Storybeater

Anthony and Andrew discuss five of this year's Academy Award nominees for screenplay, including:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Foxcatcher
American Sniper
Nightcrawler
and Birdman

Plus a look at some past winners and nominees and what it might really mean for a writer to win an Oscar. As always, they talk about what they're writing, and what they're reading, with a focus on the comics Mind MGMT and Battling Boy.

Anthony and Andrew discuss the 1954 Hitchcock movie Rear Window, a masterful example of the principle of 'show, don't tell', and then discuss whether that famous advice is always worth following. Plus, as always, they talk about what they're writing and what they're reading!

Anthony and Andrew discuss the recently released movie musical Into The Woods, directed by Rob Marshall, its presentation of tropes and the choices made in adapting it for the screen. They also discuss the origins of fairy tales and why they remain popular. Plus, scheduling, art classes, and what they've been reading!

It's the end-of-the-year spectacular, with two giant-sized topics in one episode. First, Anthony and Andrew discuss all things Doctor Who, from the series' narrative strengths to its highs and lows and an assessment of Peter Capaldi's Doctor.

Then the conversation turns to one of the biggest challenges for writers, especially heading into a new year; how to balance a writer's lifestyle with a healthy lifestyle. How can we eat, sleep, and exercise better in 2015?

In 'What I'm Writing', Anthony and Andrew set their writing objectives for the year ahead. In 'What I'm Reading', Andrew talks about an influential show from his childhood, Box Of Delights, and Anthony digs into the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer, because nerds.

To mark the X-Mas season, Anthony and Andrew explore the fictional world of the X-Men, from favorite characters like Nightcrawler and Wolverine, to adaptations on the large and small screen, to Magneto's strength as a villain.

The conversation then turns to cast-building. When telling a story, how do you build a cast, and how do you make your characters distinctive?

The episode also includes a post-mortem dicsussion of NaNoWriMo -- did they hit their targets, and was it all worth it? -- and a discussion of the new Captain America and the TV show The Leftovers.

On this episode, Anthony and Andrew talk about the importance of TV as a source of narrative inspiration, and some of the shows that shaped them as authors. The conversation includes The Simpsons, Jim Henson's Storyteller, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Deadwood, The Sopranos, and The Good Wife.

In the first half of this episode, Anthony and Andrew give an update on their NaNoWriMo progress -- and how to stay motivated when you're falling behind!

In the second half, they talk about the formulas and themes of young adult fiction, Team Peeta and Team Gale in The Hunger Games, and why YA is so popular. 

Finally, Anthony recommends the writing advice of Stein On Writing, and Andrew endorses Big Hero 6.

In this episode of Storybeater, Anthony and Andrew talk about the new season of fall TV shows -- what's working, what's not, and why do network shows seem to shoot for a low bar when it comes to writing? Of course, the conversation inevitably focuses on the three new shows based on comic books; Gotham, The Flash, and Constantine.

The second half of the show is all about NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, in which people around the world try to write 50,000 words of a novel in the 30 days of November. It's Andrew's fourth time and Anthony's first. We have some thoughts and advice on how to tackle it.

We also talk about the books we've been reading; Anthong recommends Cobra, an altnernative superhero action comic by Michel Fiffe, and Andrew recommends IRL, a timely story about a girl finding her identity through gaming, by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang.

On this episode of Storybeater, Anthony and Andrew dig deep into the horror classic Dracula, by Bram Stoker, and how the text has been adapted and how the vampire myth has been interpreted.

The conversation then turns to the subject of horror writing. How do you scare an audience, and what are some of our favourite scary stories?

On this episode of Storybeater, Anthony and Andrew talk about Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman, one of the seminal comic works of the past ten years and a profound deconstruction of one of fiction's most iconic characters.

They also talk about writing prose action scenes. What does a good action scene tell us about character, which genres excel at action, and what can we learn from the world of wrestling? 

In 'What I'm Writing', Anthony has an update on his editing progress and Andrew returns to a favourite project. In 'What I'm Reading', Andrew recommends the podcast 'No Such Thing As A Fish', and Anthony delves into the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.