On this episode, Kaitlyn is off on an important mission, and it's just Ellie and Melissa today talking Dark Fantasy.

We discuss the genre expectations, what Dark Fantasy is about, what makes a Dark Fantasy, and how it has changed over time: aka, how Dark Fantasy was mugged in a back alley. Dark Fantasy is meant to feel creepy, uncomfortable, and its supposed to reflect reality back at us like a mirror just using fantasy to say something deeper, and we discuss how these changes has made Dark Fantasy's expectations differ from one generation to the next.

Ellie and I also dive into the cult classic, The Labyrinth, and how that movie a great example of the darker themes of Dark Fantasy, as well as how Bowie's pants was an awaking moment for everyone.

If you have any questions you would like us to discuss, drop us a review, or contact us at our email at: royaltyfreewritingpodcast@gmail.com we would love to help dig into a topic of your choice.

On this week's episode, we take a stroll down memory lane as we reflect on our first projects - and remember just how bad they were. We discuss how we got better at writing, we discuss why its okay for you to cringe at your first projects, and we talk about what we learned from those first projects.

Also, no one said it, but it was fanfiction. We wrote different forms of fanfiction.

If you would like to leave a review or request a topic for us to discuss, please email us at royaltyfreewritingpodcast@gmail.com, or drop a comment below. We'd love to hear from you all so we can steer our conversations towards what you would like to hear. Thanks for joining us!

On this week's episode, we talk how to write Character Motivation through Action. A character doesn't simply speak the truth (rarely does anyone), but a character does show who they are through their actions. We discuss different techniques, use examples of when motivation was shown brilliantly, and dig into why showing the character's internal motivations through actions is preferable to making statements in dialogue or internal monologues.

If you have any questions on writing you would like us to discuss, drop us a review or write us an email at royaltyfreewritingpodcast@gmail.com

We'd love to hear from you!

On this week's episode of Royalty Free, we deep dive into a concept Ellie learned called Writers Mythos. Every writer draws upon personal experience, themes, and subconscious childhood informative years as to what, and how, we write. She asks the hard questions and we have to identify what is deep inside us as to what has informed our writing over the years, and we learn a few things about ourselves along the way. Join us as we discuss how the writer's mythos can be used to better your writing, and how it can be abused if it isn't reined in.

And if you would like to drop us an email, you can reach us at royaltyfreewritingpodcast@gmail.com we'd love to answer your questions in the next episode!

In this week's episode, we will be discussing character deaths. We talk about why you would want to kill a character, how to do it right, and also, how not to kill a character that will leave your readers angry, confused, or betrayed by your work. Meaningful deaths vs. meaningless deaths, and how to use both because both are useful techniques, you just need to know when to use them.

Also, the Goblin here is giving you the reassurance it's okay to kill the dog or the horse. Just make it mean something to the plot if you do.

Plus, here are the books we think handled the topic of death well.

Literature recs:

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles

And whatever horse series Kate read that we still don't know the name of.

In this week's episode, we are recording at Authorpalooza in front of a live audience! So exciting. Authorpalooza is an event our public library hosts with local authors giving readers and local writers a chance to interact and talk with each other. Today we will be discussing how identify your unique writing ability and harness it to create, then we take questions from the audience and cover everything from marketing, audience expectations, and branding. We had a blast at Authorpalooza, and our live audience was a dream to speak in front of. Thank you to everyone at the event, and remember, keep writing!

The dreaded writers block. According to Wikipedia it is a nonmedical condition, primarily associated with writing. But it can be so much more than that. The three of us decide to tackle all our top tips and tricks in overcoming writers block, as well as having emotional epiphanies regarding why writers block can be a chronic problem as well.

On this week's episode, we discuss how each of us create characters. We explain what kind of writers we are and how that translates to the different ways each of us create compelling characters. Do we stay 100% on topic? Eh, debatable. But, we do delve into how our unique needs as Discovery, Architect, and Gardener writers who each have varying needs to craft characters from scratch and through hard rewrites, instinct, and fine-tuning, and not all in the same order. Take a peek into how you too can write characters you resonate with and will bring readers back for more. Does one type of writer resonate with you? Let us know!

(And thus shall the the Goblin Army arise! Don't tell the Architects...)