SPEAKER_03: 0:43

So I'm now fast drafting my novel. I've just finished with act one and feeling so much more confident with the map and path ahead that I have. Anytime I run into an issue, I just come back to my key scenes, my theme, I solve it from the ground up. And it's honestly like having Savannah right there. I'm like, what would Savannah tell me? And it's so far worked every time. I'm still struggling to embrace the mess of the discovery draft as a recovering perfectionist. But after connecting with other writers, I feel much better about the mess. And I'm having so much fun writing now.

SPEAKER_05: 1:25

Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo, and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming. So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started. In today's episode, I'm sharing real stories from writers who've gone through my notes to novel course. These are writers who were stuck in different ways. Some of them had been spinning their wheels for years, others had drafts that weren't working, and some were drowning in information without a clear path forward. And what I love most about these stories is how different each writer's journey is. You're going to hear from a writer who spent a year learning instead of writing, a self-published author who realized his craft had major gaps, someone who pants her way through an entire novel only to discover structural problems when she tried to query, and a writer who had 130,000 words of something but couldn't explain what her book was actually about. The common thread between all of these stories is that none of them needed to work harder or be more talented. They just needed the right framework to finally see their stories clearly. So whether you've been rewriting the same chapters for months, sitting on a messy draft you don't know how to fix, or drowning in craft books without making real progress, you're going to hear from someone today who's been exactly where you are. Now, before we dive into the first clip, I just want to let you know that the doors to my Notes to Novel course are opening for enrollment this week. Notes to Novel is my signature eight-week live program where I walk you through everything you need to build out a strong foundation for your story. So developing your characters, identifying your genre, uncovering your theme, mapping out your plot scene by scene, and so much more. You'll learn how to brainstorm, outline, and start writing your draft with confidence alongside other writers just like you. And the best part is that I'll be there with you for eight weeks holding your hand through the entire process. Now, as I said, doors are opening soon, like this week soon. And if you want to be the first to know when they open and get early access, then make sure you're on the wait list at savanagilbo.com forward slash wait list, and you can dive in and get started right away. All right, so one more time, that's savanna gilbo.com forward slash wait list. Now with that being said, let's dive right into the first clip. And this one comes from a writer named Carolyn.

SPEAKER_01: 4:07

My name is Carolyn Frudenthal, and I live outside Richmond, Virginia on a hobby farm with horses, chickens, seven Nigerian dwarfs, tabby cat, a mancoon, and two doodles. I've been writing for 10 years, most of the time on a blog, but more recently, four years ago, I began writing fiction. I wrote my first novel, a contemporary women's fiction, by pantsing my way through the whole first draft. I probably spent more time over the last year revamping it and moving and removing parts, a very long and laborious task. Then I went to query agents with my pitch and synopsis, and I realized how problematic my structure was. The theme, the character arcs, and the stakes not making enough sense. That's when I heard Savannah on her podcast mention the fall season of Notes to Novel. It was like a sign. The timing could not have been better. I was not ready to give up on writing, but I was feeling pretty bewildered. I needed direction from the ground up, from an idea, then to notes, then that could lead to a novel. The course delivered so much more. Not only did I learn to be a plotter instead of a pantser in those eight weeks, but planning out, I planned out the 40 scenes of my thriller. I also learned the tools and steps to apply this process across the different genres. It made so much sense along the way. In each module, how my first novel journey was a struggle. I admit I had to hold myself back from jumping back into that first novel to fix everything. Instead, I continued forward with my thriller. This is one of my biggest takeaways. Write forward, progress, not perfection. Savannah was awesome at reminding us of that, encouraging us to trust the process. Her instruction was clear. The downloadable files will always be a treasure. She showed an eagerness to help in the weekly Q ⁇ A's and on the chat. A surprising part of this course that I've not experienced in other online classes is that Savannah gave us individual feedback on our one sheet. She recorded herself talking to me about my work. Hearing her enthusiastic voice with helpful feedback made me grin ear to ear. It was exactly the confidence boost I needed. The notes to novel class was awesome. I didn't want it to end. So I joined Story Lab. I'm excited to continue working on my craft, revising, and getting helpful access to Savannah's resources and the community. I hope to one day thank Savannah Gilbo in the acknowledgments section of my book. Notes to Novel made me more confident my dream is possible.

SPEAKER_05: 6:57

Now I love what Carolyn said about holding herself back from jumping into her first novel to fix everything. That takes real discipline and it's such an important lesson. Because when you finally understand why something isn't working, the temptation to immediately go back and tinker is so strong, right? But Carolyn trusted the process and kept moving forward with her new project instead. And that phrase she used, forward progress, not perfection, I think that is something every writer needs tattooed on their brain or at the very least on a sticky note at their desk. So thank you so much for sharing your experience, Carolyn. And of course, we will link to where you can find Carolyn around the internet if any of you would like to get in touch with her. All right, now let's move on to the next clip. And this one is from a writer named Hazel.

SPEAKER_02: 7:47

Hi, I'm Hazel, and I'm currently drafting my first romance novel, which is inspired by my life growing up riding and working with horses, and also the stage that I'm in right now in my life, which is all about coming home to myself and doing what feels most natural and authentic to me. I've always been passionate about reading and writing, but I decided I wanted to write a novel about eight months ago. And right away I did what I always do, and I went down a rabbit hole of information. I'm a classic lifelong learner, and I sometimes get so wrapped up about learning about the thing that I don't actually do the thing. And after spiraling, trying to apply various writing methods, starting and stopping my outline and my first draft several times, and then listening to Savannah's podcast, I knew I wasn't alone in my information overwhelm. I knew that for me, I needed to drown out all their noise and just pick one thing, one method. And for me, that was notes to novel. Before beginning the course, I had an outline. I knew from the start that I was a plotter, but I kept getting stuck. And same would go for writing my first draft. I had a bunch of scenes that my characters were in, but I didn't have the conflict that I needed. I didn't have a way to link my scenes together. And I think that was the biggest aha moment in the course for me. The way Savannah lays it out, she has you think about scenes in a way that makes you focus on a character's goal, the conflict they face, and the decision they make, no matter how big or how small. And because of what happens as a result of that scene, it creates a domino effect onto the next scene. And on a writing level, Savannah helped me approach showing and not telling and writing interiority that clicked for me and opened up a lot of creativity. This is something that I've applied to what I've already written and will change the way I write in the future. So with Savannah's course, I got a more solid idea on my why, my story, my theme, and then I started my outlining process from scratch. And I'm so glad I did. Like I said, I'm a plotter and I need to have structure. But when I understood what needed to go into my outline, I got more creative. Based on Savannah's recommendations, modules, and lessons, I'm now doing the final pressure testing of my outline, making sure it's solid and I feel good about it before I move forward with continuing my previous draft. I started the course feeling overwhelmed with so much information. I started the course with an unfinished outline, a bunch of partial scenes. I finished with a completed outline and a clear path forward. I'm also actually going to be working with a few other writers who took the course, women who I connected with from around the world. And I think that's something else that was just so easy and natural about the course, the community aspect of it. I'm looking forward to actually finishing my manuscript, sharing the process with other women, and hopefully one day sharing my novel with all of you.

SPEAKER_05: 10:30

Oh my gosh, I feel like Hazel just described so many of us when she said that she's a classic lifelong learner who gets so wrapped up in learning about the thing that she doesn't actually do the thing. I mean, how many of us can relate to that? I know I for sure can. And what really stood out to me was her breakthrough around scenes, understanding that each scene needs a goal, conflict, and decision that really creates that domino effect into the next scene and so on and so on. And that's exactly what turns a collection of moments into an actual story. I also love that Hazel connected with other writers from the course and they're still continuing to work together to this day. That's so cool, and that is the magic of community right there. So thank you for sharing this, Hazel. And of course, we will link to where everyone can find Hazel around the internet if you would like to get in touch. All right, next up we are going to hear from a writer named Josie. So let's dive right into her clip.

SPEAKER_03: 11:27

Hi everyone, I'm Josie. I live in northern New South Wales, Australia, with my husband and several animals. I grew up in Vermont in the States and still spend a lot of my time there too, so I'm really an Aussie American hybrid. I am a cat and horse lover. I am mildly addicted to tea and chocolate, and I write romantic or romantic fantasy. I love being able to now write the things I like to read so much and also write the things I want to see more of in the genre. I've always dreamed of being a writer. I wrote a fantasy series when I was about seven years old called The Magical Cats Fantasy Series, which was a big, big bestseller in my family and probably a foreshadowing to the books I'm writing now, just without all the magical cats. So my novel writing journey really kicked off when I joined Notes to Novel. I had spent about a year before I joined deep in the brainstorming phase and also in the learning phase, not in a good way. I'm a chronic over-learner, likely from my former life and career as an academic. And before Notes to Novel, I read all the craft books. I took tens of thousands of words worth of notes. I learned all the major plotting methods, and was cobbling together all of my learning and my, you know, really DIYing my way forward towards an outline and an early draft, expecting to be able to do this from my mess of notes. So I was frustrated when I was running into dead ends in my plotting and running into problems when trying to layer my plot and my character arcs, et cetera. So when I got to Notes to Novel, it was really a series of light bulb moments, honestly, firework moments that went off in my brain as Savannah just lays out such a clear path for the process. It feels honestly fail-proof in the way she teaches the course and the way she supports all of us through our own story creation. We also did so much work that I hadn't done in my whole year of learning and brainstorming and in my DIYing phase. And that was so crucial. Things like fleshing out my antagonist before my protagonist and working with my whole story from the foundation of my theme rather than my plot, and learning how to seamlessly weave all of the layers of my story together in a way that made sense and made everything click. And then I was able to create an entire detailed outline for every scene of my book with relative ease, a little bit of pain, but relative ease. And Savannah's feedback on my story one sheet was also so valuable in clarifying some sticky points and helping me move forward and understand what was and wasn't working. And the live calls for the course are so helpful being able to workshop our work with Savannah and the other students every week. So my biggest takeaway from Notes to Novel was having a really clear and coherent structure and a path forward from the seed of my idea to now a fully fledged, detailed, layered, nuanced outline. So I'm now fast drafting my novel. I've just finished with act one and feeling so much more confident with the map and path ahead that I have. Anytime I run into an issue, I just come back to my key scenes, my theme, I solve it from the ground up. And it's honestly like having Savannah right there. I'm like, what would Savannah tell me? And it's so far worked every time. I'm still struggling to embrace the mess of the discovery draft as a recovering perfectionist. But after connecting with other writers, I feel much better about the mess. And I'm having so much fun writing now and feel confident and clear, and just want to wholeheartedly recommend Notes to Novel for anyone who resonates with my writing journey. I absolutely love being a part of this community. It is honestly the most supportive, amazing community online I've ever been a part of. And I could not imagine writing without it. So to all the writers out there, I hope you come join us.

SPEAKER_05: 15:56

Okay, well, first of all, I think I need to read the Magical Cats Fantasy series immediately. But seriously, what Josie described here about being a chronic over-learner is so, so common, especially among writers who come from academic backgrounds. And you think that if you just read one more craft book or take one more set of notes, then everything's gonna magically click. But what Josie discovered and what many other writers end up discovering is that learning about writing isn't the same as having a clear process for writing. Two very different things, right? I also love that Josie mentioned working from the foundation of theme rather than plot and fleshing out her antagonist before her protagonist. That's exactly what I teach in the course, and these are the kind of foundational shifts that can really change everything for you. And of course, last but not least, Josie, I am so honored that you hear my voice in your head when you're problem solving your story. That makes me so happy, and I'm so glad that it is a helpful voice. So thank you so much, Josie, for sharing your experience with us. And again, I will link to where you can find Josie around the internet if you would like to get in touch with her. All right, next up we're gonna hear from Warren, so let's go ahead and dive right into Warren's clip.

SPEAKER_00: 17:11

Hi, my name is Warren Dunn, and I recently completed Savannah's Notes to Novel course. I'd already self-published without knowing anything about craft, besides what I liked and didn't like to read in a book, so I delayed taking the course every time it was offered, wondering if it'd be worth it. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. I now realized that my antagonists were missing from so many scenes in my previous work, and that the protagonists' goals were weak. I'd always thought of theme as irrelevant as I was writing to tell a story, not comment on society. Looking more critically at what I've written, though, I see there is a common theme after all, and I just didn't know it. My favorite part about the course though was the scene and outlining strategy. While I'd created outlines for my books before, they concentrated only on the external plot and I had no idea about key scenes. My first book took seven years to write and ended up at 400,000 words because it kept expanding without a clear end in sight. My solution was to split it into a trilogy, but that left me with three disjointed and very unbalanced stories, which took a lot of time to reconcile. After learning how to set up key scenes and giving clear expectations for every scene, I can already see the next book taking shape without this problem. My biggest eye-opening moment, though, was the concept of pinch points, which kept things moving between key scenes. That's when my other books tended to slow down and lose reader interest. I'm so glad I found Savannah's course and the little nuggets that have already changed the way I write. Thanks, Savannah.

SPEAKER_05: 18:28

Oh, I'm so glad that Warren shared his perspective because it is proof that Notes to Novel isn't just for brand new writers. Warren had already self-published multiple books before taking the course, and he still had major breakthroughs, especially around antagonists, theme, and those pinch points that keep the middle of your story from sagging. And can we talk about his first book taking seven years and ending up at 400,000 words? I think a lot of writers can relate to that feeling of a story expanding endlessly without a clear end in sight. I know I have heard this over and over in my 10 years of working with writers. But as Warren said, having that structure of key scenes in place from the beginning of the story to the end can really change everything. So, Warren, thank you so much for sharing your experience. And I have to add a little side note here. Warren joined us in the Story Lab membership, which is for notes to novel graduates. And it was so cool because during one of our office hours calls, he had just gotten his most recent published book delivered. So he unpacked his box and he actually came and showed his book to us on that call. So that was very cool and very special. But again, thank you, Warren, for sharing your experience. And we will link to where you can find Warren around the internet for anyone who wants to get in touch. All right, now next up we are gonna hear from a writer named Rachel. And I won't spoil her clip for you. It is a good one. Let's go ahead and dive right in and hear what Rachel had to say.

SPEAKER_04: 19:55

Hi, I am Rachel and I write young adult contemporary fiction. Before I joined Notes to Novel, I had actually already written a complete first draft. And when I say complete, I mean 130,000 words of something. I had fast drafted the whole thing over about four months while going through this big life transition. My oldest was heading off to college. I was juggling stuff with my aging parents, and honestly, throwing myself into this story felt like the only thing keeping me sane. So I wrote like a lot every day. And when I finally typed the end, I felt this huge rush of accomplishment. Like I did it. I actually did the thing. But then I read it back. And I knew like deep down that something wasn't working. The story was just all over the place. I had subplots that went nowhere, scenes. Felt really important when I wrote them, but didn't actually move anything forward. And I couldn't even clearly explain what the book was about when people asked. I'd just, you know, ramble for five minutes and watch their eyes glaze over. Not a great sign. So yeah, I had a draft, but I didn't have a story. And I had no idea how to fix it. That's when I found Savannah's podcast. I spent months listening, like literally every episode, and her approach just made so much sense to me. When she announced Notes to Novel was opening, something clicked. I realized I didn't need another craft book. I didn't need another round of editing in circles by myself. I needed someone to help me understand what I had and what I was missing. So I signed up. Even though honestly a small part of me felt like maybe I was too far along for a course like this, I mean I already had a draft. What else was there to learn? Turns out, a lot. Going through the lessons, I finally slowed down enough to ask questions I'd kind of been avoiding. Like, what genre am I actually writing? What's the central question driving this story? What does my protagonist really want? And what's standing in her way? I thought I knew the answers, but when I tried to um articulate them clearly, I realized how fuzzy everything still was. Savannah gave feedback and hearing her walk through my story, pointing out where the character arc was unclear, where the midpoint wasn't doing its job, where the climax didn't land the way I intended. It was like someone finally turned the lights on in a room I'd been stumbling around in for months, and he I didn't have to throw the whole draft away. I just had to understand what I actually had. Once I could see the bones of the story clearly, I knew exactly what needed to stay and what needed to go. That 130,000-word mess? It's now a much tighter 85,000 words. And more importantly, I can finally tell you what the book is about, without rambling, which, trust me, is huge for me. I think what surprised me most was how flexible the whole experience felt. I couldn't always make the live QA's because of my schedule, but I never felt behind. The community was so supportive, and Savannah was always willing to meet us where we were, no matter what stage of the process we were in. So if you're sitting on a draft right now and you know something's off, but you can't figure out what, I get it. It's a really lonely, frustrating place to be. But you don't have to keep spinning. Sometimes what you need isn't more writing, it's clarity. And that's exactly what Notes to Novel gave me.

SPEAKER_05: 23:03

Okay, so I saved Rachel's story for last because I think it will resonate with so many of you listening. She came into Notes to Novel with a finished draft, one that was at 130,000 words, and part of her had been wondering if she was too far along for a course like this, but she dove into it anyway. And what she discovered was that she had a draft, but she didn't have a story. And that distinction is really everything. And I really love how she described getting feedback as someone turning on the lights in a room she'd been stumbling around in for months. That's exactly what getting feedback and getting clarity on your story does. It doesn't mean you have to throw everything away. It just means finally being able to see what you have and what might still be missing. And the fact that she went from 130,000 words of confusion to 85,000 words of a story that she can actually pitch in one sentence, that is a killer transformation. So if you're sitting on a draft right now and if something feels off but you can't put your finger on it, then Rachel's story is your sign that you don't need to keep spinning your wheels. You just need clarity. And so with that being said, I want to extend a huge thank you to Carolyn, Hazel, Josie, Warren, and Rachel for sharing their stories and their experiences inside the Notes Novel course. I truly appreciate each one of you so much, and I'm so excited to see what this year will bring for your writing. And for my listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, I want you to go check out the social media or the website of all the writers that were featured today. Say hello, give them a virtual high five for sharing their journeys with us, and let them know how this episode affected you. I'm sure they would absolutely love to hear from you. And if you are interested in joining Notes to Novel yourself, enrollment for the next live cohort opens on January 22nd, and I would be so thrilled to have you join us. You can learn more about the course and get on the wait list so that you're the first to know when doors open at savanna gilbo.com forward slash waitlist. One more time, that's Savannah Gilbo.com forward slash waitlist, and hopefully I will see you inside the course. Alright, so that's it for this episode of the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast. Head over to Savannah Gilbo.com forward slash podcast for the complete show notes, including the resources I mentioned today, as well as bonus materials to help you implement what you've learned. And if you're ready to get more personalized guidance for your specific writing stage, whether you're just starting out, stuck somewhere in the middle of a draft, drowning in revisions, or getting ready to publish, take my free 30-second quiz at savannaGilbo.com forward slash quiz. You'll get a customized podcast playlist that'll meet you right where you're at and help you get to your next big milestone. Last but not least, make sure to follow this podcast in your podcast player of choice because I'll be back next week with another episode full of actionable tips, tools, and strategies to help you become a better writer. Until then, happy writing.