Thumbnail art:

Violet & Xaden by rezle_ on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFGOA1wNKtX/?img_index=1

Aelin & Rowan by liaramirezillustration on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCDR_z_OeZS/?img_index=1

Oraya & Raihn by vallerony_ on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEm_1oKsptp/?hl=en

Mische & Asar cludi_a_ on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DNBI7OcNfpE/

In this episode, we discuss fated mates! We go over what we think works well and doesn’t work as well with this trope. We discuss our own approaches as well as the way it works in some popular romantasy books!

Who’s your favorite set of fated mates??

Poem of the Week: “Forfeiting My Mystique” by Kaveh Akbar:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/145989/forfeiting-my-mystique

Intro and Outro Music is by Chasing West

https://www.instagram.com/chvsingwest/

http://www.youtube.com/@chasingwest

Chapters:

00:00–Cold open, intro song, and episode intro

00:41–Writing check-ins:

Sam got 0 (writing lull)

Allie got 1200 words

6:03–Reading check-ins:

Allie is mad at Outlander (spoiler alert for first book and a half!)

Sam is in the middle of ToG reread

9:37–Main discussion: Fated Mates

Some light spoilers for Beast of the Briars, Fourth Wing, Throne of Glass, ACOTAR, Crowns of Nyaxia

54:52–Poem of the Week: “Forfeiting My Mystique” by Kaveh Akbar:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/145989/forfeiting-my-mystique

1:04:17–Next week, closing & outro music

In this episode, we discuss Brandon Sanderson’s Three-Pronged Character Development concept! This concept is a really interesting one generally about how to balance characters by using this sliding scale tool for three different key components of a character: proactivity, relatability, and competency. We discuss this with our own characters and some popular BookTok characters to see how this really works in practice.

Have you heard of this approach? Where do your characters land?

Link to Sanderson’s YouTube video longer explanation: https://youtu.be/G-6z7JqvDoE?si=XJeSbe6VIyZq36Gv

Link to Gina Denny’s shorter TikTok going over this idea: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMkfPB8m/

Another explanation link: https://stormwritingschool.com/character-mixing-board/

The poem for this week was “Summer Solstice, New York City” by Sharon Olds: https://www.ronnowpoetry.com/contents/olds/SummerSolstice.html

Intro and Outro Music is by Chasing West

https://www.instagram.com/chvsingwest/

http://www.youtube.com/@chasingwest

In this episode, we chat through different story structures and talk through how we approach these in our stories (especially as one of us is a panster and the other is a plotter!) and discuss different approaches for how we could do things.

If you’re a writer, what story structure do you use??

Intro and Outro Music is by Chasing West

https://www.instagram.com/chvsingwest/

http://www.youtube.com/@chasingwest

Link to the gigantic picture of allll structures: https://imgur.com/onltNgA

Save the Cat Beatsheet https://newbietonovelist.com/2020/09/23/save-the-cat-fifteen-beats-vs-the-seven-point-story-structure/

In this episode, we discuss our naming process for our own characters and some of our favorite within some popular books too. We found so much to talk about and honestly still have more surface to scratch but it was a really interesting and fun conversation. A lot of names are really instinctive but also need to resonate and can really make or break a story!

What are some of your favorite character names?

Intro and Outro Music is by Chasing West

https://www.instagram.com/chvsingwest/

http://www.youtube.com/@chasingwest

Chapters:

00:00–Cold open, intro song, and episode intro

00:51–Reading check-ins!

Sam read the third and fourth of the Beasts of the Briars series

Allie read ~200 pages of Outlander

5:34–Writing check-ins!

Allie didn’t write much after last week’s ep

Sam wrote 1400 words (and broke her writing slump!)

11:06–Main Discussion: Character names! Our own and general discussion of some famous popular romantasy names too

1:04:34–Poem of the Week! “This living hand” by John Keats! (Read it here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50375/this-living-hand-now-warm-and-capable )

1:15:21–Next week, closing & outro music

In this episode, we check in with each other in terms of our reading and writing this week and then we get into a writing exercise! We have a lot of fun with this one and both ending up reading what we wrote during the exercise!

Here’s the prompt:

Describe your character’s favorite place (that you haven’t yet described).

If you’re a writer, give this one a try! If you do, let us know how it went!

Intro and Outro Music is by Chasing West

https://www.instagram.com/chvsingwest/

http://www.youtube.com/@chasingwest

Chapters:

00:00–Cold open, intro song, and episode intro

00:42–Reading check-ins!

Sam read a couple chapters of Forged by Malice

Allie read two chapters of Outlander

4:31–Writing check-ins!

Sam hasn’t written but has is mentally writing, as you do

Allie wrote 2k words and a poem!

16:12–Writing exercise! We originally were going to do 2-3 but ended up just doing one of them since we actually took like 40 mins to do it instead of just 10 mins.

Here’s that prompt: Describe your character’s favorite place (that you haven’t yet described).

18:47–Initial reactions after the exercise

20:05–Allie reads what she wrote

26:35–Sam reads what she wrote

39:55–Next week, closing & outro music

In this episode, we discuss what got us started writing our main novels and how we think about the process! We also talk for quite a while about Sam’s new reading experience with the Beast of the Briar series! Check it out and let us know–if you’re a writer, what got you started writing???

Intro and Outro Music is by Chasing West

https://www.instagram.com/chvsingwest/

http://www.youtube.com/@chasingwest

Chapters:

00:00–Cold open, intro song, and episode intro

00:54–Reading & Writing Check Ins

Allie wrote 1500 words and read nothing!

Sam also didn’t write but finished Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent and Bonded by Thorns by Elizabeth Helen!

**Spoilers for Bonded by Thorns**

30:12–Main Discussion: Why did we start writing novels??

1:07:08–Next week, closing & outro music

**Keep in mind this episode will have SPOILERS for The Fallen & The Kiss of Dusk!!**

Thumbnail art is by naarielart on Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCPETgVRXLP/

In this episode, we discuss our thoughts on The Fallen & The Kiss of Dusk! We didn’t read or write too much this week so we just jump right in discussing some of our favorite aspects of the book and theories for the next book!

What did you think of this book??

Intro and Outro Music is by Chasing West

https://www.instagram.com/chvsingwest/

http://www.youtube.com/@chasingwest

In this episode, we discuss our reading and writing goals for 2026! We are both looking to amp up our reading and writing this year and we hope you’ll join us!!

What are your goals for the New Year??

Intro and Outro Music is by Chasing West

https://www.instagram.com/chvsingwest/

http://www.youtube.com/@chasingwest