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."Setups and payoffs are questions asked and answered." Valerie FrancisRelated Story Nerd Episodes:<a href="https://valeriefrancis.ca/story_nerd_/episode-809-lady-bird/">Lady Bird</a> (Season 8, Episode 9)
<a href="https://landing.valeriefrancis.ca/spring2024">REGISTER FOR THE 2024 SPRING WEBINAR SERIES</a>For access to writing templates and worksheets, and more than 70 hours of training (all for free), <a href="https://valeriefrancis.ca/for-writers/inner-circle/">subscribe to Valerie's Inner Circle.</a>To learn to read like a writer, <a href="https://www.melaniehill.com.au/">visit Melanie's website.</a>Follow Valerie on X, Instagram and Threads @valerie_francisFollow Melanie on X, Instagram and Facebook @MelanieHillAuthor

Zero Dark Thirty: women in war zones

For novelists, memoirists and screenwriters who want to know how stories work so they can finish their manuscripts faster, and without frustration. Each week literary editors Valerie Francis and Melanie Hill explain the craft of storytelling using films as examples. The goal is simple: to learn from writers who have come before us...what worked well and what didn't work so well. If you want to spend more time writing your book/screenplay and less time studying story theory, this podcast is for you.

"The only thing that matters, and that ever will matter, is the story. That's it." - Tom Hanks (Oxford Union 2024)