

Nick Bilton: The Art of Storytelling in Films, Journalism, and Murder Mysteries | How I Write
Creating Tension
- Create drama and tension from the very beginning of your story to hook readers.
- Build suspense to keep readers engaged and wanting to turn the page.
Life as a Story
- Everything in life is a story, from supermarket pitches to dinner conversations.
- Great stories combine emotion, tension, and compelling characters.
Learning from Murder Mysteries
- Nick Bilton learned narrative nonfiction by writing screenplays and studying murder mysteries.
- A friend's critique of his Twitter book draft highlighted the importance of relatable characters.




































Welcome to 74-minutes of storytelling strategy that’s better than all of your English classes combined. Nick is a journalist who has written for The New York Times and Vanity Fair. He’s a screenwriter, an author, a murder mystery enthusiast. In other words, he knows how to push a story through a brick wall. And he’s going to show you how you can, too.
This episode is the ultimate storytelling toolkit. Cliffhangers. Tension. Dialogue. Character. Motifs. You’ll learn it all.
And here’s the thing: if you can tell great stories, then you will succeed in life. Stories make up our entire world — from a politician’s speech to the back of a cereal box to a dinner party with friends. Good storytellers always have the upper hand. So, if you want to tell fast-paced and dizzying stories, this episode is for you.
SPEAKER LINKS:
Website: https://www.nickbilton.com/
Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Nick-Bilton/author/B003UP0RIM
Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/nick-bilton
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickbilton
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickbilton
WRITE OF PASSAGE:
Want to learn more about the next class for Write of Passage?
Click here: https://writeofpassage.com/
PODCAST LINKS:
Website: https://writeofpassage.com/how-i-write
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel/videos
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices