Releasing Your Inner Dragon

Common mistakes writers make with their opening chapters

14 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss opening chapters and why they put a book down or continue reading. Writer's room (50% off for ...

Live Edit: Focus on your story, cut pointless actions

07 Feb 2024

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie in a live critique where they tear apart a willing victim's work.  Writer's Room: https://writersroom.mn...

The secret to applying plot devices well: PART 2!

31 Jan 2024

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the plot devices, their use in fiction writing and how to make even a stale trope seem fresh again....

You're Using Plot Devices WRONG - Here's How to Do Better

24 Jan 2024

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the plot devices, their use in fiction writing and how to make even a stale trope seem fresh again....

How to Write Fight Scenes: Avoid Common Writing Mistakes

17 Jan 2024

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the ten mistakes you make in writing combat scenes! Writer's Room: https://writersroom.mn.co/M...

Writing with dreams and flashbacks and telling?

27 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss dreams, flashbacks and when showing might become too much and maybe you should try telling... Or no...

Writing with allegories, when does it work and what makes it fail.

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss writing fantasy stories that contain allegories. They'll talk about when it works well, when i...

Making believable fantasy worlds & characters

13 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss multiple point of view characters, when to use them, which characters to pick and how to tell a sto...

Plotting a Novel: How to end your story

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss plotting the second book in the Skies of Destiny series. In this episode, they work through the fin...

Plotting a novel - Think like the Villain

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss plotting the second book in the Skies of Destiny series. In this episode, they turn their thoughts ...

Mistakes writers make in creating tension and how to fix them

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the different kinds of tension you can use in a story, in a scene or in a chapter. They cover the c...

Unresolved themes are a problem

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the problem with accidentally introducing very heavy themes into your world and then just not addre...

Plotting a novel - Sometimes the better ending requires major changes

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss plotting the second book in the Skies of Destiny series. In this episode, they hit their heads agai...

The problem with inflicting nothing but misery on your characters

01 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss why they've stopped reading some of the grimdark authors out there and why readers lose faith ...

Plotting a Book - Make Sure you like your tropes!

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss plotting the second book in the Skies of Destiny series. In this episode, they explore various pote...

Making believable fantasy worlds & characters

18 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss what believability in fantasy and sci-fi.  Follow along as they plunge into rabbit holes about bui...

Plotting a Book - Transitioning from Act 1 to Act 2

11 Oct 2023

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss plotting the second book in the Skies of Destiny series. In this episode, they focus on what you ne...

Writer's Craft - Chapters, Scenes and Dialogue

04 Oct 2023

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss what makes a scene, what makes a chapter and how to punctuate dialogue. Give us feedback at releas...

One hundred hours spent on the craft of writing

27 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textEdit: Had a snafu with the upload (because of course), if you're hearing the previous episode repeated, try to get the episode agai...

Writer's Craft - Punctuation for Prose (because it is important)

20 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as the discuss punctuation including commas, semi-colons, em-dashes, sentence structure, paragraph structure and ca...

Plotting a Book - Character Motivation and Story Threads

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss plotting the second book in the Skies of Destiny series. In this episode, they focus on the call to...

Writing a story: But why do I have to do that?

06 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as the discuss the orphan trope, how to write dialogue and when to summarize. They don't just list the rules, ...

Plotting your Second Book - Magicfall 2

30 Aug 2023

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as the discuss how to plot a sequel to your first book. This is done by means of plotting Skies of Destiny's b...

Live Edit: Attach the reader to your character and theme delivery

23 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they edit a piece of flash fiction sent in by a regular viewer. They'll discuss the theme of the piece, and...

Starting a Story - Plots and Characters

16 Aug 2023

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss where plot ideas start, how to refine them, deciding on characters and other elements of storytelli...

Advanced Writer's Techniques: Filtering & Disguising Info-dumps

09 Aug 2023

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie in discussion of providing information to the reader in a way that feels organic and keeps the threads of immersion...

Live Edit: Your Point of View

19 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they edit a brave soul's submission to the podcast! They discuss the importance of choosing the right point...

Leading a project and other musings

12 Jul 2023

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they talk about working with other writers, how to lead a project, and how to be a good team member. They'l...

Scenes, Hooks & Selling your Books!

05 Jul 2023

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the most requested user topics: How to hook a reader, how to construct a theme and how to go to con...

Live Edit: Set the Scene (and magic bread)

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they edit a brave soul's submission to the podcast! They discuss setting the scene and using ticking clocks...

Live Edit: Do not bury your theme

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they edit a brave soul's submission to the podcast! They discuss the importance of the opening line, when s...

Keeping track of your plot - We complete Magicfall

14 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss story bibles, world building notes and the process of writing Magicfall, which is now complete and ...

Giving your plot room to breathe

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the problem of overstuffing a plot, moving too fast, and not giving character moments the gravitas ...

Editing AI - Why Chat GPT can help, but can't write

31 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textLast time we spoke about writing with the help of AI, we never did get to the editing part. So today, we're going to focus on editi...

Live Edit: First Person Narrative Voice

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textOne of our listeners sent us a thousand words to edit. Follow along as we discuss first person voice, both omniscient and limited. We ta...

Good Dialogue vs Bad Dialogue - How to write better

16 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie in a discussion of good dialogue vs bad dialogue and how to write better dialogue that serves the story!Give us fee...

More techniques for Showing and Not Telling

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie in a discussion of similes, metaphors and subtext in dialogue, as well as some world building easter eggs!Give us f...

Connecting the Reader to the Character

03 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie in a discussion of connecting the reader to the character in writing fantasy, why it matters, how to do it and stra...

Can ChatGPT Write?

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie talk ChatGPT and analyze its writing. They also discuss copyright, the use of AI in world building and plot development....

Creative Collaboration: The best parts and the dangerous parts

12 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie talk about the collaboration process on their book, Magicfall. Join them as they discuss what works great and what can b...

Listener Q&A: Horror, Mystery, Many Characters and more...

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie answer listener questions about managing a large cast of characters, the difference between writing for a novel vs writi...

Live Edit: Show Don't Tell

29 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textOne of our listeners sent us a thousand words to edit. Follow along as we discuss showing versus telling, how to recognize it and how to...

Plot outlines: How to, benefits & pitfalls

22 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie talk about creating plot outlines, different plot beats and how to use them, the pitfalls of creating an outline and the...

Live Edit: Plot, tone & saving the cat

15 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textA brave listener has sent in a thousand words to edit. Join Drake and Marie as they talk plot, story tone and saving the cat moments for...

Writer's Craft - How to write dialogue in stories

08 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie talk about writing dialogue, how it differs from people just talking and when not to use dialogue. Give us feedback at r...

Things we hate in prose...

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie discuss their pet peeves and the thing they most wish authors would please, please, please stop doing.Give us feedback a...

Standard Punctuation, prose structure, tertiary characters and other dialogue writing tricks.

22 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie discuss standard punctuation for dialogue and when to break it. They delve into what tertiary characters can do for you ...

Starting Your Story - World building and Character Introduction

15 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie re-visit starting your story and introducing your characters. They talk about how much world building is too much, how m...

Writer's Craft - Making the reader care about the character

08 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie re-visit some aspects of the writer's craft, most especially those related to making the reader care about the char...

Writer's Journey - Maintaining relationships and how to keep writing

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss how to keep a healthy writer vs other people balance in your life, how to make sure you keep writin...

Making your world feel lived in

25 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they talk about how to make your world feel like a place with history using world building, writing techniques a...

A plot comes together... Magic Falls Act 2 (second half)

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they finalize Act 2 of the novel Magic Falls from the Sky. But wait for the end because suddenly a new plot idea...

Fleshing out Act 1 & 2A - Magic Falls

11 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they flesh out the outlines for the story of Magic Falls. What do you think, do the two acts sound interesting?G...

Head book vs Paper Book

04 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWe all write two books, the one in our heads and the one on paper. And sometimes, what's in the head never makes it to paper. Join ...

Introducing your character

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIntroducing a character is possibly the hardest part about writing. Characters are what people latch onto and why they keep reading the ...

Why everyman moments matter

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textSorry for the late upload! Blame it on the holidays. And speaking of, we won't be releasing a podcast over Christmas and New Years ...

Arguing Plot Points - Magic Falls

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they argue the merits of various plot and world building ideas for the story of Magic Falls. What do you think, ...

Writer's Journey: Trails and Tribulations - Copyright and Other dire dragons

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss protecting your work, the DMCA laws, what happens if you breach your Kindle Unlimited contract (kno...

How to create a plot outline - Magic Falls

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss taking the idea of a story to a detailed plot outline. We'll take you through an example of ou...

Finding Inspiration - Using folklore and public domain content

16 Nov 2022

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss how to use folklore and public domain content in your story. Then watch as they dive down the rabbi...

Writing a Villain POV - Should you do it?

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss writing from the villain's perspective, when it works and what the pitfalls are.Give us feedba...

Creating tent poles for a story - Magic Falls

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss plotting out the tent poles you need to hold up the canvas of your story. This continues the story ...

How to start a sentence and why it matters

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the complexities of how to start a sentence, why you should vary how you start a sentence and vario...

Allegories, Symbology and Lamp shading

19 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they wander between the garden of tropes and the alluring wildlands that is an allegory for the imagination of t...

Getting Started with a novel - Magic Falls

12 Oct 2022

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss starting a new book and world by using an example. Check out the process of world building and plot...

A look behind the curtain

05 Oct 2022

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Send us a textDrake and Marie talk about Marie and Drake  Join us as we discuss how we spend our days, what we do for inspiration and how we get bett...

Writer's Journey - The darkest hour: Self editing your work

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss editing your work and getting into shape without needing an external editor. We talk about word, ma...

How to write magic in fantasy books

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textFollowing on from building magic, Drake and Marie discuss how to write magic in an engaging and showy way. Join the conversation as we d...

Building a Fantasy Magic System

14 Sep 2022

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss building a fantasy magic system that works with your world and is impactful to your readers.Give us...

Writing Character Relationships

07 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss both romantic and platonic relationships, what they offer you as the storyteller and how to write t...

How to write religion in fantasy

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss religion in fantasy, how to write it, what to show and where most authors go wrong. Also, another t...

Show Your World

24 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textSo you've built this amazing world that just sings with glorious fantasy. But how do you show it to your readers without telling th...

Writing Combat

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a text Join Drake and Marie as they discuss the intricacies of writing a good fight scene, all the way from using your sense to the importanc...

Writing Politics

10 Aug 2022

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss writing the more fun kind of politics, the kind we find in epic fantasy books.Give us feedback at r...

Practical Editing – Punctuation and Prose

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie for another practical editing session as they dissect and critique a piece of prose sent in by a listener of the po...

Opening Lines

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie discuss their opening lines for series, books and characters, why they chose the words they did and what they were tryin...

Sharing the Story

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie in discussing how to make sure your characters get the story time they deserve. And also another trope talk! This t...

Building Your Lore

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie (occasionally argue) about world building cultures, societies and religions.Check out the video of the podcast here...

The fall and rise of a reedeemed character

07 Jul 2022

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss character corruption and redemption as story arcs.The Ducal Heir Launch!  https://www.indiegogo.co...

The shrouded path to publishing

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textSo you've finished your novel and now you want to get it out there. Join Drake and Marie in a frank discussion of the complicated, ...

Alien Races and Focused Traits - Why do it?

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin  Drake and Marie to discuss the advantage of exaggerated traits in non human races. And also plunge deeply into the five-man-band ...

Writing great character growth arcs

09 Jun 2022

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss character growth arcs, what makes them great and what makes them fail.The Ducal Heir Launch!  http...

Creating Great Characters

02 Jun 2022

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Send us a text Join Drake and Marie as they discuss how to create great characters for stories, including flaws, foibles, and phobias!The Ducal Heir ...

Spinning a Yarn: Story Structure

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the three act play, the problem of flawless characters, the importance of the story having a theme ...

Six techniques to polish your prose

19 May 2022

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss how to make average prose great!The Ducal Heir Launch!  https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/publish...

Love wisely, but not too well

12 May 2022

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Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss telling the right story, killing your darlings and loving your own work. Give us feedback at relea...

Psychology of a character – Mental illness in speculative fiction

05 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss mental illness, villains, heroes and the impact of the story on the mental well being of your chara...

Split Timelines are Flashbacks

28 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss Point of View characters not being on the same timeline (looking at you Witcher Season 1), doing th...

Writer's Journey - Promises

21 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs promised, we are back! And speaking of promises, Marie and Drake discuss the importance of keeping to your word to your audience. Fro...

Good Punctuation is Invisible

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie in discussion on punctuation, why it’s important and how to use it to communicate with your reader. This will be ...

Writer's Journey - Trials and Tribulations - The Plot Diamond

24 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJoin Drake and Marie as they discuss the plot diamond. What it is, what to do if it’s too thin and how to stop it being an ever expand...

Showing Emotion

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie discuss how to write with emotion so that the reader doesn’t get told the character is feeling such and such an emotio...

Patterns in Prose

10 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie discuss narrative, world building, character and inner monologue prose. Give us feedback at releasingyourinnerdragon(at)...

Writing Action

03 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie discuss how to write engaging, high stakes action scenes and what you can accomplish through writing of violence and com...

Writer's Journey - Trials and Tribulations - Self-Doubt

27 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie discuss dealing with self-doubt and fear of getting critiqued. They talk about the importance of getting critiqued and o...

Writing with non-malicious villains

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie discuss how to use non-malicious villains or environmental conditions to provide conflict for your characters to overcom...

Agony Aunt - Relationships in Fantasy Writing

13 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie talk about fantasy relationships, why they're important even if romance is not your focus, how it shapes your chara...

Picking a Point of View

06 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake & Marie discuss how to decide who should be a narrating character and when to introduce narrating characters. Give us feedback...

Rethink Your Flashbacks

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textDrake and Marie speak about flashbacks and dreams and why they're not a good idea, especially early in your tale.Give us feedback a...

Practical Editing – Motivations & Openings

23 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textMarie and Drake crit a piece of text sent to them by a fan of a show. They cover establishing character motivations, how to create an op...