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!