Catch up on the latest episodes...
Episode 92: The Rush and the Risk: Talking Novelistic Nonfiction with Christine O’Brien
Today we talk with Christine O’Brien about her wonderful new memoir CRAVE. We tackle the challenges and techniques of shaping a memoir, applying formal structure to memory. Structure can also be a way to take risks and explore, if you can avoid...
Episode 91: The Revelations of Revision
Today’s podcast is all about backstory and revision. Revision as the iterative process that helps you dig deeper into your story. Backstory as that which can be moved into the present action or withheld for revelation. Angie and Elizabeth talk about how...
Episode 90: Daniel Jokelson – Finding the Medicine
In this week’s episode, Angie and Elizabeth chat with one of Elizabeth’s high school classmates, Daniel Jokelson, about being a maggid—a kind of wandering storyteller. Storytelling has worked its way into every aspect of Daniel’s life, from being a...
Episode 89: Devi Laskar – Taking it Day by Day
This week Angie and Elizabeth welcome back Devi Laskar to talk about how far she has come in a year. From finding an agent, to being about to be published, to hearing a sample from the audiobook of her debut novel, Devi is a powerhouse of creation. Since...
Episode 88: Reversing the Expectation
In today’s episode, Angie and Elizabeth check back in to see how Angie’s experiment with “bad” writing went. When working to write badly, Angie found that she was not writing terribly enough. And that these kinds of judgements, be it failing to write well...
Episode 87: The Good, The Bad, and Just Writing
In this today’s episode, Angie and Elizabeth chat about Bad Writing and how sometimes purposefully writing “badly” can show you how much you know (or don’t) about writing. We often have a mystical approach to creativity, and if we lower our expectations...
Episode 86: Let’s Talk About Goals
In this week’s episode, Angie and Elizabeth talk about goal setting for the coming year. Questions such as, “Where do you want to be in a year?” and “What have you accomplished in the last year?” are a good first step and help us build upon our strengths....
Episode 85: Ours Is to Reason Why
In the first episode of the New Year, Angie and Elizabeth dive head first into discussing the need for emotional logic to understand why people do what they do. Studies show that an explanation as simple as “I need to make copies” when cutting in line for...
Episode 84: The Outer Limits of Limiting Belief
Angie and Elizabeth explore the relationship of story events to character as they respond to a listener’s question about how much each scene in a story must be shaped by the main character’s limiting belief. They discuss single protagonists and ensemble...
Episode 83: Keep ’em Laughing: Irving Ruan
As Angie works on cover letters for her film and Elizabeth has a huge revelation on the next steps on her novel, they take a moment to chat with Irving Ruan about humour and his unique journey. Irving is a person of many talents—a playwright, a stand up...
Episode 82:The Blind Date or Why Your Rejection is Your Fault
Elizabeth and Angie discuss many, many things in a short time, including coffee, Kafka, the relative speed of mail in the 19th century and why rejection might be more under your control than you think. They discuss the importance of researching the...
Episode 81: Nothing You Can’t Change? A Talk with Peter Coyote
In today’s podcast, Angie and Elizabeth sit down with actor and memoirist Peter Coyote, talking about his unique journey from counterculture to Hollywood in his 40s and beyond. After analyzing movie stars to determine his approach to auditioning, Peter...
Episode 80: Solving a Moving Puzzle: Micah Perks
In this week’s podcast, Angie and Elizabeth reconnect with Micah Perks and discuss her new book of linked stories. Micah has always been a fan of episodic work, and after working with a longer forms of writing, she decided to turn to a short story...
Episode 79: Getting Lost to Find Your Theme: Laurie Ann Doyle
This week, Angie and Elizabeth chatted with Laurie Ann Doyle about her process transitioning from writing short stories to writing her first novel. From doing research, to choosing the right words, both short and long stories are all about crafting a...
Episode 78: Texas Chainsaw Massacre Your Darlings
Today we discuss the editing process on macro and micro levels. While Angie gets color and sound ready for her film, Elizabeth exists in a waiting period as equanimical as ever (ha ha), and the Book In A Year course gets underway, editing is...
Episode 77: Taking the Scene-ic Route
This week we delve into the functions of scene while taking a few detours to touch on apostrophising as well determining what exposition really is. Angie continues to put all of her ducks in a row on her film as the deadline steadily...
Episode 76: Earn Your Subtlety
In today’s episode, we discuss the art of not being subtle as well as the merits of exaggeration. Elizabeth is working towards the deadline of her newest draft by revamping crucial scene, and Angie is working on her new script for a PTA heist. Angie talks...
Episode 75: Here’s to Deadlines
In this week’s podcast we discuss the before and the after of realizing a project. In it, I consider the logistics of when to print out my manuscript, and Angie reflects on her almost picture locked film Lost in the Middle. We chat about the limitations...