Cody and Andrew talk to Portland author Jamie Yourdon about writing, life, and desserts. Jamie writes literary fables and ghost stories, with  two out currently (The Space Between Two Deaths and Froelich's Ladder). He is currently working on a Snow White retelling. We dive into his writing process, art vs commerce, and how a small silver spoon fits into it all.


Jamie Yourdon's Website https://www.jamieduclosyourdon.com/

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Cody takes on the podcast alone in this reading of his short story, "Pale". Regrets, redemption, revenge, these themes wind through weird western stories like a sidewinder over sand dunes. What happens when a retired gunslinger answers for his past crimes? Find out in, "Pale", a Weird Western horror story.

If you want to read along, here is the link. https://worlds.workingtitle.us/pale/

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Portland, Oregon author Erik Grove talks writing with Cody and Andrew. Erik discusses his writing cocktail mix, spills the tea on his process, and explains why ideas aren't the problem. Not even the question. We delve into Erik's writing journey, how he goes about publishing, and why play in writing is all-important.

Visit Erik's website for more Grove goodness: https://erikgrove.com/
Sign up for Erik's Portland area writing event newsletter, PDX Write Week!

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Community is key for writers to develop their full potential. Whether bouncing ideas off another writer, finding people that understand the peculiar writer's mind, or just commiserating with other people that grok the word mines, we write best when we have a community. In this episode, Cody and Andrew talk about what makes good and bad community, navigating critique groups, and what to do about finding a place you fit as a writer.

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Here are the rules we use for our FourXFours:

Four writers each write one story per week for four weeks, totaling 16 stories. Every week one of the writers gives a writing prompt and all the writers write a story to that prompt for the next week. We typically turn in stories by midnight on Thursday and meet on Sunday to go over the stories. We provide only verbal feedback.

Critque 3 minute monologue per critiquing author followed by 10 minute table discussion
total of ~25 minutes/story

Critique Format 

• Reflection - what did I feel in the story  that resonated
• Highlights - interesting points, characterization, world, turn of phrase, etc. Best line. Alternative First Line, etc.
• Lasting impressions -what did you take home from the story.
  
  
  If you do a FourXFour, let us know!

 Drop us a line a [email protected] or check us out at worlds.workingtitle.us

Thanks for listening!

Cody and Andrew interview Willa Literary Award Finalist and Portland author Lara Messersmith-Glavin about her writing life, process, and publication journey. On the way we touch on recent work, her different approaches to creative non-fiction  and fiction, how she summons her writing, her cetacean/angler fish-mermaid-climate fiction/non-fiction-horror WIP,  and her future plans.


Lara's Website, Queen of Pirates.
Purchase Spirit Things
Purchase Winding Paths (Cody, Andrew, and Lara all have work in this anthology)
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Andrew and Cody talk about the New Year, where they are going next, and the issues with starting to write or starting anew on an old project.

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Cody and Andrew discuss genre! What is it, how it is defined and used, and how we use it in our writing.  There are gray areas of genre, poles of fantasy and science fiction, core tropes that describe the central aspects of a genre and are critical for readers to buy in to your story. And then there is moving beyond or between genre to create a hybrid or undefined story. How do you do that? What do Cody and Andrew do in their writing, and why?

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In this episode, Cody and Andrew give a brief update on their writing (rejections, submissions, and novel progress), and then dive right into the layering scenes with dialogue, action, and plot. Andrew uses too many baking analogies and talks about the One Immortal Writing Rule. Cody talks about where he begins with layering.

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Andrew and Cody talk about their current projects and dive deeper into the Craft of Dialogue. Specifically, how they navigate dialogue scenes with multiple characters and why they avoid writing dialect.

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Check out the Winding Paths anthology from Demagogue Press.

Cody and Andrew discuss dialogue; purpose, what makes it special, how to make it sound like people, and the many ways dialogue can go wrong. Andrew reads from his forthcoming story "Ava", appearing in the  game-themed anthology Winding Paths from Demagogue Press.

Pre-Order Winding Paths here.

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The Craft of Dialogue

* What is the purpose of Dialogue?
* Dialogue Failure Modes
* What makes dialogue special?
* how do we make dialogue sound like people? Instead of the author talking to ourselves?
* How do you separate your characters? How do you make them sound different? Difference inside spoke word  with characters?

The three stories in each scene:
* Personal story
* World story
* Plot

Three fundamentals of writing dialogue:
1) demonstrating what is at stake
2) hiding something at all times - unsaid as important as what is said.
3) revelation - something comes out

Realistic dialogue hack 
The characters are talking about a  mystery,  while keeping secrets from each other, and lying to protect themselves.