Plotting About

Short stories are having a moment. Hollywood is mining them for adaptations, anthologies are everywhere, and everyone suddenly wants to write short. So who better to break down the craft than someone who's placed over forty of them? In this episode of Plotting About, Andrew sits down with Stacy Woodson, a US Army combat veteran, three-time Derringer Award winner, and one of the most decorated shor...

What happens when a television writer becomes a professional matchmaker — and then writes a book about it? In this episode of Plotting About, Andrew Rubin sits down with Jaydi Samuels Kuba: TV writer (Family Guy, Salem), certified date and relationship coach, one half of the "Love Agents of Hollywood," and author of the memoir Your Last First Date: Secrets from a Hollywood Matchmaker. She's set up...

Episode 3 — Janell Rhiannon: From Homer to Epic Fantasy — Retelling the Trojan War Through a Human Lens It started with a footnote. While researching Alexander the Great in graduate school, Janell Rhiannon came across a detail in Plutarch — that Alexander slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow. Curious about what could compel someone like Alexander to do that, she picked up Homer. More th...

What does it really take to make a location feel alive on the page, and why does it matter more than you think? In this episode of Plotting About, Andrew Rubin, author of Hell or High Winter, sits down with Stefanie Leder, author and TV writer-producer whose credits include Netflix's Boo Bitch, MTV's Faking It, TBS's Men at Work, and ABC Family's Melissa and Joey. Her debut novel "Love, Coffee and...

Real Car Chases… To Writing Them | From DEA Agent to Hollywood on Lawman: Bass Reeves & Dutton Ranch In this first episode of Plotting About, I sit down with J. Todd Scott, former federal agent with a 30-year career who transitioned into a bestselling crime novelist and TV writer. From undercover operations and high-speed pursuits to writing for the Yellowstone universe (Dutton Ranch), JT brin...