Hello and welcome to the Story Grid podcast.

This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better writer.

I'm your host Tim Graal and I am a struggling writer trying to figure out how to tell a story that works.

Sean Coyne is joining me soon and he is the creator of Story Grid.

He's the author of the book The Story, and he is an editor with 25 plus years

experience helping authors write bestselling books. And he's sharing with me all of his secrets.

Now, this is a special episode that Sean and I actually recorded in person sitting across a table

from each other is the first time we'd actually met in person.

So it was a lot of fun for me to actually sit across from him and pepper him with all of my

inane questions. And the things that we talk about in this episode, the first is how to keep writing

when you know your writing sucks. So I reached that wall where I was writing and I was feeling good. And then I picked up a new book and I started reading and I realized everything that was coming out of me was awful, but yet I still had to keep writing. So he walks me through how to do that. We also talk about building a strong antagonist and why that's so important to your story and how to add the right kind of fat to your writing. So it's a really

great episode. It was a lot of fun for me and I know you're going to love it. So let's jump in and

get started. So Sean, I am 10,000, low over 10,000 words into my book and it was right at the

8,000 mark that I decided that all of this

sucks. So I made the mistake of I was watching the new mini series based on Stephen King's

book 112263. Right. And then I was really enjoying it so I stopped so I could read the book first.

And I started reading his book and I'm like, everything I'm doing is horrible.

So tell me, like, what are the mental gymnastics that I can do to continue writing when I feel like everything I write is horrible?

Well, the first thing that you need to remember is that it's all about getting a first

draft.

So even Stephen King's first drafts are probably not anywhere.

Well, they're probably pretty good.

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