Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast How To Survive Until You're Published

In this episode Amy Bell interviews author Haley Bono on worldbuilding. The two discuss the difficulties of worldbuilding, and some tips to make it easier!

In this episode, Amy Bell and M Irene discuss worldbuilding, to include tips on how they have used worldbuilding in their current and past projects.

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In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene interview Melissa Lark, author of the Fresh Canvas and the Fresh Series, contemporary women's fiction. Melissa Lark deep dives into how she makes her characters real and raw!

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In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss different tips for how to build your characters, to include how they've built characters in the past, and what they are doing different with their current projects!

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In this episode Megan Irene and Amy Bell discuss where they start with their novels and how it has differed from project to project in order to help you narrow down where you might want to start with yours!

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In this episode Amy Bell interviews authors Ashley Sheesley, Melissa Lark, Liz Reeder, and Sydney Willison on where and how they get their ideas for projects!

We'd love to hear where YOU get your ideas!

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In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell discuss where they get ideas and how to stay motivated with an idea once you hit a rough spot! They also talk about their two most recent ideas they will be fleshing out into novels and drafting for this season.

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In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell go back to the basics. They discuss their overall goals and outline for How to Survive Until You're Published, and get into why it's important you understand your why for writing. They each discuss their why, and how they figured it out.

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In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell discuss creative burnout. They recount when they've experienced burnout, how they can tell they're getting burnt out and some tips for preventing burnout and recovering from it!

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In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell interview Leslie Dacapo on how to balance writing with everyday life! Be sure to also check out Leslie's free story "An Engineer's Guide to Kissing" and check out Leslie's debut novel, "Kiss of the Bionic Mermaid."

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In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss how to get in the flow with writing. Some tips and tricks that have worked for them and other listeners. Additionally, they talk about overcoming blocks that my prevent you from thinking creatively.

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In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell interview guest author Brittany Mack about her debut novel. We discuss her decision to indie publish this first trilogy vs. traditionally publish potential future works and becoming a hybrid author. Brittany also discusses helpful resources for writers, time management and more!

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In this episode M Irene interviews author Jennifer MD Cox about using psychology in writing. Jennifer goes over the basics, psychology aspects that can influence character morality, choices and other things in this episode.

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*disclaimer---audio file issues have interfered with the quality of audio.

In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell interview Jen Woodrum and Rain Sullivan about Pathfinders Writing Collective, a new writing challenge and community for creatives!

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In this episode, Amy Bell and M Irene discuss fleshing out side characters! They discuss the importance of side characters, their relationship to the main character and common archetypes for side characters using dramatica archetype theory.

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Live mental health discussion turned podcast, on mental health and writing! Is YOUR mental health holding you back from writing? Do you deal with a fear of failure, rejection, or vulnerability? Join How to Survive Until You're Published and other Authors in the writing community as they discuss obstacles, pitfalls, and traps that prevent them from writing and their strategies to overcome them. Featuring the following Guest Authors: @kauffmanjlk

https://www.youtube.com/@kauffmanwritenow @johnalanturner: https://www.johnalanturner.com/home26... @danabell: https://dragonlots8.wixsite.com/websi...

In this episode, M Irene and Amy Bell discuss antiheroes and redemption arcs with Amey Zeigler. Amey tells us her formula for creating antiheroes, and key characteristics she thinks every antihero should have. She also identifies the differences between a vigilante character and antihero. Amey then goes through how to write a redemptive arc. *Music for this episode is by REMBALL music

In this episode M Irene and Amy Bell interview guest author Ashley Funk about how she comes up with ideas for her stories, and how she takes the seeds of an idea into a full fleshed story.

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In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss pacing! They go over common problems with pacing, how to recognize pacing problems and how to overcome them.

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In this episode Amy Bell and M Irene discuss which genres they write, how they discovered their genres, how they develop their voices and how to pick which POV to use for your novel.

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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!!!

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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 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, 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!

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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 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 what they've been up to on the long break from the podcast, in life, as well as in their writing journey.

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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.

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Season 2, coming 06/14/2024!!!

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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.

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!

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 Amy Bell and M Irene discuss the keys to building a powerful protagonist using tips from Lisa Cron’s "Story Genius", Jessica Brody’s "Save the Cat Writes a Novel", and "The Emotional Wound Thesaurus" by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. They dive into what internal motivation is needed to build a compelling character, and how your character’s wound, wants, needs and goals should tie together to drive the story forward.

In this episode M Irene and Amy introduce characters and discuss how to get started with character creation. They go over why having a compelling character is so important and what to do if you’re having a hard time coming up with your character, or fleshing one out.

In this episode Marae Good answers questions about indie publishing, the pros and cons, and general advice on getting started with it. She also gives advice for anyone starting out on their writing journey.

In this episode, Amy and M Irene continue the discussion on theme, the importance of it in writing, some common themes, and how theme is the embodiment of your character's journey.

In this episode we dive into theme and the importance of it with guest author Amey Zeigler. She breaks down why theme is important in your writing, finding the theme of your book, how you relate your character's motivations to theme, what it means to "prove" your theme, and more!