Love triangles: that razor-thin line between heart-pounding drama and the literary equivalent of soggy toast. In our new episode, Tim & LeeAnna dig into why so many writers trip over plot holes, pace their story like a three-legged race, and expect readers to cheer for ‘Team Bland’ vs. ‘Team Blander.’ Spoiler: your audience deserves better. Let’s talk about how to actually make triangles burn with tension instead of collapsing into cliché.

As ever, Alchemy is ad-free, because who needs an ad for the next Netflix teen love triangle when you’re busy untangling your own?

Nadira Goffe’s article here Writers’ prompts for this podcast are here. Submission page for Effigy Press here. Effigy Press here.

Intro music: brighter days by Oliver Massa - License code: S4QNBRVN0S5MTNW4 https://uppbeat.io/t/oliver-massa/brighter-days Outro music: nightdrive by mood-maze - License code: OGGKCMVJLUMOBW5P https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/nightdrive. Or, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NZsJWoGZ9A

Join Tim and LeeAnna as they contemplate your friend group: not so much a circle as a soap opera with bad lighting. One kiss, one breakup, and suddenly everyone’s starring in their own season finale. Plot twists pile up, alliances shift hourly, and Cupid’s arrows feel more like grenades. Welcome to ‘Cupid’s Murder Evidence Board.’

This podcast remains gloriously ad-free. No jingles, no discount codes, just us untangling the soap-opera mess you call a friend group. You’re welcome.

Writers’ prompts for this podcast are here. Submission page for Effigy Press here. Effigy Press here.

Intro music: brighter days by Oliver Massa - License code: S4QNBRVN0S5MTNW4 https://uppbeat.io/t/oliver-massa/brighter-days Outro music: nightdrive by mood-maze - License code: OGGKCMVJLUMOBW5P https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/nightdrive. Or, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NZsJWoGZ9A

In this Alchemy episode, Tim & LeeAnna continue their dive into emotional turmoil with the second of two of Yeats’s most emotionally raw poems – He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven. Ah, the wreckage of unrequited love.

As with all our podcasts, this episode is ad-free – because our advertiser, a manufacturer of custom-made Cloths of Heaven, has sadly gone out of business. Enjoy.

He Dreams of the Cloths of Heaven by W. B. Yeats here Writers’ prompts for this podcast are here. Submission page for Effigy Press here. Effigy Press here.

Intro music: brighter days by Oliver Massa - License code: S4QNBRVN0S5MTNW4 https://uppbeat.io/t/oliver-massa/brighter-days Outro music: nightdrive by mood-maze - License code: OGGKCMVJLUMOBW5P https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/nightdrive. Or, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NZsJWoGZ9A