Derailed Trains of Thought is your premiere podcast on storytelling for the creator and the consumer. Hosted by Nick Hayden and Timothy Deal, Derailed Trains of Thought discusses a wide range of storytelling topics, from the practical to the philosophical, in a engaging, conversational manner. It also includes bouts of fiction, brainstorming, Internet weirdness, puns, and a general enjoyment of the intersection between the written word, film, story, and meaning.
It’s Christmas, and while that means food and festivities, hopefully it also means moments of silence and thoughtfulness. This episode, Nick and Tim muse over the use and flavors of silence in stories. In the second half, they present a special holiday co
The Hero’s Journey is essential to a good story, right? How about an epic climax? Five acts? Three? A witty sidekick? What does a story need and what do we modern Westerns think it needs? Many of our conventions of story telling are just that, conventions
THE INTERNET – Podcasters Timothy Deal and Nicholas Hayden interviewed freelance newswriter Laura Finch for Episode 91 of the Derailed Trains of Thought podcast. Finch, who writes for World Magazine, explained how newswriting is like storytelling, how aud
Sound. It’s all around us–and it plays an important, if often overlooked, role in many of our stories. So Timothy and Nick decide to give sound its due. Then, because it’s our 90th episode, we share a aurally-enhanced Bit of Story and step into a especia
So, you’ve created something. Great job. Don’t you know that someone else has already done it better and that you’re a sorry excuse for an artist and that you’ll never compare with the greats out there? Truth is “creatives” always compare themselves to ot
Whether it’s through a portal, across the sea, among the stars, or deep into the earth, we all dream of going on an adventure. That’s why so many stories are concerned with adventures, and why Timothy and Nick tackle the genre–along with guest Greg Meyer
As spring comes, people everyone develop wanderlust. They want to get out, to travel and see the world. Well, guess what? Plenty of fictional characters travel, too. In this episode, Timothy and Nick examine the role of the journey in stories. Then, in th
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