Get a bird’s-eye view of A Wizard of Earthsea while Leslie and Valerie offer a macro analysis of this fantasy origin story using Story Grid’s Editor’s Six Core Question. The 1968 story was written by Ursula K. Le Guin.

This season on the Story Grid Writers’ Room podcast, Leslie and Valerie are doing a full Story Grid macro analysis of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. We'll review the Editor’s Six Core Questions and look at each of the acts in detail.

Stay tuned to discover the final takeaways from Valerie and Leslie’s deep study of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel, Gone Girl. Find out what they’ve learned by applying Story Grid’s Editor’s Six Core Questions and breaking down each quadrant of this compelling Psychological Thriller.

Wonder how to deliver a powerful and satisfying finish to your story? On the Story Grid Writer’s Room podcast this week, Valerie and Leslie analyze the ending payoff of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl to unpack what makes this story work so well.

Feeling stuck in the middle of your story? On the Story Grid Writer’s Room podcast this week, Valerie and Leslie analyze the middle build 2 quadrant of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl to unpack what makes this story work so well.

How can you keep readers turning pages through the middle build of your story? On the Story Grid Writer’s Room podcast this week, Valerie and Leslie find out by analyzing the middle build 1 quadrant of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.

What makes the opening of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 Psychological Thriller, Gone Girl, so compelling? On the Story Grid Writer's Room podcast this week, Valerie and Leslie analyze the beginning hook to find out.

Follow the clues this week to uncover the genius behind Gillian Flynn’s 2012 Psychological Thriller, Gone Girl. Valerie and Leslie analyze the macro story by applying Story Grid's Editor’s Six Core Questions. They identify the global genre, the conventions and obligatory moments of the genre, point of view and narrative device, objects of desire, the controlling idea, and the beginning hook, middle, build, and ending payoff.

Ever since the Story Grid Editor Roundtable started three years ago, we've been asked to apply the Story Grid method to a novel. Well, this is it! This season we're doing a full Story Grid macro analysis of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. We'll review the Editor’s Six Core Questions in the first episode. Haven't read it yet? Grab a copy of the novel now and follow along with us on December 9, 2020, when we'll post the first episode of the new season. To whet your appetite, this is a "Roundtable Reissue" including our Editor's Six Core Questions analysis of the 2014 film adaptation.

Ever since the Story Grid Editor Roundtable podcast started three years ago, we've been asked to apply the Story Grid method to a novel. Well, this is it! This season we're doing a full Story Grid macro analysis of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. We'll review the Editor’s Six Core Questions and look at each of the acts in detail.

It’s a wrap! In this episode, Valerie and Leslie close out the first season of the Story Grid Writer’s Room Podcast with a review of takeaways and lessons learned.

In the Writers’ Room this week, Valerie and Leslie find out whodunit and how in the Core Event of The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie. The 1942 Cozy Mystery features a classic "summation gathering" scene when Miss Jane Marple reveals how she discovered the killer’s identity.

In the Writers’ Room this week, Valerie and Leslie look at internal conflict and character revelation in a Turning Point scene of Sue Monk Kidd’s 2002 Worldview Story, The Secret Life of Bees. See how quiet moments can lead to scenes with big impact.

In the Writers’ Room this week, Valerie and Leslie unpack the many points of conflict from different perspectives in the Core Event of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. The 2015 Psychological Thriller culminates in an extended Hero at the Mercy of the Villain scene that features a “Tug of War” where life hangs in the balance. Learn about unreliable narrators and shifting points of view, and don’t forget to check out the the list of progressive complications in the show notes.

In the Writers’ Room this week, we listen closely to the “I Have a Voice” scene in the 2010 film The King’s Speech. The Oscar-winning story was directed by Tom Hooper from a screenplay by David Seidler. The scene in the spotlight today delivers the middle build climax of this Performance Story by “poking the bear.” But that’s not all it does. Don’t miss how the dialogue reveals character and word choice sets up conflict and conveys the theme.

We slide into the Revolution Scene in the Writers’ Room this week as we analyze the 1911 novella Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. We look at the difference between cautionary and tragic tales and discuss what The Hunger Games and The Accidental Tourist have in common with Ethan Frome.

Don't know what to include in the sales copy for your book? How can you describe your story to appeal to the ideal reader? Shawn Coyne and Valerie Francis help you find your way in a special Toolbox episode of the Writers' Room Podcast.

This week we face the Hero at the Mercy of the Villain in the Writers’ Room as we analyze the core event of the 2005 novel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.

It’s time for the Big Showdown in the Writers’ Room this week as we analyze the 1953 short story “3:10 to Yuma” by Elmore Leonard.

It’s the Big Choice plus perspective in the Writers’ Room this week as we analyze the 1961 short story “ I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen.