I wish I had found this podcast years ago. The insight into the technical aspects of writing discussed here, for me, has helped bring more clarity to my writing process. Along with KM Weiland’s and Susannah Gilbo’s podcasts, Story Grid functions as the third leg of the stool in my understanding of basic writing how-to, and is an invaluable addition. Each episode is refreshingly to-the-point and professional, with no silly personal chatter like some other podcasters think we want to hear — if you like that, fine, but this one is free of it, thank the muse. If you’re a writer aspiring to be an author with full command of your chops, Story Grid is a must. At first, the information is complicated and a bit hard to wrap your brain around, but stick with it, Tim and Sean not so much belabor each point, but explain it from every angle until sinks in. Very well done and still relevant today.

A lot of useful info, but it reduces the writing process into a paint by numbers exercise. Will you finally finish that novel? Probably. Should you call yourself a writer when you’ve simply filled in the blanks? Probably not.

If you want to write fiction, read the Story Grid, take a course with them and listen to this podcast from start to finish. Gold.

When Shawn and Tim talk back and forth, the discussion has focus; it delivers helpful and actionable ideas for creating excellent fiction. Tim asks all the same questions I have about good writing and bad writing. I feel a lot more confident about writing my draft and worrying less about how much editors will hate it. I can’t wait to get the book delivered…it’s on the way! Thanks, guys! Keep up the great work!

Shawn did a great job with his unique book and the podcast. His words and insight were the great value in this podcast. Once he left as a regular on the podcast we at our club found less value and moved onto other people like Steven James and John Truby. My question for Shawn for his book is why did he choose to showcase the violent, misogynistic, and psychopathically gruesome book “The Silence of the Lambs”? So many other options…. A real turnoff.

I heard Shawn on the Creative Penn Podcast and was hooked. It has been an amazing ride, staring over Tim’s shoulder.Thank you Shawn for being a fabulous teacher. Thank you SG editors for your contribution. Thank you Tim for being vulnerable, open, and hard working. Without that, the podcast would have ended at 10 episodes instead of this epic journey. I am going to miss these Thursday adventures. I look forward to the book.🦋

I’ve spent so long trying to find a writing podcast. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason most of them are extremely boring. I’m not trying to be rude, this is a topic I find so interesting, and you’ve somehow found a way to make it 10 times more boring that the others. I have never listened to someone sound so dull, dreary and unemotional. Not to mention egotistical . This podcast had so much hope, but for some reason you talk about your own book? That none of us have read…. Except maybe 2 people? What even is this?

Tim and Shawn have put together a fantastic podcast. I really appreciate their knowledge and experience and the fact they have been willing to share. I have learned a tremendous amount from the podcasts that, even with an MFA in Creative Writing, I never would have know. Again, thank you gentlemen!

Shawn and Tim, I just finished listening to episode 96. I just found your podcast in the fall after running across Shawn’s book. I have listened to your discussion, and bought several of the books. I have started a manuscript and used the concepts of the foolscap, and the obligatory scenes to create a basic outline for my story. I even did a video and plugged the book and website. I have used the five commandments to strengthen outlines for each scene that I have written and been able to judge them. All of this is to say, that your podcast has served me as wonderful guide and encouragement. My first two books have so many problems and I had no idea where to even begin to attack them. Now I have some direction, some guidance, and some encouragement. Thanks.

Finding this enormously helpful both from the perspective of the craft of writing, structure (Shawn) and the sense of camaraderie with Tim as he goes on his journey as a novelist. Really appreciate Tim being in the hot seat. Also grateful that this is being brought to us for free - no advertisements. Long may it last.

I enjoy the podcast exchanges and how the host works through her own process aloud with Shawn & guests. I would rate it 5 stars if the “mmhmm” and other agreeing noises were removed. It’s jarring and distracting.

I’ve been following all things Story Grid since shortly after Shawn Coyne’s first Story Grid book appeared. It immediately resonated in a way no other fiction craft book had. Listening to the podcast is like sitting in a den or car with Shawn and Tim Grahl (and whoever else participates) as they workshop novels and dive into some intriguing story philosophy wormholes that sometimes deliver them into strange and wonderful reaches of the narrative universe. To get the most from this podcast, read Story Grid or read the free content at story grid.com first or in parallel. Expect to hear a consistently structured analytical approach discussed intellectually and applied to specific stories. Tim will serve as your avatar, frequently poking Shawn and asking for a layman’s version of ‘that thing you just said.’ Also check the other Story Grid podcasts for more highly structured demonstrations of the Story Grid story analysis tools and methods to films and novels.

I appreciate your vulnerability and honesty while teaching about writing. While I don’t have a tutor to learn from in person, I’ve got you two. Thank you!

Much talk about their stuff and a nod to good stuff. Better—Read the good stuff.

Many thanks to Shawn and Tim for this extraordinary resource that just keeps giving! I appreciate the balancing dialogue between mentor and protege in this podcast and never tire of the minutiae. Thanks for your courage and humility, Tim and for your infinite wisdom and generosity, Shawn. Keep up the great work!

It’s as if Shawn doesn’t prepare for the episodes in advance and just kind of riffs about the topic being thrown at him, which inevitably leads the listener down a rabbit hole of incoherent, droning abstraction. I had high hopes for this podcast, but found myself continually getting lost trying make sense of Shawn’s wandering stream of consciousness. There’s a nice little nugget here and there, but not worth it in the end.

This podcasgt is a bounty of information for the starting writer (thus the title of the review). I started this podcast a couple of weeks ago and have already learned SO much. Shawn is extremely generous to give so much information in this format and Tim is great at representing all of us the starting writers. The podcast is a fantastic companion to Shawn's book The Story Grid (the the title of the podcast), as I am reading the book, the podcast has helped me understand some the concepts better and the book provides down in the details...well, detail to really get the most ouf of what Shawn is trying to teach everyone. Thanks Shawn and Tim for this great resource for writers!

This podcast has helped me dive deeper into my writing and make more sense of the pre-writing planning I do. So helpful!

I tried and tried to figure out what they were discussing and found it incomprehensible, perhaps because it was all subjective to the host’s book.

This podcast has helped me in many ways; the different genres, scene structure, and obligatory scenes, things I didn’t really understand until it was explained in the right way. I love this podcast and recommend it to every writer friend I know!

Shawn Coyne, where have you been all my life? I’m just thankful to have found this in time to make use of it. I also think the only reason that Shawn’s techniques haven’t resulted in a flood of the marketplace by fantastic authors who actually understand and implement what he has to teach, is that it’s still just bloody hard work to write books, even when someone like Shawn gives you a 10-year start on the hard lessons. The fact that this is a free podcast is an act of unbelievable generosity to the world as well. Tim Grahl, your gift to your listeners from creating and managing the show cannot be underestimated. You add an enormous amount to the show through sharing your own honest journey and adding the beginning writer’s perspective to every episode through your own very valuable insights. It would not be the same show, and would not be such a great show, without you as its committed driving force and essential foil for Shawn. The byplay between the two of you is critical to making the show much more than just Shawn holding forth his wisdom. Shawn Coyne, you are a gentleman and a scholar and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You know what you’re giving us. And it will live on in the world, there can be no doubt. Enough said.

Thanks to Tim Grahl who asks all those questions we grown ups don’t ask because it will make us look stupid :) very COURAGEOUS Tim. And thanks to Shawn Coyne who teaches story writing with an organic story that’s happening as you listen. It’s a ton of good info they are trying to relay in an easy way. My only problem is I keep listening to these two instead of doing my own writing.

I just found StoryGrid this last weekend and have already listened to five episodes - all about editing, about genre, and about publishing. I’m loving it. Straightforward but in depth. I’ve found the pod to be useful as I’m completing my third drafted novel (and the first time I’ve felt good about a book I am writing throughout the process). Update: about fifty episodes in, and listening to this pod helps me to think about my own writing in a year when I’m editing a manuscript and starting another. I really enjoy this podcast.

Out of most of the podcast on writing I listen to, I have to say I have learned the most from this one. I encourage anyone, no matter your location on the journey to writing, to listen to this podcast. I love the juxtaposition of the struggling first time writer with the Yoda master as they discuss all things writing.

Reading the book Story Grid then listening to the pod cast is an amazing educational experience. It has helped me with writing and with how I approach other projects as well.

Great content but the other speaker, not the guy writing the book, his audio doesn’t sound good at all. His voice recording has no bass or something.

Listened to a couple episodes of the podcast, read the book in a couple days, now back to the podcasts, which go into greater depth on topics covered in the book. Great stuff, guys!

I hope they haven’t stopped. They used to come out a bit more frequent. I’m hooked on this pod. Thank you guys for doing this. This is such a good podcast.

These episodes and the book have been a lifesaver for my team as we write a Big Idea nonfiction book, especially since the author is a first time writer in his fifties with no official writer’s training! After listening, I feel able to diagnose the book’s problems and now have tools to help the author understand how to improve! Also using Story Grid language makes me feel smarter when I use it in book meetings. =) Such a valuable resource! Couldn’t recommend more! And that is being said after listening to hours and hours of this podcast!

I was an English major in college and I’ve been writing in some form for more than 20 years. The information and insights that I’ve heard in this podcast have surpassed everything I’ve heard to date. Thank you!!!

Just started listening, enjoying it very much! Good insights.

Amazing writing advice with tons of examples! Very detailed

I have learned so much and enjoyed every minute along the way. This podcast was exactly what I’ve been looking for to take my writing to the next level!

I am a latecomer to the show. A writing friend told me about it in May 2019. Fast forward to October 2019 and I’m caught up. I’ve bought the story grid book and find both to be useful and symbiotic to one another. Some principles I use when doing a first draft, some during an edit. Story grid is a game changer and boy do I appreciate it! I love the podcasts with the most specificity. Sometimes when Shaun gets on a generalized topic he gets out there a bit and loses me (like the genders of chaos an order. I get the history, but still... 🙄) The fact that both Tim and Shaun are willing to put themselves out there the way they do is admirable and the world owes them a debt of gratitude. I only want to know one thing... is Tim ever publishing his fiction book?!?!

I found this podcast after enrolling in a writers group online. I’ve never written a story before and all of the information that Tim and Shawn break down is so helpful! I have since purchased the Story Grid book and know that my writing will be so much better for having learned it! Thank you for making it all available!

After listening to the first two episodes I found some interesting points being brought up. When something so patently obvious is discussed, that a book about a kanagroo detective won't sell well unless there is a kanagroo on the cover, I'm wasting my time. I might give it a few more episodes, but if there is more such innane discussions, I will unsubscribe. I should spend my time writing than listening to that which any thoughtful writer should already know.

I stumbled on this podcast about a month ago, went back and downloaded all of them to listen to from the beginning. The first "season" (are podcasts measured that way?) has Tim Grahl working with Shawn Coyne to improve his writing. Since Tim was roughly at the same place in his development as a fiction writer that I am, I have found these episodes to be great. Tim asks all the questions I would ask if I had the chance to talk to Shawn Coyne or someone like him. If you're a writer, especially one who's developing your craft and struggling to understand what makes a given story "work" or not, and how to fix it if it doesn't, this podcast is, in my estimation, a must, and I also recommend reading Shawn's book. I have found the Foolscap method indispensible in developing initial story ideas. The grid itself plays a much larger role when I go back to edit my first draft, but tracking the basic elements in the grid (what happens in a given scene) has helped me keep everything straight in my head for the novel I'm writing. I also find it useful to map out the "Five Commandments" of each scene before I write it. This has enabled me to move from an average of 250 words per day up to an average of 750 words per day because, before I even start writing, I *know* where the current scene starts, where it's going, and I have a rough idea of how it gets from point A to point B. It makes my work *a lot* more productive. It also means that, when I write something that does *not* "work," I recognize it pretty quickly. As an example, yesterday, I realized a scene I had written was purely expositional. I could cut it out completely, and the story wouldn't be affected, so I added a complication, crisis, and resolution to the scene, and it became a vital part of the story. Get the book. Read the book. Listen to the podcast. They go hand-in-hand wonderfully. I don't think you'll be disppointed.

I love this podcast. It’s so interesting to get down to not just the skeleton of a story, but the cells and all the little organelles inside the them. The more I listen, the more I integrate STORY into my being, cementing this understanding into my brain and body. My cells, if you will ;)

I just binged all the episodes, and listening to Tim's journey on fast-forward has been eye-opening. I grew up believing that since I couldn't sit down and write a great story on my first attempt, that I wasn't creative. That I wasn't born with the ability to write fiction. Now I know beyond a doubt that I can do it if I really want to. It will just be really, really hard, and I'll want to quit along the way. But listening to Shawn mold Tim into a solid writer, and listening to him talk Tim off the ledge several times, has given me the confidence that I can use the Story Grid resources and write my own fiction (with the help of a Story Grid editor!). So thanks!

I’ve read Shawn’s book, The Story Grid: What Good Editors know. It was educational and a little overwhelming. However, the Masterwork Experiment episodes of this podcast are like having Shawn and Anne sit with me at my kitchen table and help me understand story. They’re thorough but not pedantic. Coyne is the seasoned editor (Coyne’s publishing career is legendary), Hawley is the seasoned author. They are smart, kind, insightful, wonderful teachers and a fabulous team. This is podcast gold.

As a new writer I eat up every word and learn a ton from every episode. This is the best way to get on track with your novel or any story idea. You get a huge bang for no bucks and less time than taking a class. I love you guys. Thank you, thank you! The book is my writing bible. But your conversations bring it to life.

Just finished listing to the first episode in the Masterpiece Experiment. Awesome premise! I love the idea and will be following along in wriing my own verion. Thank you for this.

Great podcast, but maybe lay off the Peterson, sprinkle in some Derrida or something in there

Authors, the Story Grid provides the structure you need to write efficiently and effectively. Get the book. Listen to the podcast. Apply what you’ve learned and get to work!

I started out listening to this podcast because of my typical human urge to write a story coupled a lack of willpower. While I'm certainly at a point in my life where undertaking such a huge project as a novel would be totally unreasonable, I nonetheless can't get enough of this podcast. While storytelling and craft is obviously the main focus, Shawn obviously takes a huge amount of influence from Jungian concepts and from Joseph Campbell's work. Therefore the lessons and conversations from each episode are inexorably linked with the real human experience, and work just as well from the perspective of personal growth. I absolutely love it, and recommend it to literally everyone.

Getting to listen to a professional guide a novice throughout the process is priceless. Shawn can get a bit long winded, but he’s trying to nail down his point I think this is fantastic info

Basically, you get to listen to a doctoral level course on writing. You get to see the ends and out of the entire process. If you can’t see value you in it, you are arrogant and full of yourself.

The Story Grid has leveled up my writing. Great podcast in conjunction with the book/blog for understanding the structure of good stories that work.

Have recommended to all my writer friends. I have learned so much! The Story Grid book by Shawn Coyne and this podcast is essential for new writers!

Shawn talks way too much and for way too long, it’s not even funny. Like, how can anyone just listen to him go on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Seriously? Its like sitting through a lecture. Where’s the conversation? Why doesn’t Shawn ever stop talking? He actually doesn’t shut up. It reminds me of every excruciatingly annoying person I know. Your topics are good, but so poorly executed.