Story Grid Writing Podcast

You Are the Antagonist

Tim and Shawn take on a problem they keep seeing in student work: scenes that hit every structural beat and are still boring. Their answer starts with a redefinition. Ant

Nobody Cares About Your Protagonist

This episode is cut from a regular Zoom call between Tim and Shawn rather than a planned recording, so it’s choppier and saltier than normal. Tim opens with a pattern he

Art, Automation, and AI - Part 4

Tim opens by returning to a story from earlier in the series. When ChatGPT 3.5 first hit, he told his wife that if a machine learned to write a book before he did, he was

Art, Automation, and AI — Part 3

Tim opens by picking up where Part 2 ended: if language can be translated into numbers, what does that make possible for reading and evaluating writing? Shawn starts with

Art, Automation, and AI — Part 2

Tim picks up the artifact-versus-artifice thread from last week and asks the practical question: what does it have to do with automation and AI? Shawn's first answer is

Art, Automation, and AI — Part 1

Tim opens with a broad question: a few years after ChatGPT hit the public consciousness, where does Shawn stand on what AI is, how it's useful, how it isn't, and what it

How do you write a book you're proud to publish?

Tim opens with a stat that frames the whole conversation: the average unpublished writer he surveyed has been at it for nearly 15 years. He puts the question to Shawn dir

The Final Episode

This will be the final episode of the Story Grid Podcast for the foreseeable future. Tim gives some background on why this decision was made along with an update on his c

Crazy Rich Asians: Part 4 - What Writers Can Learn

Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy. What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film? This is the final in a fou

Crazy Rich Asians: Part 3 - Genre Conventions and Story Theme

Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy. What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film? This is the second in a fo

Crazy Rich Asians: Part 2 - 5 Commandments of Storytelling

Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy. What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film? This is the first in a fou

Crazy Rich Asians: Part 1 - Is this a RomCom?

Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy. What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film? This is the first in a fou

John Wick Analysis: Part 4 - What Writers Can Learn and Obligatory Moments

Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick. This is the final in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Gri

John Wick Analysis: Part 3 - Genre Conventions and Five Commandments

Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick. This is the third in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Gri

John Wick Analysis: Part 2 - Acts and Structure

Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick. This is the second in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Gr

John Wick Analysis: Part 1 - Genre and Controlling Idea

Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick. This is the first in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Gri

Line Edits: Putting the Final Touches on Eye Witness

We're down to line edits on Tim's iteration of the masterwork Eye Witness by Ed McBain. Shawn, Danielle, and Leslie provide final feedback on how to clean up the last fe

Final Edits of a Short Story: Beat Construction and 624 Analysis

Now that Tim has had a breakthrough on his iteration of EYE WITNESS by Ed McBain, we're getting down to fixing individual Beats and checking to make sure he's adhered to

Does Tim Actually Get It Right? How to Nail the Narrative Device

Does Tim Actually Get It Right? How to Nail the Narrative Device On Tim's 10th draft, he finally makes a breakthrough on his iteration of EYE WITNESS by Ed McBain! And

How to Connect with Characters: Finding the Motivation and Shadow in Yourself

In this impromptu episode, Tim and Danielle discuss the ongoing problems with the work on the Ed McBain EYE WITNESS scene and why Tim can't connect with his characters.