The Story Craft Cafe Podcast

Covers & Market Research With Jeff Brown #IndieSummer | SCC 227

Jeff Brown has worked as a  science fiction and fantasy illustrator and cover designer since 2013. Jeff has designed covers for Tor, Scholastic, Penguin, Bloomsbury and many more.
He has worked on projects such as Eragon, The Devils, The Three-Body Problem, Malazan Book of the Fallen, Riftwar, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and The Dragonbone Chair.
Jeff has been a Dragon Award finalist in 2023 and 2024 for Best Illustrative Book Cover

Final Edits And Polishing With Michelle Hazen #IndieSummer | SCC 226

Kicking off our #IndieSummer campaign is Michelle Hazen. Michelle Hazen is a nomad with a writing problem. Years ago, she and her husband ducked out of the 9 to 5 world and moved into their truck to become desert tortoise biologists. She found her voice with the support of the online fanfiction community, and once she started typing, she never looked back.
As a result, she has written most of her books in odd places, including a bus in Thailand, an off-the-grid cabin in the Sawtooth Mountains, a golf cart in a sandstorm, a rental car during a heat wave in the Mohave Desert and a beach in Honduras.
These days, she works as a freelance editor and writing coach with Sanctuary Editorial mostly based out of Idaho, but thanks to the wonders of Wi-Fi, she and her husband are still soaking up inspiration while they travel the country and work along the way.
She’s currently addicted to Shadow and Bone, rock climbing, and Tillamook cheese.
Michelle is double-agented, so for rights inquiries for romance, psychological suspense, or for her self-published novels, please contact Eva Scalzo of Speilburg Literary. For fantasy novels and associated rights, contact Naomi Davis of BookEnds Literary.
Find her on Instagram at MichelleHazenAuthor, on Facebook at Michelle Hazen, or follow her on Twitter @michellehazen.

A DabbleU Workshop: Using Brain Science to Overcome Writer's Resistance with Monica Hay | SCC 225

Many writers struggle with resistance—procrastination, perfectionism, writer’s block. Instead of writing, you find yourself scrolling social media, cleaning the kitchen, or calling your mom. You listen to a podcast and tell yourself, Hey, this is still productive, but deep down, you wish you were making your own art. Maybe you run an errand—something necessary, but not urgent—knowing you could have written instead. It feels like you're constantly avoiding the page, and you can’t help but wonder, Why is it so hard to just sit down and write?
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. And here’s the good news: your resistance isn’t a personal failing! You're not "lazy" or "unmotivated." What you're facing can be explained by brain science. In this workshop, you’ll learn the neuroscience behind resistance and discover simple, effective strategies to overcome it. I’ll introduce you to what I call “write or flight” and show you how to rewire your brain so that resistance stops standing in your way. You'll learn about the different parts of the brain and how to work with them when resistance pops up so you can finally reach your writing goals. The key isn’t willpower: it’s understanding how your brain works and using that knowledge to your advantage.
Monica Hay is a writing coach who helps writers overcome resistance and finish their manuscripts (without getting stuck in revision traps). With a Master’s in Publishing from Portland State University and a Bachelor’s from UC Berkeley, she often jokes that she’s a recovering academic. She has worked at two literary agencies and served as the Director’s Assistant for WriteOnCon, an online children’s publishing conference. Her work has been featured in the Perfect Your Process and Writing Brave summits, as well as on multiple podcasts.
Blending her background in social work and book publishing, Monica focuses on creative recovery and mastering the inner game of writing. She's passionate about helping writers embrace the "mess" of the writing process, and her famous catchphrase is "no mess, no magic." She currently lives in Amsterdam with her husband and two cats.
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Blending Time-Tested Authors With New Genres With Claudia Gray | SCC 224

Claudia Gray is the pseudonym of Amy Vincent. She is the author of the Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney Mysteries, which began with The Murder of Mr. Wickham. She is also the writer of multiple young adult novels, including the Evernight series, the Firebird trilogy, and the Constellation trilogy. In addition, she’s written several Star Wars novels, such as Lost Stars and Bloodline She and her husband, Paul, live in Turin, Italy, under the benevolent rule of a small dog named Peaches.
The fourth book in New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray's Jane Austen sequel series, THE RUSHWORTH FAMILY PLOT finds amateur sleuths Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney caught up in the whirlwind of the London Season—and in a murderous scheme involving the family of Edmund and Fanny Bertram
Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney understand each other perfectly; it's a pity their families do not. A series of misunderstandings, misplaced pride, and—indeed—prejudice, has led their parents to deem the pair unsuited to wed. Now, with the Season approaching, Juliet's grandfather, General Tilney, has sent her to London with a new wardrobe and orders to prove herself worthy of someone better than the snobby Darcys. Meanwhile, Jonathan has been forced to accept an invitation to stay in town with old friends Edmund and Fanny Bertram at the house of Edmund's brother, Sir Thomas. Oblivious to and undesiring of female attention outside of Juliet's, Jonathan is at risk of being ensnared by Caroline Bingley's previously rebuffed plans to make herself—or her daughter—mistress of Pemberley.
But when Mr. Rushworth, the former husband of Edmund's sister Maria, is discovered dead in his home, Jonathan and Juliet find themselves with problems far weightier than the marriage market. In one of the greatest scandals of its day, Maria abandoned her new husband in favor of the notorious rake Henry Crawford, and when he wouldn't marry her, was forced to flee to the continent in disgrace. Now Maria is back, accompanied by a daughter she claims Mr. Rushworth fathered after their divorce—and who he wrote into his will just before his death. To spare Edmund and Fanny further social shame, Jonathan and Juliet must unmask a killer before the drama surrounding the Rushworth family fortune claims another victim.

Murder Mysteries Told In Reverse with Peter Swanson | SCC 223

KILL YOUR DARLINGS (William Morrow; June 10, 2025) is New York Times bestselling author PETER SWANSON’s most ambitious novel yet. The book marries an evergreen hook—a terrible secret unravels a marriage—to a one-of-a-kind structure: this is a thriller told in reverse.
Swanson—a “master of suspense” (Crimereads) who specializes in psychological thrillers that subvert expectations—“never disappoints” (NPR). Critics call his novels “ingenious” and “devious” (New York Times Book Review), “inventive” (Wall Street Journal), “complex, twist-filled” (the Associated Press), and “so ruthlessly clever it’s criminal” (Entertainment Weekly).
 If you haven’t yet jumped on the Peter Swanson bandwagon, now is the time. KILL YOUR DARLINGS is poised to be the breakout thriller of the summer. A terrible act binds a husband and wife to one another forever. But when the marriage goes south, how far will each of them go to protect their secrets?
Smart, unique, and unnerving, KILL YOUR DARLINGS is the latest incredible read from Peter Swanson.

How To Blend Romantic Thrillers With Futuristic Suspense With Jayne Ann Krentz | SCC 222

In this episode we talk with New York Times Bestseller Jayne Ann Krentz about her long career in publishing, the importance of genre, meeting reader expectations, mixing popular genres, and so much more.
With over 50 New York Times bestsellers, Krentz is one of the forerunners of paranormal romance. She writes romantic thrillers, futuristic suspense, and historical mysteries under the Krentz, Castle, and Amanda Quick names, respectively, and her Harmony novels have been praised for their “seamless synthesis of futuristic suspense, magical settings, and scintillating romance” (Booklist, starred review).

Plotting Thrillers That Keep Readers Flipping Pages With Kimberly Belle | SCC 221

KIMBERLY BELLE is the Edgar Award nominated, USA Today and internationally bestselling author with more than one million copies sold worldwide, with titles including The Paris Widow, The Marriage Lie, a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for Best Mystery & Thriller, and the co-authored #1 Audible Original, Young Rich Widows. Kimberly’s novels have been optioned for film and television and selected by LibraryReads and Amazon and Apple books editors as best books of the month, and the International Thriller Writers as nominee for best book of the year. She divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Writing Supernatural Thrillers That Readers Can’t Put Down With Linwood Barclay | SCC 220

Linwood Barclay, a New York Times bestselling author with twenty novels to his credit, spent three decades in newspapers before turning full time to writing thrillers. His books have been translated into more than two dozen languages, sold millions of copies, and he counts Stephen King among his fans. Many of his books have been optioned for film and TV, a series has been made in France, and he wrote the screenplay for the film based on his novel Never Saw it Coming. Born in the US, his parents moved to Canada just as he was turning four, and he’s lived there ever since. He lives near Toronto with his wife, Neetha. They have two grown children.

Exploring Morally Gray Characters With Humor With Jenny Morris | SCC 219

Jenny Morris is a psychology researcher with a fascination in ethics, human behavior, and moral dilemmas. She writes high-concept crime novels that explore deep philosophical questions that started off as conversations with friends like, ‘How much would I have to pay you to eat a human toe?’ Jenny has completed the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel' six-month course, and has won short story contests in both Writing Magazine and Writers' Forum. In 2020, she completed a PhD in Psychology. Jenny lives in Kent. AN ETHICAL GUIDE TO MURDER is her first novel.
Thea has a secret. She can tell how long someone has left to live just by touching them. Not only that, but she can transfer life from one person to another—something she finds out the hard way when her best friend, Ruth, suffers a fatal head injury on a night out. Desperate to save her, Thea accidentally kills the man responsible and lets his life flow directly into Ruth.
Thea comes to understand that she has a godlike power, but how to use it quickly becomes a question of self-control. Is it really so wrong to take a little life from a bad person—say, a very annoying boss—and gift it to someone who's truly good? Realizing she needs to harness her newfound skills, Thea creates an Ethical Guide to Murder. But as she embarks on her mission to punish the wicked and give the deserving more time, she finds good and bad aren't as simple as she first thought.
How can she really know who deserves to live and die, and can she figure out her own rules before Ruth’s borrowed time runs out?

Master Of Plot Anthony Horowitz Talks About The Art Of The Twist | SCC 218

One of the world’s most prolific and successful writers, ANTHONY HOROWITZ may have committed more (fictional) murders than any other living author, working across all media formats, from books, to TV, film, plays, and journalism. In January 2022 he was awarded a CBE for his services to literature. He has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; three James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day, and With a Mind to Kill; the mystery novels featuring book editor Susan Ryeland: Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders, and now MARBLE HALL MURDERS, and the Detective Hawthorne novels: The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, A Line To Kill, The Twist of a Knife, and Close to Death. He is also the author of the teen spy Alex Rider series, which has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide and has become a hugely successful show on Amazon Prime TV. His breakthrough murder mystery, Magpie Murders, and the follow up Moonflower Murders, were both adapted for TV and aired on PBS. He lives in London with his wife and dog. For more on Anthony Horowitz, visit: https://anthonyhorowitz.com/.