Episode 152: How Music Inspires Storytelling

On this episode, we bring you a story by Danielle Huggins. Danielle has been featured twice before on WCR. In Episode 105: Teach Us Something We Don’t Know where she shared her experience with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Danielle was also featured in Episode 139: This Is What Mania Looks Like where she takes us through a manic episode. If you haven’t listened to those episodes, definitely check them out.

This story was written for our December 2022 writing retreat in Key Largo, edited by Andrea and Allison, revised by Danielle, then brought to the retreat for edits from the group. Today, we will bring you Danielle’s final version.

This story is a great example of writing in the moment (without distance and perspective) and how to end a story. Danielle also uses song lyrics to reveal emotion and mood.  

Danielle Huggins is a former middle school math teacher. Now she’s a writer, and student of Writing Class Radio. She has written for the Washington Post and Gomag.com and has been featured on the writing class radio podcast twice. She lives with her husband, daughter and mom in northern New Jersey. She can be found on social media @bipolardanielle on TikTok, My Life as a Bipolar Mom on Facebook, and @DanHuggins123 on Twitter. 

 

Episode 151: Follow the Story Spine to Get Published

This episode showcases the effectiveness of using the story spine structure. The story spine is a story structure as old as time. It’s the model every fairytale follows. It works really well for all stories because it’s intuitive. It’s in our collective unconscious. 

You will hear three prompt responses from Writing Class Radio’s First Annual Key Largo Writing Retreat. We told our students to think about a time everything changed and then we walked them through the story spine. Kim Costigan, Pamela Lear, and Dr. Jane Marks brought the bag!

You will also hear about the other stories at the retreat that were published after hard core edits. Start planning to attend our next Key Largo Writer’s Retreat in Dec 2023.

 

Episode 150: In Transition: How to Write a Story About an Ongoing Situation

How do you write about a situation that is ongoing? Typically, at the end of an essay, the narrator writes about what they learned or how they changed. But what if transition IS the change? What happens if there is no happy (or sad) ending…yet?

On this episode, Ariane Malfait writes about her transition–-one that is still in progress and may always be. Ariane tells the story of shedding the masculine body she felt never fit. At 19, after bottom surgery, she expects to finally feel like herself, but when she wakes up from surgery, she is plunged into darkness. Her story is called The Creation of Flesh.

Ariane Malfait is a Belgian journalism student with a passion for writing. She writes mainly nonfiction and poetry but loves to experiment with other genres. You can find Ariane on Instagram and Medium.

 

Episode 149: How to Make Your Writing More Personal (in any Field)

On this episode, we bring you a story written by Dr. Jane Marks, a conservation ecologist and professor of Aquatic Ecology at Northern Arizona University (NAU). 

Jane came to Writing Class Radio with the goal of making her academic writing more personal. What she didn’t realize is that writing class, specifically writing personal essays, forces the narrator to go deep and ask the question WHY? Why am I writing this? Why does anyone care? Why is this important to me? Why do I care so much about what people think?

Jane’s story is called, Hating Brussel Sprouts Is Not My Biggest Problem. It could have been called The More Things Change, the More Brussels Sprouts Stay the Same. She wrote this essay in First Draft, worked on it in Second Draft, and when Jane felt she had answered the whys, she submitted it to the podcast. 

Jane Marks was featured as the lead scientist in the PBS documentary, A River Reborn: The Restoration of Fossil Creek, narrated by actor Ted Danson and she co-produced the video documentary Parched: The Art of Water in the Southwest. For more Dr. Jane Marks, go to https://ecoss.nau.edu/team/jane-marks/

 

Episode 148: How to Plan a Threesome

On this episode, we share a story by Pamela Druckerman that has voice, laugh out loud humor, and self knowing, which makes for a reliable narrator. The best part is the narrator doesn’t wait until the end to give a status report. We feel like we are on the adventure with her.

There are so many things the narrator does well in this essay including normalizing a threesome. She does this by using language and humor to bring the listener into her adventure with her husband. You do not want to miss this episode. 

Pamela Druckerman is a journalist, an Emmy-winning documentary producer, and the author of five books including Bringing Up Bébé, which has been translated into 31 languages. This essay is adapted from her book There Are No Grown-Ups: A midlife coming-of-age story. Get it here from our favorite Indie, Books & Books. 

 

Episode 147: How to Write a Story about Abuse Without Using the Word

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Sally Quon called Finding Home.

Sally’s story is an exercise in restraint. Andrea tried a little experiment with Sally’s submission in order to make the story more powerful. She asked Sally to cut all seven mentions of the word, abuse. Andrea learned of this technique while taking a course with Dan Wakefield who assigned the book Name All the Animals by Alison Smith. The book is about grief and yet, the word grief is mentioned only once. Listen and learn why this method is so effective.

Sally Quon lives in the Okanagan. She has been shortlisted for Vallum Magazine’s Chapbook Prize and is an associate member of the League of Canadian Poets. Her personal blog, https://featherstone-creative.com is where she posts her back-country adventures and photos. She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Big-Stories About Life in a Plus Size Body, and Writing For Life. Her first collection of poetry, Beauty Born of Pain, is due to be released in 2023. You can find her at the following places: FaceBook: Sally Quon, Instagram: @sallyquon, Twitter: @QuonSally

 

Episode 146: How to Write a Winning Pitch

Today, we bring you a story by Terry Barr that he’s kept secret for most of his life. He was sexually abused by his pediatrician. This story highlights the importance of telling the truth. You’ll also hear Terry’s pitch when he submitted his essay to the podcast. AND, we discuss structure. Terry’s structure is exactly what Allison loves. If you want to hear your own stories on Writing Class Radio, this episode will help you understand what we look for and how to pitch it.

Terry Barr writes about music and culture at medium.com/@terrybarr. His most recent essay collection, The American Crisis Playlist was nominated for a 2022 Pushcart Prize. His work can also be found at Tell Your Story, StorySouth, and Under the Sun. He lives in Greenville, SC, with his family.

 

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Episode 15 theme music is by ÊMIA.