This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida & Kathryn welcome screenwriter Tim Auld to the Story Works Round Table to discuss the trend in film and literature toward didactic writing, when the (often moral) message of a piece overpowers the story trying to be told. Why is this still happening when audiences are weary of it? What about writing a message-focused story—is there a right way to do it?

Are you ready to get more out of your writing, to grow your writing skills, and get that novel done faster? Do you want community, feedback, and mentoring? Check out group coaching for novelists. New sessions begin in 2024. Schedule your free discovery call today at www.wordessential.com/fictioncoaching

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Show notes, links, & more at www.StoryWorksPodcast.com.

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This week, Alida, Robert, and Kathryn discuss the relationship between stakes and agency. How do these aspects of plot and character work together to create forward drive in your story? 

This episode is from our library. It was previously published as episode 73.

Show notes and more at www.StoryWorksPodcast.com

Get Alida's musings on life, writing, and the writing life in A Room Full of Books & Pencils. booksandpencils.substack.com

Are you ready to get more out of your writing, to grow your writing skills, and get that novel done faster? Do you want community, feedback, and mentoring? Check out group coaching for novelists. New sessions begin in 2024. Schedule your free discovery call today at www.wordessential.com/fictioncoaching

Are you ready to work with a developmental editor or writing coach? Do you have a project in need of a ghost writer? I'd love to hear from you! www.wordessential.com. 

Visit WordEssential.com and book a discovery call today!

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn talk about creating character arcs. Most characters won't utterly transform from villain to hero, like our friend Scrooge, but shift needs to happen. Our character and plot arcs are married. The internal character arc is played out in the external plot arc. Identifying your character's shift is a great way to engineer your arc.

Happy New Year! We'll see you in 2024!

Are you ready to get more out of your writing, to grow your writing skills, and get that novel done faster? Do you want community, feedback, and mentoring? Check out group coaching for novelists. A new session begins in May. www.wordessential.com/fictioncoaching

Get Alida's musings on life, writing, and the writing life in A Room Full of Books & Pencils. booksandpencils.substack.com

Visit WordEssential.com and book a discovery call today!

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn tackle a holiday classic, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Most of us have seen the story dramatized annually, whether on television or in the theatre. But how many of us have actually read it? It was my first time and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. No surprise, however, Dickens packs this tale with more than good cheer. There is a lot to examine as writers, lessons that we can carry into our craft year round.

Are you ready to get more out of your writing, to grow your writing skills, and get that novel done faster? Do you want community, feedback, and mentoring? Check out group coaching for novelists. A new session begins in May. www.wordessential.com/fictioncoaching

Are you ready to work with a developmental editor or writing coach? Do you have a project in need of a ghost writer? I'd love to hear from you! www.wordessential.com. 

Get Alida's musings on life, writing, and the writing life in A Room Full of Books & Pencils. booksandpencils.substack.com

Visit WordEssential.com and book a discovery call today!

This week, Alida and Kathryn solve the world's problems with one simple, three-part edict.

We're kidding, but we're kind of not. Writing and reading are all about building empathetic connections with people who are nothing like ourselves. As such, writers are gifted with a truly great responsibility.

Share this episode and a book with the people you love.

If you're in the States, Happy Thanksgiving! Wherever you are, I am grateful for every single person who takes the time to listen to one another.

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Get Alida's musings on life, writing, and the writing life in A Room Full of Books & Pencils. booksandpencils.substack.com

Are you ready to work with a developmental editor or writing coach? Do you have a project in need of a ghost writer? I'd love to hear from you! www.wordessential.com. 

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This week, Alida and Kathryn welcome Dr. Martha Highers to the Writers Book Club to discuss "Naming My Father," a personal essay that won the Under the Sun summer writing contest. Martha is an editor at Under the Sun. not only do we talk as reader-writers, we get an insightful behind the scenes glimpse of the selection and editorial process for this wonderful essay about growing up the child of an autistic parent before anyone understood autism.

Subscribe to A Room Full of Books & Pencils and receive 21 Reasons to Pause, a series of writing prompts and tips.

Get Alida's musings on life, writing, and the writing life in A Room Full of Books & Pencils. booksandpencils.substack.com

Are you ready to work with a developmental editor or writing coach? Do you have a project in need of a ghost writer? I'd love to hear from you! www.wordessential.com. 

Visit WordEssential.com and book a discovery call today!

This week at the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn discuss characterization, with examples from a short story by Junot Díaz. They analyze how Díaz introduces characters through the narrator's perspective, using just a few sharp details to create vivid impressions of complex people are are inspired to re-examine their own character descriptions.

Hear the latest from A Room Full of Books & Pencils, “Does Reading Make Us Better People?”

Show notes and more: https://storyworkspodcast.com

Get Alida's musings on life, writing, and the writing life in A Room Full of Books & Pencils. booksandpencils.substack.com

Are you ready to get more out of your writing, to grow your writing skills, and get that novel done faster? Do you want community, feedback, and mentoring? Check out group coaching.  www.wordessential.com/fictioncoaching

Visit WordEssential.com and book a discovery call today!

This week at the Story Works Round Table, listener and fellow writer Dave sits down with Alida and Kathryn to discuss the short story by Junot Diaz, "Fiesta, 1980." We're amazed by how much tension Diaz packs into this story about a family gathering, as well as his incredible voice, imagery, and metaphors. 

Are you ready to work with a developmental editor or writing coach? Do you have a project in need of a ghost writer? I'd love to hear from you! www.wordessential.com.  

Show notes, links, & more at www.StoryWorksPodcast.com.

Get Alida's musings on life, writing, and the writing life in A Room Full of Books & Pencils. booksandpencils.substack.com

Visit WordEssential.com and book a discovery call today!

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn discuss bookending a story with a prologue and epilogue. Bookends can't just be tacked on; they need to be essential to the reader's understanding of whole story. 

Show notes, links, & more at www.StoryWorksPodcast.com.

Read A Room Full of Books & Pencils, ruminations on the essential, stories, & storycraft at booksandpencils.substack.com.

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This week we're back from summer break with a new season and a new format. In addiction to the regular conversations about craft, we'll be reading a short prose text each month and discussing it as writers. Would you like to join the book club? Next month we're talking about Junot Diaz' short story "Fiesta 1980."

This week, we delve into Edith Wharton's brilliant novella, Ethan Frome. What makes this work enduring? What can we learn by reading it and possibly emulate in our own writing? Prepare to be amazed.

I suggest you read the story before listening if you aren't already familiar with it. We spoil everything, because that's the only way to benefit from a conversation about the writing behind this truly great American story.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

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