I've noticed a pattern in the stories I've been listening to and watching recently, so I thought I'd share this important lesson about being an artist.

Especially as it's the beginning of the year and it's dark, cold and miserable.

Read instead of listen at: https://writeintothewoods.com/2026/01/08/hollywood-lessons/

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aka How to get out of a rut with your writing.

The episode looks at the following films:

• Best. Christmas. Ever
• Renovation Romance
• Our Little Secret
• Haul Out The Holly (and Haul Out The Holly Lit Up)
• Hot Frosty
• Jingle Bell Heist

Not in that order.

And I'm looking at what lessons I'm taking from these films into my Christmas romance writing in 2026.

Read instead of listen at: writeintothewoods.com/2025/12/16/bingeing-christmas-films/

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Check out some of my favourite episodes from 2025:

• Episode 10: Barbie
• Episode 12: Alien: Earth
• Episode 17: Grace and Frankie

Music by ReneSchulze1984 and Dmitrii from Pixabay.

Special Christmas sound effect by Sound Effect by DRAGON-STUDIO from Pixabay.

aka The Joy of Keeping it Simple

The episode looks at:

• Why simple can be best.
• Summing up your plot in one sentence.
• The importance of good character development.

Read instead of listen at:

Please hit follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, and leave a rating or review. It all helps!

And come join the mailing list for more storytelling goodness at writeintothewoods.com/writinglessonsfrom

For more on this topic, check out the following past episodes:

• Episode 14: Starstruck (which I mention in this podcast)
• Episode 2: Ozark (also mentioned!)
• Episode 10: Barbie

Music by ReneSchulze1984 and Dmitrii from Pixabay

aka Ending That Story Beautifully

Writing endings is HARD!

My favourite kind of endings are the ones that mirror the beginning.

Grace and Frankie teaches us that we can look at four things when writing an ending:

• The themes of the story
• The character arcs
• How it all started
• And make sure there’s closure.

Please hit follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, and leave a rating or review. It all helps!

Read instead of listen at:

And come join the mailing list for more storytelling goodness at writeintothewoods.com/writinglessonsfrom

For more on this topic, check out the following past episodes:

Episode 13: Save Yourselves!

Episode 5: Girlboss

Episode 1: A Quiet Place

Music by ReneSchulze1984 and Dmitrii from Pixabay

aka the Power of the Short Story

Specifically looking at episodes: Sonnie's Edge (Volume One), Lucky 13 (Volume One), The Tall Grass (Volume Two) and Bad Travelling (Volume Three).

The episode looks at:

• A short story should pack a punch
• Keeping your audience guessing
• Considering all characters - some can be inanimate objects, settings, places
• Building the tension, and
• Doing the right thing by doing lots of wrong things, along with questionable heroes.
• But also, not having to do ALL those things in one story!

Also, some mini admin: This podcast is now going fortnightly, in order to allow me to carve out some time to work on new projects. Ironically including creating some short stories.

Read instead of listen at: writeintothewoods.com/2025/11/06/writing-lessons-from-love-death-and-robots/

You can grab a copy of No Masters Or Kings (as mentioned when discussing Lucky 13) here: books2read.com/u/mqqy6e

Please hit follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, and leave a rating or review. It all helps!

And come join the mailing list for more storytelling goodness at writeintothewoods.com/writinglessonsfrom

We haven't covered short fiction before, so here are some of my favourite episodes for you to also check out:

• Episode 12: Alien: Earth, Episode 6
• Episode 10: Barbie
• Episode 15: Mary and George

Music by ReneSchulze1984 and Dmitrii from Pixabay

aka What’s Your Story About, Though?

This week I'm looking at Mary and George, available on Sky Atlantic / Showcase / Now TV.

The episode looks at:

• endings!! Again! Getting endings right is so hard!
• the difficulty of writing historical fiction - there are just so many rabbit holes to investigate
• the importance of focusing in your story.

Read instead of listen at: writeintothewoods.com/2025/10/30/writing-lessons-from-mary-and-george/

Please hit follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, and leave a rating or review. It all helps!

And come join the mailing list for more storytelling goodness at writeintothewoods.com/writinglessonsfrom

For more on these topics, check out the following past episodes:

• Episode 13: Save Yourselves!
• Episode 5: Girlboss
• Episode 10: Barbie

Music by ReneSchulze1984 and Dmitrii from Pixabay

aka When a Character Changes the Story

This week it's all about all three series of Starstruck, available on BBC iPlayer, and Jessie's journey.

The episode looks at:

• middles are so tough
• the importance of listening to your characters
• how sometimes the story isn't the one you thought it would be, sometimes it's something better.

Read instead of listen at: https://writeintothewoods.com/2025/10/24/writing-lessons-from-starstruck/

Please hit follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, and leave a rating or review. It all helps!

And come join the mailing list for more storytelling goodness at writeintothewoods.com/writinglessonsfrom

For more on this topic, check out the following past episodes:

• Episode 12: Alien Earth
• Episode 11: Growing a Family in Sitcoms
• Episode 3: TMNT Mutant Mayhem

Music by ReneSchulze1984 and Dmitrii from Pixabay

aka When One Idea Inspires a Whole Story

And what to do when that original idea no longer quite fits with the story that grows around it.

Have you ever heard of Save Yourselves!? It's worth having a watch if you can find it, especially for the ending. But if you can't, enjoy this spoiler-full episode!

Please hit follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, and leave a rating or review. It all helps!

And come join the mailing list for more storytelling goodness at writeintothewoods.com/writinglessonsfrom

For more on the topic of endings, check out the following past episodes:

1: A Quiet Place

2: Ozark

5: Girlboss

Music by ReneSchulze1984 and Dmitrii from Pixabay