Had A Great “Hotseat” story analysis: and you’re next!

We had the first “Lifewriting Hotseat” of 2022 last Sunday. The next will be on April 10. We select 1–2 stories from our “Lifewriting Premium” students, and Tananarive and I analyze them carefully, using our personal approach to looking inside-out and outside-in.

Short stories are the most reliable path we know to writing novels or screenplays. So they are the starting point, right after “write a sentence a day” comes “write 1–4 short stories a month”)

This is a path for those who are SERIOUS about wanting to build a body of published writing, no games, no gimmicks, just honest work and real guidance from people who have done it, and coached thousands of others along the path.

We use the ten steps of the Hero’s Journey to guide story structure, the process of writing, and the living of life itself. For instance, one of the first questions is:

“Who is the protagonist?” Who drives the story? What do they want? What do they need? The more deeply you understand that, the easier the writing.

“Who do I need to be to write this story?” What tools do I need? How much time? Research? What schedule do I need to set, daily work, to accomplish this? What “voice” do I need, and which aspect of my personality feeds into this story? How does it reflect or express my values and beliefs?

“Who Am I?” There are two basic questions about reality that connect philosophy and art: “who am I?” and “what is true?”…