Secrets of Story Podcast

The great filmmaker Alexander Mackendrick famously passed along 41 rules of writing advice and now Matt and James are going to evaluate them all in a three-part epic!

James and Matt discuss their checkered history of getting agents/managers, failing to hold onto them, and getting new ones, with lots of tips for the unagented! Check out lots of supplemental materials on SecretsOfStory.com.

Can a computer do our jobs? Matt puts it to the test and James scoffs, as is his wont.

The long-awaited return! James and Matt reunite to discuss Matthew Salesses' book Craft in the Real World. Matt is worried about offending anyone and James is less so!

Special guests Sophie Beal and Gary Dalkin join us to debate the merits of the most infamous writing guide of all, Blake Snyder's Save the Cat

A whopping two guests join us to discuss the feat of co-authoring three thrillers as "Linda Keir", including "The Swing of Things", which leads to a discussion of whether or not transgression need always be punished in American literature.

James and Matt discuss Metaphor Families, Default Personality Traits, and Default Argument Tactics. James quotes great wisdom forgetting that he's quoting Matt, and Matt heaps praise on James's new book-- It's a kumbaya love fest!

James checks in on a prediction he made years ago (in Episode 4) that stories would start getting nicer. As it turns out, Ted Lasso proved him right!

Matt and James have a contentious history of giving (or not giving) feedback to each other, and they reveal some big philosophical differences on the fraught topic of how to give and receive notes.

Matt and James discuss 14 types of Irony and use Casablanca, Blazing Saddles and Mulan as examples.