Story Alchemy for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers, How To Write the Future podcast, ep 226
Story Alchemy for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers – How To Write the Future podcast, episode 226
“I strived for many years to learn how to write fiction, and when I finally learned how, it just felt so magical. Even now, seventeen books in, it still feels magical.” – Beth Barany
In this latest How To Write the Future podcast episode, titled “Story Alchemy for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers” host Beth Barany shares the transformational journey writing a novel can have on you, including the feeling of magic it can imbue in you. Beth also shares how you can work with her and how to deepen the emotional experience with your readers.
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About the How To Write the Future podcast
The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers. This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.
This podcast is for you if you have questions like:
– How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?
– How do I figure out what’s not working if my story feels flat?
– How do I make my story more interesting and alive?
This podcast is for readers, too, if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.
Transcript for episode 266 Story Alchemy for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers
Novel Writing Alchemy
BETH BARANY: Novel writing as alchemy as an alchemical process in a novel is a transformational process. It’s gonna transform you. The ultimate goal is to transform the reader in some way. And being a writer, just learning how to do the craft of writing fiction is a transformational process.
Hi, everyone. I’m Beth Barany of How to Write the Future podcast. I’m a science fiction and fantasy writer, and I’m also a novel-writing alchemist. I’m testing out calling myself the novel-writing alchemist because I realize the work I do is transformational. I help writers shift into their identity as a writer; I help you create a transformational story, and learning the craft of fiction is itself transformational and magical.
So let me tell you what I mean by all of that.
[00:56] Magic of Making Books
Now, I’ve always felt that writing is magical. In fact, when I was a child, I wanted to be magic. I wanted to learn how to talk to the animals. I thought creating anything was magical, and I strived for many years. Strove? Strived? Strived. I strived for many years to learn how to write fiction, and when I finally learned how, it just felt so magical.
Even now, seventeen books in, it still feels magical. We are taking an idea that lives, like, way up here somewhere- I don’t know where it lives- and we’re turning it into a book. What is more transformational than that? It’s awesome. It’s amazing. That idea that we had that sticks with us forever or comes to us in a flash becomes a book that people can hold in their hands.
It’s amazing. It’s just so amazing.
[01:46] Hero’s Journey Threshold
So the hero’s journey, as laid out by Christopher Vogler in his book, The Hero’s Journey, where he took Joseph Campbell’s work and he adapted it for writers, specifically screenplay writers and fiction writers. And he took Joseph Campbell’s stages, which was, I think, eighteen, you’re welcome to correct me if I’m wrong, down to twelve stages.
And then he also talked about the archetypes: the hero, the mentor, and also the threshold guardian. And I realized I’ve been functioning like a threshold guardian all these years. Except instead of sitting with my arms crossed and you shall not enter and prove your worth, I’m more like, “Come, be a writer.Do you have what it takes? Here’s what it takes. Are you ready to cross the threshold?”
Now, that book, The Writer’s Journey, by Christopher Vogler, inspired my book, where I invite you as a writer to self-coach yourself, to coach yourself through your own writer’s journey.
And it is a transformational process. I didn’t always think of myself as a writer. It took me a long time to really own that role of being a writer. So now, not only do I totally own being a writer, which is amazing because I remember what it was like to strive for this, to reach for this, but also I’m a threshold guardian inviting you in to be a writer.
[03:09] Programs for Writers
And speaking directly to science fiction and fantasy writers, come on down. I work with you. I work with you in my Edit Lab, which is my ten dollars a month membership to teach you some tools, meet monthly, look at each other’s work, and learn skills and also mindset. And I also do the Edit Mastermind, which is enrolling a few times a year, and check for that because we might be enrolling by the time this episode airs.
And that is a twelve-month program for people who have already finished their first draft and want to edit it to publication. And it’s an intensive, and there’s an application process to get in there.
[03:47] Crossing Creative Thresholds
Now, when we build our story worlds, we have to enter the writing process. So every day, every time you sit down to write, you are crossing a threshold into your own creative process.
And that is one way in which you are entering into a special realm.
Now, I do set the bar high in my programs because I teach skills, and I invite people who are dedicated and committed to being science fiction and fantasy novelists.
[04:12] Three Layers Transformation
Okay, so we’re working with three layers of transformation.
You transform an idea into a story. You transform yourself into a writer. Not everyone starts out thinking they are a writer. Now, I feel confident I am a writer, but that took time.
It took a decade, maybe more. And then we also invite our readers into the transformation. So I invite you to think of your writing as a transformational experience and notice how you enter into your creative space and how you exit because chances are you’re doing that every day or multiple times a week or multiple times a month, and that in itself is an art form.
Also, where are you in your craft learning? How are you transforming your understanding of story? Are you studying all the craft parts that you need to learn?
[05:07] Intentional Reader Impact
And lastly, what are you doing to deepen into the emotional experience of being a writer? What I really want to say is there’s a transformational emotional experience that we invite our readers into, and are you understanding that for your genre? Are you putting intention behind that?
[05:26] Closing Invitation
If you have any questions about the alchemy of being a novelist, reach out to me. I am your, I am, how am I saying this? I am your novelist alchemist. I am the novelist alchemist helping you create a safe place, so you can do this transformative work. That’s it for this week, everyone.
Write long and prosper.
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ABOUT BETH BARANY
Beth Barany is an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. They help novelists write, revise, and publish stories that matter—blending practical craft guidance with a big-picture commitment to imagination, meaning, and possibility.
Learn more about Beth Barany at these sites:
Author site / Coaching site / School of Fiction / Writer’s Fun Zone blog
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/BethBarany
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Email: Beth@BethBarany.com
CREDITS
- EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://www.descript.com?lmref=_w1WCA (Refer-a-Friend link)
- MUSIC CREDITS : Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/fuzz-buzz License code: UMMKDRL02DFGKJ0L. “Fuzz buzz” by Soundroll. Commercial license: https://musicvine.com/track/soundroll/fuzz-buzz.
- DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465 (Refer-a-Friend link)
- SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
- SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
- EDITORIAL by Iman Llompart
c 2026 BETH BARANY
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