Tell The Damn Story

A hike. A camera. An abandoned hospital. And an idea that kept growing.

James Chambers joins Alex Simmons and Chris Ryan to trace the creation of Abandoned Asylum, a horror anthology inspired by his years of photographing a former psychiatric hospital on Long Island.

We discuss turning personal experiences into fiction, inviting other writers into a shared setting, finding the right publisher, and bringing photographs and stories together into a larger reading experience.

Plus: childhood comics, writing classic pulp characters, building a welcoming writing community, and making live readings work.

What place is still waiting for you to tell its story?

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Stories change lives. They always have. At *Tell The Damn Story*, we believe in lifting voices and passing stories on. Your support keeps them alive for future generations. 

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What Punk Rock, Dracula, and an African Safari Can Teach Writers.

What do these different experiences have to do with your unfinished story?

Possibly more than you think.

In episode 437, Alex and Chris explore the joys of writers’ homework: experimenting with formats, following recommendations, researching details, and paying attention to experiences that can bring your fiction to life.

Chris shares his search for the right structure for a challenging work in progress. Alex recalls the research behind his Sherlock Holmes play and a sensory experience in Africa that found its way into a story.

Got an idea that hasn’t quite found its form? Come join the conversation.

Then tell us: What unexpected discovery helped you tell your damn story?

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Stories change lives. They always have. At *Tell The Damn Story*, we believe in lifting voices and passing stories on. Your support keeps them alive for future generations. 

Help us by supporting TTDS → ⁠Buy Me A Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Stuck in the middle of your story? Can’t find an ending that feels right? Take your story out for a walk.

This week, Alex Simmons and Chris Ryan explore how real life can help writers work through plot problems and character gaps. A New York Comic Con outing, an unexpected Manhattan encounter, and a breakthrough in Alex’s screenwriting classroom reveal what can happen when you stay observant—and let go of the ending you’ve been trying to force.

We talk about asking “What if?”, capturing unexpected ideas, listening to feedback, and remembering that the people who inspire our fiction have lives of their own.

Listen, follow the show, and share this episode with a fellow storyteller.

What’s something you witnessed that later became part of a story?

CTA: Watch or listen to TTDS 436, then tell us what real-life encounter has inspired your fiction.

Have any questions, comments, or suggestions?

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It's a trip back in time to where and how our 400+ odyssey to help creatives began.

This special milestone episode of our podcast dives deep into the creative journeys—the triumphs, setbacks, and lessons—of writers striving to tell their tales.

In this 435th episode, listeners are transported back to where it all began, revisiting the very first episode with the original trio: acclaimed writer Alex Simmons, dynamic illustrator Tim Fielder, and journalist-turned-novelist Chris Ryan.

The conversation focuses on their creative origins, the collaborative creation of the iconic Blackjack character, and the unique perspectives each brings from comics, books, film, and illustration.

A key theme that emerged is the importance of representation and authenticity in storytelling, as the trio explores how personal experience, research, and reflection influence character development and world-building.

☕ Did this episode help you tell your story better? Help us keep sharing decades of creative experience—free of charge—by buying TTDS a coffee:

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In Episode 434, Alex and Chris explore how writers humanize enormous stakes.

Because the human factor is the thread that connects the audience to any fictional tale.Drawing from Avengers: Endgame, Black Panther, John Wick, The Odyssey, Reacher, Hamlet, The Lord of the Rings, Project Hail Mary, and Dragonheart, they examine the fears, losses, relationships, moral choices, and everyday moments that invite audiences into extraordinary worlds.

Every week, Tell The Damn Story shares hard-earned lessons, practical insights, and candid conversations with working creators, all free of charge. If our episodes help you improve your craft, avoid a mistake, or keep moving forward, please help us continue bringing these conversations to you.☕ Support TTDS by buying us a coffee:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tellthedamnstory

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☕ If Alex and Chris helped you solve a problem, avoid a mistake, or find your next creative step, consider buying them a coffee and helping keep TTDS on the air:

⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tellthedamnstory⁠

Writer and producer Brandon Easton delivers an unfiltered account of breaking into Hollywood, surviving its unwritten rules, and building a career without surrendering your integrity.

From ThunderCats and Transformers: Rescue Bots to becoming head writer of Iyanu, Brandon explains what it takes to make the industry say yes.

What it costs when you have to say no, and why success never means the struggle is over.

“It’s not called show art. It’s called show business.”

-- Brandon Easton --

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☕ If Alex and Chris helped you solve a problem, avoid a mistake, or find your next creative step, consider buying them a coffee and helping keep TTDS on the air:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tellthedamnstory

That's combined with almost 2 years of writing and another year of post-production.

Those are some of the realities Chris Ryan shares with Alex Simmons. He also reveals how saying yes, staying useful, and solving one indie-film problem after another led him from writer and actor to producer.

It is a candid Producer’s odyssey for creators who do not have millions—but do have a story, resourcefulness, and the will to get the job done.

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How far can you change an iconic hero before you lose what made that hero iconic?

Alex and Chris turn their attention to HBO’s LANTERNS and the enormous challenge of writing characters with decades of history, millions of fans, and more than one accepted interpretation.

Drawing upon the first three episodes, they examine the new portrayals of Hal Jordan and John Stewart, the show’s multiple layers of mystery, and Chris’s intriguing theory that Hal may be less of a troublesome veteran and more of a “Space Columbo.”

But the larger question is one every writer working with an established property must face: What do you preserve, what can you change, and when does creative reinvention become disrespect for the source?

Alex brings the perspective of a writer who has worked with Batman, Superman, Tarzan, Archie, Scooby-Doo, Sherlock Holmes, and other established characters.

Together, he and Chris explore the responsibilities writers have to the story, the characters, the owners—and the audience.

Is LANTERNS pulling off a daring act of narrative sleight of hand, or setting itself up for a spectacular pratfall?

SPOILER WARNING: The episode discusses events from the first three episodes of LANTERNS.

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Stories change lives. They always have. At *Tell The Damn Story*, we believe in lifting voices and passing stories on. Your support keeps them alive for future generations. 

Help us by supporting TTDS → ⁠Buy Me A Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Part Two: Writing From the Wound

In this episode, Alex and Chris continue their conversation with horror author John “The King” Collins to get behind the monsters and discover where stories really come from.

John takes us inside Altars and Abandoned Houses and reveals how memories, abandoned places, Halloween, love, family, grief, rejection, and loss have found their way into his fiction.

He calls part of that process “writing from the wound.”

Alex and Chris also explore working with editors, revisiting rejected stories, promoting your work through podcasts, and why some of our strongest fiction grows from something emotionally true.

Because everything we are eventually filters through the stories we tell.

Have any questions, comments, or suggestions?

Then, please leave them in the Comments Section.

Write to: [email protected]

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Stories change lives. They always have. At *Tell The Damn Story*, we believe in lifting voices and passing stories on. Your support keeps them alive for future generations. 

Help us by supporting TTDS → ⁠Buy Me A Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

"Part One: Finding Your Voice in the Dark"

Horror writer John “The King” Collins joins Alex and Chris for Part One of a special two-part TTDS conversation about monsters, mentors, finding your voice, and learning to write the stories you want to tell.

John shares the advice that changed his approach to writing: stop chasing publication for a year and simply write. Twenty-two stories later, he had become a stronger, more confident storyteller.

Plus: what makes horror fun, why monsters need humanity, finding the right critique group, and the difference between useful criticism and empty praise.

Then continue with Part Two: Writing From the Wound, as the conversation turns toward the life experiences behind the stories.

Do you have any questions, comments, or suggestions?

Then, please leave them in the Comments Section.

Write: [email protected]

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Stories change lives. They always have. At *Tell The Damn Story*, we believe in lifting voices and passing stories on. Your support keeps them alive for future generations. 

Help us by supporting TTDS → ⁠Buy Me A Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠