Story Works Round Table Archives - Page 10 of 65 - Story Works Round Table Podcast

SWRT 332 | Culture, Trauma, and Memory in Somia Sadiq’s Gajarah

Sep 25, 2025

In this week’s episode, Alida and Kathryn are honored to host Somia Sadiq, an award-winning entrepreneur and global peace negotiator, who shares her journey into the world of storytelling through her debut novel, Gajarah. Somia discusses the importance of exploring the complexities of identity, trauma, and belonging through literature, emphasizing the power of storytelling to foster understanding and connection. Join us as we delve into the intricate relationship between the storyteller and the listener, and how Somia’s unique experiences shape her narrative style.

SWRT 331 | Taking Up Space with Susan Swan

Sep 11, 2025

In this week’s Story Works Round Table, Alida welcomes Susan Swan, an acclaimed novelist and professor emerita at York University, join us to discuss her new memoir, Big Girls Don’t Cry. As Susan reads an excerpt from her book, she invites us into her world of growing up as a tall girl in a society that often discourages women from taking up space. We delve into themes of body image, the societal expectations placed on women, and the journey of finding one’s voice and identity. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation on the importance of asserting oneself in a world that often tries to diminish women’s presence.

SWRT 269 | Villains & Act II

Nov 17, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida & Kathryn discuss what to do with your villain in act II. As we know, they aren’t usually black-hat-evil-doers, but we still need an escalation of stakes for our protagonist. How do we keep act II moving along at a good pace, whether our villain is a bad person or a force or situation in our character’s life that causes challenges? We look at multiple scenarios for our heroes and what to do to keep them and the villain rising toward the climax.

SWRT 268 | Writing Scary Stories

Nov 3, 2022

If Halloween inspired you get your Boo! on, this episode of the Story Works Round Table is for you. Alida and Kathryn talk the craft of scaring the pants off your readers. But this isn’t just a skill for horror writers. We all need to write scenes from time to time full of dramatic suspense, an eerie mood, or dark twists. Loaded with examples and how-to, you’re sure to be ready to write scary!

Let us know what you learned from this episode, what you liked, what you have questions on. Suggest a topic for future episodes. And if you think you’d be a good co-host, let us know!

Get the Scary Monsters & Super Creeps writing workshop at www.StoryWorksFiction.com

SWRT 267 | Agency

Oct 20, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss character agency. In this, Robert’s final episode as a co-host, he brought us the question of what to do with a character who is kept “on the back foot”? How do you write a protagonist with agency when the hero is in a position that seemingly rules out taking charge? This episode will be linked in the show notes to all related episodes in the library.

Would you like to be considered as the next co-host on the Story Works Round Table? Drop me a line!

Show notes, links, & more at www.StoryWorksPodcast.com.

SWRT 266 | Writing Humor

Oct 6, 2022

This week, Alida, Robert, and Kathryn answer a listener’s question about writing humor into our stories. Is comedy just a special gift some writers have and the rest of us don’t? Or are there things we can craft to make our story moments funny?

Join us as we explore the topic and let us know your favorite funny authors as well as how you handle comedic moments in your writing. Share in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!

Do you have a question or topic you’d like us to explore? Let us know. We’d be happy to!

SWRT 265 | Read Widely to Improve Craft

Sep 22, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss all the ways reading widely benefits you as a writer. There is so much more to be gained from reading as a writer than reading as a reader. Kathryn attests that her story craft has improved by reading beyond her favorite genre. How has reading improved your storytelling? What are the pitfalls to avoid when shopping for books? How can you find the books with the scenes that will deliver the help you need as a writer?

SWRT 264 | Writing Physicality

Sep 8, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Robert, & Kathryn get physical (and you won’t believe the scenes that get Robert in trouble!). When you need your characters to do something involving specific bodily movements, how can you create choreography that delivers the precise image you want in the reader’s mind, then move beyond choreography to create a felt experience in your reader’s body?
Do you have a WIP that would benefit from group coaching? Check out Alida’s fall session and join us today!

SWRT 263 | Act II

Aug 25, 2022

Does this sound familiar? Robert: A big problem is that when you dream up your story, you have this amazing sense of, I just thought this amazing thing is going to happen to this character and then how it’s all going to end. Okay, but there’s 50% of your double, which I just haven’t thought about yet. I think for many of us, it’s being able to slow down, tease apart the problem, and introduce all of the complications that are required to then deliver that delicious climax that is really satisfying to the reader. So it’s such an important task, yet it’s probably the thing we naturally, as writers, I’m making it very everybody. It’s not everybody’s problem, of course, but we do know many of us experience the problem where we don’t know what to put in the middle there, I suppose.
Kathryn: Yeah, we have this big empty gap, like, just tell me what to put in here, please.

Sound familiar? Then sit back and enjoy this week’s Story Works Round Table episode all about “what to put in here, please!”

SWRT 262 | Non-protagonist POVs

Aug 11, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss using a non-protagonist as your point of view character. What pitfalls does a writer face in doing this? Will readers engage with a witness POV? And if the POV character does not have stakes in the action, what then? This topic came to us from a listener’s question and made for a juicy craft conversation!

Show notes, links, & more at www.StoryWorksPodcast.com.

SWRT 261 | Arcless Protagonists

Jul 28, 2022

Alida, Robert & Kathryn discuss the merits and pitfalls of writing a hero without a character arc. It has been done to great success, so why do so few people suggest it’s even possible to write an arcless protagonist?

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