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Story Magic

Story Magic

Golden May

Hey fiction writer! Want your readers to stay up until 2am, so engrossed in your story they just can’t put it down? Want to build a successful, fulfilling, and sustainable writing life that works for YOU? Story Magic is the place for you. Every week, professional book coaches and editors Emily and Rachel from Golden May dive into writing craft, community, and mindset tips, tricks, and advice so you can write and publish books you’re damn proud of, again and again. We cover craft topics like story structure, character development, worldbuilding and ‘show, don’t tell’; we dive into how to grow your writing community of readers and writing partners; and we’ll talk about all those mindset challenges from imposter syndrome and perfectionism to fear of the blank page. Story Magic has all the tools you need to become the author you’re meant to be. You’ve got this, let’s go!

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Top 10 Story Magic Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Story Magic episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Story Magic for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Story Magic episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Story Magic - Welcome to Story Magic! - Trailer
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02/03/23 • 2 min

Hey fiction writer! Want your readers to stay up until 2am, so engrossed in your story they just can’t put it down? Want to build a successful, fulfilling, and sustainable writing life that works for YOU? Story Magic is the place for you.

Every week, professional book coaches and editors Emily and Rachel from Golden May dive into writing craft, community, and mindset tips, tricks, and advice so you can write and publish books you’re damn proud of, again and again. We cover craft topics like story structure, character development, worldbuilding and ‘show, don’t tell’; we dive into how to grow your writing community of readers and writing partners; and we’ll talk about all those mindset challenges from imposter syndrome and perfectionism to fear of the blank page.

Story Magic has all the tools you need to become the author you’re meant to be. You’ve got this, let’s go!

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

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Story Magic - 12 - "How do I write faster?"
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04/20/23 • 47 min

Today, Emily & Rachel talk about slow writing!

What you’ll learn from this episode:

  • why you feel the need to write fast
  • how slow writing can actually result in better stories
  • Addressing why you might be writing slowly
  • Tools for addressing the things holding your writing process back

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

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Story Magic - 2 - What if it could be easy?
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02/16/23 • 25 min

Today, Emily & Rachel talk about our favorite trick to making your writing life easy.

In this episode you'll learn:

  • how you're probably making writing harder than it needs to be
  • how to take the pressure off yourself
  • our fav tip for making writing easy
  • the top ways you can implement this tip

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

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Story Magic - 9 - Dialogue that feels natural
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03/30/23 • 24 min

Today, Emily & Rachel talk about how to create dialogue that feels natural.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

  • how to create intentional and relevant dialogue
  • using dialogue to show subtext
  • how to show a character's true desires in the dissonance between what they say and do
  • weaving conflict and action throughout a conversation
  • the impact of reading your dialogue out loud

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

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Story Magic - 7 - Wtf is agency?
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03/16/23 • 39 min

Today, Emily & Rachel talk about character agency!

What you’ll learn from this episode:

  • What agency actually is
  • The difference between story and scene goals
  • Using story goals to drive scene goals to create character choices
  • Lots of examples!

Join us for our LIVE character goals and agency Masterclass How to Craft a Page Turner on March 24th at 1pm EST! Learn more: https://goldenmayediting.com/pageturner

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

bookmark
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Story Magic - 6 - The balance between exposition + info dump
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03/09/23 • 30 min

Today, Emily & Rachel talk about the difference between exposition and info dump.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

  • what is exposition? what is info dump?
  • the 3 keys to exposition
  • examples breaking down how these two things show up on the page
  • how you evaluate your own writing for purpose, relevance, and meaning

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

bookmark
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Story Magic - 11 - Creating in Sequence with Kristen Kieffer
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04/13/23 • 52 min

Today, Emily & Rachel talk with guest Kristen Kieffer about creating in sequence.

What you’ll learn from this episode

  • What does it mean to create in sequence?
  • What happens when you create outside of sequence
  • The creative fulfillment pyramid
  • Finding fulfillment in your writing practice

Check out more of Kristen's work!

Wildmaking

KristenKieffer.co

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

bookmark
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Story Magic - 1 - The writing life you deserve
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02/16/23 • 42 min

Today on our first official episode, Emily & Rachel talk about building a sustainable writing life.

In this episode you'll learn:

  • how to avoid the 'shoulds' in your writing life
  • the 3 pillars of a sustainable writing life
  • how to develop practices that work for YOU
  • where to get started with creating the writing life you deserve!

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

bookmark
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Story Magic - 3 - Flawed people are more interesting
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02/16/23 • 26 min

Today, Emily & Rachel talk about character flaws.

In this episode you'll learn:

  • why character flaws are so important
  • our definition of the Internal Obstacle
  • the difference between general flaws and the Internal Obstacle belief
  • how to start developing your character's deep-seated flawed beliefs
  • examples from published works!

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

bookmark
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Story Magic - 15 - Staying true to your humanity
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05/11/23 • 21 min

Today, Emily & Rachel talk about staying true to your humanity.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

  • How we bring our whole selves to the writing process
  • No one can ask you to diminish your true self
  • You do not need to change yourself to fit someone else's preferences

Ready to make readers so in love with your characters they can’t stop biting their nails in anticipation? Grab The Magic of Character Arcs free email course: www.goldenmayediting.com/arcsmagic

If you enjoyed Story Magic, please rate, review and follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast!

Follow us on social media!

Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Emily: https://www.instagram.com/emilygoldenedits/

Join us on June 5th, 2025 at 8pm ET for our FREE + live masterclass called The Structure of Change! Your character arcs exist within your story’s plot. You have to craft them together. In this FREE class, we’re going to show you exactly how. All you have to do is register to save your spot at https://www.tenaciouswriting.com/characterarcs! See you there!

bookmark
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FAQ

How many episodes does Story Magic have?

Story Magic currently has 103 episodes available.

What topics does Story Magic cover?

The podcast is about Fiction, Podcasts, Books and Arts.

What is the most popular episode on Story Magic?

The episode title 'Welcome to Story Magic! - Trailer' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Story Magic?

The average episode length on Story Magic is 37 minutes.

How often are episodes of Story Magic released?

Episodes of Story Magic are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Story Magic?

The first episode of Story Magic was released on Feb 3, 2023.

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