The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:       In story, it's essential that characters come across as credible and believable. A story must ring true in order for the audience to care and stay invested in the main character's journey.  As discussed in episode 13, one way storytellers inadvertently violate the credibility of their story is when they approach the work with a prior philosophical commitment th...

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:      In story, your characters and their world must be credible and believable. The job of the storyteller, first and foremost, is to tell the truth about the world as you know it, and about the people who inhabit that world. The acid test of how well you’ve accomplished this is always and forever the same: does it ring true to the audience?  One kind of believability has to d...

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:      In this episode of The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe, Zena proposes that the acid test of a story is: does it work? By that, she means does the audience buy it?  Are the characters credible or believable? Zena then goes on to discuss two common ways in which the credibility of a story may be undermined. 1. If the writer rushes, or fails to take the time to allow the charact...

In this episode of The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe, Zena expands on one of the fundamental principles of storytelling, namely, that the finest writing not only reveals true character, but arcs or changes that character for better or for worse over the course of the telling. But in order to show us that a character has grown, you must: 1.    Set up the character’s need from the very beginning, and...

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:       In this episode, Zena provides three reasons why characters need to grow and change in order for the audience to stay involved in the story. Since the essence of every story is suffering regardless of the genre, she reiterates the important role of the storyteller in society. Artists tackle the greatest conundrum of the human condition - suffering. Their work is the basi...

In this episode, Zena Dell Lowe unpacks one of the most important principles of storytelling, which is that true character revelation, in contrast or contradiction to characterization, is fundamental to all fine storytelling. Characters cannot be at heart what they seem to be at face. To find out more about The Mission Podcast, or to sign up for the mailing list, go to www.missionranchfilms.com. S...

Your entire story hinges on character. There’s nothing more important in your story than that. In this episode, Zena Dell Lowe lists 5 ways in which characters are better than real. 1. Characters are compressed in time . Just try to fit a real person's life into a book or a movie. You can’t do it, it’s too much. If you’re having trouble in your story, it may be because your story is too big a...

In this episode, Zena Dell Lowe stresses the importance of forging a bond between the audience and the main character. The key is to create a character that is likable, sympathetic, or intriguing, but how do you do that? Zena presents 5 techniques to help writers do just that.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Your main character needs to drive the action of the story by pursuing a goal relentlessly, but what happens when they hit obstacles that throw them off track? Learn the key story concepts and principles that will always enable you to keep your main character front and center in the action.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode, Zena Dell Lowe shares 5 game-changing, easy to remember tips that will help writers learn how to reveal true character through action. It's show, don't tell storytelling at its finest, with tips that can help writers take their stories to the next level immediately. This is a must for fiction writers.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode, Zena Dell Lowe breaks down the two pronged approach that most people use to evaluate art, and shares examples from her personal life to show that the underlying issue always comes down to Worldview. We are in a battle of ideas, How can we be sure that our ideas are the ones worth fighting for? Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In episode 3 of The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe, we explore one of the challenges that artists face in order to tell the truth about the world through their art. Namely, since past trauma and suffering distort one's perceptions of reality, the artist may not be able to accurately reflect the world as it really is. Instead, the artist may have adopted false beliefs about himself, others, God,...

The Mission, according to Zena Dell Lowe, is to change the world for the better through story, but this podcast is hardly just for writers. All artists are storytellers because art itself tells a story. No matter what the artist's particular area of discipline may be, art paints a picture - a story - which bridges the gap of isolation and connects the artist with others.  This program is for...

Why are we as a species so obsessed with story? Because in addition to our lizard brain (the lower part of our brain in charge of ensuring our survival in a hostile world), we also have a higher functioning brain, which has given us the capacity to reason. And with that ability comes a higher purpose: to make sense of the world we live in.  This episode explores how story becomes the primary way f...