Welcome to the
Story Nerd Podcast
A well-written story is an author’s best possible marketing strategy, but how do you know if your manuscript is any good?
Enter, story theory.
Once you understand the principles of storytelling, you won’t have to guess whether your story works; you’ll know. Better yet, when you find weaknesses, you’ll be able to fix them.
And the best news of all is that story theory isn’t nearly as difficult as it seems. There are only a handful of concepts and authors who know how to use them can write their own ticket.
On the Story Nerd Podcast, our mission is to demystify story theory so writers spend less time studying and more time writing.
Story 101:
Welcome to Story 101. These snappy little episodes are designed to be your quick reference guide to story theory. So for those days when you need a refresher, you can pop in and give it a listen, and then get back to writing. You've got this!
MEET THE CO-HOSTS
Valerie Francis
Valerie is a writer and Certified Story Grid Editor who has studied with Robert McKee, Lisa Cron and many others. As a bona fide story nerd, Valerie has been studying stories every day since May 2017 and loves to share what she’s learned with editing clients and members of her Inner Circle. She has previously co-hosted two other writing-related podcasts, namely the Story Grid Editor Roundtable and the Story Grid Writers’ Room.
Based in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, Valerie is currently working on her third novel. She has previously published a middle grade fantasy and an open-door romance, but this time, she’s working on a vampire thriller.
Melanie Hill
Melanie is an author, poet, Certified Story Grid Editor and member of the Institute of Professional Editors. She’s originally from Launceston, Tasmania but now lives in Brisbane, Queensland. When Melanie isn’t writing or editing, she cat-wrangles four school-aged children with her husband.
She’s currently working on her own middle grade performance story, writing a haiku a day to practice precision word choice, and she has the first draft of a spy thriller novel waiting in the wings.
Melanie has a passion for middle grade and young adult stories, spy stories, fairy tales, and she is rapidly developing a fondness for master detective novels. She combines her skills from a career as a logistics planner with story theory to help authors identified and solve plot problems.
