Get busy living or busy dying when the editors chip away at dialogue in The Shawshank Redemption. This 1994 film was written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on Stephen King’s Novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

All aboard the murder train! This week, the Roundtablers set off from Istanbul with Hercule Poirot and a star-studded cast to review Murder on the Orient Express. This 1974 classic, based on Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel, was written by Paul Dehn and directed by Sidney Lumet.

Yo ho! The conventions of the Action story sail into port this week as Leslie invites us to examine Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. This 2003 comedy-horror-action movie was written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and directed by Gore Verbinski, based on the ride at Disneyland.

Things get really complicated this week as Anne pitches Cloud Atlas so we can all study complex nested story form. This 2012 film was written and directed by Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, based on the 2004 novel by David Mitchell.

It’s 20 minutes of brain-changing inspiration this time as Anne brings you a bite-size episode on how the Story Grid spreadsheet helped her write a better novel.

Leslie and Anne’s Story Grid Investigation Team has been on the case, and today we uncover Essential Action, a great tool for evaluating the conflict in your scenes.

Here’s a preview of the winning hand of stories the Roundtablers are getting ready to bring you in Season 4. Join us for Episode 0, where Anne, Kim, Valerie, Jarie and Leslie each reveal their first movie of the season and talk about why they chose it, and how they hope studying it will help them in their own writing.

It’s 20 minutes of deep insight this time as Kim Kessler and Leslie Watts bring you a bite-size episode on internal genres.

It’s 20 minutes of help for frozen writers this time as Anne brings you a bite-size episode on the direct path from story structure right down to the selection of details for a story that will engage, entice and enchant your readers.

We wind up Season 3 with another episode of Story Grid 101. Each of the Roundtable Editors is tackling one of the Story Grid Five Commandments for a deep dive into the fundamental structure of scene, act, and global story, using the Pixar animated feature, Coco as our model.