Liv Constantine on Promise Me Never, Writing Killer Twists, and Keeping Readers Up at Night | SCC 285

Liv Constantine returns to the Story Craft Café to talk about the new psychological thriller Promise Me Never—and to pull back the curtain on how great suspense is actually built. Hank and Liv dig into the craft behind the twists readers have come to expect from a Liv Constantine novel: planting clues in plain sight, using red herrings without cheating the reader, creating characters who can be interpreted in completely different ways after the reveal, and deciding exactly how much information to give away—and when. Liv also shares the unusual inspiration behind Promise Me Never: the old Bluebeard idea of entering a marriage where everything is open to you except one locked door. What happens when curiosity takes over? And what might your spouse be hiding on the other side? The conversation explores the novel's dual timelines, the presence of Poppy throughout the story, questions of art and authenticity, and the increasingly complicated role of artificial intelligence in the creative world. They also get into one of the hardest parts of psychological suspense: creating charismatic, complicated antagonists who are convincing enough to fool intelligent characters—and readers—without hiding the truth from us unfairly. And for writers, Liv offers an important rule for writing page-turning fiction: End every chapter with the reader needing to know something else. Not necessarily a cliffhanger. Not necessarily someone hanging from a building. Just an unanswered question, a withheld piece of information, or a new discovery that makes putting the book down feel impossible. In This Episode Why writing psychological suspense may make you suspicious of everybody The Bluebeard-inspired idea that sparked Promise Me Never Why the mysterious locked room became such a powerful story engine Choosing POV characters and deciding when a story needs multiple timelines Using Poppy's timeline to avoid exposition and let her become a full character Artificial intelligence, art, plagiarism, commerce, and creative authenticity Why fiction can explore controversial questions without preaching an answer Keeping the author's opinions separate from a character's point of view How Liv Constantine constructs twists without lying to the reader Planting clues that become obvious only after you know the truth Why a great twist should make a book more rewarding on a reread Revising earlier chapters after you know exactly where the story is headed How red herrings exploit the assumptions readers bring to a story Why every strange detail eventually has to earn its place Working with editors to keep clues from revealing too much Creating charismatic, manipulative, and complicated antagonists Revealing cracks in a character before readers understand what those cracks mean Celebrity, obsession, and the unusual kind of fame novelists experience Writing protagonists who are vulnerable without becoming passive The differences between Savannah and Poppy and what drives each of them What happens when a character refuses to follow the author's original plan Liv's single most important piece of advice for aspiring suspense writers A tease about what's coming next in the Mrs. Parrish world About Promise Me Never At the center of Promise Me Never are secrets, ambition, art, marriage, celebrity, and the dangerous assumptions we make about the people closest to us. It's the kind of psychological suspense Liv Constantine has become known for: a story in which what you believe matters almost as much as what is actually true—and where the clues may have been sitting in front of you the entire time. Spoiler Note The conversation is largely spoiler-conscious regarding Promise Me Never. There is, however, a significant spoiler for Liv Constantine's earlier novel The Wife Stalker during the discussion of twist construction. Featured Book Promise Me Never by Liv Constantine If you love psychological suspense, unreliable perceptions, complicated characters, toxic relationships, red herrings, and twists that make you reconsider everything you've already read, add this one to your list. Story Craft Café Hosted by Hank Garner Conversations with writers about stories, storytelling, and the craft that keeps readers turning pages.

What if the problem with your creativity is not that you need more freedom? What if you need a smaller box? In this Fireside Chat, Hank Garner and Abby Mathews talk about forced scarcity: the creative practice of putting restrictions on yourself so your imagination has something to push against. Page limits. Time limits. Genre limits. A tiny cast. One location. One point of view. One impossible problem. It sounds like a prison, but for writers, it can become a playground. When everything is possible, it is easy to freeze. But when you give yourself a boundary, your brain starts looking for doors, windows, trapdoors, and secret passages. Restrictions create pressure. Pressure creates movement. Movement creates story. In this conversation, Hank and Abby discuss: Why unlimited options can stall your writing How constraints can make stories sharper and more focused Why “putting yourself in a box” can unlock better ideas How genre expectations can become creative tools instead of cages Practical ways to use limits when brainstorming, drafting, and revising How to write your way out instead of waiting for inspiration to strike Whether you are stuck in the middle of a draft, overwhelmed by too many story choices, or trying to turn a vague idea into something with shape, this conversation will help you see limits differently. Sometimes the box is not the thing that traps you. Sometimes the box is the thing that finally gives you a story. Pull up a chair. Let’s talk writing. #WritingTips #CreativeWriting #NovelWriting #WritingCommunity #DabbleWriter #StoryCraft #AuthorLife

What do you do with a first draft once you finally type “The End”? You put it in a drawer. At least for a little while. In this Fireside Chat, Hank Garner and Abby Mathews talk about one of the hardest transitions in the writing process: moving from finishing a draft to actually being ready to revise it. When you’ve lived inside a manuscript for weeks, months, or even years, you’re too close to it to see it clearly. Every scene still carries the memory of what you meant to write. Every character sounds right because you already know them. Every missing connection gets filled in automatically by your own brain. That’s why sometimes the best thing you can do for your novel is close the document, walk away, and give the story—and yourself—a little room to breathe. In this conversation, we’ll talk about: - Why distance makes you a better editor - How long you should consider letting a manuscript rest - What to do while your first draft is “in the drawer” - The difference between drafting brain and revision brain - Why you shouldn’t start fixing every sentence the moment you finish - How to come back to your manuscript with fresh eyes - What you should actually look for on that first read-through - How to move from “I finished a book!” to “Now I know how to make it better.” And yes, we’ll also talk about that terrifying moment when you reopen the manuscript and discover that the brilliant novel you remember writing has apparently been replaced overnight by something written by a sleep-deprived stranger. That’s normal. The first draft’s job was never to be perfect. Its job was to exist. Now you get to find out what the story really wants to become. Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and join us for another Dabble Fireside Chat. Hosted by Hank Garner and Abby Mathews #WritingCommunity #WritingTips #NovelWriting #FirstDraft #Revision #Editing #WritersLife #Dabble #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice

Some characters walk onto the page, do their job, and disappear. Others stay with us. In this Fireside Chat, Hank Garner and Abby Mathews talk about round, flat, and foil characters—and why each one matters more than writers often realize. Not every character needs a tragic backstory, a ten-page wound, and a fully mapped emotional arc. Some characters are meant to change. Some are meant to stay wonderfully, stubbornly the same. And some are there to hold up a mirror so we can finally see the hero clearly. We’ll talk about: What makes a character “round” Why “flat” does not mean boring How foil characters reveal truth, tension, and contrast When a side character needs more depth—and when they do not How to build a cast that feels alive without overcomplicating your story Whether you’re writing a novel, revising a messy draft, or trying to figure out why one of your characters feels thin on the page, this conversation will help you think more clearly about the people who populate your story world. Pull up a chair. Let’s talk characters. #WritingTips #CreativeWriting #NovelWriting #CharacterDevelopment #DabbleWriter #WritingCommunity

Kevin Tumlinson, the Wordslinger, is back on the StoryCraft Cafe. We both came up during the first Kindle wave, and lately we've both felt it: that scrappy, take-the-bull-by-the-horns indie spirit is back, and a lot of it is being driven by what's happening in traditional publishing right now. We talk about why authors are walking away from trad deals, why AI detectors are a scam with a subscription button, how the Claude watermark actually works, and Kevin's best advice for new authors: forget the world and go own your fifty-mile radius. In This Episode The indie spirit is back (00:00) — Hank on the early David-and-Goliath days, the hybrid years, and why that energy is brewing again. What Kevin's up to (03:00) — The Wordslinger Podcast every Thursday, Ten Shots, and the new Story Cuts, reviewing movies and shows from a novelist's point of view. Back to the Wild West (04:40) — Draft2Digital's new $20 onboarding fee, and how the AI witch hunt has circled indie publishing back to its earliest days. AI as a writer's room (06:00) — Hank uses a chatbot like a friend across the coffee table for ideation. Nobody clicks a button and gets 80,000 words. Kevin remembers the same panic over Photoshop and CGI. Guilty until proven innocent (11:40) — The $2.4 million deal an agent pulled over an AI accusation. One more gate, and no law behind it. Hundreds of Kevin's viewers have given up on trad because of it. AI detectors are a racket (14:50) — A clean manuscript flagged "100% AI," then an upsell to "humanize" it. How the Claude watermark works (16:55) — Statistical word choices that add up across a fully generated manuscript. It can flag AI text, but it can't name the user. And you shouldn't be generating your book anyway. Assistive technology isn't cheating (19:10) — Non-native speakers, writers with disabilities, and a quadriplegic author who dictates his books. Never submit what the machine spits out, but don't demonize the tool. Add a unicorn, blow up the spaceship (22:10) — Two pieces of get-unstuck advice that still hold after fifteen years. Own your fifty miles (23:45) — A thousand true fans will support a career, so why hunt them worldwide? Kevin set out to be Austin's thriller writer: every bookstore, every farmers market, local ads. Then expand twenty-five miles at a time. How to become unavoidable (29:30) — Copies in every county library, friends at every bookshop, signings at coffee shops. You can't do that nationally on $500 a month, but you can at home. Hank's rural county has 100,000 people. Direct sales and the Amazon basket (32:30) — Build your store early but don't push it as the only way to buy. Let retailers do discovery, keep the email list growing, and have the storefront ready for the day Amazon shuts you off. School visits and Paolini (36:25) — Kevin's hundred talks at Houston schools moved a few thousand copies in three months. Eragon got found the same way. Trad math doesn't work (43:15) — Smaller advances, higher expectations, spine-out shelving, and no backup when accusations come. Kevin's direct store pays 97%. If you're the engine anyway, keep the money. Where publishing is headed (46:30) — The most divided Kevin has seen the industry since the early days. In five years the labels stop mattering. Indie and trad are merging, and the future is bright. Links Kevin's hub for books, Substack, and podcasts: kevintumlinson.com The Wordslinger Podcast, Ten Shots, and Story Cuts on YouTube The Writers, Ink podcast Draft2Digital Kevin Kelly, "1,000 True Fans" "If you can just dominate local, you will make a living." — Kevin Tumlinson Try out Dabble free for 14 days and see why it’s the best writing tool on the planet—no credit card required! Visit our website at www.dabblewriter.com to get started. Subscribe to our channel for more live events like author interviews, Writing Sprint Wednesdays, Feedback Fridays, and Fireside Chats. We're all about helping authors hone their craft with engaging, fun, and educational content. On top of all that, Dabble Premium members get access to exclusive content like Craft Q&A Office Hours, Wordsmith Workshops, Deep Dive articles, bonus resources, and guest speaker workshops. Happy writing! #IndiePublishing #SelfPublishing  #AuthorTube #KevinTumlinson #StoryCraftCafe #Wordslinger #WritingCommunity #WritingTips #WritingAdvice #AIandWriting #AIDetection #Draft2Digital #BookMarketing #DirectSales #1000TrueFans

A protagonist is only as strong as the wall they're trying to break through. Your antagonist isn't the obstacle to your story, and your antagonist IS your story.

A protagonist is only as strong as the wall they're trying to break through. Your antagonist isn't the obstacle to your story — your antagonist IS your story. Pull up a chair. Before we dive into Workshop 4, Hank Garner and Abby sit down for a relaxed fireside conversation about the most underrated character in fiction: the one standing in your hero's way. We're talking villains, rivals, systems, storms, and the quiet "no" that forces your protagonist to change. If you've ever written a bad guy who felt flat, cartoonish, or too easy to beat, this one's for you. This is the warm-up. Grab a coffee, settle in, and come to the workshop ready to build an antagonist readers can't look away from. In this chat, Hank and Abby get into: - The difference between a villain, an antagonist, and a plain old obstacle - Why the best antagonists are the protagonist of their own story - How a villain's "no" drives your plot forward, scene by scene - Desire, wound, and lie — how the tool that builds heroes builds their enemies too - Sympathetic vs. hateable: when to make readers understand the villain, and when not to - The antagonists we can't stop thinking about — and what makes them work - The most common mistakes that make a bad guy fall flat - Force-of-nature and internal antagonists (when there's no villain at all) #WritingCraft #Antagonists #Villains #WritingTips #AmWriting #NovelWriting #CharacterDevelopment #Fiction #WritingCommunity #StoryStructure

Why do readers stay up until 2 a.m. turning pages? It's rarely because of the plot. It's because they care about the person living through it. In this one-hour writing workshop, Hank Garner breaks down the core principles behind unforgettable protagonists—the characters readers will follow anywhere, even when they aren't always likable. You'll learn how to build characters with emotional depth, compelling motivations, and authentic character arcs that keep readers invested from the first page to the last. In this workshop you'll learn: What a protagonist actually is (and how they're different from your POV character or hero) The three pillars every great protagonist needs: Desire Wound Lie The difference between what your character wants and what they truly need Why readers don't have to like your protagonist—they simply have to be compelled by them How specificity, contradictions, vulnerability, and voice make fictional people feel real How to avoid passive protagonists by giving your characters meaningful choices A simple five-question character test you can use on every novel you write You'll also complete a practical character-building exercise and see how Dabble's Character Notes and Plot Grid make it easy to organize your protagonist's arc from beginning to end. Whether you're outlining your first novel or revising your tenth, this workshop will give you a practical framework you can immediately apply to create protagonists readers won't forget.

Readers don't read your book because of your clever plot. Readers fall in love with your book because of your CHARACTERS. Each book is about a person, and your protagonist is the lightning rod of your book. In this Fireside chat, Hank and Brooke talk about what makes a great protagonist and how to craft characters that bring people back time and again.

This is an exciting week where we finally get to unveil what's new in Dabble 3.0. Join Abby and Hank as they discuss their favorite new Dabble 3.0 features.