story that works, you must be able to write a scene that works. Click here for the full show notes....
In the Writers’ Room this week, Valerie and Leslie find out whodunit and how in the Core Event of The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie. The 1942 Cozy Mystery features a classic "summation gathering" scene when Miss Jane Marple reveals how she discovered the killer’s identity. We're focusing on scenes this season because scenes are the basic building blocks of story. To be able to write a story that works, you must be able to write a scene that works. Click here for the full show notes....
In the Writers’ Room this week, Valerie and Leslie look at internal conflict and character revelation in a Turning Point scene of Sue Monk Kidd’s 2002 Worldview Story, The Secret Life of Bees . See how quiet moments can lead to scenes with big impact. We're focusing on scenes this season because scenes are the basic building blocks of story. To be able to write a story that works, you must be able to write a scene that works. Click here for the full show notes....
In the Writers’ Room this week, Valerie and Leslie unpack the many points of conflict from different perspectives in the Core Event of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. The 2015 Psychological Thriller culminates in an extended Hero at the Mercy of the Villain scene that features a “Tug of War” where life hangs in the balance. Learn about unreliable narrators and shifting points of view, and don’t forget to check out the the list of progressive complications in the show notes. This season w...
In the Writers’ Room this week, we listen closely to the “I Have a Voice” scene in the 2010 film The King’s Speech . The Oscar-winning story was directed by Tom Hooper from a screenplay by David Seidler. The scene in the spotlight today delivers the middle build climax of this Performance Story by “poking the bear.” But that’s not all it does. Don’t miss how the dialogue reveals character and word choice sets up conflict and conveys the theme. This season we're analyzing scenes from novels, shor...
We slide into the Revolution Scene in the Writers’ Room this week as we analyze the 1911 novella Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. We look at the difference between cautionary and tragic tales and discuss what The Hunger Games and The Accidental Tourist have in common with Ethan Frome . This season we're analyzing scenes from novels, short stories and films because scenes are the basic building blocks of story. To be able to write a story that works, you must be able to write a scene that works. Cli...
Don't know what to include in the sales copy for your book? How can you describe your story to appeal to the ideal reader? Shawn Coyne and Valerie Francis help you find your way in a special Toolbox episode of the Writers' Room Podcast. Click here for more information.
This week we face the Hero at the Mercy of the Villain in the Writers’ Room as we analyze the core event of the 2005 novel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. But that’s not all! In addition to analyzing this excellent example of a “chase scene” in an Action Story, we discuss set pieces, emotional connections, and how to hide a character’s true motives. And don’t miss Rowling’s masterful combination of movement and POV that keeps us inside Harry’s experience without losing wh...
It’s time for the Big Showdown in the Writers’ Room this week as we analyze the 1953 short story “3:10 to Yuma” by Elmore Leonard. This season we analyze a scene from a novel, short story or film because scenes are the basic building blocks of story. To be able to write a story that works, you must be able to write a scene that works. Click here for the full show notes.
It’s the Big Choice plus perspective in the Writers’ Room this week as we analyze the 1961 short story “ I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen. Each week this season, we'll analyze a scene from a novel, short story or film because scenes are the basic building blocks of stories. To write a story that works, you must be able to write a scene that works. Click here for the show notes.
It’s the victim at the mercy of the monster this time as Valerie and Leslie analyze the 1843 Horror story “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. This season we're analyze a scene from novels, short stories and films because scenes are the basic building blocks of story. To be able to write a story that works, you must be able to write a scene that works. Click here for the full show notes.
What makes a great lovers meet scene? Find out when Valerie and Leslie analyze the turkey curry buffet scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary , the 1996 Love Story by Helen Fielding. This season we analyze scenes from novels, short stories and films because scenes are the basic building blocks of story. To be able to write a story that works, you must be able to write a scene that works. Click here for the full show notes....
In this episode, Story Grid editors Valerie Francis and Leslie Watts introduce the new Story Grid Writers’ Room. Each week this season, we analyze a scene or short story to get to the bottom of how to write scenes because to write a story that works, you must be able to write scenes that work. Click here for the full show notes.
It’s 30 minutes of deep insight as Valerie Francis and Leslie Watts bring you a bite-size episode on analyzing a scene, with an example from Marriage Story . Here on the Roundtable we're dedicated to helping you become a better writer, following the Story Grid method developed by Shawn Coyne. In these episodes we bring you some shorter solo articles and interviews on topics that interest us as writers. Click here for the show notes....
Gaze into the pensieve to learn the secrets of point of view and narrative device in the 2005 novel by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince . The Roundtablers also discuss the 2009 film of the same name, directed by David Yates from the screenplay by Steve Kloves. Each week one of the Roundtable team—Valerie Francis, Kim Kessler, or Leslie Watts—aims to get to the bottom of a specific story principle by analyzing a film, novel, or short story. The rest of us analyze the story acc...
Uncover the secret to integrating framing stories with The Imitation Game . The 2014 film was directed by Morten Tyldum from the Oscar-winning screenplay by Graham Moore. It’s based on the 1983 biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. Each week one of the Roundtable team—Valerie Francis, Kim Kessler, or Leslie Watts—aims to get to the bottom of a specific story principle by analyzing a film, novel, or short story. The rest of us analyze the story according to our own chosen topics, an...
Core events, mini-plots, and nested stories are on the menu this week as the Roundtablers analyze the 1991 film Fried Green Tomatoes , directed by Jon Avnet from a screenplay by Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski, based on Flagg’s 1987 novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe . Each week one of the Roundtable team—Valerie Francis, Kim Kessler, or Leslie Watts—aims to get to the bottom of a specific story principle by analyzing a film, novel, or short story. The rest of us analyze the st...
Gain a new perspective on history and point of view as the Roundtablers analyze E. L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel Ragtime . The 1981 film based on the novel was directed by Miloš Forman from a screenplay by Michael Weller and Bo Goldman. Each week one of the Roundtable team—Valerie Francis, Kim Kessler, or Leslie Watts—aims to get to the bottom of a specific story principle by analyzing a film, novel, or short story. The rest of us analyze the story according to our own chosen topics, and together we ...
Make your way from coast to coast and from beginning to end as Valerie takes us through the three-act structure of Noah Baumbach’s 2019 film, Marriage Story . Each week one of the Roundtable team—Valerie Francis, Kim Kessler, or Leslie Watts—aims to get to the bottom of a specific story principle by analyzing a film, novel, or short story. The rest of us analyze the story according to our own chosen topics, and together we deepen our knowledge and level up our craft. Click here for the full show...
Warm up and get your dancing shoes on for the Core Event of Center Stage . This 2000 Performance genre film was directed by Nicholas Hytner from a screenplay by Carol Heikkinen. Each week one of the Roundtable team—Valerie Francis, Kim Kessler, or Leslie Watts—aims to get to the bottom of a specific story principle by analyzing a film, novel, or short story. The rest of us analyze the story according to our own chosen topics, and together we deepen our knowledge and level up our craft. Click her...
