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If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman . What can we learn from a 19th-Century Feminist short story? How does the diary-entry structure inform the way we read? How is a first-person point of view affected by the diary format? How does the horror genre help serve the story’s social commentary? ...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “With the Beatles” by Haruki Murakami . How does structure help move the story forward and inform its themes? How do the three phases of the structure function in the story? How can ruminating on an idea propel a story? What can we learn from an ambiguous ending? How does a story intrinsically suggest conn...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Prairie Wife” by Curtis Sittenfeld . What can we learn from a story that unspools like a stone tumbling down a hill? How can we accomplish such mind-blowing twists? How can we use unconscious cultural dispositions to create tension in a story? How does setting the action of a story in a single day hel...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Wake for Susan” by Cormac McCarthy . What can we learn from a well-known author’s first publication? How can daydreams or telling stories to ourselves help drive a narrative? How can common experiences become the occassion for a story? How can the history of a place affect the stories that are set there? ...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Items Awaiting Protective Enclosure” by Téa Obreht . What can we say about a cli-fi (climate-fiction) story told with a second person point of view? How is such an intricate near-future setting realized so swiftly? How does the structure of the story reflect the emotional journey? How can we create connec...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Comet” by W. E. B. Du Bois . What kind of science fiction did Du Bois write? How can the pace of the prose reflect the pace of the action? How can elevated language drive a story and help the depiction of characters and events? Why would we want to switch character point of view? For daily writing tip...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Art of Losing” by Yoon Choi . How does point of view help reveal a character’s mental state? How does point of view in this story help build tension? How can a story explore an idea with plot? How can side-plots and side-characters help explore a theme? How does point of view intersect with the show/t...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode we discuss “The Saddest Case of True Love” by Simon Van Booy . How does a story within a story within a story function? What effects can this structure create? Are there ambiguities in this story that suggest more than is said about the narrator? How does narrative perspective impact our understanding of whose story i...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen . What can we learn from this timeless story? How can a situation drive a story? What does the structure of the story provide for the overall effect? What does that structure require, and how can we apply those necessities to other stories? How important is narrative ...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Gryphon” by Charles Baxter . How does a character telling a story as a memory color the way we read it? How do we write about children? How do we write for adults when we write about kids? What makes a story “Y.A.”? Should we include more kids in our stories For daily writing tips, industry news, and grea...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Symbols and Signs” by Vladimir Nabokov . Can a simple story be a vehicle for beautiful presentation? What is the hidden story embedded here? What does it mean to find the “meaning” of a story? What is the point of literary criticism? What is the point of literature? What makes a detail significant within ...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Trilobites” by B. D’J. Pancake . How can a character’s preoccupations and thought processes help build the fictional dream? How do we understand that a character isn’t confronting what’s really on his mind? How can an author draw the reader’s attention to things neither they nor the character are saying? ...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Cougar” by Maria Anderson . How does a mood help drive a story? How can we create a symbol? Why are so many stories so sad? How do mood, symbolism, theme, and other story elements work together? For daily writing tips, industry news, and great short fiction, join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook....
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “White Noise” by Emma Cline . How can you write fiction about a real person? How true to life should a fictional portrayal be? What can we learn about excellent characterization? For daily writing tips, industry news, and great short fiction, join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/naples...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner . Why is this story so good? How does the ‘we’ point of view work? What kind of narrative structure is at work here? How do character and plot work together? How can we portray a complete life? For daily writing tips, industry news, and great short fiction, join our F...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Feminist” by Tony Tulathimutte . What can we learn from a story that delves so deeply into contemporary social issues? What can we learn from a protagonist that confidently refuses to acknowledge his own shortcomings? How does he nevertheless remain sympathetic? What can we learn from a story that spa...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “God’s Work” by Kevin Canty . How can a character’s internal struggle drive a story? How can a story driven by a character’s internal struggle be structured? Can we glean any tips for getting published in the New Yorker? For daily writing tips, industry news, and great short fiction, join our Facebook grou...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode we discuss “The Fifth Story” by Clarice Lispector . What can we learn from a piece of metafiction? What can we gain by telling a story in several different ways? How does fiction help us dig deeper into our feelings? For daily writing tips, industry news, and great short fiction, join our Facebook group at http://www....
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor . What can we say about a story with so much already written about it? How is this story like a Greek Tragedy? How can we use the form of a Greek Tragedy to inform our own fiction? How can fiction handle so many characters in a scene? How can POV help handl...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “River of Names” by Dorothy Allison . What can we learn from this dark story? How do lists help develop the mood? How does a strong mood help capture the reader and create a memorable story? Where does a story end? For daily writing tips, industry news, and great short fiction, join our Facebook group at h...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by ZZ Packer . What can we learn from such a strongly character-driven story? How does story relate to character? How can we create engaging and believable characters? For daily writing tips, industry news, and great short fiction, join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook....
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we are joined by our friend and author, Karl Luntta. Karl is the author of the novel Know it By Heart (Northwestern University Press/Curbstone) and short story collection Swimming (SUNY Press) , and has published fiction in journals including International Quarterly, North Atlantic Review, Talking River Review, Balti...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we are joined by our friend and author, Karl Luntta. Karl is the author of the novel Know it By Heart (Northwestern University Press/Curbstone) and short story collection Swimming (SUNY Press) , and has published fiction in journals including International Quarterly, North Atlantic Review, Talking River Review, Balti...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Girl Alone” by Sallie Bingham . What can we learn from this tightly packed feminist story? How can quickly drawn and distinct characters help a story? How can character interactions help develop a theme? How can we make flashbacks work in a story? What can we learn from a climactic scene that seems to com...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin . What can we learn from a non-traditional story that is not driven by character or scene? How can a story create a takeaway instead of an ending? Can we have a happy story? How can argument rather than plot give a sense of progress? How can an idea...
This episode delves into Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," with guests James and John. The discussion covers the story's distinctive dialect and its polarizing "story within a story" narrative structure. The hosts analyze Twain's masterful use of voice, the role of vivid details in "telling" versus "showing," and how the historical context impacts modern readings, ultimately appreciating the story as an enduring comedy.
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode we invited our friend James Zwerneman to join our conversation, and James suggested we discuss a chapter from The Lost World by Michael Crichton. What can we learn from a single chapter from a novel? What can a single chapter accomplish within the context of a novel? What should a scene accomplish? What can we learn f...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode we discuss “Gator Butchering for Beginners” by Kristen Arnett . Can Kristine and JC handle the podcast without Rob during a pandemic? What can we learn from a piece of flash fiction that’s less than 600 words? What can we learn from an extended metaphor? How can we lead the reader to make a comparison between concrete...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “Woodland” by Lydia Millet . What can we learn from the new genre of Climate-Change Fiction, Cli-fi? How does setting help define character? Can setting overwhelm character? How can a story’s emotion affect the needs for its structure or movement? Where does drama in a story come from? For daily writing ti...
If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps us keep the show running. Find out more at http://www.patreon.com/whyisthisgoodpodcast In this episode, we discuss “The School” by Donald Barthelme . Can fiction just be fun? How do voice and rhythm help build humor? How deep into the weeds can we get talking about first and second person? For daily writing tips, industry news, and great short fiction, join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/napleswri...
