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 expectat...
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Writing Excuses
Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.
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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....
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,...
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—a...
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,...
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...
21.30: Chapter Breaks Soon
A lot of times people want to know what the "ideal length" is for a chapter. But chapters can range from one sentence, to a single scene, al...
21.29: How to Make a Scene
What makes a scene feel like a scene? This week, we unpack one of storytelling's most basic building blocks. Our hosts explore where scenes...
21.28: Narrative Transitions
How do you move readers from one scene to the next without losing momentum? Our hosts dig into different types of transitions—from scene bre...
21.27: The Expository Throttle
How can exposition be used as a pacing tool, and not just a way to convey information? We attempt to answer this question on today’s episode...
21.26: Setting the Pace
Our hosts explore the many tools writers can use to control pacing. We discuss how cadence, transitions, tone, sentence structure, and white...
21.25: Follow the Bouncing Ball
In this episode, our hosts explore how writers control their readers’ attention with the metaphor of a bouncing ball. We break down techniqu...
21.24: Deconstructing the Seven Point Plot Structure
Dan Wells joins our conversation as we break down the seven-point plot structure! Using examples from Star Wars, Toy Story, and other films,...
21.23: Barrier Breaking: Interruptions
In this episode, our hosts explore one of the most persistent barriers to writing: interruptions. From family members and pets to emails, me...
21.22: The Order of the Telling
*Time-Sensitive* Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here! This week, we are talking about the ord...
21.21: Rhythm and Words
*Time-Sensitive* Our final WXR cruise is almost sold out, grab your spot before June 4th, 2026 here! Today, we’re continuing the conversatio...
21.20: Sequencing from Mega to Micro
Today, we explore why writers place information in the order they do. From broad-to-narrow framing and cause-and-effect to repetition, rhyth...
21.19: Getting Everything Connected
Today, our hosts discuss how to make every part of your story feel connected through causal chains, thematic resonance, and reader pattern r...
21.18: Deconstructing the Three Act Structure
Today, we are joined by Margaret Dunlap as we dive into the three-act structure. This traditional framework—setup, confrontation, and resolu...
21.17: The Up and Down Escalators
Today we zoom out from moment-to-moment tension and look at how escalation and de-escalation shape a story at the structural level—how raisi...