{"podcast":{"title":"Story Nerd","slug":"story-nerd-5321719","podcast_index_feed_id":5321719,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/valerie3v/feed.xml","website_url":"https://valerie3v.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/22517313/story-nerd-trademark.jpg","author":"Valerie Francis","episode_count":100,"summary":"For novelists, memoirists and screenwriters who want to write stories readers will love, and who want to work with a literary agent. Each week, editors Valerie Francis and Melanie Hill use films to explain how to craft a story that hooks the reader on page one and holds their attention all the way to the end. On alternate weeks, Valerie and literary agent Kathleen Foxx offer their professional feedback on query letters and writing samples submitted by Story Nerd listeners. The goal is simple: to help writers realize their dreams of becoming published authors. If you love to write, and you love to tell stories, and you want to see your book out in the world, this podcast is for you! ”The only thing that matters, and that ever will matter, is the story. That’s it.” - Tom Hanks (Oxford Union 2024)","last_synced_at":"2026-07-29T16:18:10.114788+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/story-nerd-5321719"},"episode":{"title":"Amour: looks easy, but isn't!","slug":"amour-looks-easy-but-isn-t-2","published_at":"2026-03-04T08:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/story-nerd-5321719/amour-looks-easy-but-isn-t-2","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/story-nerd-5321719","url":"https://storynerd.simplecast.com/episodes/amour-looks-easy-but-isn-t-wcntnFBo-IYE12jZU","audio_url":"https://cdn.simplecast.com/media/audio/transcoded/5a89041c-c813-40c4-890d-a8e249ba1095/ecc02378-71a1-4297-8fb1-cd4d834eddb7/episodes/audio/group/e4e4de1d-3d50-4e9a-8711-b202d384bce7/group-item/a30ea1c8-deec-4ced-bd15-756f589f11be/128_default_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed&feed=yjW978tJ","summary":"HEADS-UP! Amour is beautiful but heavy (have the tissue ready!). Do you want to write gritty stories that leave readers grief struck long after they read THE END and close the book? Amour is a fantastic template for a complex moral problem that will never be resolved. This is another example of how a story can have an arc when the protagonist is constant. And Valerie does a stellar job of working out who or what the force of antagonism is and how the speech in praise of the villain applies when the antagonist isn't obvious. -M.","meta_description":"HEADS-UP! Amour is beautiful but heavy (have the tissue ready!). Do you want to write gritty stories that leave readers grief struck long after they read…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1784,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/story-nerd-5321719/episodes/amour-looks-easy-but-isn-t-2/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/story-nerd-5321719/amour-looks-easy-but-isn-t-2.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}