Story from Scratch

Fantasy writers Yale Wang and Justin Dill embark on a journey of improvised story-crafting. The two 'discovery' writers will guide you from premise to planning to a full working novel. Join in as they discuss writing, story-telling, anime, and much more.

Story from Scratch #28: Character Work 10/01/2019

Story from Scratch #28: Character Work This episode, Yale and Justin do some character work! Yale's favorite. He leads Justin down a path of abstractly defining the roles of each of the characters and together, they stumble upon each of their motivations along the way! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/11462144

Story from Scratch #27: Brainstorming 09/24/2019

Story from Scratch #27: Brainstorming This episode, Yale and Justin buckle down and really make a lot of world-building decisions for STRANDED. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/11371526

Story from Scratch #26: Actually Good Writing Advice (Minisode) 09/16/2019

Story from Scratch #26: Actually Good Writing Advice (Minisode) This episode, Yale and Justin talk about how to balance writing two different projects at the same time. Yale also asks how he can feel more confident about his story ideas, worried that they might all end up reading like they are the same story. Justin gives legitimately good advice and talks about his foray into writing horror. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/11271311

Story from Scratch #25: Mary Sue 09/09/2019

Story from Scratch #25: Mary Sue This episode, Justin and Yale discuss the subject of 'Mary Sue' characters, or characters that meet some criteria of being a 'Mary Sue'. They begin by defining what the term means and examine just what is so bad about Mary Sue characters. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/11183090

Story from Scratch #24: Prologues and Planet Building 08/08/2019

Story from Scratch #24: Prologues and Planet Building This episode, Yale and Justin discuss the merits of prologues (or lack thereof). Yale has never liked prologues, but Justin remains adamant that they are sometimes necessary. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10819223

Story from Scratch #23: Gathering the Band (again) 07/23/2019

Story from Scratch #23: Gathering the Band (again) This episode, Yale and Justin discuss the necessity of using weak verbs and why it's okay to not kill your darlings. Justin explains 'resting' words. Yale celebrates. There are lots of digressions. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10623194

Story from Scratch #22: First Draft Revelation 07/08/2019

Story from Scratch #22: First Draft Revelation No Story from Scratch segment this week! We promise we'll return to STRANDED (from Scratch) next Monday. In the meantime, while we replenish our creative juices, Justin regales us with some new discoveries he's made while looking back at his previous writing. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10430477

Story from Scratch #21: Yale Wang - An Aspiring Writer's Retrospective 07/01/2019

Story from Scratch #21: Yale Wang - An Aspiring Writer's Retrospective Taking a break from the hard work of writing from scratch, this week's episode is the second part of our 'retrospective' series. Yale digs deep into his memories and tries to break down all the major moments in his young but (self-proclaimed) intense writing career. We get a glimpse into how the more manic of our co-hosts ticks, and a strange habit that they share. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10271861

Story from Scratch #20: Assembling the Band 06/24/2019

Story from Scratch #20: Assembling the Band This episode, Yale and Justin continue discussing why writing rules are wrong. They discuss the loneliness of writing and Yale complains about the double standard of what publishers expect from the first page of your manuscript. Justin helps readjust his expectations. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10258523

Story from Scratch #19: Captain and Cyborg 06/17/2019

Story from Scratch #19: Captain and Cyborg This episode, we continue with our story about a Journey (yet untitled - sorry about that folks). Our captain is not so capable. His cyborg friend is not so happy. And we nail down some details about our world as we discuss chapter one. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10166084

Story from Scratch #18: A Journey (Season Two) 06/13/2019

Story from Scratch #18: A Journey (Season Two) Don’t forget to follow us on instagram: @StoryfromScratchPodcast for updates and additional content! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10137485

Story from Scratch PSA: Season Two Trailer! 06/13/2019

Story from Scratch PSA: Season Two Trailer! Welcome to Season Two of Story from Scratch! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10137425

Story from Scratch #17: Magic Systems 06/07/2019

Story from Scratch #17: Magic Systems A second episode this week as promised! We're nearing the end of season one, and we're super excited to be working on a special new segment for season two! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10063892

Story from Scratch #16: Essence of a Story 06/03/2019

Story from Scratch #16: Essence of a Story A second episode will be released this week. Season two is coming soon! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/10022561

Story From Scratch #15: Justin Dill - A Writer's Retrospective 05/27/2019

Story From Scratch #15: Justin Dill - A Writer's Retrospective Breaking from our usual format, we take a look at Justin's journey towards becoming a writer. This episode touches on everything from Justin's earliest writing efforts to the roles the critiquing and querying processes played in shaping his writing habits. And, shockingly, Star Wars fan fiction. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/9940736

Story From Scratch #14: Writing Woes 05/26/2019

Story From Scratch #14: Writing Woes The 3rd episode as promised for this week! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/9925772

Story from Scratch #13: Lens Theory (Sherlock pt. 2) 05/23/2019

Story from Scratch #13: Lens Theory (Sherlock pt. 2) 2nd episode of 3 this week! Once again, we are starting an exciting new project for Season 2. Stay tuned! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/9885203

Story from Scratch #12: Sherlock from Scratch 05/20/2019

Story from Scratch #12: Sherlock from Scratch We're releasing three episodes this week! Once we're caught up, we'll be announcing an exciting project we're doing for season two. Stay tuned! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/9858950

Story from Scratch #11: How We Prepare to Write 04/15/2019

Story from Scratch #11: How We Prepare to Write This week, Yale and Justin actually have some good actionable advice! They discuss their troubles with writing 'in-genre' (2:18), how they decide what to write about (17:07), and give their best thoughts on how to prepare to write (29:41). /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/9377084

Story from Scratch #10: Coming Back from a Break 04/01/2019

Story from Scratch #10: Coming Back from a Break This week, Yale and Justin share their worries about and give tricks that might help you get back into writing again. First drafts are hard, and sometimes you have to take a break. How do you get back into the swing of things? Tune in to find out! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/9228872

Story from Scratch #9: Top 7 Questions About Writing 02/05/2019

Story from Scratch #9: Top 7 Questions About Writing This week, fantasy writers Yale and Justin take a break from the from Scratch lifestyle and answer popular writing questions in hopes to help give new writers the peace of mind to continue their novels. Their rants get to the point eventually. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/8531501

Story from Scratch #8: Writing Epic Fantasy and The Musical Death Note 01/21/2019

Story from Scratch #8: Writing Epic Fantasy and The Musical Death Note This week, Yale and Justin give their opinions on epic fantasy. Then, they continue their work on creating a story based on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Yale continues to demonstrate that he is woefully uninformed about many story references. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/8341766

Story from Scratch #7: Reacting to Criticism and Dorian Gray 01/15/2019

Story from Scratch #7: Reacting to Criticism and Dorian Gray This week, Yale and Justin discuss the importance or unimportance of criticism and word specificity. Also, with great focus and organization, they create a new story - from scratch! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/8259878

Story from Scratch #6: Magic & Endings 01/09/2019

Story from Scratch #6: Magic & Endings This week, Yale and Justin discuss the results of the brainstorming for the last episode and discuss some problems they have in their own writing. What's required for a satisfying magic system? What makes for a great ending? Find out in this week's Story from Scratch! /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/8193335

Story from Scratch #5: Sanctuary (Minisode) 12/18/2018

Story from Scratch #5: Sanctuary (Minisode) Yale and Justin come up with a flash fiction story idea - from scratch! As Justin prepares to participate in a one-day writing project, our co-hosts try to come up with an idea based on the one word prompt: "sanctuary". /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/7958417

Story from Scratch #4: A Great First Chapter 12/09/2018

Story from Scratch #4: A Great First Chapter Yale and Justin are back with their story based on trees - the kind that serves as magical hard drives. Follow along to find out if they finish writing the first chapter because the rest of the book practically writes itself. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/7854014

Story from Scratch #3: A Good First Paragraph 09/11/2018

Story from Scratch #3: A Good First Paragraph This week, Yale and Justin develop the first scene for their novel and lay down the 5 rules for writing a good first chapter. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/7030933

Story from Scratch #2: Developing a Premise 09/07/2018

Story from Scratch #2: Developing a Premise This week, Yale and Justin develop their tree-based world from the last episode and discover that names are hard. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/7018854

Story from Scratch #1: World-building around Non-standard Combat 08/27/2018

Story from Scratch #1: World-building around Non-standard Combat This week, Yale and Justin start from scratch and come up with the world/main character of a novel, and they both fail at science. /episode/index/show/storyfromscratch/id/6973771

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