Storystruck

Got a story knot? Grab a deck and start pulling threads. We’re exploring how tarot and oracle cards can help you break through writer’s block, develop characters, untangle plot problems, and find inspiration without knowing a single traditional card meaning. Plus, we put it to the test and accidentally invent a haunted diva doll.

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• StoryStruck Instagram: storystruckpodcast
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion
• Rachel's Instagram: authorrachelclair

Join the Story Spiral Book Club on Fable

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

Check out Rachel's fav writing software Scrivener (affiliate link)

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

When do you admit a book just isn't working for you... and when is it worth pushing through?

We're talking about our very different relationships with DNFing, the books we've rage-read our way through, the ones we abandoned without remorse, and the rare books we're VERY glad we didn't give up on.

Along the way, we get into audiobook narrators, reading with a writer brain, revisiting old favorites, whether you can love an author and still hate one of their books, and the surprisingly complicated question of whether you should review a book you didn't finish.

Also, apparently the way a book smells matters. We don't make the rules.

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• StoryStruck Instagram: storystruckpodcast
• Rachel's Instagram: authrorachelclair
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion

Join the Story Spiral Book Club on Fable

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

Check out Rachel's fav writing software Scrivener (affiliate link)

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

What if the biggest difference between a hero and a heroine isn’t gender, but how they win?

For our first Story Spiral of Season 3, we’re diving into The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger, exploring character arcs, story structure, connection vs. isolation, reader expectations, tropes, shadow daddies, and why the stories we tell might matter more than we think. Plus, naturally, a lot of Marvel.

Join the Story Spiral Book Club on Fable and come spiral with us...

Get the Three Keys freebie Neno mentioned

Ready to go from idea to ready to draft? Check out Neno's Fantastical Foundations Course

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• StoryStruck Instagram: storystruckpodcast
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion
• Rachel's Instagram: authorrachelclair

Join the Story Spiral Book Club on Fable

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

Check out Rachel's fav writing software Scrivener (affiliate link)

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

You loved book one. You immediately grabbed book two. And then… what happened?! We’re talking about the series that made us ask that exact question, from disappearing protagonists and questionable POV changes to wonky pacing and characters who suddenly forget everything they’ve learned. Plus, we dig into reader expectations, character arcs, and how writers can keep a series feeling like the story readers originally fell in love with.

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• StoryStruck Instagram: storystruckpodcast
• Rachel's Instagram: bookboundjourney
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion

Join the Story Spiral Book Club on Fable

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

Check out Rachel's fav writing software Scrivener (affiliate link)

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

You know we love us some romantasy, and cozy fantasy definitely tickles our fancy, but genre mashing doesn’t stop there. What happens when RPGs meet fiction, horror meets comedy, historical fiction gets a little fantastical, or cowboys ride… unicorns?

We’re chatting about the fun of mixing genres, the reader expectations that come with them, and how to mash up the things you love while still making your story work.

Links and things we mentioned:

• S2 Sp 21 Romance, Spice, and Everything Nice (or Naughty)
• Join the Story Spiral Book Club on Fable
• How to Write Romantasy by Jenna Moreci
• Shut Up and Write the Book by Jenna Moreci
• Seven Drafts by Allison Williams
• The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• StoryStruck Instagram: storystruckpodcast
• Rachel's Instagram: bookboundjourney
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion

Join the Story Spiral Book Club on Fable

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

Check out Rachel's fav writing software Scrivener (affiliate link)

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

Season two is officially in the books, and somewhere along the way we accidentally figured out what StoryStruck was always supposed to be.

In this episode, we revisit our favorite episodes, chat about our own writing projects, recommend a few books, complain about a few others, and share what's coming in Season 3.

If you've been listening from the beginning, this is a little peek behind the curtain. And if you're new here, welcome. You're joining us at exactly the right time.

Turns out our favorite episodes were the ones where we forgot we were recording. So we're doing a lot more of that in Season 3.

Don't forget to attend the Develop Your Premise Summit and watch Neno's talk. Gran your ticket here https://summit.developyourpremise.com/?ac=kfWsik9r

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• Rachel's Instagram: bookboundjourney
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion

Join the Story Weavers Community: Join here

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Ready to go from draft to done? Visit Rachel's website today for editing services and writing classes https://www.bookboundjourney.com/

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

A casual conversation about romance, spice levels, yearning, fictional crushes, and how two writers somehow ended up talking about this for hours over voice memos.

In this episode, we dive into everything from cozy hand-holding romances to the spiciest corners of romantasy, explore why readers love romance in the first place, and share our own very different relationships with spicy scenes. Along the way we discuss emotional intimacy, character chemistry, sapphic stories, reverse harems, BookTok trends, and the awkward reality of writing romantic scenes when your characters have very different plans than you do.

This one somehow includes Jane Austen, fairy smut, reverse harems, neurodivergence, and the realization that writers should probably never have their text voice memos and convos played in public.

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• Rachel's Instagram: bookboundjourney
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

Ready to go from draft to done? Visit Rachel's website today for editing services and writing classes https://www.bookboundjourney.com/

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

AI is everywhere right now, and writers seem to be stuck somewhere between excitement, curiosity, and existential dread.

In this episode, we're sharing our personal experiences with AI, how we've experimented with it in our writing lives, where we've found it useful, and where it started making us question our own creativity. From brainstorming and character development to book maps, copyright concerns, and creative dependency, we're diving into the messy middle instead of pretending there are easy answers.

This isn't a debate and it's definitely not a lecture. It's two writers having an honest conversation about a tool that's changing the creative landscape whether we like it or not.

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• Rachel's Instagram: bookboundjourney
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion

Join the Story Weavers Community: Join here

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Ready to go from draft to done? Visit Rachel's website today for editing services and writing classes https://www.bookboundjourney.com/

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

Why are we so drawn to dark stories anyway?

In this episode, Rachel and Neno wander into the shadowy woods of storytelling to talk about writing dark scenes, dark moments, morally gray characters, gothic atmospheres, emotional wounds, sword fights, cozy villains, and why readers sometimes need stories that pack a punch.

But this conversation isn’t really about “how to write darkness correctly.” It’s about why darkness matters in stories in the first place. We talk about the emotional truth behind dark fiction, the strange comfort of fictional suffering, and how stories can help us process fear, grief, loneliness, rage, vulnerability, and change from a safe distance.

One minute we’re discussing fantasy battles and shadow daddies, and the next we’re talking about memoirs, healing, and why some stories need time before they’re ready to be told. Basically this episode is part writing conversation, part existential campfire chat in the woods during a thunderstorm. Bring snacks. Maybe a sword.

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• Rachel's Instagram: bookboundjourney
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion

Join the Story Weavers Community: Join here

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Ready to go from draft to done? Visit Rachel's website today for editing services and writing classes https://www.bookboundjourney.com/

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]

Ever stare at your plot and think, technically things are happening... but it's missing something?

In this episode, Rachel and Nino dive into emotional outlines and why starting with your character’s transformation can completely change the way you build a story. We also get into how this method works for subplots, secondary characters, and even multi-book series.

So, if you’ve ever frozen in front of your outline feeling like you’re staring up at a giant mountain of possibilities, this episode might be the thing that helps you find the trail again. Because sometimes the answer isn’t adding more plot. Sometimes it’s getting back in touch with your character.

💌 Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe and follow Storystruck wherever you listen so you never miss an episode!

Be sure to follow us...

• Rachel's Instagram: bookboundjourney
• Neno's Instagram: nenoswritersrebellion

If you have a suggestion for an episode, drop it in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Get the FREE Intuitive Writing Mini Course and Workbook here: https://writersrebellion.com/intuitive-writing

Want to actually start and finish writing your book (or have someone do it for you)? Check out Neno's book coaching and ghostwriting services at https://www.writersrebellion.com

Ready to go from draft to done? Visit Rachel's website today for editing services and writing classes https://www.bookboundjourney.com/

🎵 Music Credits: Special thanks to Michah Silverstein for our beautiful music. If interested in hiring his musical talents, he can be contacted at [email protected]