Plot Lab, Episode 1: Melissa Faliveno and the Midwestern Instinct to Keep Going

What happens when you hand an acclaimed author three headlines and ask, What story do YOU think is hiding in there?

For our inaugural episode of Plot Lab, Melissa Faliveno, author of the novel Hemlock and the essay collection Tomboyland, steps into the lab with hosts Kristi Leonard and Beth Uznis Johnson for a brainstorming session and discussion.

First, we play a warm-up game called One Star Wonder, challenging Melissa to identify a beloved classic novel from one particularly grumpy one-star review. Then, the real experiment begins.

We give Melissa three completely unrelated headlines. She chooses the one that sparks her interest and, from there, the three of us start the storytelling process. What Melissa envisions as a dramatic, opening image gradually becomes a story about a lonely man, the life he has lost, his carefully maintained world, and the impending danger that might finally force him to look toward the future.

Along the way, we discuss different elements of story, like what makes a character feel real, how grief and loneliness sneak into the smallest details, how a dramatic setting can elevate tension, and how nothing raises the stakes like a ticking clock. Then, we try to answer one of our favorite questions in storytelling: What larger transformation is really taking place for our character?

Meet Melissa Faliveno

Melissa Faliveno is the author of Hemlock (Little, Brown, 2026) and the essay collection Tomboyland, a Best Book of 2020 pick by NPR, NYPL, Oprah Magazine, and Electric Literature. She teaches creative writing at the UNC and lives in the woods outside Chapel Hill.

Melissa’s fascination with the natural world runs deep. A talking deer helped inspire Hemlock, and in this episode she talks about animals behaving badly, tornadoes, the Wisconsin Northwoods, and the strange places where story ideas begin.

Find Melissa online at her website

Books Mentioned

Hemlock

Tomboyland

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Join the Experiment

The headlines we bring into the lab don’t just belong to us. They’re writing prompts for you, too. Grab one, let it collide with your imagination, and write your own story. Then share it in our Prompt Incubator community, read what others are creating, and look for your writing on a future episode.

Join our community here

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Plot Lab takes pop culture headlines, trending topics, and viral moments and turns them into original fiction ideas, with a guest author. Hosts Kristi Leonard and Beth Uznis Johnson bring the prompts and then the brainstorming begins. Part game show, part writers' room, every episode is a front row seat to the messy, surprising, wildly fun process of watching a story take shape. It's story creation as a spectator sport.