Season 2 Trailer Episodes

by | May 4, 2020 | Uncategorized

This season you’ll hear from a variety of editors who look at various aspects of different types of stories. I love writing everything from horror to love, screenplay to short story, essay to micro-fiction. And my goals are to eventually make a living as a writer (which I understand makes it a job and that it isn’t going to be easy), but understanding where I want to go, what my process looks like, and all the places I can improve will help me reach those goals in time. So long as I keep writing, of course. 

As you listen, you’ll notice each editor’s unique take on the various stories I write. Some are long, some short, some I want to turn into a novel, and others were just for fun or to learn. I hope you’ll find a key takeaway from each episode that you can apply to your stories. 

The sequence of episodes is one I think will help you learn once more about crafting stories and using them effectively for your own goals. For example, on the first full episode, I talk with Lori Puma who specifically helps writers before they’ve written a single word. We talk about how to find places to submit your writing and to maximize the potential for being published (or at least getting personalized feedback from your rejected submissions). 

Shelley Sperry and I chat next about writing a nonfiction book in which I discuss the things keeping me from writing. It’s a chance to combat everything holding me back from my stories as well as what it takes to plan and write a memoir. 

Followed by Julia, who takes a short story I’ve written and tells me specifically how to make it better so that I can submit it somewhere. Griffin, who takes a piece of micro-fiction I wrote for an NYC Midnight competition and teaches me tools of horror that will help me expand upon it. And Kim, who walks me through how to craft short vs long fiction and where the goalposts for each type of story lay. 

Leslie and I also discuss how to expand upon short stories, how to strengthen your craft, and building a career as a writer. While Abigail and I talk about all the different ways to plan a longer story using existing content and the various tools available to improve your skills. 

The last episode of this season will be with me, myself, and I (and hopefully I can put up with my own voice for that long). In that episode, I’ll take all the advice I’ve been given and apply it to one of my stories from last season through the self-editing process. I personally think it’s important to edit your own work before taking it to someone else for a number of reasons. First of all, when someone gives you advice on a first draft, it can entirely kill your spirit because you want to hear how great it is, but it’s bound to be shit (read Bird by Bird for the reference). Secondly, if you’re going to pay someone to help you improve your writing, you might as well get it as far as you possibly can on your own first so you’re not wasting money to have someone tell you something you already know. And if that’s not enough of a reason, editing yourself teaches you how to be a better writer each time you do it. 

So there you have it. Season 2 of A Story That Works is sure to provide you with tangible advice on editing and improving your writing. If it doesn’t, go talk to these editors yourself. 

As always, keep writing. Keep writing. Keep writing. 

Editors:

So what can you expect during this season of A Story That Works? Well, each episode will include a short story I wrote. I’ll read the story and then welcome in an editor who has agreed to talk with me about the story for an episode. Together we’ll discuss various aspects of what’s working, what isn’t, the genre in general, or whatever else comes up based on how each editor works.

I’m getting a hodgepodge of advice to show you that everyone’s opinions are different (writing is subjective after all), that you have to find an editor you have a rapport with, and that you can’t take any advice too personally.

This season, I’m talking with all sorts of editors who have very different specialties. For a list of who they are, check out the show notes for this episode or astorythatworks.com.

If you’re at the editing stage, I highly recommend you visit each editor’s website and do your research. Hopefully, someone stands out to you and seems particularly able to help with whatever you’re struggling with in writing. Every editor is professional and has been a joy to work with.

Their websites are listed on the show notes and most even offer a free consultation so you can get a personal feel for how they work in addition to hearing each episode.

You can also go to astorythatworks.com at any time. On our site, in addition to the list of the editors, there will always be a place for you to send me the stories you write (because, of course, I hope you’re still writing). And there’s a form you can fill out if you have questions about anything to do with the editors or this podcast in general.

The goal is to keep writing and to improve what you put on the page with each story you finish. This season you’ll notice I struggle a lot with expanding my work and with seeing it from a perspective outside my own mind. Getting advice from other editors (friends, family, anyone who loves to read and can offer valuable feedback) is invaluable to the process of improving. For me. You’ll have to play around with what works for you.

In having these conversations (and of course with writing and finishing so many stories lately), I’ve learned so much about my writing. That’s not to say it’s any easier, but that I can craft stories intentionally and work on various skills each time.

But knowing all this about me (or even your favorite authors) isn’t enough. My goal is that, in listening to me, you figure out your own process. I hope this podcast helps you come to realize the importance of finishing the stories you start (whatever form and length they take). I hope it motivates you to do that work yourself. I hope it helps you set specific goals for what you want out of your writing, to practice with intention and on a regular basis—whatever that means for you, and to get feedback about what’s working and what isn’t.

It’s a cliché to say practice makes perfect, but it’s a cliché because it’s true.

Keep in mind that you will struggle at times and be frustrated at others, but so long as the love for writing remains, you can improve, you can succeed, and you can have fun. And if you’re not having fun writing, what’s the point anyway?

Editors:

We’re back—well, I’m back—for season 2 of A Story That Works, the podcast that gets you writing by showing you examples of what it looks like to figure out your own process and just do the work already. In case you forgot, I’m Rebecca a Story Grid certified editor and writer who does everything I can to not write, even though I love to do it.

Last season, Katelyn and I talked you through the process of writing a story three times. We shared our very different processes for prewriting, writing, and editing a story and shared those stories with you along the way. We asked you to do the work and weren’t shy about how much we struggled.

This season, Katelyn is in Prague teaching English (and now that the world is going crazy, she’s under a country-wide quarantine). Don’t worry, she’s safe and still working via video-conferencing. However, knowing her schedule ahead of time, we already knew we weren’t going to be recording together again this year.

That left me the chance to reimagine what this podcast could be and how I could get creative in helping writers do their work by continuing to show them it’s possible. Since we covered what it looks like to finish a first draft in season 1, I thought this time around we might dive deeper into editing by tearing apart some of my work and building it up to be better.

I’m lucky enough to have access to some amazing editors via Story Grid and so thought we could all help each other out by having these discussions (which, fair warning are longer than the chats Katelyn and I had).

I’m still going to read you my first drafts and I’m still going to be wholeheartedly vulnerable in this process. I welcome feedback from all of you and I’m not taking this criticism to heart because I understand that my writing, though an extension of me, is separate from who I am and can always be torn apart and made better.

The goal of writing for me is to always be improving what’s on the page and to never forget that the readers are part of writing in general. You have to have readers if you want to be successful (though, that depends on your definition of success and I only say this from a place of wanting to eventually write things other people get to read/see/listen to).

If you remember from last season, my stories needed a lot of work to get better and to be considered for publication. Not that I’ve published any of them yet, but I still struggle greatly with getting the work done, with under-writing, and with how to do this thing that I love when I care about the outcome so much.

That’s why I’m creating resources like this to help other people who might be struggling to let their egos go and to fall in love with the act of writing again. Because when we love what we’re doing, the rest (book deals, money, whatever) doesn’t matter as much and taking that pressure off yourself is the only way I’ve found I can do this thing I love in a way that might eventually lead to some semblance of success.

I hope you’re still here for this journey and can’t wait to share what we’ve come up with for this season.

Editors: