Story Works Round Table

conversations about craft

for writers and readers curious about writers

SWRT 296 | Writers Book Club: Checkhov

SWRT 296 | Writers Book Club: Checkhov

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn discuss Chekhov’s story, “The Woman with the Little Dog.” You can get the link to read it in the show notes.

“Everything that he found important, interesting, necessary, in which he was sincere and did not deceive himself, which constituted the core of his life, occurred in secret from others.” -Checkhov

Unpack the layers of Anton Chekhov’s poignant short story, “The Lady with the Little Dog,” in this thought-provoking episode of Story Works Round Table. Alida and Kathryn dissect the narrative’s exploration of love, regret, and societal imprisonment. As they navigate through the characters internal struggles and the story’s critique of marital conventions, listeners are invited to consider depth of character emotion, subtext, and presenting social commentary through story.

Are you ready to get more out of your writing, to grow your writing skills, and get that novel done faster? Do you want community, feedback, and mentoring? Check out group coaching for novelists. New Summer Session begins at the end of May. Get details & schedule your free discovery call today at www.wordessential.com/fictioncoaching

Get Alida’s reflections on life, writing, and the writing life in A Room Full of Books & Pencils. booksandpencils.substack.com

SWRT 296 | Writers Book Club: Checkhov

SWRT 295 | Writers Book Club: Gina Berriault

This week on the Story Works Round Table we discuss Gina Berriault’s flash fiction story, “The Woman in the Rose Colored Dress.” At only 2 1/2 pages, it packs in remarkable sentences, the experience of time passing, incredible subtext in minimal dialogue, and a realistic coming of age story when a girl makes a discovery about her father that shifts her understanding of the world. Get the link in our show notes to read the story yourself.

Join my new group coaching session for writers. Get your free discovery call today: www.wordessential.com/fictioncoaching

SWRT 121 | The Power of the Endnote

What is an endnote and why are we talking about it? How is it different from a resolution? Or the end of a scene or chapter? How can you use a “full circle” moment to really make your endnote powerful? And why should you craft it before you even get to the end of your story?

read more

SWRT 119 | Writing Tics…and what to do about them

What is a writing tic? And is it always a bad thing? We talk about throat clearing, voice issues, using filter words, and having a POV stranglehold. All of these are things you want to fix in revision, but having them isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as you recognize them. And what you do after you recognize them can change your writing behaviors for the better!

read more
SWRT 118 | Beyond Motivation part 2

SWRT 118 | Beyond Motivation part 2

We start off this episode with a recounting of Kathryn’s progress, before diving into bringing self-awareness and cross-contextualization into your goals processes. How can we adapt systems in our life that already work in order to help us complete our goals? And how much productivity are we actually capable of each day? Robert gives us an update on his progress and we talk about the insane amount of pressure we put on ourselves, and how we can help motivate ourselves each and every day. We all want to live the life we love, one day at a time. It’s just about finding the balance to do so!

read more
SWRT 117 | Beyond Motivation

SWRT 117 | Beyond Motivation

We jump into reviewing our progress on this year’s goals, and spiral into a conversation about our processes, mindset, and how to measure progress. Are we motivated by pain, reward, or something else? How can you re-frame your goals in order to recognize what you have accomplished, rather than beat yourself up for what you didn’t? Ultimately, it all comes down to living the life you want to live, one day at a time!

read more

SWRT 116 | Writing Great Sentences, part 3

How can you use a sentence to evoke mood? What about varying sentence structure to reflect different characters voice? Should you change your sentence structure by genre? Or by book? We all agree, reading great sentences make yours better!

read more

SWRT 115 | Writing Great Sentences, part 2

This week at the Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, and Robert continue their conversation about writing great sentences in novels of any genres. How many types of sentences are there? Do sentences need to be grammatically correct to be great? Do they need to be lyrical to be great? No. The sentences we craft serve a variety of purposes in our prose.

read more

SWRT 114 | Writing Great Sentences, part 1

What did we find when we set out to find great sentences? Is it all about the grammar? We talk about the categories a sentence can fit into, and why looking at the paragraph and sentence level is so important in your writing. We look at a couple of sentences from The Passion and Unaccustomed Earth. FInally, we talk about long sentences, poetic sentences, and use of metaphorical sentences to spice up your writing!

read more
SWRT 113 | How to Give a Really Good Critique

SWRT 113 | How to Give a Really Good Critique

Writing groups, are they helpful? If you are a part of a writing group, how do you give helpful feedback to your writing partners? We cover etiquette, how to mark manuscripts, and the time and effort you should put into being a good critique partner. Even as you critique you are learning as a writer, so have fun and grow together!

read more