The Adventurous Author | How to Write a Book, Write with AI, Character Development, Creative Writing Coach, Story Structure
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
You’ve got shadowlands. Every writer does.
That memory you’d rather not revisit. That failure you try not to think about. That bitterness that still flickers when you write certain scenes.
But what if those very things are the richest story fuel you’ve got?
In this episode, I’ll walk you through:
✔️ Why your shadow stories aren’t enemies—they’re assets ✔️ How daily writing gives you the courage and skill to explore what you used to...
You don’t need to wait for inspiration.
You need to train for it.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, you’ll learn why inspiration doesn’t strike at random—it shows up for writers who are prepared to catch it. And the best preparation? Daily writing.
Here’s what you’ll walk away with:
✔️ Why most writers miss breakthrough moments—and how you can stop missing yours
✔️ How daily writing sharpens your internal filter for tru...
Want to write faster without sacrificing depth? Build reflexes.
In this episode of The Adventurous Author, I break down why intuitive storytelling isn’t a gift—it’s a trained instinct. I share how daily writing transforms your brain into a decision-making machine, and how you can reach creative clarity faster than ever.
🎙️ In this episode:
✔️ How 87 daily children’s stories (and counting) are building my writer’s intuition
✔️ Why ...
What if your best scenes are buried deeper than your outline can reach?
In this episode, you'll discover why most writers never tap into their creative core and how a five-minute daily practice can unlock surprising emotional depth, character truth, and story momentum.
🎙️ In this episode:
✔️ How a surprise defeat changed everything for one protagonist
✔️ Why daily writing gives you access to creative insight buried beneath logic
✔...
You lived it. But if you don’t write it down—it’s gone.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, I share the true story of a terrifying dog attack—and how writing about it became the key to reclaiming emotional clarity, creative depth, and future storytelling power.
This episode challenges you to stop letting your best story material vanish into memory fog and start capturing it before it disappears.
🎙️ In this episode, you'l...
🛠️ The first draft is rarely worth reading—but the hundredth just might change a life.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we uncover:
✔️ Why daily fiction writing is essential for discovering the real story beneath your first draft
✔️ How consistent character work unlocks surprising, powerful truths
✔️ What Proverbs 20:5 reveals about mining truth from fictional hearts
✔️ Why readers need the story only your imagination...
Your characters don’t just live in your mind. If written with consistency and depth, they can outlive your name.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we explore:
✔️ Why daily writing is essential for building characters that leave legacy
✔️ How mirror neurons help readers experience your character’s transformation as if it were their own
✔️ Why sporadic writing weakens character clarity—and how daily practice brings emotio...
Your writing voice is more than style. It’s your soulprint—the clearest record of how God wired you to see the world.
In this episode of The Adventurous Author, we explore:
✔️ Why your writing voice is a fingerprint of your consciousness
✔️ How daily writing preserves your unique identity and testimony
✔️ What Psalm 102 reveals about writing as a legacy
✔️ Why the world needs your lens, not a polished imitation of someone else’s
✔️...
You weren’t just born with creativity—you were entrusted with a storytelling legacy God intends for you to steward.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we go deep into:
✔️ Why storytelling is a sacred tradition—woven into both Scripture and your brain’s design
✔️ How modern distraction dulls your storytelling gift, and how to sharpen it again
✔️ What science and 1 Timothy 4:14 say about your responsibility to develop your...
Ever skip a writing day and tell yourself, “It’s no big deal”?
What if I told you your future self—the one waiting to finish the book, build the readership, live the author life—felt abandoned every time you don’t show up?
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we take a bold look at:
✔️ The neuroscience of “future self betrayal”
✔️ Why skipping writing feels like breaking a promise to someone who depends on you
✔️ How every...
Most writers think identity is something they need to earn or wait for. But neuroscience and scripture agree: identity is cultivated through action.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we break open:
✔️ Why your self-concept is stored in your brain—and how writing physically rewires it
✔️ What daily writing does to the medial prefrontal cortex (aka your identity center)
✔️ Why skipping sessions weakens your creator wiring...
Ever feel like writing is optional—something you “should” do instead of something you must?
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we flip the survival switch.
✔️ Why your brain can literally recode writing as a survival need
✔️ How my first marathon at age 21 hardwired her identity as a runner—and how writing now functions the same way
✔️ The neuroscience of daily habits and identity reinforcement
✔️ A wild 1-day writing ch...
What if daily writing didn’t just improve your craft… but rewired how you think?
In this episode of The Adventurous Author, we explore the cognitive transformation that happens when you write every single day. It’s called Divergent Cognition Installation—and after about 60 days of consistent writing, your brain literally becomes something rare: a story-driven pattern machine built for connection, perception, and creative synthesis.
...Think your authentic writing voice is something you’ll stumble upon one day? Think again.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we reveal the neuroscience behind authentic voice development—and why it only emerges after you’ve shown up consistently enough for your brain to stop censoring and start trusting.
Inside this episode:
✔️ What brain science says about finding your voice (hint: you build it)
✔️ Why self-conscious wr...
What does it take for your brain to stop seeing writing as something you do and start recognizing it as who you are?
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we explore the identity tipping point. This is ****the neurological shift that happens when consistent writing transforms you from “someone who writes” into a professional author.
Inside this episode:
✔️ Why four published novels didn’t make me feel like a real writer
✔️ ...
Remember when creativity was second nature? When stories spilled from your imagination without hesitation or fear?
That’s not lost. It’s just dormant.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we unpack the science of creative neoteny—why daily writing may be your best shot at preserving the brain’s natural storytelling instincts.
Inside this episode:
✔️ The neuroscience of why most adults lose their creative edge
✔️ How daily ...
Ever solved a plot problem while folding laundry? Had a character breakthrough while driving or drifting off to sleep?
That’s not luck. It’s your Default Mode Network—the brain’s creative engine—doing its job.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we explore:
✔️ What the Default Mode Network (DMN) actually is
✔️ Why it activates during moments of “non-productivity”
✔️ How daily writing gives your brain the fuel it needs to ...
Think writing fiction is just about storytelling? Think again.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we reveal how daily character creation actually transforms your real-life relationships—training your brain to understand people on a level most never reach.
Inside this episode:
✔️ The neuroscience behind how writing fiction expands emotional insight
✔️ Why character creation activates real-world empathy and perspective-tak...
🧩 Feel like your writing life is a jumbled mess of scattered ideas?
Good. That means you’re standing at the edge of a superpower most writers never develop—meta-pattern recognition.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author Podcast, we dive into:
✔️ Why daily writing trains your brain to detect hidden structure
✔️ How science links creative genius to associative fluency
✔️ What Jesus’ parables reveal about the writer’s role in ...
Ever write something in fiction—only to watch it show up in real life?
That’s not coincidence. It’s confirmation that your brain is tuning in to narrative patterns hiding in plain sight.
In today’s episode of The Adventurous Author, we explore:
✔️ Why daily fiction writing sharpens your pattern recognition
✔️ How storytelling trains your brain to notice divine threads in real life
✔️ The science behind your “story radar” and how to...
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