Fiction Refinery

In this episode, we're delving into a common mistake many writers make: Writing the blurb after completing their story. I'll walk you through why creating your book's blurb before writing your draft can give you incredible clarity and direction for your story's outline. Using a structured approach, I'll share my own experience crafting a blurb for my upcoming book, the challenges I faced, and how...

Do your fantasy elements ever feel like an afterthought? Like they exist in the world because they're cool or convenient? You're not alone. It's a struggle to weave a magic system, worldbuilding, and/or supernatural elements into the heart of the plot. In this episode of The Fiction Refinery Podcast , we'll explore the concept of a fantasy plot line . It's a layer of storytelling that makes your f...

In this episode, I’m sharing how I started framing my antagonist and what I pulled from Rayne Hall’s book Writing About Villains. (It’s a quick, actionable read, and if you have Kindle Unlimited, it’s included there.) Here’s what you’ll hear in today’s episode: Why I chose the Evil Overlord archetype as the foundation for my primary antagonist How a secondary antagonist (the fanatic) adds depth to...

In the last episode, I shared the first 3 things I do before I even consider outlining. In today's episode, I'm sharing the next 3 things that I do (plus a bonus one). These help me establish the foundation for my story, so that when I sit down to write, I know the essentials. This ensures I don't write an outline that I'm dissatisfied with 3 scenes into writing my first draft. Today, I'll be shar...

Today, I'm sharing 3 things that I do BEFORE I start outlining. This is the pre-work to the prep work. My story ideas are never fully fleshed out enough to begin immediately outlining, so here are 3 things I do to make decisions about the story I'm going to write so I can outline effectively: Write down my favorite ideas Craft the premise Making the tropes and other ideas work with the premise (an...

Outlining is a fundamental part of my writing process, and today I'm sharing why. Over the past 12 (probably more...) years, I've struggled to find a writing process that works for me, and now I finally feel like I'm honing in on what's working for me. Outlining is not for everyone, but if you're considering outlining for your first or next story, I'm sharing all of the reasons I have been loving...

 Writing a book is one of the most exciting and most overwhelming things I've ever done. Some days the words flow and other days not so much. Maybe you know the feeling. I am Jennifer, a writer and developmental editor, and I'm inviting you to join me as I navigate the ups and downs of writing my next story. I'm not here to tell you how to write your book. Instead, on the Fiction Refinery podcast,...