SWRT 259 | Retreats & Research

June 30, 2022

person typing on MacBook Pro on brown wooden table during daytime photo

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida & Kathryn discuss the benefits of writing retreats, especially when your story requires location-specific research. Whether you’re writing urban fantasy, historical, or just a story set in a real place, this episode is a happy exploration of how taking time for yourself as a writer and immersing in your research can do wonders for both your story and you!

Story Works Round Table is going biweekly this summer. Our next episode is coming out in two weeks. Use our off weeks to explore the catalog of over 250 episodes all about story craft, writing process, and the creative life!

Story Works Reading Series is open for submissions. Do you have a short story or essay you’d like to read on a literary journal for your ears? Submit today!

VIDEO

AUDIO

SHOW NOTES

What we talked about:

Why are we talking about retreats and research? (1:10)

Why a real place? (4:35)

What was surprising between research and reality? (5:15)

Did we discover things we HAD to put in the story? (6:50)

Did we get writing done on our research trip? (9:00)

What difference does being there make? (11:10)

The importance of making writing important! (12:55)

What is the difference between a research trip and a writing retreat? (16:13)

The fun of writing friends. (19:35)

LINKS

Get Alida’s Writing Tips here.

Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.

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About Your Hosts

Alida Winternheimer is an award-winning author with an MFA in writing from Hamline University. She pursues her fervor for all things story as a writing coach, developmental editor, and teacher. Three times nominated for the Pushcart Prize, she is also a notable in Best American Essays and winner of the Page Turner Award. Author of The Story Works Guide to Writing Fiction Series, Alida lives and writes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She camps, bikes, and kayaks in her free time. Unless it’s winter, in which case she drinks chai by the fire. You can find more at www.alidawinternheimer.com.

Kathryn Arnold writes fantasy and anything else that sparks her creativity from her home in Kingston, Washington. She currently earns her living as an insurance underwriting assistant, where she also creates marketing and web copy. When not writing, she plays (and teaches) piano and keyboard in a band (or two), and is working on starting a ministry team with her husband. You can find Kathryn at www.skyfirewords.com.

Robert Scanlon was born in Australia, but whisked off to England when only a baby. After many years complaining about the weather, he did the sensible thing and moved back to Australia. Despite a career in the music industry, followed by decades teaching public speaking, Robert is an introvert who adores reading. Robert grew up on a diet of sci-fi masters, eventually discovering he had read the library’s entire science fiction section. Now he has to write his own. Robert is the author of Constellation, book one of the Blood Empire space opera series. Find out more at www.RobertScanlon.com