The Writers' Nook

Hoping to reach every mind, it’s episode twenty-five!

in this episode, we have a stacked discussion about “Getting Lost in the Sauce.” It’s a casual way to describe the intense focus one gets when writing without distraction or falter. Joined with returning guests, Ally and Natalie, the crew takes turns describing what flow means for them and how they get there. Some of the suggestions presented include:

The Pomodoro Technique

Creating the coffee shop at home

Personal writing retreats

Any of the suggestions can be executed and applied to your own everyday technique.

I didn’t know what to expect anymore, this is episode twenty-four!

In an unconventional twist, this week’s episode is a dive into the 2015 movie, Jupiter Ascending. The purpose of this series is to shine a light on pieces of media maligned upon their first release. I dissect Jupiter Ascending and try to glean any useful lessons writers can take and learn from. Also, I take a few digs at the content as I figure out what made it flop at the time. Some of the things I that struck me was:

The cringe-inducing dialogue

The detailed worlds and set pieces

The convoluted plot, filled with loose threads in hope to expand on them later

The interesting technology on display

Overall, it was a fun time. This episode is even more casual than normal. I’d be open to suggestions for future pieces to look at!

Incredibly, this is episode twenty-three!

The raucous good time was brought to you by the two-person team of Gary and Shayla! We covered many of the points we taught in the workshop regarding inciting incidents. And, admittedly, we got sidetracked (as to be expected).

This high energy (even explosive!) podcast covered:

When to pull the trigger to get your story moving

Examples of effective execution of inciting incidents

Pressure points and how many are recommended

With knowledge mixed with frantic energy, you’re sure to have a great time listening!

Are you ready, you? It’s episode twenty-two!

We’re back after a hiatus brought upon by the biggest news event in recent history. Thankfully, we haven’t skipped a step!

In this episode, a series of questions were sent out to allow the speakers to ponder their answers. Such questions included:

Who is your favorite protagonist(s) and why did you select them?

What fictional world would you most like to inhabit?

What story mentally titillated you?

Who would you cast in the adaptation of your novel/book?

A bevy of first-time guests and their perspectives are a breath of fresh air! Powering through a few technical difficulties, this s fun podcast with some questions that reveal a little bit of each of us.

You can weave a compelling tale about anyone. We’ll show you how in episode twenty-one!

The charter members of the YWS come together once more to discuss important components in storytelling and its definitions. We broke down terms like:

Dilemma

The Four Cs from Aristotle (Characterization, Credibility, Causality, and Coherence)

Therefore/But vs. And Then

We also talked about the things that wrinkled our brains, both good and bad. Janey and Gary might have started an anime review podcast within the podcast!

Great conversations, insightful perspectives, and all kinds of candor and character, this is an episode you can’t miss!

No rhyme this time, we have reached episode twenty! We gather together in the Pineapple Room, where our very own Melissa Eick hosts the inspirational podcast, Making Your Impact.

We talked about creative narratives we would consider perfect. The word is subjective but our choices reflect what we believe hits every story strive to earn the designation. The stories we talked about include:

To Kill A Mockingbird

City of God

The Importance of Being Earnest

Red Winter by Annette Marie

To us, they have elements weaved together with a masterful hand. Memorable characters, interesting handling of plot, and unique perspectives on their respective themes were part of our criteria. We also got into a bit of discussion on cinematography.

It was a fun podcast to record and we’ll certainly do similar ideas such as this one in the future.

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

A razor focus on writing, it’s episode nineteen!

The cattiest podcast so far, our first podcast of 2020 has us hitting the ground running! For the past few workshops, we’ve been adapting lessons from Beyond the First Draft by Laurel Yorke. Some of what we covered include:

Deep vs. Thesaurus Revision

Abstract vs. Concrete Imagery

The Synchronization of Honesty and Complexity in Your Writing

The YWS trustees also gave us updates on their writing journey. We also discussed the things that wrinkled our brains. Titles and works like:

Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison by Shaka Senghor

Ashley Poston and her many works

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Be sure to check out our website to learn more about our Self-Publishing Summit!

You can find the trustees just about anywhere online. Follow

Janey Merry

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Shayla Raquel

Website

Books and Resources

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Melissa Eick

Website

The Dragonfly Home

Making Your Impact Podcast

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Gary Medina

All Relevant Links

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” —Kurt Vonnegut

A woman in need of comfort after dwelling in her misery visits an old friend riddled with mystery. She might have escaped solitude for the night but did she leap from the cold into a fire?

After hemming and hawing, cutting and editing, it’s episode seventeen! We recorded this episode after DFWCon while celebrating Melissa’s birthday. We dubbed it a mobile podcast as we recorded off of my (Gary’s) phone while driving to Chik-Fil-A. In our post DFWCon rundown we cover:

Our favorite sessions.

What was the biggest takeaway from certain sessions?

Is there a conspiracy against Shayla?!

There’s also a bonus conversation in which we tackle Janey’s doubts in her genre. While we didn’t have the time to be nuanced, it was enough to present a different point of view.

Check us out below!

Shayla Raquel: https://linktr.ee/shaylaleeraquel

Janey Merry: https://www.janeymerry.com/

Melissa Eick: https://www.thedragonflyhome.org/

Gary Medina: https://linktr.ee/g_air_e

We’re grateful that you’re listening, it’s time for episode sixteen! In this episode we reflect on the lessons from hybrid children’s author, Mariana Llanos. Whether you’re publishing on your own or go through a publisher, Mariana has done both. She also shared some finer details that get overlooked when thinking of the writer’s journey. Some of the things we covered were:

Updates on our own writing journeys.

Creative Spotlight: Giving praise to good writing we found in selected pieces of any medium.

Overview of Our Time with Mariana Llanos.

Who is she?

Reflections from the session.

Final quotes and plugs from the cast.

A fun night with brilliant conversations. Brew up some coffee or tea and hang out with the Yukon Writers’ Society!