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Articles on finishing self-generated work and building expertise-based creative businesses, with the Creative Engine, Ground Truth, and Capacity frameworks.
Podcast
Episode 3: Walk In My Shoes
Today we dive deep into character, characters that let us walk in the shoes of someone else. But how can we create characters that feel genuine while also functioning to move the story? Glynn Washington, Joe Richman, Ira Glass, Jay Allison and more are here to help us figure out how to make characters that connect with an audience. This week we heard from: Glynn Washington,Joe Richman,Ari Daniel Shapiro, Jad Abumrad,Jay Allison, Jenna Weiss-Berman, Ira Glass, and Daniel Alarcon
Episode 3: Walk in My Shoes, transcript
This transcript is adapted from our final script for the episode so while it may not be 100% accurate, it should be very close. If you want to quote from the podcast, please verify the actual text by listening. Glynn Washington got into radio almost by accident, when, on a whim, at midnight of the last day, he entered the “Public Radio Talent Quest” the Center for Public Broadcasting ran back in 2007. He loved listening to public radio, and he did all kinds of creative projects on the side, short films and other stuff, with his friend Mark Ristich… Glynn Washington: But we had day jobs actually we didn’t… I shouldn’t call them day jobs. We had careers, And…
Episode 2: Focus
How can we know if an idea is a good one? This time on Out on the Wire, we investigate how to refine story ideas using the focus sentence and the X/Y story formula. Plus, Ira Glass recounts a reporting trip gone sideways and Jay Allison’s takedown of formulaic storytelling. This week to talked to: Ira Glass, Rob Rosenthal, Jessica Kittams, Julia Dewitt, David Kestenbaum, Jay Allison, Soren Wheeler, and Sean Cole.
Episode 2: Focus, transcript
This transcript is adapted from our final script for the episode so while it may not be 100% accurate, it should be very close. If you want to quote from the podcast, please verify the actual text by listening. It’s the best feeling: You’ve got a big idea You dive in, following your taste. You’re hooked. But how do you know if you’re on to something that other people will find compelling? Or, perhaps more precisely, how can you make clear to everyone else what it is that makes this idea so gripping for you? because actually, it’s not always clear to us what it is that keeps us interested in our own work. How can you get at the…
Episode 1: Eureka, transcript
We adapted this transcript from our working scripts, so it may not always be word-for-word accurate (particularly in the interview section), but it follows the structure of the recording, and may serve to help you locate what you need in the tape. If you plan to quote from the episode, please double check and clean up the transcription of the section you quote. Out on the Wire Episode 1: Eureka I’m Jessica Abel, and we’re going Out on the Wire. The show about making stories, step by step. [music] I’ve been making comics for 25 years. I’m probably best known for my graphic novel La Perdida, and for my two textbooks about making comics, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, and Mastering Comics. I’m…
Episode 1: Eureka
Out on the Wire is the show about making stories, step by step. Join cartoonist Jessica Abel as she breaks down the principles of storytelling and puts you on the path to crafting your own story—in prose, comics, audio, video—in any narrative art form, fiction or nonfiction. Featuring radio and podcasting star producers from This American Life, Radiolab, Planet Money, Snap Judgment, and many more. Listen, learn, and collaborate with us at jessicaabel.com/podcast to make something great.
Episode one is about ideas. We investigate how to find them and how to follow your taste with the help of Ira Glass, Alex Blumberg, Stephanie Foo, and more.





