Why Gil might be hard to identify with:  We’re used to seeing the heroic cops meet with the science guy in just one scene per episode. We l...

Why Jeff might be hard to identify with:  He’s a lawyer (who faked his law degree.)  He’s a cheater.  He’s a cad. He’s a liar. Believe I ab...

Why Sam might be hard to identify with:  He’s a bar owner, which is not generally regarded as a heroic profession. He seems like he might b...

Why Walt might be hard to identify with:  If we hadn’t seen him brandishing a gun in the flashforward, we might find him too much of a sad s...

Why Jack might be hard to identify with:  Not much reason yet. We can’t guess yet that he’s a torture-crazy psychopath (as opposed to the s...

The Secrets of Story Podcast · Episode 22: The Holy Moment Hi guys, it’s a new podcast episode, ad-free! James has advice for writing ope...

As I said yesterday, there were several elements of “The Intuitionist” that made it hard to identify with Lila Mae. So if I was alienated f...

Why Lila Mae might be hard to identify with: Well, first of all she might be hard to identify with because she’s an elevator inspector, whic...

Well, folks, we have left the podcast network. I have now re-re-edited all the old podcasts, taken out the network tag, added the latest ep...

A fun modern classic.   Download these annotations here . Much discussion will be had. 

The Ultimate Story Checklist: The Farewell Storyteller’s Rulebook: How to Write Dramedy Storyteller’s Rulebook: Specificity is Universal St...

There were many Western ways for The Farewell to end:  Billi can’t take it anymore and confronts her Nai Nai with the truth. Billi agrees t...

I say in my checklist that characters should be both emotionally and physically vulnerable, but is that true in The Farewell ?  Billi is ver...

Alright, damn you people, I’ve gone back to BCI from CCC, but I reserve the right to re-revert at any time!  Why Billi might be hard to iden...

So let’s talk about a fundamental problem with stories like The Farewell .  Perhaps my favorite novel is “A Fan’s Notes” by Fred Exley. Lik...

Joseph Stein, who wrote the book for the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” says of its creation :  “We originally had very little hope of its e...

Dramedy is a tricky genre. We’ve looked at Sideways , which has some broadly comedic scenes, some entirely dramatic scenes, and lots of wry...

Billi is broke Chinese-American would-be writer in New York, who finds out that her beloved grandma Nai Nai back in China is dying, a...