The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 64 – What Makes a Great Villain  Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.    EPISODE DESCRIPTION –   Recently, a long-time listener of The Storyteller's Mission reached out to ask my opinion as to the best movie villains and why, so this podcast episode is dedicated...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 63 – Three Essential Elements of a Well-Constructed Scene Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website. EPISODE DESCRIPTION –   One of the things I notice a lot in the work I critique or evaluate is that writers have difficulty gauging when to end their scenes. Often they go o...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 62 – Zena's Interview as a Guest on The Story Blender Podcast Zena Dell Lowe was honored to be a returning guest on The Story Blender podcast. Her episode aired on Friday, April 30, 2021. This is a show where award-winning writer Steven James interviews some of the world’s top storytellers on the secrets to great storytelling. Some of thei...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 61 – How to Navigate Your Professional Life - Two Great Questions from Listeners Answered Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION –   Today, I'm answering two questions submitted by listeners of The Storyteller's Mission Podcast. Jay Wrigh...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 60 – How to Keep Your Main Character Active when Someone Else is Calling the Shots Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION –   Today, I want to talk about an ongoing problem, which is a tendency for writers to have passive characters. Characters who...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 59 – How to Keep Getting Re-hired as a Writer-for-Hire DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION – For many writers, the best way to make a living as a writer isn't to publish or sell your own original project, but to be hired by individuals or companies who need you to write a project the...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 58 – Five Additional Tools and Solutions for Godly Storytelling Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION – For the last several weeks, we have been analyzing the five primary keynotes or principles of godly storytelling:  1.    A commitment to truth...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 57 – 21 Heroic Character Qualities that You Can Reveal in Story Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.     EPISODE DESCRIPTION – This week, Zena Dell Lowe takes a detour from the current series on godly storytelling to revisit the noble or heroic character qualities tha...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 56 – The Primary Purpose of Art is to Promote Human Connection Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.     EPISODE DESCRIPTION – For the last several weeks, we have been analyzing the five primary keynotes or principles of godly storytelling:  1.    A commitment to truth...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 55 – What Constitutes Redemption and How Do Characters Achieve It?   Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION For the last several weeks, we have been analyzing the five primary keynotes or principles of godly storytelling:  1.    A commitment to tru...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 54 – A Good Story Leaves Room for The Possibility of Redemption   Follow along with the cheat sheet below, or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION – For the last several weeks, we have been analyzing the principles of godly storytelling, and I’ve argued that there are five primary keynotes...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 53 – How to Portray Good and Evil in Story Follow along with the cheat sheet below. Or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website. EPISODE DESCRIPTION - A few weeks ago, I asked the question, “Is your story good before God,” which launched us into a series outlining 5 keynotes for godly storytelling.  A commitment to...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 52 – How To Tell The Truth Without Violating Your Audience  Follow along with the cheat sheet below, which lists the main points for this episode. Or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION - Last week, we discussed the question of how to make your story good before God. I argued that the num...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 51 – Is Your Story Good Before God?   Follow along with the cheat sheet below, which lists the main points of the episode. Or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION - For the past few weeks, we've been discussing how to find a good story for you to tell, and looking at issues like genre...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE EPISODE 50 – CHEAT SHEET Follow along with the cheat sheet below, which lists the main points for each episode. Or DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPTS FOR FREE on the podcast page of our website. EPISODE DESCRIPTION -  Last week, we discussed the importance of genre, especially since the genre you write in ultimately helps establish the rules that the writer nee...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE  EPISODE 49: WHEN IT COMES TO GENRES AND SUB-GENRES, IT'S ALL ABOUT EVOKING CERTAIN EMOTIONS   EPISODE DESCRIPTION:      Last week’s episode discussed the purpose of genre, which is basically to pair a type of story with the kind of audience who likes it. This week, Zena breaks down Nine Basic Film Genres that marketing people use to sell films, a...

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!! The Storyteller's Mission online platform is officially LIVE! Please do us a favor and check it out at www.thestorytellersmission.com. My team and I have been working round the clock to get the website ready to launch by today, but it was far more complex than we had expected! Please forgive any broken links, and let us know wh...

 EPISODE DESCRIPTION:     T his week Zena explores the viability of a project by asking the question, is it Commercial?   We’re snotty when it comes to this. But commerciality means mass appeal – which we should want. Here are some ways to test whether or not your story idea is commercial.   1.)     Name recognition – is this screenplay based on anything famous?  A trend or compic book hero? Somet...

Ep. 46 - Make Your Story Good Before Hollywood with Heart, Smarts & Sparkle EPISODE DESCRIPTION:     In this episode, Zena gives additional criteria that you can use to evaluate the merits of your story ideas. Using the tried and true formula of "Logos, Pathos, and Ethos," but changing it into modern day language and examining it Hollywood style, Zena explores the concepts of Heart,...

Ep. 45. Finding Your Story: How to Test Whether or Not Your Story Idea is Good EPISODE DESCRIPTION:      In this episode of The Storyteller’s Mission, Zena goes back to the basics and asks, “What is a Story?” Before you can write a good story, you need to know what a story is.  Story is defined as “the telling of an event that happens to a certain individual or group of individuals.” In other word...

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:      In the last episode of the A-HA MOMENT Series (and the last episode of the entire year), Zena reflects back to a time when she was privileged to hear Tony Campolo speak at a Youth Conference. His topic: Rituals and Traditions.  Tony argued that Rituals and Traditions have had a far greater impact on our lives than we have realized. For example, as a father, he had develop...

In this special episode of The Storyteller's Mission, Zena Dell Lowe breaks down the twin concepts of Justice and Suffering.  Justice is that need inside of us that demands that wrong doers pay for their deeds. This is a concept we innately agree with, and so we wait expectantly for God's wrath. On the other side of the coin is our suffering, but most of us don't realize that suffer...

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:      A-ha moment #2 = In this episode, Zena shares how she had a terrible time setting boundaries in business early in her career, so in order to prevent her life from being hijacked by others, she needed some guiding principles and pre-planned phrases that she could use at the drop of the hat.  The following are 5 empowering phrases that Zena has discovered over the years tha...

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:      As human beings, we all have an intense desire to become a member of some exclusive "inner circle," and to establish relationships in the business with professionals we think can help further our careers, rather than just people we like on the basis of friendship. There is a desire and a temptation and a need, even, to network or associate with the right confere...

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:      This episode presents two more major mistakes that Zena has been seeing lately in the work she's been reviewing for clients. These are: 3. Not milking every moment for what it's worth. Every time your character is in a scene, that scene should reveal character, show the complexities of essential character relationships, and/or reveal your main character's i...