Season 3 is here! We’re combining Nora’s passion for history with Sue’s passion for story structure — giving you a historical story and pointing out the structural elements that make it compelling.
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 3, Episode 1: The Rise of Cleopatra
Here’s how this season will work:
Nora will tell a story from history, and I’ll interject at various points to point out story structure elements.
I’m using what Shawn Coyne calls the “Five Commandments of Storytelling.” These need to exist at both the macro and micro level of a long-form story. In other words, you need the five commandments in every scene, but also in every section of the story (the beginning part, the middle part and the end part) and over the story arc as a whole.
Here are the five commandments:
- Inciting incident – An exciting thing that kicks off a story
- Progressive complications – a series of events that make the story more, well, complicated –these can be either negative or positive
- Crisis – a question that must be answered by a choice being made
- Climax – what happens when the choice is made
- Resolution – the ultimate results of that choice
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 Discovery of King Tut” exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science Industry (OMSI).
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