Carla Damron steps into the lab with Kristi and Beth for a brainstorming session. First, we play a warm-up game called The Book Imposter, challenging Carla to guess the real novel between a book about a retired detective on a missing-person case and another about addiction recovery.

Then we discuss getting into the minds of characters using point of view and the perks of writing multiple POV stories to unleash the chaos and humor of what’s going on in people’s minds at all times. Our story grows to include Gary, a robber with many redeeming qualities, Carl, the detective longing for a second chance, and Ivan, the criminal mastermind who’s about to pay the price for his many bad deeds.

Along the way, we touch on using humor to balance the weight of difficult subjects in our stories and the power of sensory details to create truly memorable scenes and lasting images in the minds of readers.

This is Plot Lab, where headlines become story sparks, and listeners get a first-hand glimpse of their favorite writers engaged in the creative process.

Meet Carla Damron

Carla Damron writes fiction on a mission. A social worker, advocate, and author, Damron has authored seven novels that put a human face on issues like drug abuse, mental illness, and human trafficking. She’s won multiple literary awards, including the Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award for Best Novel and the NIEA award for best suspense.

Damron holds an MSW from the University of South Carolina and an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte. She lives in Columbia, SC, with her husband and their unruly family of rescue animals.

More information can be found at carladamron.com.

Facebook, carladamronwrites

Threads, @carladamron

Twitter, @carlawritesfic

Books Mentioned

Carla Damron, The Orchid Tattoo, The Weird Girl

Attica Locke, Guide Me Home

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Visit our Prompt Incubator online community. Share your ideas, write, or read what others are creating. Vote for your favorites. Your work could be featured on a future episode of Plot Lab.

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Plot Lab. From Spark to Story.

Lisa Roe steps into the lab with Kristi and Beth for a brainstorming session. First, we play a warm-up game called The Book Imposter, challenging Lisa to guess the real novel between two book descriptions.

Then, the real experiment begins. Lisa picks a headline from three choices, one she remembers hearing about in recent news. Our brainstorming session begins. The scene becomes the opening for a mother-daughter story about healing old wounds and finding second chances.

We discuss story structure as an opportunity to build fully imagined characters with redeeming qualities, moving back and forth in time, and how sometimes a love interest can heighten the stakes. Lisa is fast on her feet with ideas, specific details, and how a culminating moment can deliver a huge payoff for the reader.

Meet Lisa Roe

Lisa Roe graduated from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and spent many years as an advertising creative director and copywriter in New York City before she accepted the tougher job of stay-at-home mom and turned to writing fiction—mostly to entertain her kids, but then to tell her own stories. A classic first born, reluctant empty nester, and Dr. Doolittle wannabe, Lisa lives in New Jersey with her husband, David and three incorrigible dogs. She is the author of Welcome to the Neighborhood and Big & Lily.

www.lisaroe.com

Books Mentioned

Lisa Roe, Big & Lily

Lisa Roe, Welcome to the Neighborhood

Sloane Crowley, Cult Classic

Beth Uznis Johnson, “Deep Dark Tan”

A short story in issue #46/47 of Story Quarterly.

Join the experiment

Visit our Prompt Incubator to share your ideas, write, or read what others are creating. Your work could be featured on a future episode.

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Instagram: @plotlabpod

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Website & Prompt Incubator: Visit Plot Lab

Plot Lab. From Spark to Story.

Plot Lab, Stephen G. Eoannou steps into the lab with Kristi and Beth for a brainstorming session. First, we play a warm-up game called The Book Imposter, challenging Steve to guess the real novel between two book descriptions.

Then, Steve picks a headline from three choices. What starts as one strange image, gradually becomes a story about a life somebody wasn’t ready to let go of, the people who are relieved he’s gone, and the one person who he’d rather stay with.

We discuss different elements of craft, like why Steve can’t write a word without a title, how he builds character before plot, how sensory detail can pull a reader into a room, and how a dark premise can still be very funny.

Meet Stephen G. Eoannou

Stephen G. Eoannou grew up in Buffalo, New York, reading Hardy Boys books and watching old Humphrey Bogart movies on The Late Show. His love of history and writing led him to SUNY Buffalo (BA), Miami University (MA), and Queens University of Charlotte (MFA). He is the author of the short story collection Muscle Cars and the historical novels After Pearl, Yesteryear, and Rook.

Eoannou lives in Buffalo, New York. When not writing, he can be found restoring his 1865 Second Empire Victorian home.

More information can be found at www.sgeoannou.com.

Books Mentioned

Stephen G. Eoannou, Rook

Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

Stephen G. Eoannou, Yesteryear

Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Kathleen Rooney, Man Overboard!

Join the experiment

Visit our Prompt Incubator online community. Share your ideas, write, or read what others are creating. Vote for your favorites. Your work could be featured on a future episode of Plot Lab.

Where to Find Us

Instagram: @plotlabpod

Facebook: Plot Lab on Facebook

Visit Plot Lab

Plot Lab. From Spark to Story.