Novellas are the ace up your writerly sleeve! They enable you to practice all of the principles of storytelling in a shorter, more manageable form. That's going to make you a much better novelist because your story will be focused and you won't get lost in your manuscript. And oh, the best part? Novellas are on the rise. - V. *Script note: In the episode, I mention that Jenna Bush recommended two novellas in her March 2024 bookclub. That is incorrect. She recommended one — THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET (Sandra Cisneros)

Crazy Rich Asians pitches two female leads against each other - sounds excellent right? Not so fast… This should set up an epic battle of wills as one fights against traditions she doesn’t understand while the other fights to retain order and tradition. This week, I find out what happens when the protagonist doesn’t plausibly match, then surpass, the antagonist.  Valerie discusses how superficial innovation doesn’t hide questionable male characters or Asian stereotypes.

This movie was way ahead of its time. It's a brilliant example of the heroine's journey and Melanie walks us through all 10 phases as outlined in Maureen Murdock's THE HEROINE'S JOURNEY: A WOMAN'S QUEST FOR WHOLENESS. Thanks to its excellent use of setups and payoffs, it also has an ending that is both surprising and inevitable.

The marketing for this film highlights Judi Dench, but she's barely in it at all. As fans of hers, Melanie and I were disappointed. The movie is ok but it wasn't what we expected and that soured our experience of the story. Melanie still did a study of female archetypes and I still studied setups and payoffs, but the real lesson this week is what happens when a story doesn't meet audience (or reader) expectations. -V.

Does the nickname "baby" bother us? Why yes, yes it does. But we've got to admit, Dirty Dancing is an excellent example of the heroine's journey, as well as female archetypes and how women are presented in stories. It also happens to be, structurally, an excellent film. It's not a complex story, but it's well-told. -V.

War stories are often the domain of ‘dick lit’ male protagonists, but is this a true representation of history and does the experience of women in war differ? In this episode, I reference historical female warriors and examines how the experiences of Maya, the protagonist in Zero Dark Thirty, compares with her wartime service. Valerie explores what happens when the scope of a story is too wide, and the impact scope has on setups and payoffs. -M

We're kicking off a brand new season with two new story concepts. Melanie will be studying female characters and how women are presented in modern stories (her work in this episode is reeeeally interesting!), and I'll be investigating something I learned from Steven Pressfield, which is that we shouldn't introduce anything new after Act 2.

This bonus episode was prompted by a chat I saw on Threads. It started with the question, what excites you most about having an agent? Offline, Melanie and I began to literary agents and what they do. We decided to hit record and share what we know with you. Enjoy! - V.

Left-brained stories (mysteries, crime thrillers, spy stories) are among the highest selling books on the market today. Readers can't get enough of them, and that means the bar for authors is really high because we have to create a puzzle that our readers haven't seen before. Add to this the fact that the fundamentals of storytelling work in a slightly different way than they do with other stories. In this episode, Melanie and I summarize all the lessons we've learned over the past 10 episodes and we share our greatest a-ha moments. Our study of left-brained stories didn't stop with the podcast though. Offline we've been diving deeply into this genre that we both love. We've gathered up everything the writer of a left-brained story needs to know and we've put it in a webinar coming up on May 2, 2024. Don't miss it! To register, visit www.valeriefrancis.ca/spring2024 - V.

Are you planning to use a twist at the end of your story? Have you ever wondered how M. Night Shyamalan pulled off this famous gotcha ending? If so, this episode is for you! Melanie does a deep dive into story twists and surprises so that you can craft an ending that delights your reader. I focused on the Central Dramatic Question which is a key part of creating Narrative Drive (and you must have brilliant Narrative Drive if your reader is going to get all the way to the end of your novel). -V.