The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe
Zena Dell Lowe is a seasoned and engaging teacher with a passion for writers and storytellers. Her focused, concise, and practical episodes (all roughly 20 minutes) not only explore the nuts and bolts of the craft, but also dive deep into the inner life of the artist and the "why" behind creativity. If you believe that story matters, you'll want to give this podcast a listen.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 22 minutes
- Episodes
- 236
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
36. Dialogue Tools: Three Tricks to Flesh Out Your Character and Bring Out Their Nuances
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
This week's episode explores three new tools that screenwriters and novelists can employ to enrich the dialogue exchanges of their characters.
Tool #1: Give your characters someth…
35. Dialogue Tools: Understanding Human Psychology and the Three Major Roles People Play
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
This episode launches part 2 of the series on dialogue by presenting the first of ten fun TOOLS to help storytellers create great dialogue.
TOOL #1: THE TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSI…
34. Writing Great Dialogue: It All Depends on High and Low Context Character Relationships
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
This episode presents the final point in a series of ten essential principles of good dialogue.
#10: Good Dialogue reflects an appropriate level of familiarity between chara…
33. Writing Great Dialogue: How to Avoid Writing Clunky Dialogue that Lacks Subtext
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
Continuing with the key principles for how to write great dialogue, this week's episode unpacks Principles 8 and 9.
- 8. Good Dialogue should be short.
Compress it as much as po…
32. Writing Great Dialogue: How to Make Sure Your Characters Sound Right for the Story
THE TOP TEN PRINCIPLES FOR WRITING GREAT DIALOGUE – PART 3
EPISODE 32: How to make your dialogue sound just right for your character & story
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
Last week’s episode gave us numbe…
31. Writing Great Dialogue: Why Conflict and Tension are Essential
THE TOP TEN PRINCIPLES FOR WRITING GREAT DIALOGUE – PART 2
WHY CONFLICT & TENSION ARE ESSENTIAL TO WRITING GREAT DIALOGUE
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
Last week’s episode gave us three more of the top ten…
30. Writing Great Dialogue: Five Criteria to Determine if Your Dialogue is Essential and Crucial to Your Story
THE TOP TEN PRINCIPLES FOR WRITING GOOD DIALOGUE – PART 1
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
Last week’s episode laid a foundation for how to write great dialogue, and gave us the first of the top ten principle…
29. How to Write Great Dialogue: Laying the Foundation
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
One essential element of a great story is the ability to write great dialogue. However, it’s actually difficult to consistently do this well. Over the next few weeks, we wil…
28. Turning Procrastination from an Enemy into an Asset: Part 2
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
Every artist I know has struggled against the enemy of procrastination. But what if procrastination was not actually an enemy, but rather, a clue from your subconscious about…
27. Turning Procrastination from an Enemy into an Asset: Part 1
INTRODUCTION
The temptation and actual process of procrastinating has brought many woes to many artists over the years, and continues to be something that we seem to have to work and struggle against …
26. The Actor's Craft and Writing: Character Traits that Impact the Audience
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
The 4th and final episode of this four-part miniseries on the 12 Don’ts that actors should not do, and how these apply to the craft of writing. This episode discusses the fin…
25. The Actor's Craft and Writing: Great Characters Don't Hold Back
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
Episode three of this four-part miniseries launches into the next three don’ts of 12 that actors (and writers) should not do, and what they SHOULD do instead.
7. DON'T BE A D…
24. The Actor's Craft and Writing: Make Your Characters Active and Believable
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
Continuing to build on last week's discussion, this episode presents the next three don'ts in a series of 12 that actors (and writers) should not do., and what they SHOULD do…
23. The Actor's Craft and Writing: How to Not Be Self-Indulgent
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
The first of several episodes exploring the craft of acting and showing the corollary between mistakes both actors and writers make. In this episode, the first three don'ts a…
22. Six Points About The Actor's Craft that Writers Should Apply to their Own
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
As a launching off point into the craft of writing, Zena starts by diving deeper into the craft of acting. We can learn six things off the bat by studying the differences be…
21. Four Essentials to Know About Your Story Before You Even Start to Write
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
There are many things about your story that you can discover as you go along, but there are four primary things that every writer should know about their story before they si…
20. How to Identify Qualities that Your Character Needs to Accept or Change
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
How do we figure out which of our characters' traits ought to be accepted, and which ones ought to be rejected? We start by looking for the universal moral truths that apply…
19. How to Use Character Flaws and Personality Traits Properly in Your Story
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
It's important for a storyteller to understand the difference between their protagonist's character flaws and their personality traits, because getting these two categories c…
18. How to Tell the Difference Between a Character Flaw and a Personality Trait
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
The self-love, self-acceptance, and self-actualization movement is a good thing. However, unless we can tell the difference between what is a true personality trait versus wh…
17. How to Apply Positive Affirmations without Getting Weird
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
When we hear self-condemning messages from our inner critic, composing positive affirmations to directly combat the lies is an effective way to achieve freedom from the self-…