Best Robert Mckee Podcasts (2024)

1
Pinch Me, Baby, Talking Sexy to Writers 15:22

1d ago15:22

15:22

There are some things in the writing world that don’t make a ton of sense in the world of regular humans. One of those things is pinch points. This podcast episode is going to be the start of a quick series of podcasts and regular posts about pinch points. The regular posts will be at our Substack LIVING HAPPY under the WRITE BETTER NOW publication…

1
Doubt: a "quiet story" masterpiece 26:59

2d ago26:59

26:59

It's a brand new season and that means Melanie and I are studying two new topics: narrative drive and conflict triangles. Conflict and page-turners are usually associated with action stories, thrillers and the like. But DOUBT is a quiet, character-driven film that is so expertly crafted it grabs the viewer's attention immediately and holds it right…

1
Our Best Advice: female characters + setups and payoffs 30:23

9d ago30:23

30:23

We've reached the end of another season and so we're wrapping up our best advice and a-ha moments just for you. Tune in to hear what we have to say about writing female characters and using female archetypes. We also share why it's crucial for you to use the first half of your story to set up everything that happens in the second half. (Hint: it al…

1
Just an Hour a Day Makes You More Bad Ass 17:10

10d ago17:10

17:10

There are a lot of people who advocate spending just an hour a day doing something to become awesome. That hour a day is often learning. You study up about what you want to do, you self learn, you teach yourself to be better by learning all about the thing you're into. So, if you're into writing, you read books about writing and actual books. You s…

1
Hanna - women aren't small men 41:04

16d ago41:04

41:04

I have been looking forward to this episode since the start of the season. I specifically selected Hanna so we could study fight scenes and weapons handling with female characters - Hanna doesn’t disappoint. I consider aspects of female fight scenes and firing pistols. Valerie wasn’t so lucky this week. Hanna is light on story because the action sc…

1
Fighting, Commerce, and Ten-Cent Beer: Welcome to America and How to Frame Stories 20:21

22d ago20:21

20:21

On last week’s podcast and the one a few before that, and in a post, Shaun and I talked a bit about plot structures and narrative structures and how here in the U.S. we think of these usually (not always!) as pretty linear, and pretty much in a three-act framework (think beginning, middle, end) with rising stakes and drama as you go along. This is …

1
Where'd You Go, Bernadette: deus ex machina 33:30

23d ago33:30

33:30

Quite often, stories that don't work have more to teach us than the stories that do. Maybe Maria Semple's novel (upon which this film is based), is simply one that's challenging to adapt to the screen. Whatever the case, this move has missed the mark on some basic storytelling principles (it has too many backstory info dumps, a Deus Ex Machina, and…

1
The Genius of Novellas 11:36

27d ago11:36

11:36

Novellas are the ace up your writerly sleeve! They enable you to practice all of the principles of storytelling in a shorter, more manageable form. That's going to make you a much better novelist because your story will be focused and you won't get lost in your manuscript. And oh, the best part? Novellas are on the rise. - V. *Script note: In the e…

1
Pot Plants Invade Wisconsin and Alternate That Plot Structure 24:37

29d ago24:37

24:37

Last week, maybe a week ago, maybe 82 years ago, who knows, we talked about alternative plot structures. Much of American film and novels is built on what's considered to be the classic three-act structure, which basically goes beginning-middle-end, and there's this rising line of the plot. It ends up looking like a bit of a triangle. As readers, w…

1
Crazy Rich Asians: when the antagonist is more compelling than the protagonist 44:13

30d ago44:13

44:13

Crazy Rich Asians pitches two female leads against each other - sounds excellent right? Not so fast… This should set up an epic battle of wills as one fights against traditions she doesn’t understand while the other fights to retain order and tradition. This week, I find out what happens when the protagonist doesn’t plausibly match, then surpass, t…

1
Yentil: the heroine's journey 36:39

1M ago36:39

36:39

This movie was way ahead of its time. It's a brilliant example of the heroine's journey and Melanie walks us through all 10 phases as outlined in Maureen Murdock's THE HEROINE'S JOURNEY: A WOMAN'S QUEST FOR WHOLENESS. Thanks to its excellent use of setups and payoffs, it also has an ending that is both surprising and inevitable. "One of our most ha…

1
No cow cuddles, no brain worms: Do you want to be happy? 24:23

1M ago24:23

24:23

Do you want to be happy? It’s a question philosopher Sebastian Purcell asks his students every year. Do you want to be happy? For Purcell being happy has a lot in common with living a good life, “The Stoic answer to this question, that the good life consists in flourishing (eudaimonia), has seen a resurgent interest that is indicative of a cultural…

1
Red Joan: meeting reader expectations 35:38

1M ago35:38

35:38

The marketing for this film highlights Judi Dench, but she's barely in it at all. As fans of hers, Melanie and I were disappointed. The movie is ok but it wasn't what we expected and that soured our experience of the story. Melanie still did a study of female archetypes and I still studied setups and payoffs, but the real lesson this week is what h…

1
Celestial Bodies, Sexy Knees and Story Structure via Robert McKee 23:17

2M ago23:17

23:17

You can learn a lot about culture by how it looks at what makes a good story and a good story structure. In Western culture right now, we tend to think of stories as three acts (a beginning, middle, and end with the bulk being in the middle), and with a protagonist or hero or main character (whatever you want to call it) who drives the story forwar…

1
Dirty Dancing: the heroine's journey 38:20

2M ago38:20

38:20

Does the nickname "baby" bother us? Why yes, yes it does. But we've got to admit, Dirty Dancing is an excellent example of the heroine's journey, as well as female archetypes and how women are presented in stories. It also happens to be, structurally, an excellent film. It's not a complex story, but it's well-told. -V. "In the first half of your st…

1
Strangeness Free-for-all 55:37

2M ago55:37

55:37

It ended up being a bit of a free-for-all as we talked about the strange things people do sometimes. SHOUT OUT TO STUBHY! The snippet of our intro and outro music is only a snippet of this guy’s awesome talent. Many thanks to Kaustubh Pandav. You can check out a bit of his work at the links below. www.luckyboysconfusion.Net or www.Facebook.com/mrms…

1
How Not to be a Butt-Hole in Real Life and on the Page 24:10

2M ago24:10

24:10

So building a sympathetic character on the page is a lot like being a sympathetic character in real life. This sympathetic character is basically the opposite of a butt-hole. There’s this great post on the SocialSelf blog that talks about what makes people likable and what keeps people from being likeable. And writers can learn from this, really. T…

1
Zero Dark Thirty: women in war zones 35:36

2M ago35:36

35:36

War stories are often the domain of ‘dick lit’ male protagonists, but is this a true representation of history and does the experience of women in war differ? In this episode, I reference historical female warriors and examines how the experiences of Maya, the protagonist in Zero Dark Thirty, compares with her wartime service. Valerie explores what…

1
Someone was sleeping outside her tent right next to her and how to make good writing habits 23:23

2M ago23:23

23:23

A lot of writers that I work with have a problem. The problem is that they want to be a writer, but before they come to me? They don’t write. Here’s the thing. For a lot of us, we have to make time to be a writer. That’s just how our brains and process work. There are some writers who manage to get 10 days of alone time and writer time and they pow…

1
Moonstruck: writing female characters 44:17

2M ago44:17

44:17

We're kicking off a brand new season with two new story concepts. Melanie will be studying female characters and how women are presented in modern stories (her work in this episode is reeeeally interesting!), and I'll be investigating something I learned from Steven Pressfield, which is that we shouldn't introduce anything new after Act 2. "Setups …

1
What do agents do? 48:04

2M ago48:04

48:04

This bonus episode was prompted by a chat I saw on Threads. It started with the question, what excites you most about having an agent? Offline, Melanie and I began to literary agents and what they do. We decided to hit record and share what we know with you. Enjoy! - V. For access to writing templates and worksheets, and more than 70 hours of train…

1
Strange Things In the Woods 1:01:49

2M ago1:01:49

1:01:49

We found a topic! It ended up mostly being about poop and creepiness and three-foot tall humanoids. Links we mention: https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-forest-ranger-stories/amandasedlakhevenerBy Carrie Jones and Shaun Farrar

1
Our Best Advice: left-brained stories 23:37

2M ago23:37

23:37

Left-brained stories (mysteries, crime thrillers, spy stories) are among the highest selling books on the market today. Readers can't get enough of them, and that means the bar for authors is really high because we have to create a puzzle that our readers haven't seen before. Add to this the fact that the fundamentals of storytelling work in a slig…

1
Overcoming Negativity Bias & Toilet Rats 19:01

2M ago19:01

19:01

Being an author or an artist or almost anyone is about navigating. You have to walk a fine line with criticism and praise, discern what's real and what's not, what matters or not, what is noise and what is important. And sometimes? Well, sometimes we only hear and dwell on the one negative thing that someone has said to us or written about us even …

1
The Sixth Sense: the art of the gotcha ending 36:43

3M ago36:43

36:43

Are you planning to use a twist at the end of your story? Have you ever wondered how M. Night Shyamalan pulled off this famous gotcha ending? If so, this episode is for you! Melanie does a deep dive into story twists and surprises so that you can craft an ending that delights your reader. I focused on the Central Dramatic Question which is a key pa…

1
Why it is okay to read books you’ve already read and sometimes there’s an alligator in your kitchen 28:25

3M ago28:25

28:25

Here's our main premise this week: it's okay to read books you've already read. Not only is it okay. It's helpful. This is true for both writers and normal humans. Rereading books gives you: New ideas Reminds you of ideas you'd forgotten about Let's you notice new things because you aren't the same you who read that book the last time. DONALD LATUM…

1
Breakout Books v. Words on a Page 6:39

3M ago6:39

6:39

To be a career author, you must have a breakout book. And, a breakout book is one that contains a story that works. In this episode, I tell you the story of an author who didn't know the difference between a breakout book and words on a page. What happened to him will make your jaw drop. For access to writing templates and worksheets, and more than…

1
The Spiral of Ick and Quiet Winners: You Don’t Have to Flaunt Yourself to Succeed 26:37

3M ago26:37

26:37

Recently, I read an interview with an author who talked about how much children loved her book and how they tell her this. It annoyed me. It may have been good marketing, but it sure didn't feel like good human-ing, you know? When you're interviewed by a reporter or when you do a school visit, as a children's book author, you have the ability to to…

1
How to Write a Breakout Book 2:27

3M ago2:27

2:27

I just attended a training session with a literary agent who said that failure to write a breakout book is one of the most common mistakes writers make. Well sure, that's fine to say, but (1) what is a breakout book and (2) how do you write one? Well, believe it or not, that's exactly what I'm covering in the How Stories Work webinar on April 9. Ma…

1
The Last of Sheila: soooo good 44:15

3M ago44:15

44:15

Now this is the epitome of a left-brained story. THE LAST OF SHEILA has puzzles within puzzles, an intricate plot that has been expertly set up, and a cast of characters who aren't who they seem to me. There are so many amazing things about it, I hardly know which of them to highlight for you here so I'll give you a bit of trivia: this movie was Ri…

1
How do stories work? 5:11

3M ago5:11

5:11

If you're writing a novel or memoir, you're writing a story. Sounds obvious, right? That may be, but most authors don't know how to tell a story that works. If you don't believe me check out the stats: 97% of the books sent to literary agents are rejected, of the books that get published 0.08% hit a bestseller list. Those who choose to self-publish…

1
Gosford Park: did he deserve it? 35:04

3M ago35:04

35:04

This film offers two hugely valuable lessons to writers of all genres. The first is about the inciting incident and when it needs to happen. The second is about unlikeable characters and how to handle them. In Gosford Park, it's the victim who is unlikeable and that adds an interesting dimension to the murder mystery storyline. -V. "Notice where yo…

1
Shaun went off the rails, but this was supposed to be about how do you sustain a career as an author 30:55

3M ago30:55

30:55

This is obviously not the full transcript. You have to listen to hear the full weirdness, but . . . here's the core. How Do You Sustain a Career as an Author? It's a really good question, right? One, all of us authors are trying to figure out. Rise With Drew writes, "Creative careers are slippery. One-hit wonders abound, but fewer are enduring supe…

1
One Line Writing Secret You Need to Know 8:51

3M ago8:51

8:51

In our last episode about our most embarrassing literary moments, Melanie and I said that line writing (or prose writing) means learning to write a narrative. We also said that there are specific techniques involved in writing a narrative, but we didn't say what any of them are. So that's the purpose of this little mini episode. We reveal a line wr…

1
Our Most Embarrassing Literary Moments 29:17

3M ago29:17

29:17

No one is born knowing how to write great prose. Like any other kind of specialized writing (ex., newspapers, academia, web, etc.), writing prose is a particular skill that can, and must, be learned. While Melanie and I were meeting to discuss our upcoming webinar about line writing, we started to share (horror) stories from the early days of our o…

1
A Most Wanted Man: why now? 35:25

3M ago35:25

35:25

Readers are on a need to know basis. That means that, as storytellers, we only tell them what they need to know, and only when they need to know it. In this adaptation of John le Carre's novel, the filmmakers could have told us everything we needed to know about Issa in the first few minutes. Instead, they sprinkled the details a little bit at a ti…

1
The Info Dump from Hell and How to Avoid Them and Also UFOs 19:43

3M ago19:43

19:43

Talking about show vs tell at the scene level is a little bit harder than talking about it at the paragraph and scene levels. But it’s also a tiny bit easier. When you’re looking for telling at this level of the story, what you’re looking for is a couple of things: A butt ton of backstory. A butt ton of info dumps A lot of flashback. You can have b…

1
THIS is how your novel gets noticed! 6:02

3M ago6:02

6:02

There are two ways to write great stories. The first involves at least 20 years of reading, writing and being rejected. The second, which is much faster, involves learning story theory. (Big shocker that I'm saying that, right?) If option number two sounds good to you, then check out the Story Nerd Spring Webinar Series, which kicks off on March 28…

1
The Good Liar: surprise v twist 41:57

4M ago41:57

41:57

The movie had both me and Valerie on the edge of our seats. When we come across a masterful movie we pull out as much as we can for you. This episode is chock-a-block full of info about point of view, narrative drive, clues, and liars. We also examine how the twist in The Good Liar is set up and pulled off. I continue to track the clues and motives…

1
Control Your Tells, Don’t Give In To the Passive 20:53

4M ago20:53

20:53

Babe, I know you don’t want to talk about showing vs telling any longer, our massive series, but it’s really really important. It’s sunk many a cool book idea, stopped others in its tracks. It is a chaos agent in the life of many a good writer. And there are so many damn facets to it. I could fill a year of podcasts talking about it. Don’t worry, I…

1
See How They Run: wasted potential 39:44

4M ago39:44

39:44

A comedic take on a murder mystery had so much potential, but unfortunately, the creators of SEE HOW THEY RUN wasted it with what can only be described as lazy writing and lazy editing. This is what happens when the writers of murder mysteries aren't also superfans of the genre, or when they try to cut corners. This week, Valerie discusses the unfo…

1
Author to Author: Chris Lynch Interview 30:24

4M ago30:24

30:24

Award-winning author of YA novels? Check. Printz honor author, ALA Best Book winner, National Book Award finalist? Check. Has a middle grade coming out March 11 that's about to rock the world? Definitely. Was so cool that Carrie was afraid to talk to him back in 2005 or 2006 or something? You know it. Chris Lynch, award winning human and ridiculous…

1
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: when did Smiley know? 57:08

4M ago57:08

57:08

It's a long episode this week because there's a whole lot to talk about in this excellent adaptation of John le Carre's bestselling novel. Melanie gives her top tips for writing mysteries and Valerie discusses the type of protagonist we usually find in left-brained stories. One question lingered for them both: When did George Smiley discover who th…

1
LET’S SHOW YOU HOW SHOW VS TELL WORKS! Florida Man Poops on a Possum. We won’t show you that 18:01

4M ago18:01

18:01

Hey! Welcome to our series of podcasts and posts all about showing vs. telling, which we are on fire about right now, right Shaun? Growls. You can check out the rest of the series on Carrie’s Substack Write Better Now or just the podcast episodes on her blog, https://carriejonesbooks.blog/ So, a lot of my writers have a brain like mine, which is sa…

1
The Game: why endings are important 38:22

4M ago38:22

38:22

By the time we get to the end of our manuscript, we can feel drained creatively. The temptation to phone it in looms large. But be careful. No matter how good the rest of your story is, if the ending is weak, the novel/film will fail to impress. This is just one of the lessons that Valerie and Melanie learned this week. "What I mean by a left-brain…

1
RELATED TO MONSTERS AND WRITERS, GET INTO THE READER’S BRAIN IF YOU WANT TO SHOW AND NOT TELL 18:01

4M ago18:01

18:01

We’re continuing with our monster “Show Don’t Tell” series of podcasts and posts. So, hey! Welcome to our series of podcasts and posts all about showing vs. telling, which we are on fire about right now, right Shaun? Growls. You can check out the rest of the series on Carrie’s Substack Write Better Now or just the podcast episodes on her website. A…

1
101. Making LegalEASY: A Conversation About Website Accessibility with Jason McKee, Founder of Perspective Tester 28:58

4M ago28:58

28:58

Welcome to America's leading higher education podcast where we talk trending legal, regulatory and compliance matters - EdUp Legal! YOUR host is ⁠⁠⁠Deborah Solmor⁠⁠⁠ In this episode, her guest is Jason McKee, Founder, Perspective Tester. Tune in as they discuss the website accessibility landscape. Listen in each week to get the buzz on the trending…

1
The Dry: an introduction to outback noir 37:06

4M ago37:06

37:06

This week Valerie and Melanie continue their study of left-brained stories. They step into the outback to discover how Australian crime writers create an atmosphere of isolation by combining plot and setting. Melanie is tracking clues, motives, and murderers' actions to discover the techniques used to raise questions and divert attention in the sto…

1
THE PROBLEM WITH ADVERBS & BEARS IN THE DOGGY DOOR: Let’s Show, Not Tell. 15:37

5M ago15:37

15:37

We’re continuing with our monster “Show Don’t Tell” series of podcasts and posts. Adverbs are a big place where you tell and not show. So, if I wrote, “You are the sexiest manatee in the world,” Ham-Ham said hopelessly. Would you think that works? Would you feel how Ham-Ham said it hopelessly? Janice Hardy is brilliant and she has a really simple w…

1
100. Making LegalEASY: A Conversation About Campus Health Risk Management with Stacy Bratcher 27:09

5M ago27:09

27:09

Welcome to America's leading higher education podcast where we talk trending legal, regulatory and compliance matters - EdUp Legal! YOUR host is ⁠⁠⁠Deborah Solmor⁠⁠⁠ In this episode, her guest is Stacy Bratcher, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Cottage Health, past Managing General Counsel at the University of Southern California, a…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Robert Mckee Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide