The Mathematics of Storytelling

FromStory Grid Writing Podcast

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The Mathematics of Storytelling

FromStory Grid Writing Podcast

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Length:

65 minutes

Released:

Dec 2, 2015

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

Story Grid Math. How many scenes, words, turns does your book need? Also discussed is the 5 commandments of storytelling and Tim's attempt at a rewrite.
Click here to read Tim's scene rewrite.

Released:

Dec 2, 2015

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Click here to Subscribe in iTunes. Helping you become a better writer. Join Shawn Coyne, author of Story Grid and a top editor for 25+ years, and Tim Grahl, struggling writer, as they discuss the ins and outs of what makes a story great. More at www.StoryGrid.com.

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How not to waste 100k words: How does The Martian work with The Story Grid? Plus, we discuss how to make sure your story is good before writing 100k words and the difference between Internal and External genre. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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What is literary vs commercial fiction?: Shawn and Tim discuss literary vs commercial fiction and start diving into the giant subject that is genre. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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The 8 stages of grief/writing: How does the Kübler-Ross model from psychiatry apply to your writing? Also, how to develop your characters and applying the Story Grid to non-fiction. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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6 questions (good) editors ask: The 6 questions (good) editors ask and the 5 parts of every story. See the full show notes to download Shawn's critiques of Tim's first scene. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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Special Guest: Steven Pressfield - Part 1: Learn how to fight Resistance and launch your writing career with the amazing Steven Pressfield. Check out his new book NO ONE WANTS TO READ YOUR SHIT. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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First draft is done. Now what?: Tim has finished his first draft and Shawn gives advice on what happens next and what questions Tim should be asking himself. If you'd like to read Tim's first draft, you can do that at storygrid.com/podcast. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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The 5 Commandments of Storytelling: Learn the 5 commandments of storytelling and how it will make your story better. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
60 min listen
How to Write Faster: How can you get more writing done? Is the "wall" even real or just in your head? by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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Diving deep into genre: Shawn and Tim dive deeper into genre and how to find the best internal and external conflicts. Along the way they discuss the hero's journey, love stories, and a woman from the sea. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
65 min listen
And that's what life is all about: How can you become a better writer? Join Shawn Coyne, a bestselling editor with 25+ years experience, and Tim Grahl as they dive into the craft of story telling. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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Where do great story ideas come from?: The question every author gets... "Where do you come up with story ideas?" Also, how to write characters that are truthful, even when you can't relate with them. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
57 min listen
How does Stephen King write?: How does Stephen King do it? Plus, Shawn and Tim talk about flailing as a writer and how good character development is really done. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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What is narrative device?: How can narrative device make your storytelling easier? We also discuss the two types of inciting incidents and how the Story Grid applies to he movie Dead Calm. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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When to get feedback from other writers: A wide ranging episode where Shawn and Tim discuss a new way to think about beginning hooks, the high concept "What if?" pitch, when to open the door and get other writer's feedback, and how the "Power of 10" will help your editing process. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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Units of Story (beats, scenes, acts, etc): Learn the units of story telling -- beats, scenes, sequences, acts, etc -- and how they make you a better writer and editor. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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The Martian and A Christmas Carol: Learn how the Story Grid works with Andy Weir's THE MARTIAN and Charles Dickens's A CHRISTMAS CAROL. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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Special Guest: Steven Pressfield - Part 2: Learn how to fight Resistance and launch your writing career with the amazing Steven Pressfield. Check out his new book NO ONE WANTS TO READ YOUR SHIT. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
47 min listen
How to plot and outline your story: As Tim begins to plot and outline his story, he gets Shawn's input on exactly how to do it. This process is filled with potential time wasters and distractions, and Shawn helps Tim avoid them. See Tim's initial outline and other downloads at storygrid.com/podcast. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
52 min listen
The Mathematics of Storytelling: Story Grid Math. How many scenes, words, turns does your book need? Also discussed is the 5 commandments of storytelling and Tim's attempt at a rewrite. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
65 min listen
Shawn rips apart Tim's scene: Shawns critiques (rips apart) Tim's first scene. Along the way, they discuss Agatha Christie, Wes Craven, Hemingway, and Freddy Krueger. See full show notes at storygrid.com/podcast to download and read Tim's first scene. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
73 min listen
Better Non-fiction with Story Grid: Shawn explains how Story Grid can help you be a better non-fiction writer. Also, the editing process and how to know when your book is "done". by Story Grid Writing Podcast
50 min listen
What is the Theme of your Story?: What is your theme or controlling idea, and how does it help you tell a better story? Tim and Shawn also discuss how to avoid getting caught in analysis-paralysis and how to build your world the right way. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
50 min listen
How to Story Grid a Book: Talking about Story Grid is one thing, putting it into practice is quite another. Tim struggles with applying Story Grid to Harry Potter. In addition, specificity, ins and outs of publishing, and more. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
52 min listen
How to write a great beginning hook: How do you write an opener for your book that grabs people's attention and doesn't let go? Shawn shares great insights on this along with how to develop believable characters. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
63 min listen
Can you learn to write better (without trying)?: Shawn and Tim discuss unconventional ways to become a better writer. Topics include chicken sexing, Deliberate Practice, and many other things. Also, Tim's now trying to track down a cadaver he can use. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
56 min listen
Getting Unstuck: After a week of Tim floundering with his first draft, Shawn starts to rescue him from the pit of despair. Of course, they go back to genre to find the way home. This is a wide ranging episode on how you can start picking up the pieces of your first draft. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
50 min listen
Getting Your Big Scenes Right: Is Shawn killing Tim's creativity? This episode starts with that question then moves into deep genre questions and how to use Internal and External genres to tell great stories. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
54 min listen
Writing Your 2nd Draft: Tim and Shawn work to nail down the specifics for the second draft. Narrative device is a big topic along with nailing down the big events in your story. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
56 min listen
What if my writing sucks?: It was at 8000 words in that Tim realized his writing was terrible. So how does he keep going? Shawn offers his advice on overcoming this and other types of resistance. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
62 min listen

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Story Tropes: Building Blocks of Scenes: What are Tropes and how can they actually help your writing? Tropes are a toolbox of common components to build a certain kind of story. You can put these building blocks together to create a story that meets the reader expectations for your particular GENRE. Most lists of tropes are a grab bag of story types and/or their components and aspects. They don’t fit together, so they don’t provide a process for consistently crafting scenes and stories that satisfy readers. In the Story Grid Universe, we provide this process by limiting the definition of a trope to a particular level of Story. Story Grid tropes are small story units that are the building blocks writers need to create the arc of change within scenes. In this episode, we start working through the Tropes for the short story EYE WITNESS by Ed McBain (https://amzn.to/3Q2UpqV). To download the Trope Breakdown, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-264 — Get a free copy of our book Sto by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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Beat Breakdown: Analyzing Writing Line-by-Line - Part 3: Learn how your line-by-line writing can be improved by the Story Grid Beat methodology. In this episode, we show you the final line graph generated by our beat-by-beat analysis and how this can help you write better scenes. — Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.com For episode transcript and downloads: https://storygrid.com/episode-263 This is Episode 263 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast This is our in-depth analysis of the short story EYE WITNESS by Ed McBain: https://amzn.to/3Q2UpqV by Story Grid Writing Podcast
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How Does a Writer Use Active Beats to Generate Words?: There are three different types of Beats that build up to Scenes. How do Active Beats work inside a scene? by Story Grid Writing Podcast
29 min listen
Five Commandments of Storytelling - Part 1: Continuing our 624 analysis of Ed McBain's short story EYE WITNESS, we are talking through the Five Commandments of Storytelling. This is a three part episode as we deep dive through each commandment. In this episode, we go through the Inciting Incident and the Turning Point Progressive Complication. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
46 min listen
How to Story Grid a Book: Talking about Story Grid is one thing, putting it into practice is quite another. Tim struggles with applying Story Grid to Harry Potter. In addition, specificity, ins and outs of publishing, and more. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
52 min listen
The "What If" for Your Story: How do you boil your story down into one "What If" statement? There are four parts to building out the answer to this question and Shawn, Leslie, Danielle, and Tim walk through it together in this week's episode. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
64 min listen
Editor View vs Writer View: In Episode 5 of the Masterwork Experiment, Anne continues finding micro beats and scene types in Brokeback Mountain’s middle build, and learns the difference between the Editor’s view of a story and the Writer’s view. Shawn tells her, “Just be inspired as opposed to being literally crazed about making sure you get everything perfect.” by Story Grid Writing Podcast
45 min listen
When to get feedback from other writers: A wide ranging episode where Shawn and Tim discuss a new way to think about beginning hooks, the high concept "What if?" pitch, when to open the door and get other writer's feedback, and how the "Power of 10" will help your editing process. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
54 min listen
The All Is Lost Beat Test: How to use the story beat to crack your own story. by Save The Cat! Podcast
20 min listen
Brokeback Mountain: Defining the Characters: In Episode 3 of the Masterwork Experiment, Anne and Shawn define some Regency-era analogs for the Wyoming cowboys of Brokeback Mountain, and step into some controversial territory about appropriate representation of underrepresented groups. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
51 min listen
Villains and Inciting Incidents: Who drives the story? This is a harder question to answer than you think. Shawn and Tim dive deep in this question. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
56 min listen
Micro Beats and Hidden Story Meanings: In Episode 4 of the Masterwork Experiment, Anne splits atoms, finding eight micro beats to Shawn’s single beat in the prologue to Brokeback Mountain, and learns just how perfectly Annie Proulx’s lean, precise word choices deliver plot, theme, exposition, symbolism and subtext all at the same time. by Story Grid Writing Podcast
62 min listen

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The Mathematics of Storytelling

The Mathematics of Storytelling

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