Episode 37 - DEEEEEEP Hurting

Ever had one of those days when you wake up late, spill hot coffee on yourself, accidentally sever your hand in the car door, and then witness the utter destruction of everything you know and love by a trans-dimensional blitzkrieg?

Me, either. But if you're a fictional character, it's not outside the realm of possibility. So why do creators put their characters through such torture? Does a character ever suffer too much? And why are we attracted to suffering in TV and books we would be happy to avoid in real life?

If those questions are too much for you, skip to the second half to hear Tim and Nick talk about perfume.

So enjoy the always surprising, possibly fascinating, 37th episode of Derailed Trains of Thought. (Original live recording available here. No sandstorms were used in the recording of this episode.)

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Episode 36 - Real "Steel"?

We're back! Again! After an extended hiatus to reflect and retool the podcast, Nick and Tim return with a new, live format for Derailed Trains of Thought! This episode was originally streamed live last week at mixlr.com, which allowed us to interact with our listener while recording as well as drastically reduce our editing time. We had a few technical snafus (early on, you'll hear music playing before we intended it to), but overall it was a fun and mostly successful first broadcast!

But what, pray tell, did we talk about? Realism in fantasy, a topic inspired by the end of the summer movie season and controversy over Man of Steel in particular. How do storytellers help audiences suspend disbelief? And how does one make a story believable while maintaining the essence of the fantastic? Tim and Nick wrestle with these questions, review some of this summer's movies, babble about their current projects, and more in the long-awaited return of Derailed Trains of Thought!

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Episode 35 - Now The Page Was Formless and Void

A new year brings new beginnings...like a new podcast about beginnings!

That's right, after starting with endings way back in Episode 1, Nick and Tim come full circle to the beginning of things.

Whether it's how best to start a story or why audiences like origins so much, your premiere storytelling podcast has you covered. And don't miss as Tim and Nick give their obligatory two cents about who should direct Star Wars in What IF? and share a very important Project Update.

So, hang up your new cat calendar, sign up for that gym membership, and listen in to the latest episode of Derailed Trains of Thought. After two years, we're just getting started.

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Episode 34 - Total Recall?

Just in time for the holidays, the celebratory 2nd Anniversary Derailed Trains of Thought podcast!

So...instead of working ourselves to the bone (you know, as we usually do, trying to get out one episode every 9 weeks or so), we compiled a collection of our favorite segments from the last year.

I mean, who can forget our discussion of feminism and story, or the history of punctuation, or our treatise on the theological meaning of Looney Tunes? But, if for some reason you have, that's what this clip show is all about.

Sit back and bask in an hour's condensed glory of your premiere storytelling podcast. Also, listen to Nick and Tim nearly break into fisticuffs.

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Episode 33 - How to be Timeless

We're alive! Tim and Nick emerge from their summer hiatus with an instant classic! It's a modern masterpiece! A genre-setting podcast! The best audio entertainment since "War of the Worlds"!

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Or, at least, we discuss what makes a work of fiction "classic," and that has to be worth something, right?

We follow up with A Bit of Story from the "so-unknown-it-must-be-classic" Story Project and finish with a mini Take on Tales. So, if you've been pining for some Derailed Trains of Thought, we've got you covered. It might not be Shakespeare, but who wants to read that ancient fuddy-duddy stuff anyway?

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