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S4, E5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Story Structure Analysis

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This season we’re tackling one of the most beloved series of all time: Harry Potter.

In this episode, we look at the four-act structure of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, pointing out the first plot point, midpoint shift and second plot point.

Then we analyze the scene where Harry gets interviewed by a blackmailed Rita Skeeter.

Finally, we talk about the term “verisimilitude.”

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 4, Episode 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Structure Analysis

Things we mention (or forget to mention) that you should check out:

  • Our mailing list! Sign up today and you’ll get cool subscriber only perks like bonus material and artwork, including an advance copy of my forthcoming novel, The Cat, the Cash, the Leap and the List.
  • Story Fix for more details on the four act structure.
  • Story Grid for all things related to the Five Commandments.
  • Pottermore for all the glorious official content for Harry Potter.

This post was lovingly sponsored by our Patreon supporters (you can become one too!). 

Season 4, Episode 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Story Structure Analysis

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This season we’re tackling one of the most beloved series of all time: Harry Potter.

In this episode, we look at the four-act structure of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, pointing out the first plot point, midpoint shift and second plot point.

Then we analyze the scene where Harry gets a Firebolt for Christmas from a mysterious patron.

Finally, we take a look at the concept of exposition, using the scene where Harry learns that Sirius Black supposedly betrayed his parents to Voldemort.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 4, Episode 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Story Structure Analysis

Things we mention (or forget to mention) that you should check out:

  • Our mailing list! Sign up today and you’ll get cool subscriber only perks like bonus material and artwork, including an advance copy of my forthcoming novel, The Cat, the Cash, the Leap and the List.
  • Story Fix for more details on the four act structure.
  • Story Grid for all things related to the Five Commandments.
  • Pottermore for all the glorious official content for Harry Potter.

This post was lovingly sponsored by our Patreon supporters (you can become one too!). 

Season 4, Episode 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

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Season 4 begins! This time we’re tackling one of the most beloved series of all time: Harry Potter. We’ll look at the global story structure for each book using a four-act structure, and we’ll do a breakdown of a favorite scene using the 5 Commandments of Storytelling from the Story Grid. We’ll also be nearly constantly interrupted by a preschooler and cap off each episode by defining a literary term you’ll want to know.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 4, Episode 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Things we mention (or forget to mention) that you should check out:

This post was lovingly sponsored by our Patreon supporters (you can become one too!). 

Are You a Writer, Too?

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I happen to know there are more than a handful of writers who read this blog.

Which makes me so happy. It’s said that writing life is isolating, but I don’t find it so. One of the most satisfying things about being a writer is connecting with — and learning from — other writers.

So here’s a few writing related things I hope you’ll find useful and interesting.

Writing Groups Might be Terrible
Here’s an article written by my dear friend Anne Hawley. She’s a writer, an editor and (lucky for me) a member of my writing/editing group. She and I founded it together, in fact. And then she wrote an article about how we set up it so it would actually be amazingly helpful (and not terrible).

How to Write a Heroine’s Journey
This is a free course I’m taking and really enjoying. It’s put together by a lovely and fierce woman named Heather Jo Flores. It’s for writers who find the hero’s journey a bit, well, violent and patriarchy-reinforcing. Flores makes the point that whereas the hero’s journey is launched because a character wants to conquer something, a heroine’s journey begins with a desire to answer a question about a new way to live. (I’m thinking my next kids book needs to be a heroine’s journey — start ’em young!) Flores also offers a yearlong manuscript workshop for this type of story which I’m considering taking.

How to Grow Your Author Platform While Doing NaNoWriMo
I wrote this article one with my book marketer’s hat on. If you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year, it only makes sense to use the experience to grow your author platform simultaneously. (And no, it’s not smarmy to think this way as long as you use Tim Grahl’s definition of marketing: building long-lasting connections with readers.)

5 Writing Tips: Barbara Kingsolver
My ears tend to perk up when an experienced writer is willing to dish up advice. Publisher’s Weekly just put out this listicle from veteran novelist (and biologist, who knew?) Barbara Kingsolver. Never mind that her number 3 item totally conflicts with what I just said about not feeling lonely as a writer. But then again I’m not an introvert, so maybe I make it more sociable than it needs to be.

I LOVED this nugget in number 5:

“Readers come to books for many reasons, but ultimately they’re looking for wisdom. That’s something writers can offer only after we’ve accrued it, like scar tissue, usually by surviving things we didn’t want to deal with—a process otherwise known as aging.”

I probably love this because I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to actually getting my writing done — even though I wanted to be a writer since second grade.

The Mommy’s Pen Podcast: S2, E8 — The Love Story

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This week we take a close look at love stories.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 2, Episode 8: The Love Story and Jane Austen’s Emma

We continue our exploration of genre, this time with the help of Jane Austen. We look at Emma, and really, this novel is even more brilliant than I realized once we start looking at the ways it meets the obligatory scenes and conventions of the Love genre.

Things we mention that you should check out:

  • Our mailing list! Sign up today and you’ll get cool subscriber only perks like bonus material and artwork, including an advance copy of my forthcoming novel, The Cat, the Cash, the Leap and the List.
  • Shawn Coyne and the Story Grid. There’s a whole story grid universe: website, book and two podcasts: The Story Grid and the Story Grid Editors Roundtable, on which they’ve covered the love genre a number of times.
  • The five leaf Genre Clover, or as Nora likes to call it, the Genre Flower.
  • Emma, by Jane Austen.
  • Movie adaptations: There’s this BBC miniseries from 2009, which is excellent and free with Amazon Prime. Or there’s the Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle from 1996 which you can also watch on Amazon but you have to have a Starz subscription, which is super lame.

This post was lovingly sponsored by our Patreon supporters (you can become one, too!). 

The Mommy’s Pen Podcast: S2, E5 – The Horror Genre

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This week we take a look at the HORROR genre.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 2, Episode 5: The Horror Genre and Coraline

We continue our exploration of genre with a little help from Neil Gaiman. Because who else can we turn to when we need a horror story for kids? Nora and Sue dive into what makes something a horror story by taking a look at Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline.” Horror for kids! What fun!

Things we mention that you should check out:

  • Our mailing list! Sign up today and you’ll get cool subscriber only perks like bonus material and artwork, including an advance copy of my forthcoming novel, The Cat, the Cash, the Leap and the List.
  • Shawn Coyne and the Story Grid. There’s a whole story grid universe: website, book and two podcasts: The Story Grid and the Story Grid Editors Roundtable.
  • The five leaf Genre Clover, or as Nora likes to call it, the Genre Flower.
  • Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

This post was lovingly sponsored by our Patreon supporters (you can become one, too!).