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Hey, Time-Strapped Author! Wanna write great fiction? BUT writing is hard because you… - Have NO TIME because you work a full-time job or go to school full-time - Doubt your writing ability - Are unsure how to write the kind of captivating stories you love to read. Then welcome to The Adventurous Author, the podcast for underdog authors on a mission to achieve legendary feats in the publishing world but have to overcome impossible obstacles, limited time, and paralyzing inner skepticism along the way. Through these episodes, you will… - Gain confidence in your author identity. - Master the process and structure needed to write captivating stories EVEN WITH limited writing time. - Learn to use AI effectively and ethically to constantly improve your writing skills and story quality. I’m your host Bonnie Jean Schaefer. Under my pen name of fantasy author D.K. Drake, I write action-packed, wholesome adventures without the snooze-worthy fluff. But as your personal writing coach, I’m here to unlock YOUR narrative prowess, guide you in crafting spellbinding tales, and navigate the wild world of writing with AI. Adventure awaits, so ignite your imagination, latch on to that dragon swooping overhead, and let the storytelling quest begin. It’s time to play in our own fabulous fantasy worlds.
Episodes
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
So you’ve decided you want to write a book. Fantastic! Welcome to the author community!
But now you’re realizing that you’ve read short books and long books and in-between books. How long does a book have to be to be considered a book? Is an author who writes a skinny little story just as impressive as one who writes an epic tale? Who determines how long your book should be? And how do you figure out the right length for your story? Do you measure by pages or words or some secret measurement you don’t know about?
Never fear, my friend. Take a breath, close your eyes, and listen in. I’ve got three easy ways to choose the word count for your first book. Listen in to learn and come away with your target number.
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Snag one or all of the Dragon Stalker books here.
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Thursday Nov 10, 2022
Thursday Nov 10, 2022
And here we are on Day 21 of the 21 Days of Storytelling featuring The Dragon Collector, book one of the Dragon Stalker Bloodlines Saga.
The story snippet of the day is chapter 18, The First Dragon Collector.
Now I’m gonna warn you: this is not a chapter filled with action and adventure. I almost didn’t include this and the next few chapters because I just wanted to get on with the action, but the practical me realized that Javan needed to know the geography of the land and background info of his heritage.
Could I have helped him learn it in a more exciting way? Probably. But this was the best I could do with the experience I had at the time of writing it, and although I did edit this section to break the chapters into smaller chunks, I chose to leave the way I told this part of the story when revising it later on. Why? Because no story is perfect. There are always ways to improve. I wanted to remind myself that it’s okay not to be perfect. I wanted to be content with doing my best with who I am and the writing skills I have at the time of writing any given story.
My mission is to get better with every book, to deliver a better story with each story I write. And when I wrote this section of the story, I had a map that an artist friend of mine drew for me. I referred to the map as I wrote, and that helped me picture it.
I wish I could share a picture of that posterboard-sized map on the blog, but my friend took it with her to create a digital version of the map. Then she moved, and we lost touch.
I’ll work on recreating it with my less than stellar artistic skills and having that for you on the blog. To be notified when it gets posted, be sure to join the Insiders email list at authordkdrake.com/insiders. You’ll also get access to the DK Drake Starter Library when you become an insider, and a digital version of The Dragon Collector is included in that starter library through today.
Today is also the last day for the rest of the year to apply for one of the three available slots of the Personalized Writing Workshops with me. If you want a writing mentor to help you write your story, be sure to apply today at authordkdrake.com/writingworkshops.
Enough preamble. Let’s get to the story, a story that includes a fantastical explanation for the Bermuda Triangle.
Apply here for a Personalized Writing Workshop with Author DK Drake.
Wednesday Nov 09, 2022
Wednesday Nov 09, 2022
Welcome to Day 20 of the 21 Days of Storytelling featuring The Dragon Collector, book one of the Dragon Stalker Bloodlines Saga.
The story snippet of the day is chapter seventeen entitled Omri’s Orders.
In today’s Insider Tip, author DK Drake discusses the POV shift to Micah in the first scene of chapter 17. Why shift the point of view character when the story has been told from only the main character’s point of view for the first sixteen chapters?
Listen in to find out.
Apply here for a Personalized Writing Workshop with Author DK Drake.
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Have you ever had to make a this or that lifechanging decision? I’ve had to make quite a few such decisions throughout my life. One came while writing The Dragon Collector.
In today's Insider Tip of the Day, I'll share about that decision and how it prompted me to finish and publish The Dragon Collector.
And here on Day 18 of the 21 Days of Storytelling, I'll be reading chapter 16 of The Dragon Collector. In this chapter, Javan has to make a decision as well. Will he choose to take the easy out and return to his normal life on earth? Or will he choose the unknown and remain in Zandador to save his mother?
Listen in to find out.
Apply here for a Personalized Writing Workshop with Author DK Drake.
Monday Nov 07, 2022
Monday Nov 07, 2022
It’s Day 18 of the 21 Days of Storytelling featuring The Dragon Collector, book one of the Dragon Stalker Bloodlines Saga.
In today’s Insider Tip, Author DK Drake shares how her real life experience with breaking her nose helped her write the end of the chapter chapter fifteen entitled Captured.
Apply here for a Personalized Writing Workshop with Author DK Drake.
Monday Nov 07, 2022
Monday Nov 07, 2022
Welcome to Day 17 of the 21 Days of Storytelling featuring The Dragon Collector, book one of the Dragon Stalker Bloodlines Saga.
The story snippet of the day is chapter fourteen entitled A Hint of Attachment.
In this chapter, Javan is headed back to the portal with his mother, and she shares a bit of her backstory with her long-lost son along the way. She also mentions the official names of some of the regions located within Zandador.
What you don’t learn here is that the territory of Zandador is basically the country in the middle of the vast continent known as the Great Rift. Seven regions make up the territory of Zandador, and I could have made up the names of those regions with a dose of creativity. But I chose to use a specific source for help naming those regions: the Bible. Genesis chapter 10 verse 2 to be exact. This verse is also where I got the name of my main character Javan and ties in with the entire origin story of the Great Rift.
Although I hope you are now curious enough to open your Bible to Genesis 10:2, the purpose of this episode is not to share the backstory or read the genealogy found in Genesis 10. The purpose of this episode is to entertain you with chapter 14 of The Dragon Collector.
So let’s get to it.
Apply here for a Personalized Writing Workshop with Author DK Drake.
Saturday Nov 05, 2022
Saturday Nov 05, 2022
It’s Day 16 of the 21 Days of Storytelling featuring The Dragon Collector, book one of the Dragon Stalker Bloodlines Saga.
The story snippet of the day is chapter thirteen entitled Return to Obscurity.
Today’s Insider Tip from Author DK Drake explains how she dreamed up ways to describe the landscape and insects of Zandador.
And if you haven’t yet secured your free digital copy of The Dragon Collector, be sure to visit authordkdrake.com/insiders to snag it as part of the DK Drake starter library. It’s getting removed from the library on Thursday, so get it while you can.
Apply here for a Personalized Writing Workshop with Author DK Drake.
Friday Nov 04, 2022
Friday Nov 04, 2022
It’s Day 15 of the 21 Days of Storytelling featuring The Dragon Collector, book one of the Dragon Stalker Bloodlines Saga.
The story snippet of the day is chapter twelve entitled A Smashing Return.
Today’s Insider Tip from Author DK Drake why there is no magic in Zandador.
Wait? No magic? In a fantasy novel? That’s right. Listen in to find out why the author made the decision to NOT have magic in her fantasy series.
Apply here for a Personalized Writing Workshop with Author DK Drake.