94: Crafting a Story is Like Solving a Puzzle

Today’s episode is about two things. 1. A great way to tell a relationship story is to choose a subject or activity that’s dear to the person you’re writing about. Then, describe that activity. 2. Stories are puzzles. There’s a false binary idea that writers are creative and therefore not good at math. We disagree. You have to tap into both sides of the brain to create good stories because there’s a mathematical equation in stories.

Writing about a subject or activity or in today’s case, a puzzle, is also a great way to get published.

Kristen Paulson-Nguyen, one of our past students, wrote a story called All We Can Do Is Sudoku. The story is about her father-in-law’s love for the puzzle. Of course, the story is about so much more. What’s awesome is that Kristen’s story was published on June 24, 2020 in The New York Times in the Crosswords and Games section. 

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). This episode of Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz, and Allison Langer. Mia Pennekamp is our media specialist.

Theme music is by Amadians. 

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, follow us on Patreon. For $10/month Andrea will answer all your publishing questions. For $25/month you can join Allison’s First Draft weekly writers group, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio.

For more Kristen, find her on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/persistencepersonified

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kpnwriter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristenscarousel/