The Story Craft Cafe Podcast

Fireside Chats with Hank and Doug: Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing | SCC 170

Authors have more options than ever when deciding how they want to achieve their writing goals. The two big options - self-publishing and traditional publishing - are still mysterious and, quite frankly, confusing, to some writers.
Join Hank and Doug in this Fireside Chat as we discuss what it means to publish on each path and what the pros and cons of each publishing style are.
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Outlining Using The Snowflake Method With Randy Ingermanson | SCC 169

Randy Ingermanson is the author of six novels and three bestselling books on how to write fiction. He is known around the world as “the Snowflake Guy” in honor of his wildly popular Snowflake method of designing a novel. Randy has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California at Berkeley and still works half-time as a scientist for a biotechnology company in San Diego. He publishes the free monthly Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with zillions of subscribers. Randy lives in southern Washington state with his beautiful, smart, and longsuffering wife. Also three surly cats. Visit his web site at http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com

Why Story Trumps Structure With Steven James | SCC 168

Steven James is a critically acclaimed author of eighteen novels and numerous nonfiction books that have sold more than 1 million copies. His books have won or been shortlisted for dozens of national and international awards. In addition, his stories and articles have appeared in more than eighty different publications, including the New York Times. He is also a popular keynote speaker and professional storyteller with a master’s degree in storytelling. 
James’ latest thriller, FATAL DOMAIN, is available. The new series follows Travis Brock, a redactor for the Department of Defense who must attempt to unearth the truth of a personal tragedy while trying to stop a terrorist group from stealing one of the military’s most highly guarded technological breakthroughs.
Since 1996, James has appeared more than two thousand times at events spanning the globe, presenting his stories and teaching the principles of storytelling to writers, speakers, teachers, and leaders. He also hosts the weekly podcast The Story Blender, on which he has interviewed more than 150 of the world’s leading writers and storytellers. In 2020, he was inducted into the Christy Award Hall of Fame for excellence in fiction writing. Publishers Weekly has called him “[a] master storyteller at the peak of his game.”
When he’s not writing or speaking, you may find him playing basketball or disc golf, or hiking near his home in the Appalachian Highlands of East Tennessee. He may or may not watch too many science fiction movies while eating bottomless bowls of chips and salsa. 

Indie Author Glynn Stewart On Blending Magic With Sci Fi | SCC 167

Glynn Stewart is the author of Starship’s Mage, a bestselling science fiction and fantasy series where faster-than-light travel is possible–but only because of magic. His other works include science fiction series Duchy of Terra, Castle Federation and Exile, as well as the urban fantasy series ONSET and Changeling Blood.
Writing managed to liberate Glynn from a bleak future as an accountant. With his personality and hope for a high-tech future intact, he lives in Southern Ontario with his partner, their cats, and an unstoppable writing habit.

Writing Historical Fantasy With Stephen Aryan | SCC 166

Stephen Aryan is a fantasy author from the North East of England. 
Growing up, he read fantasy books by authors including Tolkien, CS Lewis, Ursula Le Guin, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Terry Brooks, David Eddings, before moving on to authors that include David Gemmell, Tad Williams, James Barclay, Stephen King, Robert Jordan, and Robin Hobb.
In 2013, after over a decade of rejections, Stephen submitted his latest novel to a literary agent. Battlemage, his debut novel, was published in 2015, and was the first of a trilogy called the Age of Darkness. Since then, he has gone on to publish several fantasy series.
Stephen is a lapsed gamer and a wannabe forest ranger, who likes spending time outside in the woods. When he's not extolling the virtues of Babylon 5, he can be found drinking real ale and reading comics. He lives in the West Midlands with his partner and two cats.

Collaborative Twisty Thriller Writing With Liv Constantine | SCC 165

Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine. Lynne and Valerie are Wall Street Journal and USA Today international bestselling authors with over one and a half million copies sold worldwide. They are Library Reads Hall of Fame authors. Their books have been translated into 29 languages, are available in 34 countries, and are in development for both television and film. Their books have been praised by The Washington Post, USA Today, The Sunday Times, People Magazine, and Good Morning America, among many others. Their debut novel, THE LAST MRS. PARRISH, is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection.

Finding Success As A Husband-Wife Writing Team With Ellery Lloyd | SCC 164

Ellery Lloyd is the pseudonym for the London-based husband and wife team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos whose last novel, instant New York Times bestseller The Club, a “smart, stylish, and savage” (People Magazine), was a Reese’s Book Club pick. The former deputy editor of Grazia Middle East, content director of Elle (UK), and editorial director at Soho House, Collette studied History of Art at Trinity College, Cambridge, and has worked in Sydney, Dubai, and London. She has written for the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Sunday Times. Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day Is Like Sunday. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich.They are also the authors of People Like Her.

Building New Worlds With Familiar Fantasy Tropes With Christopher Paolini | SCC 163

Christopher was homeschooled by his parents. As a child, he often wrote short stories and poems, made frequent trips to the library, and read widely. Some of his favorite books were Bruce Coville’s Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, Frank Herbert’s Dune, and Raymond E. Feist’s Magician (now available in volumes one and two), as well as books by Anne McCaffrey, Jane Yolen, Brian Jacques, E.R. Eddison, David Eddings, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
The idea of Eragon began as the daydreams of a teen. Christopher’s love for the magic of stories led him to craft a novel that he would enjoy reading. The project began as a hobby, a personal challenge; he never intended it to be published. Before he began writing Eragon, he plotted out the entire adventure. He found that doing some of the same things as his characters allowed him to better understand their world, as well as to think of descriptions that otherwise would not have occured to him. To this end he forged his own knives and swords, made chain mail, spun wool, camped in the Beartooth Mountains, made his own bow, built survival shelters, learned to track game, fletched arrows, felled trees, hiked, and camped. In short, the books embody a great deal of his experience of living in Montana.
His work also combined elements gathered from research and from his imagination. He read a huge amount of folklore while growing up, ranging from the Brothers Grimm to Beowulf, Nordic sagas, and the Aeneid, along with contemporary fantasy and science fiction. In addition, he learned about weaponry, food, clothing, and customs from the Middle Ages, which is roughly the era he envisioned Eragon living in. Armed with that information, he daydreamed the scenes with his characters. Then he took pen to paper and tried to recreate those images with words.
Christopher was fifteen when he wrote the first draft of Eragon. He took a second year to revise the book, and then gave it to his parents to read. The family decided to self-publish the book and spent a third year preparing the manuscript for publication: copyediting, proofreading, designing a cover, typesetting the manuscript, and creating marketing materials. During this time Christopher drew the map for Eragon, as well as the dragon eye for the book cover (which now appears inside the Knopf hardcover edition). The manuscript was sent to press and the first books arrived in November 2001. The Paolini family spent the next year promoting the book at libraries, bookstores, and schools in 2002 and early 2003.

Wordsmith Workshop: Leveling Up Your Mindset Workshop With Michael La Ronn | SCC 162

Michael La Ronn talks about how you can be the most productive and creative by making adjustments to your mindset, and accomplish more than you thought possible.
 
Guest workshops like Michael La Ronn's Level-Up Your Author Mindset are just one of the great new features we're bringing to Dabble Premium for now extra cost. The Dabble Premium experience isn't just about providing the world's best novel-writing platform, but we're there to help you achieve your author dreams with resources and events like:
Workshops and guest speakers
Live Office Hours
Opportunities for personalized feedback
Deep-dive articles and custom resources for serious authors
If you want to take your writing to the next level, check out all Dabble Premium has to offer: https://www.dabblewriter.com/pricing
 

Craft Q&A Office Hours | SCC 161

Craft Q&A Office Hours are meant to answer your most pressing questions. During our live events, we always get a bunch of questions spanning the entire spectrum of writing and storytelling. So we decided to dedicate some time to answer them.