How To Survive Until You're Published

In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell interview author Abigail O'Bryan about her writing journey. We cover topics such as what is an independent publishing house, traditional publishing, marketing, her overall writing journey and her debut novel, Iron Rose, which comes out this August and is available for preorder now!!! *Music for this episode is brought to you by REMBALL music

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss popular writing tropes with guest author Marae Good. We talk about some of our favorite tropes, and how to apply them in writing. *Music for this episode is brought to you by REMBALL music

In this episode, M Irene and Amy Bell interview guest author Lynn Buchanan on her writing journey. She walks us through when she wanted to be a writer, key writing advice that helped her land an agent, what happens after getting an agent, and other aspects of her writing journey! *Music for this episode is brought to you by REMBALL music

In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell discuss reapproaching various plotting structures, to include Save the Cat, the Hero's Journey and Amy's plotting process. M Irene discusses how adhering too rigidly to plotting structures hindered her writing, and how looking at these plotting processes in a new light helped her make them work. *Music for this episode is brought to you by REMBALL music

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss choosing what writing tools work for you, how it's primarily trial and error, but that finding the right tools can help you find your voice and in your writing journey. *Music for this episode is brought to you by REMBALL music

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss Amy's journey to becoming more of a plotter, and figuring out which plotting process works for her! *Music for this episode is brought to you by REMBALL music

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss what they've been up to on the long break from the podcast, in life, as well as in their writing journey. *Music for this episode brought to you by REMBALL music

In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell interview various authors at Storymakers and react to the advice they give! Huge shoutout to Arya Matthews, Teah Weight, Heidi O'Barr, Tifani Erikson Clark and all the other wonderful Storymakers who contributed to advice and interviews used for this podcast. *Music for this episode is brought to you by REMBALL music

Season 2, coming 06/14/2024!!! *Music for this episode is brought to you by REMBALL music

For the FINAL episode of season one, Amy Bell and M Irene interview guest author Jennifer Nielson on a keynote speech she gave at Storymakers Writing Conference a few years ago which inspired her new book Once Upon a Climb! Jennifer gives amazing advice and inspiration.

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview author Serene Heiner about her writing journey, as well as motivation to help you continue yours!

In this episode Amy Bell shares her personal tips for NaNoWriMo as she jumps in this November!

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview author Bekah Kurz about her writing journey as an indie published author and advice she has for others on their writing journey!

 In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview J Scott Savage on the details of his worldbuilding process and how you can use worldbuilding, characters, and plot to really make a story come alive.

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview Mike Ahlstrom about the basics of worldbuilding! Mike's talents in worldbuilding extend from his writing, artwork and dungeon and dragons worlds. From magic systems to cultures, how much worldbuilding do you need in your stories and what makes worldbuilding realistic?

 In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview Jessica Guernsey about how to prepare for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Jessica Guernsey details some of her tips, as well as talks about her overall experience with NaNoWriMo!

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview Jason June! He discusses critique groups, finding your voice, and the culture of writing! He gives advice for what can be the most helpful in a critique group and navigating the YA writing space, as well as the writing world in general. Photo Credit: Romy Suskin

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview guest author Cassie Shiels about tackling the middle of your story. She details tools she uses in order to better help her plot and write the middle of your story. For starters she talks about how changing our mindset from seeing it as the murky middle can help shift your perspective on writing.

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview author Don Carey about his plotting process! He details how plotting and layouts have benefited his writing, and specifically dives into the Save the Cat Writes a Novel Plot structure and how he uses it to plot his stories.

In this episode, Amy Bell and M Irene summarize various plot structures that can help you in their writing. They also discuss what it means to be a pantser vs. plotter and why knowing plot structure can help you in either scenario!

In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene transition from talking about characters to plot, and the importance of making sure your characters match your plot and vice versa! They go through how to find the right plot for your character, or character for your plot if you started with plot first, as well as touch on what to do if you realize your plot is not right for your character.

 In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell discuss how to bring your characters to life with guest author Megan Walker. She talks about how to better use emotion to make your stories more three dimensional and how pulling from your life experiences and emotions can help bring characters to life.

 In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss structuring your cast of characters and the importance of side characters. They go over the difference between archetypes and stereotypes, and delve into dramatica theory archetypes and how these can help with figuring out side character roles and functions in your story.

BONUS! M Irene and Amy Bell interview Conor Christensen about villains. Conor talks about his favorite type of villains, the different types of villains and some good resources for understanding villains so you can give the villain of your story the time they deserve!

In this episode, M Irene and Amy Bell interview Amey Zeigler again, but this time about villains! Amey discusses what makes a compelling villain, goes over villain motivations, talks about how to make them a FOIL to your protagonist, and more!