We took last week off for the holiday weekend but we’re back this week to finish the Seven Deadly Sins series. Remember we did this one before, but it’s been a couple of years. This blog gives a quick summary of all seven sins and some examples of how to use them. The Seven Deadly Sins ( this link ) in Roman Catholic theology , are the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th centur...
Jun 27, 2025•46 min•Ep. 215
It’s been the summer of the Seven Deadly Sins series. This blog gives a quick summary of all seven sins and some examples of how to use them. The Seven Deadly Sins ( this link ) in Roman Catholic theology , are the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas . The sins are: Pride Greed Lust Envy Gluttony Wrath Sloth What is wrath? Anger? Hate? Straight to ...
Jun 27, 2025•46 min•Ep. 216
The Seven Deadly Sins ( this link ) in Roman Catholic theology , are the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas . The sins are: Pride Greed Lust Envy Gluttony Wrath Sloth We’ve done these before (episodes 151 – 157 ), but it’s been a while and this time we’re going to sharpen the focus on the sins as potential stakes-raising behaviors. DeadlySins.com ...
Jun 27, 2025•45 min•Ep. 214
This blog gives a quick summary of all seven sins and some examples of how to use them. So reading it might mean you don’t need our seven episodes but how about come along for the ride anyway? The Seven Deadly Sins ( this link ) in Roman Catholic theology , are the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas . The sins are: Pride Greed Lust Envy Gluttony W...
Jun 27, 2025•46 min•Ep. 212
This blog gives a quick summary of all seven sins and some examples of how to use them. So reading it might mean you don’t need our seven episodes but how about come along for the ride anyway? The Seven Deadly Sins ( this link ) in Roman Catholic theology , are the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas . The sins are: Pride Greed Lust Envy Gluttony W...
Jun 27, 2025•46 min•Ep. 213
It’s been the summer of the Seven Deadly Sins series. This blog gives a quick summary of all seven sins and some examples of how to use them. The Seven Deadly Sins ( this link ) in Roman Catholic theology , are the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas . The sins are: Pride Greed Lust Envy Gluttony Wrath Sloth What is sloth? This link is “What is slo...
Jun 27, 2025•46 min•Ep. 217
The Seven Deadly Sins ( this link ) in Roman Catholic theology , are the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas . The sins are: Pride Greed Lust Envy Gluttony Wrath Sloth We’ve done these before (episodes 151 – 157 ), but it’s been a while and this time we’re going to sharpen the focus on the sins as potential stakes-raising behaviors. According to De...
Jun 27, 2025•46 min•Ep. 211
We once did an episode on the character’s core wound and what’s occurred to me lately in my reading is that the core wound makes a really good secret. Something the character isn’t willing to admit to himself. Charlie started watching Ted Lasso and in a recent episode he told his wife she didn’t need to keep trying to be happy with him. He let her go. I think the secret he was keeping – and something that made him a really compelling character – is that he knew he couldn’t optimism his way out o...
Jun 16, 2025•46 min•Ep. 210
We’ve seen non-linear storytelling sometimes without knowing it. This article does a great job explaining what linear stories are: In a linear narrative structure, the viewer finds it facile to comprehend the way the narrative is moving. This is mostly because the viewer is naturally fed with all the information required to process whatever is happening on screen. And then explaining what non-linear stories do: However in a non-linear narrative structure, the viewer has to use his head in order ...
Jun 15, 2025•46 min•Ep. 209
Since last episode we worked on non-linear, this week we’re on the linear conversation. Linear Storytelling (from this link ) Linear storytelling, the conventional and time-tested approach, follows a chronological sequence. It presents events in a straightforward manner, adhering to a clear cause-and-effect progression. This structure provides a sense of order, enabling audiences to follow the narrative with ease. A classic example of linear storytelling is the hero’s journey, where the protagon...
Jun 14, 2025•46 min•Ep. 208
Have we ever done a show on May the 4th? Yes. Way back in 2019 we were 41 episodes into this journey and working through the hero’s journey (perfect timing) so we did a little May the Fourth be With You in that episode ( link here ). So today we’re going to focus on Star Wars, not just sidebar it, and talk about worldbuilding ( like this episode ) and apprentice-mentor relationships ( like this one ) and writing in existing lore ( like this episode ). So what is Star Wars? Here’s an entire YouTu...
Jun 13, 2025•46 min•Ep. 207
It’s the end of the term for me (Kasie) and so that time of year when I’m ruing the way I set up my class and how labor intensive all the grading is. I’m also fielding emails from students looking for a few more points and begging for higher grades. Sigh. As such, I’ve had very little time for anything else although I did manage to take six more pages in the vampire rewrite to our writers’ group meeting on Wednesday. Slow progress there. Didn’t have a topic for today. So I took to the internet t...
Jun 12, 2025•47 min•Ep. 206
So Rex has been hired to help someone build a new Dungeons & Dragons game. As Gamemaster, he has some specific responsibilities. Maybe he can tell us about them? The game’s owner needs to organize himself and his resources and this is an experience we’re all familiar with. So today we’re talking about some major projects and the general (and specific) tools and techniques for organizing them. Examples of major projects that we’ve worked on: A novel A short story collection A podcast An antho...
Jun 11, 2025•45 min•Ep. 205
After we fully explained beginnings last week and kept coming up with the benign suggestions of “make it interesting” and “show don’t tell” we figured we ought to dive deeper into the bricks of the “show” universe. Those bricks are adjectives and they’re used to describe nouns and pronouns. Adjectives are modifiers. They modify a noun to make it more specific. House becomes tiny house. Cat becomes lazy cat. Grandfather becomes grumpy old man. Full explanation here. So when should a writer use th...
Jan 11, 2025•46 min•Ep. 204
It’s been a couple of years since we dealt with first lines and opening pages and in our revision efforts, we only just touched on where the story should begin and how many times we’ve rewritten Page 1. So today we’ll look at what makes a strong opening page, how to work through the opening scene in revision, and whether you need to revisit that opening scene in subsequent pages or at the end (kiss the beginning as they say). We’ve done this topic before, as mentioned, in Episode 94 way back in ...
Jan 11, 2025•46 min•Ep. 203
You’re on what version of this vampire novel? Tenth? Yikes. It’s called revision and it lasts an indeterminate amount of time. What to google to prepare for this conversation: How many revisions does a novel need? How long does revising a novel take? What is a reasonable revision schedule? What is a good revision process? Where should someone begin when revising a novel? Why does revision get such a bad rep? The answers, of course, are 10, two weeks, every waking minute until it’s done, and begi...
Jan 11, 2025•47 min•Ep. 202
Let's talk about Dragon Boat racing first. What is this sport? Who does it? How does it work? Why was Dragon Boat racing the right occupation for Tripp Avery? What is it about the challenge of Dragon Boat racing that requires more of Tripp than anything else he's done? He worked his way up from poverty to prosperity, became a 'someone' out of 'no one' roots, so how is Dragon Boat racing a different kind of challenge? We all write what we know. Some of Tripp is some of Roger -- just as some of Br...
Jan 11, 2025•46 min•Ep. 193
It’s been more than a year since we studied plot arcs and even then we didn’t grab the recordings and add them to our podcast service. So we’re reviving those conversations for a few weeks to get some good episodes for the podcast. Missed a week of Write On SC? Nostalgic for those oldy-but-goody topics? Check out our podcast library on Apple, Google, and Amazon. ProWritingAid’s take on this story arc conversation can be found here . But here are some notable highlights: Stasis. This is the curre...
Jun 01, 2024•48 min•Ep. 196
So two weeks ago, we talked about basic outlines and discussed the turning point method versus the beats method for figuring out the structure of the story. Then last week we went into the 3 Act Structure and basically whined about Aristotle. In searching for 3 Act Structure resources, I found t his link gives us 11 basic structures: The Fichtean Curve The Three Act Structure The Hero's Journey Freytag's Pyramid The Five Act Structure Save the Cat Beats The Snowflake Method Dan Harmon's Story Ci...
Jun 01, 2024•46 min•Ep. 198
We’ve spent a few weeks on the various plot structures available and basically been working off this resource that gives us 11 basic structures: The Fichtean Curve The Three Act Structure The Hero's Journey Freytag's Pyramid The Five Act Structure Save the Cat Beats The Snowflake Method Dan Harmon's Story Circle The Seven Point Story Structure The Story Spine In Media Res We’re now down to numbers 5, 7, 9 and 10, leaving out 11 because we covered it here and three because that deserves a point-b...
Jun 01, 2024•46 min•Ep. 199
So last week we talked about basic outlines and discussed the turning point method versus the beats method for figuring out the structure of the story. We debated whether or not to write from a detailed outline in the initial draft – it provides direction, it stifles creativity – the age-old debate of planner vs. pantser. In any case, we agreed the outline is useful for knowing the trajectory of the characters and the plot. Which brings us to the common structures for a piece. This link gives us...
Jun 01, 2024•48 min•Ep. 197
We did some revision work last week and didn't get to this part of the show notes. So here we go, a whole episode on what would have been one segment last week. ::wideeyedemoji:: So how is it actually done? Well, here’s the link explaining what Six Pass Plan among others: The Framework Pass The Story Pass The Plot/Scene Pass The Feedback Pass The Writing Pass The Tweaking Pass These aren’t really after-the-fact at all. They’re in fact a process for drafting and revising. The Framework Pass is ac...
Jun 01, 2024•47 min•Ep. 200
So we’ve been working on perspectives of the narrator the last few weeks and at the end of each episode we talked about how to choose. But today I thought we’d do something fun by imagining some pretty famous (well known) stories from someone else’s perspective. Segment 1 But first! We have two very special guests in the studio this morning. Let’s introduce them and talk about how they’ve supported us and the show. Segment 2/3 What is perspective? It’s the lens through which we view the story. M...
May 25, 2024•46 min•Ep. 191
Our first conversation about film adaptations of books happened way back in August 2019 with episodes 54 & 55 – we talked so much we had to continue it out the next week. But yesterday was National Screenwriters’ Day and so I delivered my five inimitable screenwriters on the morning show: Tina Fey — Mean Girls, 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live The Coen brothers — The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, o Brother Where Art Thou, and Fargo Julius J. And Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch — Casablanca Gr...
May 25, 2024•46 min•Ep. 192
Couple of paired episodes last week and this one. Last week we took on first person narrators. Some good discussion (if I do say so myself) on collective first person (we, us) and the limitations of the first person narrator, including the establishment of unreliability. This week we take on the other point of view (POV) – third person. This is all those stories with the “he she they” characters. Increasingly we see a desire for “close” third so we’ll unpack that and help you identify third pers...
May 25, 2024•46 min•Ep. 190
Is there any more arbitrary experience than Groundhog Day? It’s a day when an entire town lets a rodent predict the future. Or the weather anyway. Several questions: Is there any other profession besides weatherman insulted by the insinuation that an animal could do it as well or better than them? Is there any other animal with psycho abilities equal to the groundhog (who, by the way, is wrong like 80% of the time)? Is there any other tradition that is so meaningless and yet has persisted this l...
May 25, 2024•46 min•Ep. 195
So we’re in the middle of the “Must Read” challenge and Rex has completed 50% of the recommended texts and Kasie has completed 0%. How should we punish her for not doing her homework? But really, why we’re here this week is to celebrate the new version of Road House being advertised. Haven’t seen the trailer? Here it is . So, should old(er) movies be “rebooted” or remade into modern versions? Today we’ll take on the debate. Assigned talking points: Rex – the classics: what old movies have been r...
May 25, 2024•46 min•Ep. 194
Segment 1 So we have a couple of things to catch up on first. Two weeks ago was HorrorCON. How did that go? Our dear friend and writing group lead, Ginny Padgett passed away on September 11th. So we’d like to take a moment to honor Ginny and talk about her influence on us. Segment 2 In August, we talked about antagonists and their impact on the protagonist’s pursuit of his own objectives. Check episodes 241 and 242 for details. In thinking about all the elements of a successful plot, I considere...
May 18, 2024•46 min•Ep. 185
We’ve had the last three weeks to do something other than this on Saturday mornings and I gotta say, this is a better use of my time (laughing emoji). November 4th was Storyfest and that was awesome. November 11th was the SC Libertarian Party state convention and that was interesting. November 18th Kasie went Clemsoning. So we’re back here, live on November 25th and we’ve decided to challenge one another to read better books. Really we just want to have read some of the same books. Longtime list...
May 18, 2024•46 min•Ep. 188
Apologies for last week’s aborted episode. We’ll be coming back together with Nick Roberts. He’s a cool dude and he took Kasie’s BIG mistake in stride. So thanks, Nick Roberts, let us know how we can support you and promote you. See you December 2nd! So it’s Spooky Season and we’d normally dive head first into the ghoulish stuff but it’s also the two weeks leading up to NaNoWriMo and so we’re going to run a back-to-back prep sesh for the frenzy that is NaNo. One plug for the ghoulish stuff: Hall...
May 18, 2024•45 min•Ep. 186
