Hello and welcome to the Storygrid Masterwork Experiment. My name is Anne Hawley, and I'm an experienced

novelist trying to ground my craft more solidly in Story Grid methodology. So I've agreed to be

the lab rat in the Masterwork Experiment, which Sean Coyne is conducting as a test of his latest

writing and editing methods. Sean is the creator of the

Story Grid method, the author of the book, The Story Grid, What Good Editors Know, and an editor

with many years experience in the big New York publishing houses. In the masterwork experiment,

Sean and I have analyzed Annie Prue's short novella, Brokeback Mountain, with an eye to understanding

what it's made of right down to the beat level. Now my job will be to write a novella of my own,

using exactly the same beats and structure, but set in Regency England with the very different

style and voice that that historical setting demands.

Last week, we completed our microbeat analysis of Brokeback Mountain, and I began to feel like I was understanding the story at its deepest levels. This week, I turn in my first couple of scenes

and try not to freak out as Sean reads them out line by line and starts making suggestions. I get some great

inspiration about point of view and narrative device. This is where the beat analysis theory

starts to bear some fruit, so put on your white coat and safety goggles and step into the

laboratory for episode seven of the masterwork experiment. Today, I'm in the real position that Tim was in originally.

Now you have some of my writing.

Now you're looking at it.

And so now I'm really, this is where the rubber meets the road or the shit hits the fan.

I'm not sure which.

But what are we going to do with this today?

First of all, you can exhale because your writing is terrific and don't worry about it.

I wouldn't have even considered doing this podcast with you if I hadn't.

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