17 episodes

After banging his head against the literary wall on various projects for years, aspiring novelist and screenwriter Ben Hess was desperate for advice and guidance. Leveraging over a decade of video production, filmmaking, and storytelling, he turned off his camera, turned up the mic, and started asking award winning writers their perspective on the craft and community of writing. Welcome to Story Geometry.

Story Geometry Ben Hess

    • Arts
    • 4.9 • 17 Ratings

After banging his head against the literary wall on various projects for years, aspiring novelist and screenwriter Ben Hess was desperate for advice and guidance. Leveraging over a decade of video production, filmmaking, and storytelling, he turned off his camera, turned up the mic, and started asking award winning writers their perspective on the craft and community of writing. Welcome to Story Geometry.

    S2 Ep17: Workshop Diaries

    S2 Ep17: Workshop Diaries

    Attending a literary workshop can be fraught with highs and lows of creative feedback, a gorgeous natural setting, and amazing peers. Who happen to be alone 90% of the year, creating magic on a screen. Hear two first hand accounts of navigating the wilds of a writing conference in Northern California. Writers include Brittany Erickson Tuttle and Tony Pandola along with insights from award-winning novelist and memoirist Andre Dubus III.

    • 28 min
    S2 Ep16: The 80s, Espionage, & Editing

    S2 Ep16: The 80s, Espionage, & Editing

    Meet 90 year old debut author Lillian McCloy, who was stationed in six countries while raising three kids as the wife of a CIA undercover agent. Host Ben Hess gets to explore the real experiences of this spy family, well beyond the detective fiction of his youth. He also compares the editing of that memoir with the experiences professional editor Jay Schaefer had working on Under the Tuscan Sun and creating a short fiction magazine in the 1980s.

    • 26 min
    S2 Ep15: Page to Screen

    S2 Ep15: Page to Screen

    Host Ben Hess takes his passion for film to the literary world and explores the ins and outs, ups and downs, of the often circuitous adaptation process. Guests include National Book Award finalist Andre Dubus III (House of Sand and Fog, Townie, Dirty Love), Willa Award winning novelist BK Loren (Theft), award winning screenwriter Jonathon E. Stewart, and fiction author, teacher, and screenwriter Alan Heathcock (VOLT: stories).

    • 33 min
    S2 Ep14: On the Move

    S2 Ep14: On the Move

    Between 35 and 40 million Americans - that’s 11% to 14% of the population - move every year according to the US Census Bureau and real estate metrics site HomeData. Episode 14 features two chapters and spotlights authors at very different stages of their writing journey, Pulitzer Finalist in Nonfiction Luis Alberto Urrea (The Devil’s Highway: A True Story, Into the Beautiful North, The Hummingbird’s Daughter) and blogger Gretchen Howell. They shared several stories of impactful moves, and the effects felt on their writing.

    • 25 min
    S2 Ep13: Sexuality in Lit

    S2 Ep13: Sexuality in Lit

    This episode, Sexuality in Lit, features three writers who have incorporated sex and sexuality into their work in very different ways. Chapter 1, Tina’s Transformative Performance, features Fenton Johnson’s (The Man Who Loved Birds) account of a live concert in the late 60’s. Amber Keyser, is our Chapter Two, Mom’s Sex Book, subject and she discusses the challenge of writing about sex in The V Word while raising kids, and in Chapter Three, Shifting Identity, National Book Award Winner Mark Doty (Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems) examines our changing cultural landscape around the LGBTQ community.

    • 27 min
    S2 Ep12: Three Beginnings

    S2 Ep12: Three Beginnings

    Host Ben Hess is fascinated by beginnings - get it right, and you've hooked your reader. Get it wrong, and all your hard work is set aside for another story or book. He explores how strong works begin with interviews and readings from science and environmental writer Craig Childs (Apocalyptic Planet: A Field Guide to the Everending Earth, House of Rain), writer and teacher BK Loren (Theft and Animal, Mineral, Radical: A Flock of Essays on Wildlife, Animals, & Food), and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Luis Alberto Urrea (The Devil’s Highway: A True Story, The Hummingbird’s Daughter).

    • 21 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
17 Ratings

17 Ratings

strawbery fields ,

Wonderful Insights for All Creatives

I love listening to Story Geometry. Every episode manages to spin out an intriguing narrative while also providing great insight for writers and all other creatives. I love hearing from some of my favorite writers on craft and other aspects of the writing life. Highly relatable and I always walk away with something to apply to my work and to make it better. Definitely a favorite!

danorama723 ,

Not just for writers

This series is a masterfully assembled collection of lessons, anecdotes, aspirations, methods, triumphs and tribulations that anyone trying to develop a career in the arts can relate to and learn from. Keep going, Ben... I can't wait for Season 3!

GrinningDwarf ,

Definitely For Writers

I ran across this podcast after hearing Pam Houston speak in Redding, CA. Ben Hess is involved with the WritersXWriters workshop, of which Pam Houston was a co-founder, and these podcasts are a glimpse into writers and how they work. Fascinating, and a useful tool for aspiring writers.

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