Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice

Learn how to outline your novel using the Hero’s Journey—without mistaking this classic framework for a complete story blueprint.

The Hero’s Journey is one of the most widely recognized story frameworks out there. But knowing the twelve stages—like the Ordinary World, the Call to Adventure, the Ordeal, and the Return with the Elixir—isn’t the same as knowing where those stages belong in a full-len...

If your protagonist feels vivid in your head but flat on the page, this episode will help you diagnose what’s missing—and fix the specific piece of character development that will make readers care.

You know your main character. Their backstory, their childhood, the exact way they take their coffee. You could talk about them for an hour. So why do they still feel flat on the page?

When this happens, most writers assume th...

If you’ve got a scene that feels flat and you can’t figure out why, this episode will help you diagnose what’s really going on—so you know whether the scene is working, needs strengthening, or may not belong in your story at all.

You know that feeling when a scene just isn’t quite working, but you can’t put your finger on why? The sentences are clean. The dialogue sounds right. Line by line, it re...

What does it look like to go from feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure about your novel…to finally making real progress?

In this episode, I'm sharing five clips from past Notes to Novel students who all came into the program stuck in different ways—overwhelmed by story structure, trapped in research rabbit holes, or sitting on drafts that existed on paper, but still weren't clicking. 

And underneath it all was the ...

A book coach who's written 15 novels pulls back the curtain on what's really happening when your messy first draft disappoints you. 

Ever finished a chapter, read it back, and realized the words on the page don't match the story in your head? There's a name for that. It's called the “taste gap,” and it often shows up among serious, lifelong readers. 

In this episode, I sit down with book coach and publishing str...

Most fiction writers are making at least one of these point of view mistakes. Find out which one could be hiding in your draft.

You know that feeling when a scene isn't quite working, but you can't put your finger on why? Your pacing, dialogue, and structure all seem fine. And yet something is still off. Nine times out of ten, the culprit is POV.

In this episode, I'm walking you through the five most common point of view mistakes, wh...

Learn how to write the lead-up and reaction scenes between your key romance plot points so your story flows naturally from meet-cute to HEA without stalling in the middle.

You know what your meet-cute looks like. You know there's a breakup coming. You can already feel the happily ever after. So why does everything in between feel impossible to write? 

That's exactly what we're digging into today. I'm joined by Kristina Stanley, ...

Learn the five craft secrets to writing young adult fiction that actually feels like YA—so when you sit down to write your own, you know exactly what to aim for.

You know what YA feels like when a book is doing it right. The voice pulls you in. The protagonist's world feels enormous and immediate. You finish the book before you remember to put it down. The hard part is being able to do that yourself—on the page, on purpo...

What if getting stuck on your novel has nothing to do with your story and everything to do with HOW you're seeing it? Story mapping coach Danyel Nicole found that out firsthand.

When Danyel's first draft started to feel off, she got up from her desk one night, grabbed butcher paper and sticky notes, and mapped out her entire story on the wall in her hallway. Within an hour, she could finally see what was working—and what wasn'...

Master these 5 worldbuilding techniques to immerse readers in your fictional world without infodumping or overwhelming them.

If you've ever sat down to write a scene and ended up with three paragraphs of explanation before anything actually happens, you're not alone. Most writers don't info dump because they're bad at worldbuilding—they do it because they love the world they've built and want readers to experience every detail...

Readers don't fall in love with likable characters. They fall in love with characters who want something specific, stand to lose something personal, and can't quite get out of their own way. Here's how to build one.

Think about the last time you truly fell in love with a fictional character. Not just related to them—but actually stayed up past midnight because you needed to know they'd be okay. And then felt that strange grief...

What does line editing actually involve, and is your manuscript ready for it? Here's everything you need to know.

Line editing is a stage in the revision process that can feel really confusing, especially if you're not sure how it's different from developmental editing, copy editing, or proofreading.

So in today's episode, I brought in two people who know this topic inside and out. Andrea and Michelle are the managing partners of Two...

You finished your first draft. And for a minute, it felt amazing. But then you open your manuscript to revise, and suddenly everything feels unclear.

Where do you start? What do you fix first? And how do you know if anything you're changing is actually making your story better?

And at a certain point, it starts to feel like the problem might be your draft. But most of the time, it's not. It's the way you're approaching revision.

That'...

Discover why the answer to hiring a book editor before querying isn’t a simple yes or no—and how to make the right call for your manuscript.

If you've finished your draft and you're thinking about querying literary agents, you've probably seen this advice: don't hire an editor before you query.

And while that's not wrong, it's also not the full picture.

Because the real issue isn't whether you hire an editor. It's whether ...

Are you revising the same chapters over and over, but nothing you change is actually fixing the problem?

Most writers go straight to the prose when their story isn't working. They tighten sentences, swap out words, and reread the same chapter over and over. And still, something feels off. But most first-draft problems don't occur at the sentence level. They occur at the story level.

In this episode, I share the 10 writing mistakes I ...

She wrote her first novel in 15-minute increments—in drive-through lines, at the dance studio, at swim lessons—while raising two kids and walking through one of the hardest seasons of her family's life. And she finished her book. 

That's Jackie Henley's (pen name J.J. Henley) story, and I wanted to bring her onto the podcast because I know so many of you feel like life keeps getting in the way of writing your novel....

Learn how to market your book in a way that aligns with your values, builds genuine reader connections, and feels sustainable instead of draining.

Book Marketing. These two words make most writers want to close their laptops and hide forever. But what if it didn't have to feel that way?

In this episode, I'm joined by award-winning science fiction and fantasy novelist and certified creativity coach Beth Barany to talk about what she c...

You wrote a prologue for your novel. But now you're wondering if you really need it. Here are three honest signs your story might actually be stronger without one.

Writing a prologue feels like the right move until you're three drafts in and still not sure if it's actually helping your story or just sitting there, taking up space at the front of your book. And the tricky part is that it's not always easy to tell. Because sometimes t...

Is AI here to replace novelists, steal ideas, or ruin copyright forever? Let’s separate fear from facts.

AI and creative writing are among the most debated topics in the publishing industry right now. Some writers are excited, while others are feeling cautious. And many are wondering what's actually true about AI, copyright law, idea theft, and querying agents.

In this episode, I sit down with award-winning novelist and technol...