The Pineapple P. Podcast: Recent Episodes
Gina & Darci
A weekly podcast for writers wherein we watch How I Met Your Mother and learn valuable storytelling techniques and give you writing prompts to help you practice.
Ted experiences a miracle and then proposes to Stella!
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Lily and Marshall need to make a lot of money, fast, but Marshall doesn't believe Lily can sell her paintings for enough. We're talking about how to manage long-term conflicts between your characters and why you need the tension of unresolved feelings on the page.
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Barney tries to train up a new wingman with disastrous results. As he creates an elaborate backstory, we're talking about how to change your story as you. It's a combination of "Plotting" and "Writing by the seat of your Pants." Thus, Plantsing.
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Ted's telling the story of the goat in his bathroom, but we're talking about the bomb that gets dropped in the last seconds of this episode. For two years HIMYM teased us about this goat in his bathroom for his 30th birthday, but then just as he's explaining the goat... he lets it slip that Robin was living with him when the goat happened and this was actually nextyear's birthday, when he turned 31.
We're talking about how to drop bombs without being melodramatic or make your audience feel like you're pulling a rug out from underneath them.
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Robin Sparkles has a second music video (revealed by Robin's ex-boyfriend from her teen years, played by James Van Der Beek) and she confides in Barney and then ... events transpired. We're talking about fandom, unusual love interest choices, and fan fiction.
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Barney teaches Marshall about the Chain of Screaming, no... the Pyramid of Scream--... no! The Circle! The Circle of Screaming... it's a more elegant metaphor. We're talking about polishing your work and self-editing.
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Ted is an unreliable narrator, but he's also kind of a jerk in a lot of his own stories. There's a popular fan theory that Barney's behavior has been significantly exaggerated by Future!Ted to make himself look less terrible. I mean ... he admits to trafficking a woman? Yikes! How much of this is true, and how much is Ted just telling a story? From Barney's POV, the story might go very differently. Could we trust him though? This week we're talking about POV shifts and how to choose the eyes of your story.
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Ted tells Stella he intends to ask her out when their ten sessions of tattoo removal are finished. Stella warns him "I'm going to say no" but then she doesn't. Ted plans a pushy two-minute date and leaves the ball in her court. Problematic? Or persistent? Someone is going to disagree with you no matter what, so let's talk about how to avoid the worst problematic storylines and how to stand up for your work when you really stand by it.
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Ted goes out for St. Paddy's Day and proves that he might not actually be a good guy. This week, we're talking about the opposite of redemption arcs and how viewing your character as though they're the villain can help you see them in a new way and maybe send your story in a new direction.
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Barney has a rule about not getting too involved with your neighbors and co-workers, and the rest of the gang believes him to be right. We're discussing the nesting-story format and how to make it work without being confusing.
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Barney finds out he wasn't always a rock star in the sack and gets the yips at a Victoria's Secret party. We're talking about mini-stories that take you away from the main story. Side character side quests that are often sold as in-between or add-on bonus content.
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Marshall has another slap lined up, but Ted is mostly freaking out about the fact that he slept with Robin the night before Thanksgiving with her new boyfriend.
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Ted is dating a real "Chatty Cathy" but doesn't see her flaws. The rest of the group "spoils" everyone's flaws, ruining the dynamic, while Marshall stresses over not having the password necessary to access his bar results. We are talking about buried ledes, Chekov's Guns, and all the ways you can drop a hint early in the story and then set it aside for a more satisfying resolution in the end.
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Marshall and Lily make a string of terrible decisions, and Future Ted tells his kids what the smart decisions would have been all along the way. We're talking about how your characters need to make terrible decisions in order to keep the story going.
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Marshall is wrestling with a major decision and it's turning him in to someone he's not proud of. Ted and Barney discover a porn star using Ted's name. Robin uncovers Lily's darkest secret. We're talking about villainous motivations, especially the hidden ones that aren't explicitly on the page.
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Ted has a new crazy girlfriend and she wants to know how Ted met everyone else in the group. There are a lot of flashbacks to teenaged Ted, Marshall, and Lily and their behavior is typical for teens, but pretty dumb in general. We're talking about teen fiction and writing realistic behaviors that some adult audiences will deem as "dumb".
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Lily has a guy to set Robin up with. Ted is suspicious. "What's his but? You know... he's great, but...?" And this week we're talking about how characters perceive each other. These prevarications (the buts) are reflective of the characters who think them, not the character they apply to.
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The whole concept for this episode is likely a "darling" and it maybe should have been killed. You know you're supposed to "kill your darlings" but what does that mean, exactly, and besides... how do you know you've even got a "darling" on your hands?
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Robin's new boyfriend is a Manic Pixie Dream Guy, and this week we're exploring the Manic Pixie trope.
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Ted is on the rebound when Robin comes back to town with a super hot new boyfriend. Both of their new love interest are presented in pithy stereotypes, just to move the story forward.
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Ted and Robin have a secret, which they agree to share with Barney, but they keep getting interrupted. This week, we're discussing ways to postpone revealing information. This is especially helpful if you're writing slow-burn romances, thrillers with twists and turns, or you just need to amp up the tension for a short time. The opposite of a ticking bomb, this time we're postponing gratification for as long as possible.
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Megan Whitmer, YA author and host of the Witches Magic Murder & Mystery podcast is here to talk about formulaic tropes and predictability within certain genres.
Lily and Marshall's wedding day is here, and true to sitcom form, everything goes wrong! And then the couple decides to get married in secret before the big ceremony, and the sweet intimate moment overshadows the "real" wedding.
Megan sold a portal fantasy when most of publishing said portal fantasies were dead, and she shares some of her tips for making old tropes feel fresh and playing with your audience's expectations when the formula is well-known already.
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Jared Garrett is back to finish discussing Barney's lies and how our characters are shaped by their own self-told stories.
You can learn more about Jared at JaredGarrett.com
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Barney's been lying to himself, and in this episode he has to come face-to-face with that lie. As writers, we're talking about the lies our characters tell themselves and how those lies shape their behaviors and, thus, our stories.
This week's host is Jared Garrett. Jared is a public speaker and instructional designer, plus the author of adventure stories of both the realistic and the fantastical variety. He hosts two podcasts, Tales from a Cult Insider and Win the Moment. You can find more information about him and his books at JaredGarrett.com
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Continuing where we left off, we're talking about redeeming an antagonist, turning a negative character trait into a positive one. Christine Tyler guest hosts and gives us real, actionable ways to make your bad guys seem less bad. Learn more about Christine at https://www.christinetyler.com/
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Marshall's bachelor party is full of stock characters and a redemption arc for a character you thought you hated. This week we're talking about presumptions we make as readers, or as an audience, and how you, as the writer, can upend those presumptions and give your readers something fresh and interesting.
This week's guest host is Christine Tyler. Christine is an artist and writer and world traveler. You can learn more about her at https://www.christinetyler.com/
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Ted and Robin are moving in together, but the episode foreshadows much that is to come. We talk about proper foreshadowing and laying a trail of breadcrumbs that your audience will have no choice but to follow.
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This week's P-word describes a closeness between two things or people, and this week we're talking about the ways relationships deepen and become closer. This isn't about how two characters meet (ironically) but it's about the day that they become more than acquaintances and how you can show the shifts and changes in relationships between your characters.
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Robin and Ted are fighting about normal relationship stuff, but all their fights are really about something other than what they're fighting about. This week, we're talking about subtext and all the ways our characters communicate with something more than their words.
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The lucky penny is the focus of this week's episode, but we're talking about "but why" in our stories. Digging in to the causes and reasons our characters do what they do and why they're in the situation they're in.
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You're writing your story now, and it's set now, but it won't be released to your audience for months or maybe even years. How do you keep the story feeling "now" without the use of a crystal ball? This episode gives you some tips and tricks on writing contemporary fiction and making it feel timeless.
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Power dynamics between your characters can greatly affect the way a scene or even an entire plot plays out. In this episode, Ted deals with the growing pains of suddenly being the boss and not the Fun Guy at work. Marshall and Lily are in a power struggle with Barney and Robin is trying to figure out her role as a girlfriend. We talk about how to shift these power dynamics, how to fix them when they go awry, and how to use them to change the tension in your story.
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Robin's little sister comes to NYC for the first time and the whole gang discusses their other "first times". We take a look at the actors' choices and the nuance in their performances to demonstrate the "show don't tell" principle in writing.
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Lily discovers an old voicemail in which Ted calls her a really, really dirty word. HIMYM is a network show and thus has to answer to network standards. If you're writing for television, film, work-for-hire, or writing for a YA, MG, or children's audience, you'll need to be able to work around someone else's standards. This episode has examples of how to do it without losing the voice that makes your story yours, plus we discuss a few reasons why you might need to use these tricks in the first place.
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Single Stamina - Barney's brother, James, comes to town and Barney feels very alone as the only single person in the group. This week, we're talking about progressivism and how it sometimes ages badly. But that isn't a reason to stop trying or to keep improving, and we talk about some ways to work at getting it right.
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This week, we're talking about red herrings and how to use them successfully in your story. Robin has a secret, and Ted is determined to figure out what it is. Barney and Marshall are not particularly helpful, though they do have some outlandish suggestions for what the secret could be. In the end, the surprise is better than any of the theories, and you can learn how to have the same payoff in your mysteries, too.
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Worldbuilding can be a huge tasks, especially for SFF writers. This episode gives some actionable tips on how to give your audience a pared-down version of your world, giving you more time to focus on story and characters without losing the sense of wonder that comes with new worlds.
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Every character is the protagonist of their own story, and every character is a villain in someone else's stories. This week, we're talking about how your story looks through the eyes of a more minor character, and how your main characters can make decisions that cast them as a villain in someone else's story, even if they're the one we're rooting for.
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Preface - the stuff that comes before the story. This week, we're talking about exposition and prologues and infodumps and all the other ways we shovel a mountain of information at our audience when we need to get it out there quickly.
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We're exploring new pairings: Lily and Barney, Marshall and Brad, and Ted and Robin. Which one is really the World's Greatest Couple?
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This week, the writers deliberately "broke" Ted Mosby's character and gave the audience clues to figure out how and why. This only works because the character was so well-defined to begin with.
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This episode plops you right in the middle of the action, and we're talking about in media res, a method of starting your story right as it's in progress.
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Perception is reality - and your characters' perception changes the reality of their story. In this episode, we explore how Lily twists her own story by simply shifting the perception of her reality. We'll talk about the importance of inflection, body language, and character descriptions to change how your characters see and interact with their world.
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How to pickup where you left off and show the passage of time in a way that doesn't bore your audience or leave them confused.
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In this season finale, we're marveling at the "mirror" between the hook and the resolution. This finale plays out the pilot in reverse, almost beat for beat, minute for minute, giving a satisfying resolution to the hook that was promised in the opening episode of the show. On our website, we have a visual aid that demonstrates these mirrors, these parallels in the story, giving you a chance to brainstorm ways that your own resolution can mirror or parallel your opening scenes.
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Audiences have certain expectations about pacing and narrative structure. This week, we're taking the opportunity to talk about "beats" in your story and how masterfully HIMYM treats their first season as one long cohesive story. We've got a beat sheet on our website to help you diagnose pacing in your own story or even to use as a plotting and planning tool.
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Flashbacks are a double-edged sword: they give context and backstory, but they can slow your narrative down or cause your story to bloat. This week, we look at how HIMYM handles flashbacks in a way that propels the story forward and develops meaningful character traits.
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What would you do if you knew there was no bounds to what you could accomplish? This week, we'll watch Ted find success on a date because he's finally unencumbered by expectations and limitations. And then we'll ask you to dream big in your writing career. Like ... REAL BIG.
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Everything comes crashing down around your character. Everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong and now they have to figure out how to fix absolutely everything. This week, we're talking about your Darkest Moment: the moment in which your audience doesn't have any idea how your character is going to fix ALL THIS. But you, as the writer, need to not only drag your character into that dark place where all is lost, but you also need to pull them out of it convincingly.
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Marshall has accepted a new job at Barney's company. The money is good, but is he going to lose himself along the way? This week, we're discussing the "fish out of water" trope and how you can show your character adapting - or maybe choosing notto adapt - to a new setting.
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Victoria is offered a fellowship overseas, threatening Ted's new relationship. Marshall and Lily are facing financial troubles, threatening Marshall's plan to be an environmental lawyer. Barney and Robin try to convince their friends to make difficult decisions. As writers, we're talking about what could make your character change their mind.
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The gang has a game night, which is a thinly veiled excuse to grill Victoria. Lily accidentally uncovers Barney's deep dark secret past, which puts the character in a whole new light for the audience.
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Ted and Victoria ... you know. Lily and Marshall skip their anniversary vacation. Robin "suits up" to hang with Barney. The big story is Ted and Victoria, but they're on screen for less than three minutes. This week we talk about how ignoring the main story is sometimes the best way to build tension.
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Ted is searching for his mystery dream girl. Marshall is searching for his dream cake. Robin is deciding what to do about her feelings for Ted. All three solutions come crashing down at the exact same moment.
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Ted and the gang are invited to a wedding. Ted is sure he checked "plus one" but the bride almost cancels the wedding after telling Ted that he did not, in fact, check "plus one".
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A classic staple of sitcoms, a bottle episode locks all your main characters into a single setting for the entire episode. Originally devised to save production costs, the bottle episode presents a fun challenge for writers. We talk about how to develop forward momentum in a story, even when nothing seems like it's actually changing.
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Ted gets blackout drunk and wakes up to a trio of mysteries, but as he tries to solve them, he just encounters more mysteries to be solved. This episode is a masterclass in creating mysteries and solving them without being boring or frustrating to your audience. Visit our website for a chart demonstrating the sequences we talk about in this episode.
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Barney and Lily take center stage in this episode, and we give you step-by-step instructions on how to really develop a secondary character for your audience.
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In a rare misstep, this episode is based on a completely ridiculous premise that makes zero sense. Your mission? Make it make sense.
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This episode pits science against superstition, cynicism against belief. Choose one of our sets of character foils and describe how one magnifies the other.
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The gang celebrates Halloween, demonstrating important parts of their personalities in the process. More importantly, Ted hopes to run into a woman he met years ago, and his description of her gives us an immediate sense of her personality, despite us never seeing her face or hearing her speak in this episode. Two people are each wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers. Describe their outfits in a way that tells us exactly who they are.
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This episode is perfectly fine, but is a whole lot better upon re-watching, since the episode serves as a foundation for several stories and callbacks and runners throughout the series. Un-kill one of your darlings: resurrect a story, character, joke, or scene that you though needed to be cut, and make it work.
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Ted gives us a fabulous opening line: "Some stories end with people getting hurt, and none of it would have happened if it weren’t for that shirt.” That opening line piques your curiosity, but is immediately buried by the conversation in the next scene. He teased the audience with a line and then went on to reveal how someone got hurt by a shirt. Pick one of the five opening lines we've given you and write a short story based on the line.
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In this standard hero's journey episode, everything goes wrong for Ted. You need to make everything go wrong for your characters. Pick a story you love and write down two things: what the main character wants at the opening of the story and what she ultimately wins at the end. Work backwards, what needed to go wrong in order for her to triumph in an unexpected way?
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Ted tells this story from the future, and he has his own motivations for telling the story. His motivations, as well as the time that has passed, affect the way we view and interpret the story. This week, we're asking you to write down a story that happened to you. Then ask someone else who was there to tell you the same story. What's different about it?
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Character flaws help your audience connect with the character and thus the story. This week, we'll ask you to describe your main characters' flaws and demonstrate those flaws in the first 20 pages of your story.
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Gina and Darci introduce themselves and the podcast.
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