{"id":28785,"date":"2024-09-09T02:21:21","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T09:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=28785"},"modified":"2024-09-16T05:02:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T12:02:05","slug":"lets-play-a-game-interview-with-melissa-dinwiddie-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/09\/lets-play-a-game-interview-with-melissa-dinwiddie-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s Play A Game, Interview with Melissa Dinwiddie, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Episode-117-Blog-Images-2.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-28786 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Episode-117-Blog-Images-2.png\" alt=\"Image of Beth Barany and Melissa Dinwiddie for Let's Play A Game, Interview with Melissa Dinwiddie, Part 2\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Episode-117-Blog-Images-2.png 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Episode-117-Blog-Images-2-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Episode-117-Blog-Images-1.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-28787 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Episode-117-Blog-Images-1.png\" alt=\"Quote from Let's Play A Game, Interview with Melissa Dinwiddie, Part 2\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Episode-117-Blog-Images-1.png 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Episode-117-Blog-Images-1-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let&#8217;s Play A Game, Interview with Melissa Dinwiddie, Part 2 &#8211; How To Write the Future podcast episode 117<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI&#8217;m leading people through some kind of an activity. So often when I tell people that I use play-based methods, or particularly if I tell people that I use improv, they will often jump to the conclusion that I&#8217;m doing some kind of role playing.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d &#8211; Melissa Dinwiddie<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this How To Write the Future episode, \u201cLet&#8217;s Play A Game, Interview with Melissa Dinwiddie, Part 2\u201d host Beth Barany continues her interview with former professional artist and trained improviser, Melissa Dinwiddie, where together they discuss the the FUN method that Melissa uses to help others creatively. Then they demonstrate a two-person game you can play to loosen up and get creative.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Platforms The podcast is available on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/117-lets-play-a-game-interview-with-melissa-dinwiddie-part-2\/id1641025914?i=1000668846672\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061\/15679566-117-let-s-play-a-game-interview-with-melissa-dinwiddie-part-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Buzzsprout<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/3r6bDBcsTDeCTF254Gn4n0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcastaddict.com\/episode\/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzsprout.com%2F2012061%2F15679566-117-let-s-play-a-game-interview-with-melissa-dinwiddie-part-2.mp3&amp;podcastId=4025186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Podcast Addict<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/ca590618-5630-4450-aa17-7e2f35359a76\/episodes\/bff54ff8-ca7c-433f-98da-0cc654139d96\/how-to-write-the-future-117-let's-play-a-game-interview-with-melissa-dinwiddie-part-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon Music<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/jZVThMFi7h4?si=sC9ZGsbXZEKfjO_x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Youtube<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jZVThMFi7h4?si=sC9ZGsbXZEKfjO_x\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><script type='text\/javascript' charset='utf-8' src='https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061.js?container_id=buzzsprout-large-player&#038;player=large'><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><b>RESOURCES<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Part 1 &#8211;<\/b> <b>Bring Improv to Your Life, Interview with Melissa Dinwiddie, Part 1<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/02\/bring-improv-to-your-life-interview-with-melissa-dinwiddie-part-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/02\/bring-improv-to-your-life-interview-with-melissa-dinwiddie-part-1\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Get Your Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers:<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/world-building-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/world-building-resources\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Sign up for the 30-minute Story Success Clinic with Beth Barany:<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/story-success-clinic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/story-success-clinic\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Get support for your fiction writing by a novelist and writing teacher and coach. Schedule an exploratory call here and see if Beth can support you today:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/discovery-call\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/discovery-call\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"fittexted_for_content_h2\"><strong>About Melissa Dinwiddie<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Headshot-April-4-2023-Melissa-Dinwiddie-1.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-28761 size-medium\" title=\"Image of Melissa Dinwiddie\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Headshot-April-4-2023-Melissa-Dinwiddie-1-300x300.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Headshot-April-4-2023-Melissa-Dinwiddie-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Headshot-April-4-2023-Melissa-Dinwiddie-1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Headshot-April-4-2023-Melissa-Dinwiddie-1-640x640.png 640w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Headshot-April-4-2023-Melissa-Dinwiddie-1-80x80.png 80w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Headshot-April-4-2023-Melissa-Dinwiddie-1-320x320.png 320w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Headshot-April-4-2023-Melissa-Dinwiddie-1.png 900w\" alt=\"Image of Melissa Dinwiddie\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A former professional artist and trained improviser and jazz singer, Melissa Dinwiddie helps senior tech leaders increase their influence and reduce conflict by helping their teams communicate and connect better so their work has impact across the organization, all through her F.U.N. Method\u2122. She designs interactive, playful programs that attendees rave about because they acquire new skills and behaviors and build connections while having a blast. Her book,\u00a0<em>The Creative Sandbox Way<\/em>\u2122, has been called \u201cessential for the bookshelf,\u201d \u201cthe owner\u2019s guide for the caring and feeding of the creative spirit,\u201d and \u201can adventure packaged as a book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/creativesandbox.solutions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/creativesandbox.solutions\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Instagram:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/a_creative_life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/a_creative_life\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>LinkedIn:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/melissadinwiddie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/melissadinwiddie\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ready to harness the power of improv to take your leaders and HiPo\u2019s to the next level? Evaluate where your team stands with Melissa\u2019s Leadership Assessment Tool\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"emoji\" role=\"img\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/svg\/1f449.svg\" alt=\"\ud83d\udc49\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/LeadershipAssessmentTool\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/LeadershipAssessmentTool<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About the How To Write the Future podcast<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The *How To Write The Future* podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers. This podcast is for readers too if you\u2019re at all curious about the future of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This podcast is for you if you have questions like:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; How do I figure out what&#8217;s not working if my story feels flat?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; How do I make my story more interesting and alive?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This podcast is for readers too if you\u2019re at all curious about the future of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transcript for episode 117 &#8211; Let&#8217;s Play A Game, Interview with Melissa Dinwiddie, Part 2\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m your host, Beth Barany. I am an award-winning science fiction and fantasy novelist, writing teacher, creativity coach, and I run this podcast because I believe with science fiction and fantasy stories, we can reshape the world. And my focus is on positive, optimistic stories because what we vision, what we actually envision in our stories, we can help make so in the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Welcome back to my conversation with Melissa Dinwiddie. If you missed part one, please go back and take a listen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this episode. I have Melissa explain her F U N method.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And we&#8217;re going to play a game together.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You offered to share with us your FUN method. And if you could explain what your fun method is and if you could walk me also through a little process that would be amazing. So we could teach it to folks and we could demo it. And then tie it back somehow to how to write the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>[00:59] The FUN Method<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yeah, absolutely. So my FUN method, it&#8217;s an acronym. So F stands for Find the Flow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So that&#8217;s the part where I&#8217;m leading people through some kind of an activity. So often when I tell people that I use play-based methods, or particularly if I tell people that I use improv, they will often jump to the conclusion that I&#8217;m doing some kind of role playing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I rarely do role playing. There is definitely a place for that. But it&#8217;s rarely with the clients that I work with, rarely are we doing role playing. There&#8217;ll be some kind of activity, some kind of a game. I don&#8217;t necessarily use the word <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">game<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but it&#8217;s a game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It may seem like it has nothing to do with leadership or communication or whatever it is that we&#8217;re working on, but that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re doing right now. If the F&#8211; Find the Flow, we&#8217;re playing some kind of a game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U stands for Unlock the Meaning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that&#8217;s when we come back together for the debrief discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that is where the participants start to connect the dots between this game that we just played, this activity that we just did, and what that has to do with their day-to-day life, or with leadership or communication or whatever it is that we happen to be addressing or talking about or whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And they&#8217;re the ones who are in charge of the learning at this point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m not giving them a lecture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s not death by PowerPoint.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m just asking them questions, and they&#8217;re the ones who are having the aha moments and having the light bulbs go off over their heads.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, this is really sticky. They&#8217;re creating the learning themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, N stands for Name the Change. Another N is Now What?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>[02:56] Experiment<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> So, my programs are multiple sessions, and at the end of each session, I always ask people, what is your number one takeaway from the time that we&#8217;ve just spent together, and how are you gonna apply it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What&#8217;s an experiment that you&#8217;re gonna run between now and the next time we meet?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And by experiment that can be anything. What I mean by that is really what are you gonna try? Yeah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are you gonna do different and pay attention to between now and when we meet?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe we did a game where we planned a party using the sentence starts: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, but.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Versus: Yes, and.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe they&#8217;re gonna experiment with responding to whenever somebody comes to them with an idea they&#8217;re going to respond with &#8220;yes, and.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They&#8217;re really gonna practice that and pay attention to how people respond, because maybe they&#8217;re in the position of being a gatekeeper and they&#8217;re used to just saying, Nope, that&#8217;s not gonna work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nope, that&#8217;s not gonna work. Nope. Or Yes, but. Whatever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>[04:01] Yes, And\u2026<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> And now they&#8217;re gonna really practice saying, &#8220;Yes, and I love that idea because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.&#8221; And just respond that way even though it&#8217;s hard for them. And they&#8217;re just gonna see what kind of response that gives. So that could be their experiment. It could be anything.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So that&#8217;s the N.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>[04:17] How did that experiment go?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> And then the next time we meet, we talk about how did that experiment go?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so everybody is listening to everybody else. Usually the teams that I&#8217;m working with are fairly small. If they&#8217;re much bigger than eight or 10 people, then I&#8217;ll have them go into smaller groups to share.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So people are hearing, oh, that&#8217;s so interesting. That person had that experience with that experiment that they ran. I really resonate with that, or that&#8217;s different. They&#8217;re all learning from each other and they get to reflect on that before we launch into the next session.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> So then the next time you all gather, you use the same, after you do that initial like how to go last time with your experiment, then you use your same structure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You have a game, you have a discussion, a debrief. Will they do the learning? And then, what will be my experiment for the next time?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yeah. And sessions usually have a number of different activities throughout the duration of the session.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I love that your method acronym is so brief. I know you have some other models, but I thought for the purpose of our conversation today is if we wanna play together, do some improv together, and that our listeners who are following along can, and watchers, those on YouTube, can take this also and we could all do it together. Is there something we can do together?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>[05:39] A Two-Person Game: I need 3 things\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yeah, absolutely. I love two person games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of my favorites is: I need three things. I&#8217;ll start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;ll say three things that I need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then the third thing that I say is gonna be the first thing that you say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I need a book. I need an island. And I need an umbrella.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okay, so then I say three things.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So then you say: I need an umbrella, and then you add two more to that. Okay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I need an umbrella. I need colored pens. And I need a new little coloring notebook. I need a new little coloring notebook.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need a dog and I need a leash.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need a leash. I need a tennis ball and I need some kibble.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need some kibble. I need a little bowl. And I need my cat. I absolutely need my cat, and I need my couch, and I need my remote control.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need my remote control. I need my Roomba and I need a big floor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need my big floor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need my cat toy. And I need my Roomba also.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need my Roomba. I need a lot of cat hair. And I need an Afghan. Ooh,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need my Afghan and I need my pillows, and I need a stormy night. I need a stormy night. I need a warm cabin. And I need a cozy fire. I need a cozy fire. I need my sweetie beside me and I need my cat on the lap.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need my cat on the lap. I need a good novel and I need a cozy pillow.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need a cozy pillow. I need my popcorn snack, and I need my fuzzy slippers. I need my fuzzy slippers. I need my warm socks. And I need my cozy pajamas. I need my cozy pajamas. I need my cozy bed. I need my sleep melodic music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need my sleep melodic music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need my cozy earphones, and I need good night&#8217;s sleep. I need a good night&#8217;s sleep. Oh my gosh. I need daydreaming time and I need to stare out the window. I need to stare out the window. I need a rainstorm coming in and I need to end the drought.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need to end the drought and I need fog catchers, and I need to be in nature.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need to be in nature. I need to take a hike and I need to look at the sky. I need to look at the sky. I need to watch the stars, and I need to see the moon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need to see the moon. I need to see the stars, and I need to see my sweetheart. Ooh,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need to see my sweetheart. I need to give him chocolate and I need to give him a bouquet of flowers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need to give him a bouquet of flowers. I need to give him a card, and I need to give him a piece of chocolate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need to give him a piece of chocolate. I need to eat a piece of chocolate,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> And I need to take a walk. I need to take a walk. I need to take a bike ride, and I need to go roller skating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need to go roller skating. I. I need to dance disco with the roller skates, and I need to revisit the seventies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need to revisit the seventies. I need to revisit the eighties, and I do not need to visit, revisit the nineties. I do not need to revisit the nineties, but I want to go to Paris or I need to go to Paris and I need to listen to French radio.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need to listen to French radio. I need to eat a croissant, and I need a little espresso. I need a little espresso, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">un petit express<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and I need to walk the boulevards and I need to go into story time in French. I need to go into story time in French. I need to buy a book and I need to get a bookmark.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I need to get a bookmark. I need to sink into the novel I&#8217;m reading, and I need to work on my novel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need to work on my novel. I need to work on my painting, and I need to work on my new song. Ooh, I need to work on my new song. I love that movement. I need to do some doodling and I need to, oh my God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All the stuff I need to do For the movie.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We&#8217;ll stop there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Oh my God, that was fun. It was a fun exercise to just presence all the things we need and to riff and to be in a shared reality with each other.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>[09:49] Spontaneity<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yeah. Yeah. What was that like to be in the spontaneity of just going without thinking?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Very familiar actually. I live with someone who improvs all the time. And we improv a lot together. We play a lot of word games and I&#8217;ve also loosened up a lot over the years. So improv has become very easy. I did take one acting class where part of the class was improv. I found it was very easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>[00:10:13] Free writing = improv\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> And free writing. I do a lot of free writing, which is very improv oriented. Yeah. I do a lot of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">what ifs<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in my story development.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I do a lot of: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">let&#8217;s try this, let&#8217;s try that. What if this, what if that?<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And to try and find how I want it to go. That&#8217;s one of my favorite methods for writing is to allow myself to do multiple takes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take one, take two, take three.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, also, I do a lot of timed writing where I just give myself a very nice container and I&#8217;m just like, free write. Okay. Okay Beth, what&#8217;s going on? What&#8217;s in here? What&#8217;s inside? Tell me what&#8217;s up. And I just keep coming back. What&#8217;s up? What&#8217;s next? So what do you want?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just do a lot of inquiry and let myself go wherever, however. If it&#8217;s a to-do list, it&#8217;s fine. If it&#8217;s a rant, it&#8217;s fine. And I&#8217;m with you. I&#8217;m like, I&#8217;m encouraging people all the time to do that kind of thing with writing, &#8217;cause I&#8217;m working with writers to just really loosen up and be open and be in that exploratory discovery phase.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I love it. I love that we demoed it. I thought it was also great to connect to the emotional qualities of what we were saying and to be excited about them. And then the bouncing back and forth each others- I thought was a fun way to try on something new that maybe I wouldn&#8217;t have chosen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Although nothing was odd or strange for me either. But I just thought it&#8217;s a wonderful game to play. I think people could really have fun with it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My husband and I play with words, finding words that sound similar, and we&#8217;d go back and forth each time with a different word, and then we try and find another word that is similar, all kinds of words.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There&#8217;s no rule about it, but it just is like a spontaneous game that we play sometimes, playing around with the sounds of words and noticing what it is that we&#8217;re attracted to. Are we attracted to repeating the beginning of the word at the end of the word? Who knows? It&#8217;s just, it&#8217;s about sounds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>MELISSA DINWIDDIE:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Cool. That&#8217;s awesome.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>[11:53] Wrap-up for Part 2\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope you enjoyed part two of my conversation with Melissa Dinwiddie. Please stay tuned for part three, where we will talk about How To Write The Future. And tie that into her wonderful methods.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BETH BARANY:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Be sure to check out my <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, if you want to inject some fun and support into your world building for your science fiction and fantasy story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&#8217;s it for this week, everyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Write long and prosper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Need instructions on how to leave a review? <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/leave-a-podcast-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ABOUT BETH BARANY\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/BETH-BARANY_2023_300px_01-e1701116328224.webp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27766 size-full alignleft\" title=\"Image of Beth Barany\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/BETH-BARANY_2023_300px_01-e1701116328224.webp\" alt=\"Image of Beth Barany\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beth Barany teaches science fiction and fantasy novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor. She\u2019s an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and runs the podcast, \u201cHow To Write The Future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn more about Beth Barany at these sites:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/author.bethbarany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Author site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/bethbarany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coaching site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/baranyschooloffiction.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">School of Fiction<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.writersfunzone.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Writer\u2019s Fun Zone blog<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CONNECT\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contact Beth: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/#tve-jump-185b4422580\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/#tve-jump-185b4422580<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email: beth@bethbarany.com<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bethbarany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bethbarany\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IG: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bethbarany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bethbarany\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TT: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@bethbarany\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@bethbarany\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FB: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bethbarany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bethbarany<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">X: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BethBarany\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/BethBarany<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CREDITS\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EDITED WITH DESCRIPT:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.descript.com?lmref=_w1WCA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/www.descript.com?lmref=_w1WCA <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Refer-a-Friend link)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MUSIC CREDITS : Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/uppbeat.io\/t\/soundroll\/fuzz-buzz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/uppbeat.io\/t\/soundroll\/fuzz-buzz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> License code: UMMKDRL02DFGKJ0L. \u201cFuzz buzz\u201d by Soundroll. Commercial license:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/musicvine.com\/track\/soundroll\/fuzz-buzz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/musicvine.com\/track\/soundroll\/fuzz-buzz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/?referrer_id=1994465\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/?referrer_id=1994465<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Refer-a-Friend link)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C 2024 BETH BARANY<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bethbarany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/bethbarany.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For more \u201cHow To Write the Future\u201d episodes, go <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019d like to invite Beth onto your podcast, drop her a note <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/contact-beth\/#contactbeth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s Play A Game, Interview with Melissa Dinwiddie, Part 2 &#8211; How To Write the Future podcast episode 117 \u201cI&#8217;m leading people through some kind of an activity. So often when I tell people&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":1,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[5099],"tags":[1010,140,133,4607,5160,57,376,5766,5765,5758,4982,5163,2771,5183,5162,5164,1490,5165],"class_list":["post-28785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-write-the-future-podcast","tag-backstory","tag-beth-barany","tag-book","tag-fiction-writing-tips","tag-futuristics","tag-improv","tag-interview","tag-jazz-singer","tag-melissa-dimwiddie","tag-question","tag-story-ideas","tag-story-world-building","tag-storytelling","tag-strategic-foresight","tag-tips-for-fiction-writers","tag-write-the-future","tag-writing-coaching","tag-writing-teaching"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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