What If…?

Where we re-imagine some aspect of popular stories by asking, “What If…?”

Episode 93 – Give Thanks for Stories

It’s Thanksgiving, and while the commercial world is rushing on to Black Friday, Timothy and Nick want to pause a moment and give thanks for stories. So, in Story School, we list the ways stories benefit our lives. Then in What If? we shoehorn the oft-neg

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Episode 98 – Little Did He Know A Storm Was Coming

Of the many stories never mentioned on Derailed Trains of Thought (your premiere podcast on storytelling), one is The Monster at the End of This Book: Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover, where Grover tries to prevent the appearance of the monster at the e

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Episode 100 – Journey to Tanner Mountain

It’s here! IT’S HERE! EPISODE 100! After nearly 9 year and 99 episodes, we’ve finally arrived at episode 100. Triple digits, here we are! It’s been quite a journey and, without spoiling much, so is this episode. Don’t wait, press play, and join Timothy De

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Episode 101 – Apocalypse as Popcorn

If there’s one thing everyone knows about the end of the world, it’s that it’s pretty cool to watch on the big screen. There’s nothing like destruction, chaos, and extinction-level events to make us sit back and think, “Man, this is awesome.” Guest Nathan

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Epiosde 105 – The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Merry Christmas! ‘Tis the season for nativities and stories of the Nativity, which put Tim and Nick in the mood to discuss Biblical adaptations. How do you adapt a Bible story, and what makes it different from a normal adaptation? Then, for this month’s W

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Episode 109 – Answering the Call of the Wild

Has urban life made people soft? Does living off the grid make you one with Nature? Does eking out an existence on a deserted island improve your moral character? Following up last episode’s discussion on nature, Tim and Nick examine how characters are ch

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Episode 117 – Bulk Up Your Creativity Today!

Creativity is valued in many areas of life. Whether you’re writing a book, starting a business, or writing a script about a cheese shop, being able to think outside the box and come up with new solutions is a vital skill. But how do you get better at the

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Episode 121 – Destiny, Free Will, and the Multiverse

What if…you decided to defy fate. Could you succeed? And what would it mean if you did? What if…whenever you made a choice, a new universe spun off? What does that mean for your alternate selves? What if…you listened to hosts Timothy Deal and Nick H

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Episode 127 – You, Like, Know What I Mean, Right?

This episode might be about stories that are too ambiguous and thereby confusing. On the other hand, this episode might be about stories that are just ambiguous enough and thereby powerful. Perhaps hosts Timothy Deal and Nick Hayden can find a definitive

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Episode 130 – Beyond the Chess Board

Perhaps you’ve sat down for a seventeen-hour session of Monopoly. You roll dice, you take cards, you pay fake money, and you build houses. But you can also imagine yourself as a budding real estate tycoon, trying to avoid jail, consolidating your own personal Potterville in which to squeeze every last penny out of your…

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