The Fiction Lounge

Welcome to the Fiction Lounge podcast, the passion project of two writing besties who want to demystify your writing journey. Join us every Tuesday as we talk characters, plot, drafting, and more.

Join Hannah and Jess as we talk all things character research and development! When starting a novel, it's important that you intentionally approach the people about whom you will be writing. It can feel confusing and overwhelming at first, but we share our processes in hopes of helping ignite a spark for you as well.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!

Hannah and Jess talk all things plot and story structure, with some recommendations on how to determine these aspects of your story on a personal level. Don't forget to join us every Tuesday, and don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!Narrative Structure ArticleSeven Basic Plots (book)

Hannah and Jess talk more in-depth about characters: more importantly, character interiority! Interiority is the inner world of a character, and managing it can be somewhat of a juggling act for writers. This episode offers Hannah and Jess's takes on interiority and how they use it, as well as resources for writers who want to learn more about it.Don't forget to join us every Tuesday, and don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTESInteriority Study by Rebecca Makkai

Join Hannah and Jess as they discuss the details of drafting! The first draft is such a mountain of intimidations for new writers, so Jess and Hannah take time to demystify the "woes of the first draft".Don't forget to join us every Tuesday, and don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTESGina Denny's Six Stages of Editing on TikTok

Hannah and Jess discuss how they approach their novel edits. Why do some writers edit in "layers"? And what does that mean in the first place? Jess and Hannah demystify the editing process with some laughs along the way. *NOTE: When discussing AI, we want to make it clear that our conversation about utilizing it responsibly also means we need to remind our listeners of the impact AI can have on the environment. Use these tools wisely.SHOW NOTESChicago Manual of Style (CMOS)Gina Denny on Patreon

Hannah and Jess share different ways you can be a book activist and fight against book banning, as well as inform listeners about systemic issues within the book publishing industry.SHOW NOTESThe Free Press: The Fight for Future PublishingTeachers College Columbia University: What You Need to Know About the Book Bans Sweeping the USAmerican Library Association: Banned Books Week Ideas and Resources PEN America: 5 Ways to Fight Book BansNYT: Just How White is the Publishing Industry? NYT: How the Push to Diversify Publishing Fell ShortThe Lee & Low Diversity Baseline Survey 3.0 (2023)

Hannah and Jess discuss some tips and tricks to improve your writing, talk about the joys of drafting, and even give some tips on criticism.SHOW NOTESThe Elements of Style by E.B. White and William Strunk Jr.English Grammar for Dummies

Hannah and Jess share the power and importance of ritual, teach about meditation and its benefits for writers, and discuss their own personal writing rituals.SHOW NOTESBeethoven Blues by Jon Batiste

Join Hannah and Jess as they discuss their favorite books of the year!

Jess and Hannah are back with a second season of the Fiction Lounge! Join the duo as they discuss what it's like to be a neurodivergent writer, and share tips and tricks they've collected along the way.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!

Jess and Hannah talk more in-depth about scene work, go off-topic about the new Wicked movie (it was new at the time of recording!), and Jess issues a writing challenge to our listeners.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTESStephanie Danler's “The Middle Third: Beats” ArticleStory by Robert McKee (Bookshop)Jane Friedman on The Fundamentals of Writing a SceneDeveloping a Scene Outline for Your Novel

Hannah and Jess do a deep dive into story structure, Hannah provides a real-life book example to explores its structure, and they review the more popular story structures out there, with a discussion on experimenting with structure as a more experienced writer.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTESWhat is story structure? (Article)Story Structure Guide

In this first episode of our three-part "Fix Your Draft" series, Jess and Hannah talk about the difference between "Show and Tell" and "Show vs. Tell". And these writing wins are ICONIC!Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website! SHOW NOTESWriters.com: Show Don't Tell

Fixing your draft isn't always easy; where does one begin? This series hopes to help you figure out where to start. Hannah and Jess talk all things pace, dialogue, and repetition in plot!If you want to participate in our feedback form, click here.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTES

Hannah and Jess discuss what themes and symbols are, as well as how to incorporate them in your draft after you've finished writing it.And Jess would like to make sure the record is corrected: she is 65th on the list for her Onyx Storm library hold.Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTES

Join Hannah and Jess as they interview their FIRST guest on the podcast. They talk all things writing process!Aubrey B. (Aubrey Reverie) was born and raised in a working-class, small Appalachian town, and like most kids from the sticks, dreamt of leaving that town in the dust the day she turned 18. She got as far as West Virginia University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a minor in Creative Writing. While enrolled, she placed as runner up in the university’s Waitman Barbe Creative Writing Awards with a piece of creative nonfiction, and had an essay published by NPR’s This I Believe programming. Two months after graduation, while working in corporate communications, she re-enrolled to study Digital Marketing Communications at the graduate level in the Reed College of Media, earning a master’s certificate. (Go Mountaineers).She spent 15 years as a professional writer and digital marketer, specializing in feature writing and digital storytelling, while continuing to write creatively in her free time. Her current focus is on full time creative authorship. Aubrey lives with her husband (her high school sweetheart) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and can usually be found barefoot and slightly feral, tending to her flower gardens and chatting with the bees.Her creative writing style is heavily influenced by the grit of her upbringing, including themes of resilience, poverty, dark humor, and the overwhelming ache of the human condition. As an eternal pessimistic optimist, her stories (usually) have happy endings.Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTESInclusive Writing & Editing ResourcesWords for Skin Tone | How to Describe Skin ColorTeaching Materials ArchiveResources for WritersQuery Tracker

Hannah and Jess discuss how they each approach preparing their manuscripts to be edited. They also talk about the difference between different types of editing, and give suggestions on how to approach this "pre-edit" process in a way that works best for you!Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTESTiffany Yates Martin websiteTFL S1 Episode on Editing

Hannah and Jess discuss the first phase of editing, where you consider elements like story structure, world building (setting), character, and more. They discuss their own approaches and share important must-haves for this phase of the process.Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!

Jess and Hannah discuss the second pass of editing: how to edit at the line level, what to look for, and all that comes with a deeper dive into edits!Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!SHOW NOTES