Story Grid Writing Podcast

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Latest Episodes:

How do you write a book you're proud to publish? Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

Tim opens with a stat that frames the whole conversation: the average unpublished writer he surveyed has been at it for nearly 15 years. He puts the question to Shawn directly. What is Story Grid trying to do about that?

Shawn's answer starts with the mythic patterns that make stories like The Odyssey, The Lord of the Rings, and Pride and Prejudice last, and lands somewhere most writing advice doesn't: the sentence. His argument is that the same beginning, middle, and end that shapes a novel also shapes a scene and a sentence, and that the sentence is the smallest unit capable of carrying a transformation. Get that right and the larger structures follow.

Along the way, Tim and Shawn cover:

Why reading Save the Cat, McKee, and MasterClass doesn't translate into being able to write a mythic story, and what Aristotle's subject-and-predicate has to do with it
The chicken sexing model of learning: repetition plus feedback from someone who knows, instead of theory first
What Shawn actually meant when he told Tim, after two full manuscripts, that he couldn't write a sentence
The five commandments (inciting incident, turning point, crisis, climax, resolution) as five "criticalities" of everyday experience, and how each one can be written as one sentence
Antagonism and protagonism as forces, not roles, and why antagonism isn't the bad guy
Why Story Grid students are limited to one sentence per commandment
Tim's guitar and jiu-jitsu comparisons, and why writing is harder to self-correct than either
Flow state, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow, and why feeling like you're taking dictation from the muse doesn't mean the writing works
Journaling versus writing: the difference between monologue and a dialogue with a reader
The Aunt Louise test for whether your five sentences are actually working

Also mentioned: Brent Spalding, a Story Grid student whose novel was published by Story Grid Publishing.

Books referenced

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
On Writing by Stephen King
Story by Robert McKee
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

The Final Episode May 25, 2023

Show notes

This will be the final episode of the Story Grid Podcast for the foreseeable future. Tim gives some background on why this decision was made along with an update on his current writing project and other happenings around Story Grid.

Crazy Rich Asians: Part 4 - What Writers Can Learn May 11, 2023

Show notes

Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy.

What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film?

This is the final in a four part series analyzing Crazy Rich Asians. The screenplay was written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and the movie was based on a 2013 book of the same title written by Kevin Kwan.

This episode is hosted by Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl, writer and CEO of Story Grid.

Crazy Rich Asians: Part 3 - Genre Conventions and Story Theme May 04, 2023

Show notes

Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy.

What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film?

This is the second in a four part series analyzing Crazy Rich Asians. The screenplay was written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and the movie was based on a 2013 book of the same title written by Kevin Kwan.

This episode is hosted by Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl, writer and CEO of Story Grid.

Crazy Rich Asians: Part 2 - 5 Commandments of Storytelling Apr 20, 2023

Show notes

Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy.

What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film?

This is the first in a four part series analyzing Crazy Rich Asians. The screenplay was written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and the movie was based on a 2013 book of the same title written by Kevin Kwan.

This episode is hosted by Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl, writer and CEO of Story Grid.

Crazy Rich Asians: Part 1 - Is this a RomCom? Apr 13, 2023

Show notes

Access the full Story Grid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians at https://storygrid.com/crazy.

What can writers learn from studying this 2018 film?

This episode is hosted by Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl, writer and CEO of Story Grid.

John Wick Analysis: Part 4 - What Writers Can Learn and Obligatory Moments Apr 06, 2023

Show notes

Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick.

This is the final in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Grid methodology. This 2014 movie, written by Derek Kolstad, is a genre leading action movie.

Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault (https://www.rachel-arsenault.com) and Tim Grahl start by looking at the Story Grid Five Leaf Genre Clover before diving into the quadrants and controlling idea.

John Wick Analysis: Part 3 - Genre Conventions and Five Commandments Mar 30, 2023

Show notes

Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick.

This is the third in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Grid methodology. This 2014 movie, written by Derek Kolstad, is a genre leading action movie.

John Wick Analysis: Part 2 - Acts and Structure Mar 23, 2023

Show notes

Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick.

This is the second in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Grid methodology. This 2014 movie, written by Derek Kolstad, is a genre leading action movie.

John Wick Analysis: Part 1 - Genre and Controlling Idea Mar 16, 2023

Show notes

Access the full Story Grid analysis of John Wick at https://storygrid.com/wick.

This is the first in a four part series analyzing the movie John Wick using the Story Grid methodology. This 2014 movie, written by Derek Kolstad, is a genre leading action movie.

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