Story Works Round Table Archives - Page 11 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 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?

SWRT 260 | Short Stories

Jul 14, 2022

This week, Alida and Kathryn talk about short stories. Why, as novelists, do we love writing the short story? What can we learn by writing short stories that we maybe can’t by writing novels? What makes a short story great? It’s memorability. It’s a shift in the reader. Sound tough to achieve? Don’t let that stop you! Your writing skills will grow in leaps and bounds when you take on the short story.

SWRT 259 | Retreats & Research

Jun 30, 2022

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!

SWRT 258 | Love & Writing

Jun 16, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss Love & Writing. How many ways can you write love and all its complications into your stories? We aren’t talking about romance here, just love in its many complex forms.

Story Works Round Table will now be coming out biweekly. Don’t worry, we aren’t going away, just changing the schedule. Use our off weeks to explore the catalog of over 250 conversations about craft at www.storyworkspodcast.com!

SWRT 257 | Trouble…and more trouble

Jun 10, 2022

What is trouble? How does it contribute to both character and plot arcs? How do you have to pay off trouble? And do you have to get it into every scene? We enjoy making a character struggle with a speeding ticket, and talk about how it can contribute to hooks both between chapters and books.

SWRT 256 | Act I, a Library Links episode

Jun 2, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss Act I in this all new episode about opening your novel. What is the author’s responsibility to the reader? How does your opening need to connect to your ending and what happens when it doesn’t? We link it in the show notes to all the related episodes in our catalog, so make sure to check out our Library Links below.

SWRT 255 | Using Repetition in Your Story

May 26, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss the usefulness and drawbacks of using repetition in your story. What kind of repeition is typically employed in story? When does it become predictable or dull? How can we use repetition effectively to add to the reader’s experience without compromising novelty?

SWRT 254 | Motifs

May 19, 2022

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss motifs, those recurring elements in a story that seem to live in the background yet enhance the power and meaning of narrative.

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