Why Do Concluded Fiction Podcasts Matter? 

Podcast producers work harder to promote a show that actively releases new episodes. The same holds true for other entertainment. But, a fiction podcast that’s complete still has value for audiences. It’s as valid as watching Jaws or reading 1984 in 2020. Some audiences might not have experienced this particular story yet, in their own context.

Curating, examining, and promoting independent fiction podcasts is a way of exploring and questioning the human race right now. It’s faster to make a fiction podcast that responds to current events than a movie or television show. Passenger List, Terms and The Off Season are a few examples worth your consideration.

Promoting fiction podcasts is tough. Many people (especially in the US) find video comfortable. Movies and television have a lot of promotional power behind them. A complete story is easier to encapsulate and promote. The audience might not know exactly where the story is going from the beginning, but they know it’s going somewhere.

Evo Terra’s Fiction Podcast Newsletter, The End

I asked Evo Terra what fuels his enthusiasm for completed fiction podcasts. He said, “I’m the weird person who rarely watches a TV series while it’s being released. LOST, Breaking Bad, every Marvel TV show… I’ve watched NONE of them on the same schedule they were released. I really don’t like waiting a week and would much rather just slam out an entire season/series over the course of one or two days. And it’s the same for fiction podcasts.”

We Consume Completed Content Differently

Terra also mentioned, “longer stories—novels, screenplays, etc.—have a definite ‘end.’ We consume them differently (from the first episode, not the most recent). We might listen to them repeatedly, like re-watching a movie or re-reading a classic novel. They’re a little different than other podcasts in that nature, and that’s a difference I think we should celebrate.”

Furthermore, he cites a specific experience that illustrates how others may feel. “An old service I started back in 2005… helped “underpublished” authors make podcasts out of their own books. Almost always, we’d see a huge spike in attention to a podiobook once the final episode released. Apparently, lots of people were waiting for the final episode so they too could slam out the episodes on their own schedule.”

Promoting The Launch vs. The Finale

Ever the advocate, he mentions how promoting these podcasts is a different effort. “Fiction podcasts are at a promotional disadvantage to… well, just about everything else. All the promo efforts are focused on the “launch.” For a normal episodic podcast, that’s fine. There’s something unique about each episode, so the PR/promotional people have something to work with. But that’s less true for fiction podcasts. Unless you’re into spoiler-based marketing.”

There’s a ton of meaningful content in fiction podcasts, and not enough light shone on them. Evo Terra’s found the niche that needs him most.

Why Does A Fiction Podcast End?

So, we know that concluded fiction podcasts can be the selling point that hooks more people into enjoying more fiction podcasts. Again, episodic, RSS-based entertainment doesn’t have to adhere to time or space. Particularly for anthology podcasts, audiences can consume them in any order. Experimental pods such as Neutrinowatch and 3D Escape Room: Frequency defy the order of an RSS feed. How do we know when a fiction podcast ends, and why?

Goal-based storytelling

In one sense, a story ends when a protagonist reaches a goal and the protagonist changes. “If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again” is another way of summing up the Hero’s Journey. For example, in Wooden Overcoats, Rudyard and Chapman compete for status in the community. Each of them wants to be the island’s most trusted funeral director. Is this a winnable battle? If so, is it worth it?

Wooden Overcoats is a great fiction podcast to use as a case study because it’s durable and straightforward. If you’re unfamiliar with it, I warn you there are spoilers ahead. I asked creator David K. Barnes at what point in his process did he originally intend for it to end, and how that changed.

David K. Barnes: Reaching an Emotional Accord

Barnes said the story “certainly developed as a sitcom that could continue past its first season. If we’d only made that one season we’d still have been happy, but as the scripts started coming together, we knew there were many more places for the narrative to go.” Then, “Season 2 then ran with that conflict between Rudyard and Antigone and ends with them reaching an accord.”

I always felt that the Season 3 finale was where Wooden Overcoats reached a satisfying landing. Rudyard has finally brought Eric down to his level, but when Georgie needs a real funeral director the most, they both have to be the best funeral director (and friend) that they can. Barnes said, “The finale wasn’t intended to be the Last Episode Ever, though it dealt nicely with the series’ themes, and it was high time we had an episode that treated grief seriously. ”

David said Season 4 was inevitable because “John Finnemore once wrote something to the effect of a sitcom is only truly finished when the characters have solved their problems that gave rise to the story in the first place.” Eric and Rudyard each have to learn to prioritize someone else’s needs above their own. “With Season 4, I felt in my heart that I’d resolved all my characters’ problems, given them some new ones to mull over in my absence, but for the most part knew that they were much stronger and happier than when I’d left them. That feels like a good way to end a show to me!”

Understanding-Based Storytelling

Western audiences typically consume stories that take place in chronological order. A protagonist moves the action forward, conquering obstacles until they reach a goal and change for the better. Traditional Eastern storytelling, though, has a different narrative format. Author and teacher Henry Lien explains kishōtenketsu, a four-act structure. In this style, the author introduces disparate elements juxtaposed in a way that makes the audience develop their own understanding.

The narrative structure works like this:

• Act One — Kiku (起句), きく — The Introduction of the Main Elements
• Act Two — Shōku (承句, しょうく) — The Development of the Main Elements
• Act Three — Tenku (転句, てんく) — The Twist (New Element)
• Act Four — Kekku 結句, けっく) — The Conclusion (Harmonizing of All Elements)

The Academy Award-winning movie Parasite is an accessible example of kishōtenketsu. Fiction podcasts are ideal for this kind of narrative structure. A single podcast episode can tell a story on its own, and the audience can get value from that experience. When the audience takes in all the episodes in a group together, they can understand its meaning consciously or subconsciously. They can bring their own experience to it and do the work to incorporate it.

Social Change is Essential to Storytelling

Both kinds of storytelling depend on change and understanding. Fiction is a petri dish for the human experience. It’s one of the ways we learn how to treat each other and why. Ultimately, a fiction podcast ends when the creators say it does. It’s up to the audience to determine if the story adequately communicates the change and understanding. If the audience feels and knows something new, the characters have stuck the landing.

How Can Fiction Podcasters Use The End to Their Advantage?

Fiction podcast writers should write their ending first because it lets them make all the twists they want on the way. Limited series have a better chance of being sustainable to produce. Consider stories like Titanic, the first season of Westworld, or The Northman. The audience knows how the story will end from the opening breath (hint: everybody dies). How the characters will get there and what it means, is what really matters. If audiences want more, the creators can make more with the same artists but let stories find the end. When you leave the audience wanting a little bit more, they’ll experience it more than once and share it with their friends.

If you’re interested in fiction podcasts, whether completed or ongoing, you can subscribe to The End, and get updates with listening recommendations for concluded fiction podcasts. Not only that, but also The Fiction Podcast Weekly has all kinds of resources, opportunities, news and listening recommendations, for creators and enthusiasts alike.

What’s a Podcast Cold Open?

There was a little confusion in the Podcraft Community about what a cold open was, and what type of podcasts are using it at the beginning of their episodes. Kimbra, Co-Host of Skeptic Psychic, honed in on a great comparison.

I’ve heard cold opens in many types of podcasts, including but not limited to interview, audio drama, narrative non-fiction, news and other formats. In addition to the debates on if and how they should be used, there are very strong opinions on how long they should be. For example, this cold open in my own Geopats episode with Stephen Jondrew of Better Podcasting is 35 seconds long. I selected it to start the episode because I liked the connection moment it emphasizes. I suppose saying that here is a bit of a tease in and of itself, right? But according to Carrie’s rules of cold opens, I reveal too much in this one. And she might be right.

But before we dig into that, let’s agree that a cold open is a kind of teaser at the beginning of a podcast episode, but NOT a podcast trailer type of teaser.

What Can Podcast Cold Opens Do for Your Listeners and You?

Let’s go back to Carrie’s Medium post because there’s some very useful story crafting advice in there. For years, she hated selecting these cold opens for her podcast editing clients because there seemed to be no purpose to them. But over time she honed in on what purpose these cold opens could do for listeners.

Create Listener Investment in Your Podcast Episode

Here’s how she explains it:

“Essentially, we’re priming the listener for something: the mood, imagining a scene, sharing what’s at stake, sharing the lens we’re looking through…

…and forcing them to ask some sort of question that they now need to be answered.“

Expanding Your Podcast Workflow

I know what you’re thinking, I’m suggesting that you add another item to your episode workflow. And yes, this does increase your workload, but in a really valuable way. At least, if you’re interested in building long term listeners for your podcast (which I think you are, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this post, right?)

But be glad that it doesn’t increase your podcast workflow as much as extra panels in a comic strip. Carrie used this panel analogy to explain the misuse of podcast cold opens in her post. But, James of My Amazing Woman disagreed with the analogy in this Podcraft thread.

For me, both discussions about comic strips sound like dynamic ad insertion conversations, so I’m going to move on for now. But just remember, your podcast, regardless of format, is an act of storytelling. And with all storytelling, there is planning and shaping that needs to be done….slowly.

Your Podcast Is an Act of Storytelling

Yes, I’m repeating myself! This is important.

Your podcast is telling a story.

Your Podcast Adds Value to Listeners’ Lives

That story might be in a conversation, through characters in an audio drama, etc. Although cold opens can exist in any podcast format, it doesn’t mean they should. Tanya of The Fullness Podcast explained why in her response to this Podcraft conversation.

But there’s a story. And it’s your job to shape that story as best as you can for your listeners. I know that this is your podcast. But, it exists out in the world for others to gain value from it in some way. Otherwise, you would just save the audio files on your computer and be done with it.

My favourite part of what Carrie’s saying in this piece is that you need to build up to that story’s narrative arc, the value moment.

Give Your Listeners a Task to Complete or a Question to Answer

In my prior life, I was a language Instructor. I taught English in Asia for a decade and then First-Year Writing at American universities to international students. I learned early on that when I just talked about something the students were bored. But when I gave them a task, they were on fire with curiosity. Our brains can’t resist solving puzzles. It’s part of why Wordle is so popular right now: puzzles consume us. A strategic cold open can be a puzzle.

There’s a Bigger Question to Ask About Cold Opens in Your Podcast Episodes

Another apt point that Carrie makes is that podcasters want cold opens because it’s what so many other podcasters are doing.

Stop that! You don’t need to have a cold open. What you need to do is make decisions about your podcast based on your content, not current formatting trends.

What you need to do is spend time thinking about the WHY of what you do in your podcast with your content for your listeners.

As a teenager, I used to complain that my friends were doing something and that was the reason I wanted to do it. My mother used to say, “If they decided to jump off a bridge, would you jump also?” Did your mom say this? Look, I’m keenly aware that I sound like I’m saying the equivalent of this to you right now. And I have to admit, she had a point. And so does Carrie. Making your own choices is much better for you in the end.

But don’t just make decisions about how to start your podcast episodes once, make them often. And ask yourself, how can I open this episode so that the story builds up to a glorious narrative climax?

The Rules Depend on You

Personally, I think the most powerful takeaway from Carrie’s article is a reminder to make conscious decisions about our podcast format (including cold opens). So take a few minutes and ask yourself some very real questions about what, how and why you are doing what you do with your podcast format. And, by all means, do let us know what you decide in our FREE Podcraft Community when you make these decisions. We’d love to know what choices you’ve come to.

Why Use Storytelling For Your Podcast?

You may say, “Yeah, story, schmorey, what’s in it for me?” Maybe your interview guests tell stories, or you recap tv shows or analyze pop culture, so you reckon you’ve got this sorted. The storytelling tools I want to share with you can help you focus your material and build affinity with your audience. Stories provide education, inspiration, and connection. A story told privately (like in a podcast) builds intimacy and trust. Or, it can destroy credibility, if you don’t do it right.

Story brings a topic to life. For example, if your podcast is about rehabilitation methods for spinal cord injury, you could read scholarly papers on health research. Or, you can tell stories about what spinal cord patients did that worked or didn’t, what therapists did that worked or didn’t, when and why, and so on.

Let’s say you have a pop-culture recap and analysis show. Sharing a story about how you came to this tv show, or something it helped you to deal with, gives you more power in the podcast episode. Now it’s not just about Loki and Captain America, it’s about what you learned.

These methods of storytelling for podcasters helps your audience to put a human face on your topic and empathize with the subject matter.

What Kind of Storytelling For Podcasts Is Right For Me?

If it focuses your material, and makes it more meaningful for your audience, then it’s the right structure. Again, there are a lot of listeners who are happy to hear folks ramble all over the place, (such as in Sleep With Me). We’ll concentrate on three narrative structure methods of storytelling for podcasters: three-act, five-act, and kishōtenketsu, or four-act structure.

Three-Act Narrative Structure

In Act 1, A person wants to (do something) in order to (achieve goal). Then, in Act 2, they but comes up against an obstacle, and have to find a way over, around, or through it. Finally, in Act 3, the person ends up changed by the experience.

Example

Let’s look at the wellness podcast, Ten Percent Happier. This podcast is mostly interviews about how meditation works to help people live better lives. It’s all centered around the creator’s personal story. Dan Harris worked really hard to be a better journalist, but he had an anxiety attack on live TV (that’s Act 1). He started meditating and learned not only to cope with his anxiety, but to investigate more mindfully (that’s Act 2). He is now a better journalist, and a happier person (and there’s Act 3).

So, there’s a beginning, which establishes character and obstacle, a middle, where the character deals with that conflict, and an end, where the character’s conflict is resolved.

Five-Act Narrative Structure

Five-act narrative structure is nearly the same, but has more detail. In the acts:

• 1: A person wants something and works toward getting it. .
• 2: An obstacle gets in their way.
• 3: The person tries to go through/around/over/ the obstacle, and fails.
• 4: The person learns something from that failure.
• 5: The person deals with the obstacle again, using what they learned from failure, and succeeds. They are changed by their experience.

Example

Let’s go back to Dan Harris’ story as an example of storytelling for podcasters.

• Act 1: Dan competes to be an important and respected journalist, covering natural disasters, combat zones, mass shooter scenes, and about evangelicalism and criminal justice.
• Act 2: Dan has a panic attack on live television. He experienced difficulty breathing and speaking, which could have ended any journalist’s career.
• Act 3: Dan investigates many different scientific and spiritual methods to control his anxiety. Most are unsuccessful.
• Act 4: When Dan decides he has nothing left to try or lose, he tries meditation.
• Act 5: Dan and meditation are a good fit for each other. Through mindfulness and meditation, he is now a better journalist, and happier with himself.

What’s the Difference?

A three-act structure gets you through the highlights of a good story. A five-act structure gives you more depth because it includes what you learn from failure. This shows more change in your mean character. Try applying these structures to any story from your own life: your first day of school, the last time you quit a job, any moment where things changed.

Kishōtenketsu

I learned about this storytelling method in a Writing The Other course, Diverse Narrative Structure, taught by author Henry Lien. Kishōtenketsu is a four-act narrative structure. It originates in Chinese poetry, and developed through Korean, Chinese and Japanese traditions. You can see this in many films by Studio Ghibli, or the Academy Award-winning film, Parasite.
The first two structures we looked at depend on conflict and resolution. Kishōtenketsu depends on synthesis and harmony, to find multi-faceted ways of understanding an issue. The parts, or acts, are:

• Ki : Introduction Establishes the characters, place, and situation.
• Shō : Development More details about what we learned in the introduction. There aren’t any big changes.
• Ten : Twist The story turns, with a situation that seems to have nothing to do with the first two parts.
• Ketsu : Conclusion All the parts converge. This may not resolve things for the characters: they may still want something, or feel loss. In linear terms, the story isn’t “over.” But, The four parts combine to show a multifaceted truth to the audience.

Example

Again, let’s use Dan Harris of Ten Percent Happier as an example.

• Ki: (Introduction) Once there was a journalist who wanted to investigate and share important stories.
• Shō (Expansion of the introduction): He worked really hard to do his job, reporting from war zones and leading his network in reporting about evangelical religion.
• Ten (The twist or different angle): Later in his career, the journalist investigated different ways of achieving mental health and stability. Many of these methods sparked his scepticism.
• Ketsu (Confluence): Prior to that, the journalist spread himself so thin, that he had a panic attack live on television. It nearly ended his career. Instead, it incited his journey to find meditation. Now he’s a better journalist and has more self-respect.

Yes, there’s a jump forward and back in time in this narrative. Harris’ desire for journalistic integrity is what connects the second part to the third. What’s different is that he went from reporting about destruction to construction. At the end, his journalistic drive and integrity remained in, though his entire life changed. Storytelling for Podcasters is pretty heady stuff. Don’t overthink it too much.

What do you and your audience get out of this synthesis? Here’s your audience’s opportunity to fill in their own reflection and experience to find meaning on their own. This is a good place for questions and discussion.

Other Ways to Use Storytelling for Podcasters

Stories you create using these methods doesn’t have to be you telling a take into a microphone. In the case of Ten Percent Happier, Dan Harris uses his story for the description of the podcast, the books, and the brand. The story mirrors the audience’s anxieties and puts a human face on the problem Dan Harris wants to solve.

Mix Up Your Story Types

If you’re always talking about yourself, it gets old pretty quickly. Tell stories that have happened to others (with permission). Always let your guests tell their stories. I heard a podcast once where, every time the presenter wanted to use a metaphor, he said, “Let me tell you a little story.” It got to the point where I would tune out every time I heard those words. It was like a hypnotic suggestion. Three, two, one, and you’re asleep. So, don’t be afraid to try new things. Just make sure you use good scriptwriting practices, and get to the point.

Gathering Ideas

Always be open to ideas. There are lots of ways you can get good stories. You can use:

• Your own experiences
• Audience contributions (ask permission, respect their privacy)
• Industry or subject matter stories
• News or topical stories
• Guest stories (again, with permission)
• Dreams

Make sure you save inspiring tidbits when you come across them. David Lee Roth writes down ideas for lyrics in a pocket notebook, and calls this “banking.” Austin Kleon has a swipe file. Save up story ideas, no matter how unfinished or rough they might be, you can combine them with something else or polish them later. You can save them up in:

• A physical journal
• Phone apps like Evernote (don’t let your phone distract you, though)
• Phone recording apps: just talk into your phone. Make sure you label the files clearly for future reference. Otherwise, you’ll end up like Billy Blazejowski (from Ron Howard’s seminal cinematic masterpiece, Night Shift), who speaks any idea that comes through his mind into a tape recorder, and can’t follow through on any of them.

Writing Scripts for Storytelling for Podcasters

Scripting keeps you on track. Minimizing the script into an outline helps you sound more spontaneous. If you want to use three or five-act structure, then write down:

• Who takes action in the story
• What do they want
• What action they take to get it
• What’s the obstacle
• What they do to surmount the obstacle
• (In the case of 5-act structure:) Did they succeed or fail? If they failed, what did they learn?
• How do they end up?

If you want to use the Kishōtenketsu method, or four-act structure, then write down:

• Who
• What do they want, what’s interesting about them, more detail.
• An aspect of the story that’s completely different, though related.
• A meaningful synthesis of the whole. Ask questions of the audience.

By writing in simple bullet points, you let your voice sound more natural, as you elaborate on those bullet points.

Storytelling Is Powerful

Stories show examples of human behavior under duress, and how people change over time. They make the topic clearer and more meaningful to your audience.

There are loads of other ways to make your podcast into your audience’s best habit. At Podcraft Academy, we have courses about planning, recording, editing, promotion, audience growth, and more. Plus, with Alitu, you can automate the hard audio stuff and edit the rest with simple drag and drop tools made for podcasters. Don’t let anything get between you and sharing your story with the world.

• Creating a narrative throughline helps focus your episode’s topic.
• Highlight the people in your data like characters in a story.
• Show their obstacles and what strategies they use to overcome them.
• Show clear and specific images and sounds from your research to bring your topic to life.

So, let’s say that you’re working on a non-fiction podcast. You have a topic. You’ve researched data, interviewed experts, and now you have a lot of pieces of information. You want to find a way to focus the information into a cohesive story. If you can humanize the topic, your listeners are more likely to feel empathy, and feel like this story is part of them. This makes the topic more immediate for your listener. It spurs them to continue listening, and come back for the next episode. Nonfiction podcasts can use tools of fiction writing to craft a plot that engages the listener and makes them come back for more.

The simplest of these tools is the throughline.

Creating a Narrative Throughline

First, you need a protagonist. Whatever your topic is, someone lives with it. They have goals, take action, succeed or fail, and experience change.

Having a protagonist, or person at the center of the story who takes action to move it along, gives your listener someone to identify with. It’s a simple image for them to follow.

The simplest possible way to make a throughline is to use this statement:

A wants to B in order to C, but comes up against D, and ends up E.

• A is your protagonist (main person or character)
• B is the action they take
• C is the goal they want to achieve
• D is an obstacle in their way
• E is how A is changed by the action they took and the obstacle they met and /or surmounted.

Another way to think about it is: (Person) wants to (action verb), in order to (goal), but comes up against (obstacle), and ends up (changed state).

Outlining Your Story

What can we do with this statement? You can use this as a basic outline for your story, filling in details and fleshing it out for your listener.

Here’s a simple example. Let’s say that your podcast is about public policy and the environment. You have an episode about the history of Flint’s water crisis. You can read off a lot of facts, timelines, and numbers about lead levels, government spending, and so on. These are important facts. Unfortunately for the listener, they can blur together into a lot of data that’s hard to digest meaningfully.

Writing about one person affected by the crisis, who takes action, makes the topic less abstract. It helps the listener feel like this is an issue that happens to people like them. They can empathize with the topic.

Let’s say your protagonist is Mari Copeny, also known as Little Miss Flint.

So, if A is “Mari Copeny,”
B is “contact the president,”
And C is “have clean, safe water in her home town”

You can set up your statement as “Mari Copeny wants to contact the president in order to have safe clean water in her home town.” You can fill in details, such as quotes from Copeny about how the water looked and smelled. You can find out how she contacted the president (a handwritten letter? Email? Fax? Phone call to the White House switchboard?) and fill in details to make your episode more specific and clear.

Bring Your Podcast to Life with People and Actions

If your podcast describes the image of a girl washing her hands in dirty water, writing a letter and taking it to the post office, your story hooks listeners in a way that facts and figures alone don’t.

Obstacles are inevitable, and they will make your story more complex. Mari Copeny contacted the president, and the governor of Michigan started a free bottled water program for Flint residents. In the short term, our protagonist achieved her goal. Unfortunately, Flint’s pipes are old and need fixing, a long and expensive process. So, Mari came up against the obstacle of government and city infrastructure. Though Copeny was able to use social media to bring resources to Flint, there is still a water crisis. Your podcast about clean water becomes personal and specific when you use these tools for character and story.

In an April, 2019 article, Copeny said, “I will never fully trust the government or media… Flint has taught me that we need to listen to science and to always question, even the things we take for granted the most.” This person’s fight against an obstacle can stick in your audience’s minds, as much as the characters and story of any fiction audiobook, tv show, or movie. It’s more memorable that statistics and policy descriptions.

Solidifying Your Plot

Let’s take this information back to our plot statement.

A wants to B in order to C, but comes up against D, and ends up E.

We have:

• A= Mari Copeny
• B= Contact The President
• C= Clean, safe water in her home town
• D= Flint’s old, worn out pipes
• E= Loss of faith in government, gain of faith in science and critical thinking

So, our new, more vivid plot statement is:

Mari Copeny wants to contact the President in order to have clean, safe drinking water. However, Flint’s pipes are old and not easily fixed. She becomes a more critically-minded, careful activist.

From there, you can fill in details. How old are the pipes in Flint? What is the federal action level for lead? What does the EPA consider safe? What’s a band-aid versus a sustainable solution?

By placing these facts around a human narrative, with goals, action, obstacles and impact, your information has a compelling, focused throughline that arouses your listeners’ empathy. Character and story motivate your listeners to invest emotionally in your podcast.

Next Steps

Try taking the information that you’re using for a podcast episode, and apply it to this structure. Nearly any reasonable way of filling in these character and story spaces will result in a more enlightening episode.

Try making up several, based on your podcasts’ information. For example, if your podcast is about libraries, interview a library user. Ask about what they want from their library, how they get it, and what obstacles they face. Then interview a library worker, with the same questions. Both sentences will give you perspective on your podcast topic. They will also use character and story podcast tools to help you make clear and specific images. This keeps your listeners engaged with your show.

For more information about how to organize your ideas, take a look at Chapter 2 of our Content Stacking series, Finding Content Ideas and Getting The Most From Every One.

And if you’d like to work directly with us to craft your podcast’s own unique narrative, then check out Podcraft Academy – that’s where you’ll find all our courses, community forums, and regular live Q&A sessions!