The Story Craft Cafe Podcast

A protagonist is only as strong as the wall they're trying to break through. Your antagonist isn't the obstacle to your story — your antagonist IS your story.
Pull up a chair. Before we dive into Workshop 4, Hank Garner and Abby sit down for a relaxed fireside conversation about the most underrated character in fiction: the one standing in your hero's way. We're talking villains, rivals, systems, storms, and the quiet "no" that forces your protagonist to change. If you've ever written a bad guy who felt flat, cartoonish, or too easy to beat, this one's for you.
This is the warm-up. Grab a coffee, settle in, and come to the workshop ready to build an antagonist readers can't look away from.
In this chat, Hank and Abby get into:- The difference between a villain, an antagonist, and a plain old obstacle- Why the best antagonists are the protagonist of their own story- How a villain's "no" drives your plot forward, scene by scene- Desire, wound, and lie — how the tool that builds heroes builds their enemies too- Sympathetic vs. hateable: when to make readers understand the villain, and when not to- The antagonists we can't stop thinking about — and what makes them work- The most common mistakes that make a bad guy fall flat- Force-of-nature and internal antagonists (when there's no villain at all)
#WritingCraft #Antagonists #Villains #WritingTips #AmWriting #NovelWriting #CharacterDevelopment #Fiction #WritingCommunity #StoryStructure

Why do readers stay up until 2 a.m. turning pages?
It's rarely because of the plot.
It's because they care about the person living through it.
In this one-hour writing workshop, Hank Garner breaks down the core principles behind unforgettable protagonists—the characters readers will follow anywhere, even when they aren't always likable.
You'll learn how to build characters with emotional depth, compelling motivations, and authentic character arcs that keep readers invested from the first page to the last.
In this workshop you'll learn:
What a protagonist actually is (and how they're different from your POV character or hero)
The three pillars every great protagonist needs:
DesireWoundLie
The difference between what your character wants and what they truly need
Why readers don't have to like your protagonist—they simply have to be compelled by them
How specificity, contradictions, vulnerability, and voice make fictional people feel real
How to avoid passive protagonists by giving your characters meaningful choices
A simple five-question character test you can use on every novel you write
You'll also complete a practical character-building exercise and see how Dabble's Character Notes and Plot Grid make it easy to organize your protagonist's arc from beginning to end.
Whether you're outlining your first novel or revising your tenth, this workshop will give you a practical framework you can immediately apply to create protagonists readers won't forget.

Readers don't read your book because of your clever plot. Readers fall in love with your book because of your CHARACTERS. Each book is about a person, and your protagonist is the lightning rod of your book.
In this Fireside chat, Hank and Brooke talk about what makes a great protagonist and how to craft characters that bring people back time and again.

This is an exciting week where we finally get to unveil what's new in Dabble 3.0. Join Abby and Hank as they discuss their favorite new Dabble 3.0 features.

Most unfinished manuscripts in the world died somewhere between chapter eight and chapter sixteen. The writer didn't lose interest. They lost the shape of it. The plot started to drift. The scenes started to feel disconnected. The book stalled.
This 65-minute workshop is about the shape. The bones of a novel that works — and the structural diagnostic that tells you, every time, which beat in your draft is the one that needs work next.
Novelist and writing coach Hank Garner walks through Freytag's Pyramid, why it's incomplete for novels, the modernized six-beat story arc that every working novel hits, the midpoint shift that fixes a sagging middle, and the five most common structural mistakes in first-novel manuscripts.
You'll learn:
Why "pantsers vs plotters" is the wrong fight — and what both sides get rightFreytag's Pyramid, the five-part shape underneath every working drama since the GreeksThe six-beat story arc — Hook, Inciting Incident, Rising Action, Midpoint Shift, Climax, ResolutionThe three-act translation, and why six beats is easier to write than threeThree ways to use the midpoint — false victory, point of no return, revelationHow to diagnose a sagging middle in 60 secondsTry/fail cycles, yes-but / no-and, and the chapter-end question that earns the page turnFive common structural mistakes — and how to fix each one
Try out Dabble free for 14 days and see why it’s the best writing tool on the planet—no credit card required! Visit our website at www.dabblewriter.com to get started.Subscribe to our channel for more live events like author interviews, Writing Sprint Wednesdays, Feedback Fridays, and Fireside Chats.
We're all about helping authors hone their craft with engaging, fun, and educational content.
On top of all that, Dabble Premium members get access to exclusive content like Craft Q&A Office Hours, Wordsmith Workshops, Deep Dive articles, bonus resources, and guest speaker workshops.
Happy writing!

Most new writers freeze on the first line because they think it has to be brilliant. It doesn’t. The opening line isn’t the point. The opening page is. And the opening page is doing a job.In this 60-minute workshop, novelist and writing coach Hank Garner walks through what an opening actually has to do, the three kinds of hooks that work, and a five-question diagnostic you can run on any opening you’ve ever written.You’ll learn:
The lie about first lines that kills more drafts than anythingThe five jobs every working opening must doThree kinds of hooks — situation, voice, image — and when to use eachWhat to cut and what to keep in your first 250 wordsThe prologue trap and the three legitimate usesA diagnostic you can run on any opening in ten minutes
Join us at DabbleU to continue the conversation about this workshop at https://www.dabbleu.com/c/cafe-chats/join-us-today-for-our-dabble-workshop-how-to-start-a-story
Try out Dabble free for 14 days and see why it’s the best writing tool on the planet—no credit card required! Visit our website at www.dabblewriter.com to get started.Subscribe to our channel for more live events like author interviews, Writing Sprint Wednesdays, Feedback Fridays, and Fireside Chats.
We're all about helping authors hone their craft with engaging, fun, and educational content.
On top of all that, Dabble Premium members get access to exclusive content like Craft Q&A Office Hours, Wordsmith Workshops, Deep Dive articles, bonus resources, and guest speaker workshops.
Happy writing!

Beginnings are everything. Not only for starting the journey that you hope the reader takes with you, but the first thing you have to do is HOOK your reader. Want them to go on a journey with you? give them a reason. Join Hank and Abby as they discuss this.

Welcome to First Novel Problems, a brand-new YouTube series from Dabble Writer for anyone who's ever wanted to write a novel and didn't know where to start (or got stuck partway through and gave up).
In this introduction episode, meet your hosts:
Abby Mathews: Community Manager at Dabble, published middle-grade author, and someone who tried (and failed) to write a novel three times before finally figuring it out
Brooke: brand-new to Dabble, brand-new to writing, and signing up to learn the whole process from scratch, on camera, so you don't have to do it alone
Here's the idea: every week, Abby teaches Brooke something real about writing a novel, and you get to learn right alongside her. We'll cover plotting, getting unstuck, picking a genre, the "rules" of writing (and when to break them), and all the roadblocks that stop first-time novelists from finishing.
It's genre-agnostic (although Brooke will have to pick one!). It's beginner-friendly. And it's built on the idea that if you want to write a book, you ARE a writer—you just need someone to walk you through it!
Got a writing roadblock you want us to tackle? Drop it in the comments. Brooke is officially on the hook to ask the embarrassing questions for you.
SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss Episode 1, where we get into the real stuff.
Try Dabble free: https://www.dabblewriter.com/Free writing resources at DabbleU: https://www.dabblewriter.com/dabble-u

Plot gets a lot of attention, but characters are what make people fall in love with your story. Want to write a memorable book? Create characters that your readers want to invite to Thanksgiving, or run from! Join Hank and Abby as they discuss the most important element in your writing, CHARACTERS.

You have a story in you, I know you do. But where do you start? Does the thought of writing a whole novel give you anxiety and keep you from starting at all?
Join published author Hank Garner from Dabble for a live brainstorming workshop on how to write a book when all you've got is a spark. We'll break down how to mine your creative well for character, setting, and plot ideas that will help you start your first novel (or your fifty-first).
Whether you're staring at a blank page or sitting on a pile of half-baked ideas, this workshop will help you figure out what you actually have — and how to turn it into a book.
WHAT WE'LL COVER-How to brainstorm character, setting, and plot from scratch-How to mine your own life, obsessions, and what-ifs for story fuel-How to tell if your idea is a novel, a short story, or something else-Hank's method for moving from spark to first chapter-Brainstorming for plotters, pantsers, and the "I don't know yet" crowd
Download the Brainstorming Dabble template here: https://app.dabblewriter.com/?importTemplate=uFwqT2KkgZrcma8t&_gl=1*j974m6*_gcl_au*MTU0MzUyMDM5MS4xNzc1NTc0NjY2LjE2ODM5NTU0MDMuMTc3NTU3NDY2OC4xNzc1NTc0NjY3*_ga*MTI4MTEwMzkzNy4xNzc1NTc0NjY2*_ga_09N6VRHLQG*czE3Nzc5MDk0NzYkbzYyJGcwJHQxNzc3OTA5NDc2JGo2MCRsMCRoMTAyMjk1MjU1
ABOUT HANKHank is a published author with one foot in traditional publishing and one in indie publishing. Between his name and his pen name, he's written over fifty books. (Mostly fiction, some non-fiction too.) He has also spent the last ten years hosting thousands of podcasts on writing, which means he's talked craft with more working authors than most people have read.
ABOUT DABBLE WRITERDabble is novel-writing software built by writers, for writers. Outline, draft, revise, and track your whole story in one place. Try Dabble free for 14 days. No credit card required. www.dabblewriter.com
SUBSCRIBE FOR MORESubscribe for more live events like author interviews, free writing workshops, and Fireside Chats. We're all about helping writers hone their craft with content that's actually useful.
JOIN THE COMMUNITYDid you know Dabble Writer also sponsors the DabbleU Campus, our free online writing community? It's our hub for 2x weekly writing sprints, coffee hours, craft talk, and more. https://www.dabbleu.com
Happy writing!