21.38: Rules, Tools, and History’s Fools
“Tools, not rules” gets flipped on its head this week. Our hosts revisit the Turkey City Lexicon, a snarky collection of writing “rules” that circulated widely among speculative fiction writers in 198...
20 Sep 23min
21.37: Barrier Breaking: The World Is on Fire
How do you keep writing when the world is on fire? This week, our hosts talk about protecting our narrative energy when the news, social media, or our own lives feel overwhelming. We explore boundarie...
13 Sep 28min
21.36: Twists: How to Make the Unexpected Feel Inevitable
A great twist shouldn’t just surprise us—it should make us rethink everything that came before. This week, our hosts explore reader expectations, misdirection, and hiding clues in plain sight. We look...
6 Sep 23min
21.35: The Four Acts of Kishōtenketsu
This week, our hosts explore kishōtenketsu, an Asian story structure that appears under different names in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Unlike the Western three-act structure, it isn’t built arou...
30 Aug 21min
21.34: Knowing the Distance
How close is your reader to the story? Should they be closer? Today, our hosts get nerdy about narrative distance: the space between reader, narrator, character, and world. We talk POV, sensory detail...
23 Aug 23min
21.33: When To Shift Gears
A story doesn’t always need the same tools from beginning to end. In this episode, we talk about recognizing when it’s time to shift gears—and how to make those changes feel intentional rather than ab...
16 Aug 22min
21.32: Barrier Breaking- Time Constraints
There never seems to be enough time to write—but is time really the problem? Our hosts explore the reality of working within limited hours, changing life circumstances, and competing priorities. We sh...
9 Aug 27min
21.31: Deconstructing Save the Cat
Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder was published in 2005 and is widely popular because it offers a reliable, repeatable storytelling framework. Today we are ...
2 Aug 27min
