Michael Arndt: Oscar-Winning Writer Teaches Storytelling | How I Write

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Michael Arndt, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter, is on the show today to teach us how to write great stories. We started the conversation by discussing his time at Pixar. I asked Michael, "You worked on movies like Toy Story 3. What is it about Pixar's DNA that has made them so successful for so long?" We also discussed Little Miss Sunshine, the movie that won him an Oscar in 2007. He has read thousands of screenplays, so he understands what distinguishes a bad screenplay from a good one. As a script doctor and storytelling scientist, he's here to teach us how to write great stories. About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Francine Prose has written more than 30 books and taught at both Harvard and Bard College. If you ask her how to become a better writer, she'll tell you to start by reading like a writer. Look at words and sentences, characters and details. Study them, dissect them. Then find books that you love, ones that have stood the test of time, and ask yourself: Why has this book endured? Why has it stayed popular for so long? But how do you actually do that? This interview provides an answer. About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Harlan Coben has written 38 books. If you want to write thrilling and suspenseful stories, he's the guy to learn from. His vibe is like a tough-love basketball coach who tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And while it might feel a little challenging at times, I promise you'll leave this conversation motivated to write, to get back to working on whatever project you're pursuing. About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite R. F. Kuang came on the show to talk about her love for language and what it means to live like a writer. She has written seven books, won the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and trained at some of the world's top universities: Cambridge, Oxford, and Yale. What stands out is her ability to write in so many different voices: the economical, the poetic, the minimalist, the maximalist. How do you cultivate that dexterity as a writer? It is rare to meet someone who writes so well and can also explain their process with such joy and precision. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:29 How emotions can help you write 00:06:44 Writing from different povs 00:09:15 Sneak peek into an unreleased novel 00:15:20 Why easy writing fails 00:18:46 How to unlock your writing 00:23:09 Building unique voices for each book 00:30:47 What Kuang learned from debates 00:32:52 Why primary sources matter 00:35:33 What AI can never do 00:40:54 First steps of a book 00:45:16 Trust your subconscious 00:50:25 Copy the writers you love 00:52:57 Be goofy on purpose 00:57:34 The driving questions of her books 00:58:16 Read Taipei Story now 01:01:36 What her students must understand 01:04:38 Book and movie recommendations About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Matt Haig sold more than 10 million copies of his book, The Midnight Library. I just checked on Amazon, and it has over 288,000 reviews. This book was a total hit, a smashing success. I invited Matt on the show to ask him about his process: how he writes and how he tells great stories. Given his success, I also had to ask if it's acceptable to write for the mass market. Are you betraying the craft if you explicitly try to reach as many people as possible? About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Elif Shafak and Robert Macfarlane are two of the most dreamy and articulate writers I know. Elif has written 21 books, 13 of which are novels, and she’s the president of the Royal Society of Literature. Robert writes about the natural world, and he does so in such a poetic and enchanted way. His writing is infused with wonder. I’ve had both of them on the show individually, but I said, “Hey, I know you’re really good friends. Let’s all get together for one conversation. What I want to do is hear the kind of conversation you would have over a cup of coffee or over lunch.” And so here I’m like you, a fly on the wall for a conversation between two really interesting writers. About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Andrew Sean Greer won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2018 novel "Less". I had to ask him what it's like to win a Pulitzer Prize. His story about that is my favorite part of the interview. We also talked about his writing process: how he tells great stories, develops great characters, and writes good sentences. He shared his mantras, such as the idea that when you're editing, the editor is the patient, and you, the writer, are the doctor. He also explained why it's better to be honest than witty if you want to write great comedy. About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Mark Forsyth has spent years studying how great writers piece words together. People like Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, but also musicians like the Beatles and Taylor Swift. For him, it all comes down to figures of rhetoric: timeless tools you can use to make your writing more memorable and enjoyable. I asked Mark to break them down for me one by one: What is the tool? How does it work? When do you use it? Why is it good to apply? You'll find that these tools will make you a better writer. You'll have a lot more fun when you write because you'll be so much more playful when crafting words. About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Jack Carr is a master at writing thrillers. He's a former Navy SEAL turned author who loves books and storytelling. When he walked in, I told him, "I want you to teach me how you write so visually. You're so good at visually taking the minutiae of combat and violence, writing about weapons in a way that comes to life on the page. How do you actually do that?" And this is a guy whose method clearly works. He publishes a new novel every year, has built a successful writing business, and Amazon Prime adapted his book, The Terminal List, into an original series starring Chris Pratt. About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Scott Dikkers is the former editor-in-chief of The Onion, the site that brought news satire to the internet. Before the episode, I went up to Scott and said, “I have one goal for this: I want to start writing funny. You know how to do it. Can you teach me everything you've learned?" He’s been doing this for decades, so he was able to take me by the hand and show me what he learned, very concretely. You're obviously not going to framework your way to becoming the next George Carlin, but there are universal principles of comedy that work in any kind of writing, whether it's for a group chat or when you are talking with friends on a Saturday night at the bar. And Scott is about to teach us how to do it. About the host Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices