All my life I’ve been a fierce force of imagination, persistence, and hard work: like a dragon hunting for gold. But instead of treasure, I’ve been searching for stories to tell and ways to make an impact.

Born in Belarus, I studied journalism in Bulgaria and worked in marketing in Russia, but storytelling has always been my true passion. I create narratives that allow people to explore fresh perspectives in a safe, immersive way.

As a queer, neurodivergent woman from a patriarchal country, I’m passionate about shedding light on complex topics through my work. Over the years, I’ve designed more than 100 LARP games, written 10+ original tabletop campaigns, and worked as a script supervisor on the short film Mein Name Akim (2024), which tells the story of transgender refugees in Germany.

During my MA in Serial Storytelling at IFS Cologne, I honed my skills across genres, working on solo projects as well as collaborating in Writers' Rooms.

Currently, I’m co-developing a visual novel game with a co-author as a passion project.

Now that I've completed my degree, I’m eager to bring my creativity to TV and gaming, crafting stories in both English and German.

Dragons never stop breathing fire. And neither do I, with an endless flow of ideas and stories I can’t wait to share.

Alena Lysiakova

I’m currently writing my first vertical series, and here’s my biggest takeaway so far:


🐲 Momentum is everything.

#Verticals don’t live in perfect structure or beautiful prose. They live in forward motion. Every scene has to pull the reader into the next one immediately without warm-ups or lingering. 

And that’s both the hardest and the most fun part.

You constantly ask yourself:
 👉 Does this end with a reason to keep scrolling?
 👉 Does this scene move, emotionally or plot-wise?
 👉 Can I afford to slow down here? (Usually no)

It’s intense, slightly addictive, and weirdly liberating. Once you lock into the rhythm, the story starts running on its own momentum.

#VerticalSeries #Screenwriting #Storytelling

Alena Lysiakova 🐉

Narrative designer and screenwriter ▶️ Let's create stories that make an impact

Finishing my first #vertical rom-com sample taught me one thing very clearly: you don’t write episodes from the beginning. You write them from the cliffhanger. 🙂 


In verticals, the ending isn’t a nice wrap-up. It’s the engine. Every episode has to land on a moment that reframes what we just saw, emotionally, romantically, or comedically, and makes the next episode unavoidable.
So instead of asking, “How does this episode start?” I started asking, “What’s the last thing I want the viewer to feel?” 

💡 Once the cliffhanger is clear, the rest of the episode snaps into place. Scenes suddenly know how long they’re allowed to be. Dialogue stops rambling. Every beat either pushes toward that final turn or it gets cut.

Writing verticals this way changed how I think about structure in general.
Endings first. Then precision. Then mercy for nothing that doesn’t earn its place. In most of the cases, if the cliffhanger works, the episode works. Everything else is just scaffolding.

#VerticalSeries #Screenwriting #StoryStructure

🐲 Ever wondered why some audio games pull you in instantly, and others just sound like long audiobooks with buttons?

It’s rarely a tech problem. It’s almost always a writing problem.
That’s why I’m running a live masterclass on writing for audio interactive games, and it’s built as a write-along session, not a lecture. 

What we’ll do together:
- Start with a simple inner pitch and turn it into a playable audio scene
- Learn how to write stories that work without visuals, using sound, silence, and pacing
- Craft dialogue that actually survives being spoken aloud
- Design micro-choices that create emotional pressure instead of fake branching
- Learn how to ask the right questions that drive interactive audio forward
- Break down the most common mistakes in audio interactive writing, and fix them with less text 

We’ll also explore TWIST, the interactive audio engine by EarReality, and how it makes writing for audio easy, intuitive, and exciting, even if you’re not technical.

You’ll leave with:
- A playable audio micro-scene you wrote during the session
- A repeatable way of thinking about interactive audio writing
- Clear next steps to continue developing your story

This is for you if you’re:
- A writer curious about games but focused on story
- A narrative designer moving into audio
- An audio drama creator exploring interactivity
- A creator looking for new storytelling formats

📝 Come ready to write. This is a write-along interactive session.
Event details & registration are below 👇 
https://lnkd.in/eiV_CTyB

Audio interactive games are not audiobooks. They are not podcasts with choices. And they don’t work if you “just write good dialogue.”

This live masterclass is a writing-first, hands-on session focused entirely on how stories change when they are written for ears, choice, and listener agency. We are not talking about game mechanics or coding. We are talking about writing — and how to rethink it for interactive audio.

📝 Be ready to write a lot. And interact a lot. This masterclass is designed for people who learn by doing, not by watching slides.

Lawrence Marable, Wynona Cybil Alwyn and 23 other attendees

View event: Masterclass: Writing for Interactive Audio Games

Masterclass: Writing for Interactive Audio Games

One of the fastest ways to break immersion in an audio game is letting the protagonist know more than the player. 👾 


The moment that happens, intimacy is gone. 💀 
Audio works because it’s close. Personal. Almost conspiratorial. The player is inside the character’s head. And that only works when discovery happens together.

Shared ignorance is powerful.

When neither the player nor the protagonist knows what’s behind the door, every sound matters. Every pause carries weight. Every choice feels risky, not because it’s complex, but because it’s unknown.

From a narrative design perspective, this changes how you structure information:
🐲 Exposition becomes something you earn, not something you dump
🐲 Revelations land harder because they surprise both sides
🐲 Trust forms between player and character; you’re figuring it out together

The opposite is also true. If the protagonist casually hints at knowledge the player doesn’t have (“You already know why this is bad…”), the player is suddenly outside the story, trying to catch up instead of living it.

In audio, dramatic irony is a luxury you rarely need. Alignment beats cleverness.

👉 Design your stories so the player and protagonist learn, doubt, and panic at the same pace. That’s where audio stops being a format and becomes an experience.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #StoryArchitecture

Audio games are often designed as one-time experiences. 


You listen, you move forward, you reach an ending. The format is intimate and linear, so replayability is usually not the goal. 
👉 But it could be.

Replayability in audio doesn’t mean adding more branches or content. It means designing for a new understanding.

If you want a second playthrough to feel rewarding, focus on how knowledge changes the experience:
🐲 Early lines that seem insignificant
🐲 Casual remarks or offhand comments that only gain meaning once the player knows what’s coming
🐲 Consistent NPC behavior

Characters don’t need twists, just logic. On replay, players start recognizing patterns that were always there. 
👉 Choices that don’t announce their importance
👉 Decisions that feel neutral at first, but quietly shape tone, trust, or outcomes later
👉 Consequences that echo instead of exploding
👉 Subtle shifts rather than obvious feedback

The difference becomes clear only in comparison.

If a second playthrough doesn’t make the player notice what they missed the first time, the story was built to be consumed, not discovered. And audio, of all formats, benefits the most from discovery.

Do you replay audio games at all?

#AudioGames #InteractiveStorytelling

In audio games, choices aren’t just content. 
👉 They’re mechanics.


“Open the door.” “Crack the door quietly.” “Kick the door in.”
Same action. Completely different game.

The phrasing doesn’t just describe behavior, it tells the player how to feel about the choice. Safe. Careful. Aggressive. Desperate. Confident. Panicked.

That’s why writing choices is a design task, not just a writing one.
When I work on audio narratives, I think about:
🐲 What emotional tone does this phrasing signal?
🐲 Does it invite caution or recklessness?
🐲 Does it frame the player as in control or reacting under pressure?
🐲 Does it suggest consequences without spelling them out?

The player isn’t only choosing what to do. They’re choosing how they are doing it and who they are in this moment.

If your choices are all written in the same neutral voice, you’re flattening player agency, even if the branches are complex. In audio, wording is gameplay.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #GameWriting

I’m hosting a remastered round of our free EarReality webinar:
“The Business of Interactive Audio: TWIST Engine & Monetization”

If you’re a(n):
🐲author or narrative designer
🐲voice actor or podcaster
🐲 brand/content marketer
…and you’re curious how to turn stories (or your voice) into interactive audio experiences that can actually earn royalties, this is for you.

I’ll cover:
🎧 A practical intro to the TWIST Engine – what writers & performers really need to know
💰 How self-publishing, collaborations, and monetization work on TWIST & TWIST Tales
🎭 A “lean back” listening session + breakdown of how an interactive story is built step by step

Wish to attend? Link is below 👇 
https://lnkd.in/eWjk-bNA

Feel free to join, share, or tag a writer / voice actor who keeps saying “one day I’ll try something interactive.” This is the day.

#interactiveaudio #narrativedesign #voiceacting #writingcommunity #EarReality #TWIST

🎤 🎧 We’re back with a remastered version of our FREE webinar for authors, narrative designers, voice actors, podcasters, and brand marketers who want to understand how interactive audio actually works – and how to create it. 🕹️

Last time we ran this session, we got a lot of “Wait, this is way more doable than I thought.”

So we fine-tuned it, added more concrete examples, and are doing Round 2: Remastered.

What we’ll cover this time:

✅ TWIST Engine – Updated Intro
A clear walkthrough of the tool we use to build interactive audio stories (with more focus on what storytellers and voice actors really need to know).

✅ Business Opportunities on TWIST & TWIST Tales
How self-publishing, collaborations, and monetization work on the platform – and what that means for you as a creator or performer.

✅ Practical Listening + Workflow Demo
We start with ~30 minutes of listening to an interactive audio story, then break down exactly how it was created step by step.

If you want to:
create interactive audio yourself,
evaluate the format for professional use, or
explore future publishing & royalty opportunities as a creator or voice actor,
…this webinar gives you the essentials in one session.

📌 The registration link is directly beneath this post.

If you want to support the event, feel free to like, share, or repost 😎

#EarReality #TWIST #marketing #storytelling #games #gaming #stories #audiobooks #audio #RPGs #writing #books

Christian Mahnke, Aleksandra Kovalchuk and 13 other attendees

View event: EarReality Webinar: The Business of Interactive Audio & TWIST Remastered

EarReality Webinar: The Business of Interactive Audio & TWIST Remastered

Flowcharts are great. They tell you what happens in the game.
👉 But audio players don’t navigate through logic. 


They navigate through emotion.
They stay because they’re tense. They leave when that tension flattens.
That’s why, when designing audio games, I think in emotional curves before plot structure:
👾 Where does anxiety peak?
👾 Where does the player finally breathe?
👾 When does curiosity replace fear?
👾 Where does silence do more work than dialogue?

This directly affects architecture:
🐲 High emotional intensity = fewer choices, tighter scenes
🐲 Low intensity = space for exploration or reflection
🐲 Too many branches at an emotional peak = cognitive overload
🐲 No emotional variation = disengagement

If your emotional intensity stays on one level for too long, the player’s brain checks out, no matter how good the writing is. 

So yes, map your plot. But also map how it feels to listen minute by minute. Because in audio, emotion is navigation.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #GameArchitecture

⏱️ Starting in ONE hour! 
Our free webinar on interactive audio storytelling and the business behind it is about to go live 🎤🎧

If you’re curious about narrative design for audio, TWIST, or how creators can turn stories into actual projects (not just ideas), now’s the moment.

👉 Jump in here before we start 
https://lnkd.in/eWjk-bNA

🐲 Audio games shine when they tap into instinct. 


Fear. Curiosity. Trust. Suspicion. That split-second feeling of “this feels wrong” or “I should follow this voice.” 

💀 What they don’t do well?
Turning into memory exams.

If a good outcome depends on recalling a name, a code, or a tiny detail from 20 minutes ago, you’re fighting the format. Audio isn’t built for note-taking. It’s built for presence.

Instead, strong audio choices are designed around:
🐲 Emotional recognition (“This voice feels unsafe.”)
🐲 Pattern sensing (“This keeps happening when I trust them.”)
🐲 Narrative logic (“They warned me about this kind of room.”)

That way, even if the player doesn’t remember the exact detail, they still feel like they made a meaningful choice, not a random guess.

Good audio design doesn’t ask: “Did you remember?”
It asks: “What does your gut tell you right now?”

That’s where audio becomes powerful.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames

Quick reminder: our free EarReality webinar is happening tomorrow 🎧


If interactive audio has been sitting on your “sounds cool but how does it actually work?” list, this one’s for you. We’ll talk tools, storytelling, and the business side (yes, the part where you can actually publish and monetize).

🐲 Expect practical insights, real examples, and no unnecessary fluff. 

See you tomorrow 👇 
https://lnkd.in/eWjk-bNA

⏱️ Starting in ONE hour!

The masterclass on writing for interactive audio is about to begin. 
If you’re in — grab your spot now and join live.

👉 https://lnkd.in/edpWX8TG

See you there 🎧 🐲

Vaughan Broderick

Innovation coach helping you & your organisation thrive in disruption | Teaching proven practical methods to help people innovate | UC MBA | Follow for posts about startups, innovation & leadership

If you're leading change in your organisation, you've probably seen this pattern:

Smart people working hard, moving fast - and still building things that don't stick, don't scale, and don't really matter.

I know, because I lived it for over a decade.

By 2018, I'd built an award-winning mortgage and insurance brokerage - and was completely burnt out. Brilliant people exhausting themselves on work that didn't last.

That experience changed how I see innovation.

I sold the business, took my family backpacking through 23 countries, searching for a better way.

I found an approach that changed everything:

Stop guessing. Start discovering.
Stop doing innovation to people. Start designing with them.

Today, I help leaders and teams make change work inside real organisations - with real constraints.
I've worked with hundreds of leaders across NZ and Australia - founders, executives, government teams - all asking the same question: "There has to be a better way, right?"

My work focuses on the part most innovation efforts fail at: turning good ideas into implemented change.

My approach is called DUCTRI - a framework that extends design thinking to include Resourcing and Implementation. It combines design thinking, AI tools, and behavioural science for making change work in complex organisations.

I've captured this in Innovation in Action, co-authored with Christian Walsh, including the complete toolkit and case studies from 300+ real-world projects.

What happens when you work this way:
→ Solve the right problems before committing resources
→ Teams align with clarity, not pressure
→ Change actually sticks

If you're tired of workshops that go nowhere, pilots that never scale, and good ideas dying in PowerPoint - I understand.

There is a better way.

I know because I've lived both.

INNOVATION IN ACTION (Book)
A practical system for solving the right problems and creating lasting change.

"The essential playbook for turning ideas into impact."
Jeremy Utley, Stanford d.school

"A book for people tired of innovation theatre."
David J. Bland, Co-author, Testing Business Ideas

“This is a book that helps you not just innovate, but truly change systems for good.”
David Meates, MNZM (Ex NZ Health CEO) 

→ Join the waitlist: https://innovationinactionbook.com

FUTURE-STATE THINKING NEWSLETTER
Weekly insights on design thinking, AI & behavioural science.
→ Subscribe: https://vaughanbroderick.com

CONSULTING · WORKSHOPS · TRAINING
Advisory, workshops, and training to move from stuck ideas to implemented change.
→ Get in touch: https://vaughanbroderick.com/connect/

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Vaughan Broderick 🦆🌳

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