Thriller 101

Meet a Storyteller's Society Cohort #1 Member: Stacy Frazer

• David • Season 2

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EDIT: Stacy Frazer

David Gwyn: [00:00:00] Hey, everyone. And welcome back to the thriller one-on-one podcast today. We're hearing from another member of the storyteller society. At the time of recording, we are 80% filled in the storyteller society. So if you want to learn more about the community, be sure to head down into the description, to find out all the information you need. 

And if you do have any questions, there's a link in the description where you can send me a direct message.

Yesterday we heard from Anne Brooks, another member of the storytellers society.

Anne Brooks: So the number one thing I hear from successful authors and a lot of successful people within the publishing industry is how incredibly important a writing community is for an author. And it's not something An author innately thinks about because we're very reclusive in our writing.

So it's so important to be able to have a community to reach out to.

Get their feedback, you know, connect with them, network. It just, it adds so much of that community to a very isolating job of writing. And the other thing I really love about [00:01:00] it too, is. Just that this community is a very specific genre that I write in. So as I'm meeting these authors, we're all kind of in the same space.

And that makes a huge difference, , 

David Gwyn: that episode with Anne is linked in the description.

Today, we're going to hear from Stacy Frazier. 

Stacy is a certified book coach who empowers beginning and struggling commercial fiction writers to overcome. Self-doubt. Grow to trust themselves and learn the tools they need to write and finish a novel. They are proud of.

And today we're going to find out why she decided to join the storyteller society. 

Stacy, welcome to the Thriller 101 podcast. I am super excited to chat with you. 

Stacy Frazer: Thanks. It's great to be here. 

David Gwyn: Yeah. So you are a soon to be member of the Storyteller Society. You decided to join, which we are super excited about. I've been talking to people over the last couple of days and this group is like, I mean, it's kind of awesome.

It's better than I thought it was going to be like the people who joined all have like Some serious [00:02:00] writing cred, like some, some background writing like you do. So I am very excited, even more so excited about this group than I was earlier. So I do want to just ask you really quickly, like what was it that made you want to join a community?

Stacy Frazer: Yeah, well, I, I, Writing my first suspense novel. Not my first novel, but my first time embarking in this genre, and I found your podcast quite a while ago, and I loved it, and when I heard you were talking about putting together a writing community. I was very interested because it's, I mean, you hear it all the time.

Like find a community of writers. A writing community is the bright spot in, in a writer's life. And it's true, but it's hard to do. And honestly, like, I think it's even harder when you do have, you know, when, when you are a person who. has some wherewithal and knows what they're doing. It's hard to find people that are writing in your genre that are writing at your level, or maybe a little bit above it and the accessibility to that [00:03:00] to get eyes on your work and to, to improve.

And what I loved about, Everything that you have in this community is that it is geared toward the camaraderie, but it's geared toward the improvement of craft. And yes, I hope to become a traditionally published author, but I can't control that. I can choose to pursue it. But what I can control is my dedication to craft.

And so this sounds like an amazing opportunity to work with other people who are like minded in the mystery thriller suspense and crime genre. And yeah, so I'm, I'm excited. 

David Gwyn: Yeah, we're excited to have you. I, I think that's, it's funny as I hear people talking about it, because I've asked a few people that question, like, oh, why'd you join?

Like, and all the things that they're saying, I'm like, Yeah, like that's exactly what I envisioned right that like development of craft that you're shooting to be traditionally published But you know, it's in a lot of ways out of your control but you do all of the things that you can that you have control over and I think that that Mindset is like the same one that I have that a lot [00:04:00] of people have in this community And it is interesting that this community tends to attract or has tended to attract People who have a background knowledge of publishing and that they're like they know what they don't know and they know what they do know. For example , they know that it's a it's a business and that it's difficult and that like we are here to like grind it out together.

And I think that that mindset is going to take us a very long way, which I'm very excited about. 

Stacy Frazer: Persistence is the key. 

David Gwyn: Yeah, for sure. 

Okay. I want to pause there for a minute because one of the first things Stacy mentioned was focusing on what we can control. I've always been a huge believer in this. And so I want to just highlight what she's talking about. Whether or not an agent or editor likes your book is not something you have any control over. But we can develop our craft, our query, our pitch. 

These are the things you have control over. So, how do you improve? Well, you learn to write better stories and pitches and get feedback on what you've done.

This is something you just can't ignore in your journey to publication, [00:05:00] feedback and improvement. Think about where you were as a writer a year ago or two years ago. Can you see how far you've come? How much you've learned. Where will you be in a year? And now I want you to think about where you'd be in a year. 

If you're participating in genre focused workshops. Critique groups and a writing community. That you're engaging with this content and your members every week.

That's why we focus on genre specific craft workshops in the storyteller society. Because you can control how good you get at writing.

So that's where we want to focus our energy. Okay, let's get back into the interview with Stacy.

And I also wanted to ask you a little bit about your, your life as a book coach. So you're a book coach. You've got some of that background. Can you talk a little bit about like what that's like and how you got into that?

Stacy Frazer: Yeah. So my, I'm an author accelerator certified fiction book coach and My book coaching service is called Write It Scared. And that, that originates from basically my own insecurities as a writer. I was [00:06:00] somebody who came from a very non writing background, very linear background, have a background in medicine and economics.

So always admired writers, thought they were magical mystical people who just typed flittered away. And I enjoyed it and did not did not have a clue what it took to write. . And so once I decided to try it for myself, I learned quite quickly that this is a hard game. And so with that comes, you know, all of the insecurities, right?

And also there was a big piece of, you know, the, who am I, who am I to do this? And I think for most of the people I work with at the end of the day, there is always this lingering notion Is it good enough? Am I good enough? And we have to, you know, I have to find a way to do it despite that. So that is my work as, as a book coach is to empower other writers to work through that self doubt piece while they learn the craft to write stories that they're proud of [00:07:00] and to step into the belief that they can and they will.

with persistence 

David Gwyn: I love that. I think that that even like thinking about that kind of the mindset aspect of writing, which is so important. I think people talk a lot about craft and craft is so important. Obviously it's something that you really need, but having the right mindset going in and having the confidence going in and saying like, I can do this is, is, is game changing.

I mean, that's, that's a, that's going to set you up for success for sure. 

Stacy Frazer: I meet a lot of people that hide behind craft. 

David Gwyn: What do you mean by that? 

Stacy Frazer: Well you can learn all the things, but you will get nowhere if you don't apply, right? So you know, a big piece of it is just holding a mirror for people and telling the truth and being a, having, having accountability mixed in with it.

So cause you only get to where you want to go through action. It's action taking that actually builds the confidence to do the thing you want to do. So you gotta do it scared, right? 

David Gwyn: Which is a perfect segue because I do want to ask you about the podcast So I'm assuming the podcast and the the book coaching kind of came out at the same time Or did you did one happen first or what?

[00:08:00] How did that go? 

Stacy Frazer: No I think this is my third or fourth year as a book coach I had wanted to start a writing podcast for like the last seven years And fought with the hell am I? To impart anything or share anything for a long time. But I, I just always, I'm a together we go type of person and together we soldier and together we march on, you know, and so I liked the idea of.

I guess just the more I talk to people, the more I heard the same stories, the same, you know, the same pieces of insecurity out there. And I think it's really important to normalize that that we are not alone and we're not alone in, in, in our struggle. And if, Really, the podcast is dedicated to exposing the underbelly of writing that we don't often hear about, like how shitty those first drafts are, how bad they really are, and how, how much people struggle with, the, the, how hard this truly is.

I mean, it's not easy. [00:09:00] You, you fight on a lot of different levels. You fight your mindset. You fight for the time to dedicate to the craft. And so, yeah, it's just about exposing the truth and letting people know that they're not alone. Hearing stories from other, other writers in the community and then learning pieces of the craft in the publishing industry, you know, so it tries to hit a little bit of all of that.

David Gwyn: Yeah. And it's interesting. So when we were emailing back and forth and you were like, Oh, I found you through podcasts and you told me about your right to care. I was like, I've listened to your podcast. We had one of those moments where I was like, you did one on thrillers. And I listened to that, like, I think in April or may it was in the spring at some point.

And it was just like a funny moment. We were both like, Hey, wait, I think that that's, it's, it's really fun. And so yeah, I, I, I'm so excited to have you in this community. I love the like mindset work that you're, you're thinking about here. I think that's so valuable. For, for people in the community to hear about, and, and I think that having you with that background, and then also kind of like, I think that it's fun that this is not your first novel, but your first kind [00:10:00] of like suspense, thriller, mystery, like that genre because , I think like the thriller, suspense, mystery world sometimes gets really insular, and I think having people who are coming in from, from other genres It changes the way we think about the books we're writing.

So I'm really excited about that plus your epic bookshelf It is this thing is crazy behind you. I'm very jealous 

Stacy Frazer: It is epic. This is my favorite place. 

David Gwyn: I Don't blame you. So The last thing I want to ask you is just where can people find you? Where can people look you up? 

Stacy Frazer: Well, of course, the, the podcast, which is the Write It Scared podcast, you can go and listen to it wherever podcasts live, and then my website is writeitscared.

co. And you can find me on Instagram, right at scared. That's pretty much the only social media thing I do. So. Yeah, 

David Gwyn: cool. And I'll, if you're listening, I will link that stuff so you've got quick access to Stacey. Stacey, this was fun. Like I said, I'm really excited to work with you and I cannot wait to get started.

Okay. That's it. If you want to be in a community with Stacey now, is your chance. But you're running out of time. The last day to sign up is Friday, November 15th. [00:11:00] And with so few spots remaining, you're going to want to sign up as soon as possible.

Okay. Hope to see you inside the storyteller society and I'll see you soon.