Community Playlist Spotify Link

Have you found another song that represents your Jack Frost love story?

2/18/26

Good evening authors! I have been fighting to get my Twitch streaming account up and running. It was a huge learning curve but I think I’ve got a handle on it now. That being said, would anyone be interested in a virtual writing sprint Saturday evening? Depending on interest and availability, I was hoping we could have a little fun for our halfway month.

Please reply to this email asap if you are interested. If you’d consider coming in the future but would prefer another time, please reply so I can take that in account for the next sprint.

Proposed time:

Saturday June 20 @ 9pm Mountain Standard Time

There would be a giveaway with contest merch and writing help Q&A after the sprint. 

Also I have updated points for the last few challenges. Thank you for your patience. 

6/2/26

We are halfway through our competition! Congratulations on making it this far. I am so proud of each and every one of you. This month we’re going to have some events/ games/ prizes to celebrate your efforts and accomplishments. 

The first event, which is also a mini-challenge, is a character bracket to crown our coolest character. To participate send in an image that looks like your character (it can be something you drew, commissioned or just found on Pinterest). Along with the image share 1 whitty or unique sentence that describes them. 

For example, if I were to submit my FMC Lylla, I would send this image and the line “My favorite pastime is biting the idiot Compliance Wards that keep trying to throw me in prison.”

NOTE: You must submit your character nomination BEFORE Sunday June 7 at midnight MST. You may submit up to 3 characters. (My suggestion would be female main character, male main character, and possible villain). To submit, simply reply to this email.

I will set up the voting bracket from there. 

Stay tuned for our first LIVE writing sprint. I’m still organizing and setting up Twitch for the stream, and if all goes well we are looking at Saturday evening. (A separate email will be sent with details when they are available).

5/11/26

Hello wonderful writers!

As I’m sure we can all relate, life has gotten crazy over the past few months. I was concerned I’d have to move across the country for a job, but at the last minute I got a great job in town. Finally finished training and am getting back into a good rhythm with my writing and audiobook production projects. I appreciate all your patience and flexibility during the transition.

Plot is powerful. It should have meaning and importance. But a great plot can easily be ruined if your characters are flat. Just knowing your character’s likes & dislikes won’t be enough. We need to dig deeper into their motivations, to the way they think & why. What trauma encourages their unique reactions?

For example, the smell of cooked eggs makes my character gag. The sight of them has her curling her nose. Just knowing that quirk makes her stand out in your mind. It’s unique and thought provoking. But you can’t really connect to that on an emotional level yet can you? But what if I tell you the reason she hates the smell of eggs is because when her stalker tried to kill her, his breath smelled like eggs. It’s triggering. But it also makes you think of a trigger to your own trauma. 

This is what helps us connect to characters. Finding a common thread that can put us in their shoes. So this week’s mini-challenge is to take a look at our main character.  Take your time to think through each question below. Reply with your answers to earn points and complete the challenge.

Character Name:

What made you choose that name?

What is one lie they believe & why?

Give 10 words that describe your character’s personality?

What’s a quirk that they have & why?

What should your character have learned by the end of your book?

3/30/26

Hello Authors!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful week. We have reached the end of our first month and that means it’s time for our Milestone Moment. I apologize I’ve been absent these last couple weeks, life certainly has a way of throwing us curve balls am I right?

For our Milestone Moment.

The important part of this challenge is consistency and participation. So for our Milestone Moment your goal is to report where you’re at in your story. There is no wrong answer. This is simply to gage how well everyone is doing and where I can help with targeted mini-challenges.  This simply helps me know how best I can serve all of you. All you have to do is fill out this form and reply to this email.

Milestone Moment Stats:

Do you have a title for your Project?

Did you write an outline or are you discovering your story as you go?

How many words are you hoping this book will be? (50,000 is the minimum)

What is your document’s current word count? 

(For those hand writing please put the number of pages).

Are you at the beginning, middle, or end of your story? 

(Your best guess is acceptable).

What’s one thing that would help you this month?

2/23/26

Hello wonderful authors! I hope you had a great weekend. We received several requests for live writing sprint sessions as well as a few live Q/A book coaching sessions. So that is the latest announcement. We will be implementing several writing sprints each week and at least one Q/A session per month. The Q/A’s will be recorded and shared on YouTube so please be aware of that when joining the call. I will send out calendar reminders for these events closer to the dates. 

This week’s mini challenge is meant to get our creative juices flowing. Sometimes when I get stuck on a chapter the best thing I can do is something completely unrelated that is still creative. So I’ll paint, sew, or color. Something new that engages my creative side but isn’t so fixated on my writing problems. Therefore this week we are taking a look at our tribes and coming up with mascot logos! I want you all to choose something that reminds you of your tribe’s name. For example if I was in the a tribe called Dialogue Dragons, I may create the logo below:

This was a simple character design I made in Canva. It doesn’t have to be big and fancy or even hand drawn, though you certainly can put in the effort if you’d like. The goal is to make something fun to encourage others in your tribe. 

Mini Challenge: Design a logo for your tribe. Then reply to this email and share what you come up with. Please note, your designs may be used in merch materials and by submitting your design you are giving permission for commercial use. If you would NOT like to give up commercial rights, you can still participate but you will need to specify that you do not want any merch to be made with your logo.

3/9/26

Hello wonderful authors, you are all rocking this challenge. I am so proud to be the one hosting your incredible journey. Thank you for checking in and updating me when you can, it is so encouraging for me to be honest. Watching all of your flourish inspires me to keep writing and keep going. So thank you for that. 

I’m hosting a fun little throwback contest that you’re welcome to sign up for. It’s a small scale flash fiction contest, just a max of 3,000 words. If you’re overwhelmed and can’t imagine adding to your load, please feel free to disregard and just skip to our next Mini Challenge. But the Flash Fiction contest will have the awesome prize of a kindle fire AND 3 audiobook credits from libro.fm. As I’ve said, it’s a 3,000 word flash fiction short story contest and the prompt is: “Two astronauts from different worlds are on a lunar outpost when their people back home go to war, their last orders are to eliminate the other…”

If you remember I called this a “throwback contest” that’s because we’re going old school and asking participants to mail in their entry. I know right? With an actual envelope and stamp and everything. I’m just feeling extra nostalgic this month… And maybe I really like getting letters… The application process and form is on the Storyteller’s Odyssey website under Events. I’ve included the link as well: Flash Fiction Contest – Darby Rand

Now back to our regularly scheduled programing of the Jack Frost Love Story Writing Challenge. We did not receive that many scene breakdown forms. I completely understand, it took me a long time to understand scene structure. Which is why I’ve found a Scene Breakdown video that will hopefully clear things up. Three Act Structure Explained — The Secret to Telling a Great Story Why do I believe scene structure matters? Every scene in your story should move the story forward or give important & relevant information about your characters. 

For our Mini Challenge I want us to step back and look at our stories as a whole. Take the same form from our scene study and look at your entire story. If you are still discovery writing then fill out as far as you can and then just think about where you would like your story to go. What direction can you see it progressing toward?

As always, I am here for you. Feel free to reach out to schedule a coaching call if you want more hands on help. I am working to get some writing sprints set up for April, so stay tuned for that.

Mini-Challenge: Fill out the Form for your Entire Story

Exposition:

Inciting incident:

First Scene Point:

Rising Action:

Midpoint:

Second Plot Point:

Climax:

Denouement:

Possible Cliffhanger:

Reply to this email with your responses. First response will win some Jack Frost Merch! (There may be some variation to the items below). 

3/2/26

Another morning is here lovely authors, and I hope you all are continuing with your stories. If you’re stuck and looking for help, I still have book coaching spots available, but they are filling up. If you just need help working through a scene or small chapter, consider a 1:1 mini coaching session. For any minor questions please feel free to reach out. 

This week we’re talking about the structure of a scene. A story scene, much like whole story structure can often be boiled down into the 3 Act structure. You have Act 1 (the beginning) that starts with the exposition (brief setting prose), the inciting incident (the disruption), and your first scene point. (a challenge or setback.) Then Act 2 (the middle) of a scene speeds things up with the rising action (the tension that keeps readers hooked), to the midpoint (where your protagonist thinks they could succeed), and finally the second plot point (an unexpected twist, it doesn’t have to be grandiose though). Finally our Act 3 t(the end) of a scene gets us to our climax (this could be a major plot point in the story where the character attempts to resolve a conflict) and the Denouement (where the scene is resolved and you have your tie in to the next scene.) I like to also add a possible cliff hanger. I say possible because a cliffhanger every chapter can annoy your readers, depending on what audience age you’re writing for. 

For our mini challenge I want each of you to evaluate the scene you’re currently writing, or a scene you’ve written and see if you can point out each part of its structure. If you can’t find all the points, that’s okay, but see if you can add them to the scene. This does not have to be perfect, and feel free to ask me if one aspect works for a specific scene point.

Mini-Challenge: Fill out the Form for a Scene

Exposition:

Inciting incident:

First Scene Point:

Rising Action:

Midpoint:

Second Plot Point:

Climax:

Denouement:

Possible Cliffhanger:

For another resource to understand story structure, look at Jessica Brody’s book Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need  You should be able to find it at your local library or on Hoopla/Libby. It is an incredible book that taught me so much about story structure. Do you have to use structure in your story? No, but if you learn how a story works, you’ll be able to bend the rules in a way that will work and still be marketable. Picasso once said, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” If you learn what makes a story click with readers, you’ll be able to take the best of what you learned and play with the creativity to make a masterpiece from your heart. 

2/10/26

Thank you all for participating in the Character Tie-In Mini Challenge. Below are the 3 characters I’ve randomly selected. For this next Mini Challenge your goal is to incorporate one of these character’s names and trait into your story as either a side character or important plot point character. 

Thayne Ashwyn is an observant, kind friend that is always mindful of those around him. He is the steadying presence behind those who have to make the tough decisions.

Kaedra Emberlin, is feisty and fun loving girl that is always there to get others out of their comfort zones.

Vivian her distinct feature is one streak of pure white hair at her left temple. The white streak never grows out or dyes; it stays bright and cool to the touch, even in summer. Whenever our MMC is nearby, the streak faintly glows with soft blue-white light.

Mini-Challenge:

If you choose to participate in this Mini-Challenge, pick one character and trait from above then send me the description you give in your story when you introduce them. Please keep it under 300 words. Participants will each receive 250 points if they send their 300 word character introduction.

I am catching up on applying points from the past two challenges, I appreciate your patience. 

ANNOUNCEMENT:

My wonderful illustration artist Alesia has designed a Jack Frost character! No you’re Jack Frost does not need to look exactly like this, my Jack Frost is actual black with dreads, so don’t stress about it. Just enjoy this beautiful piece of art. You are welcome to share this image BUT please give @alessias_artt credit AND mention storytellersodyssey.com in the post. I have paid for the rights to this image so please do not use it to sell things. That being said, with my commercial license, I’ll be making various merch for the writing challenge that you can either win in future mini challenges or purchase. This will include key chains, stickers, bags, Christmas ornaments and more that will commemorate the challenge. Keep an eye on the website for the merch store coming soon.

2/27/26

Good morning my lovely authors!

I’ve seen some beautiful and amazing tribe designs for this week’s mini challenge. Keep up the great work. Now that we have a few weeks under our belts, it’s time to dig deeper into our stories. Many of you have requested various feedback and help which is great! As much as I love helping authors, I have found it a little overwhelming with 180 participants. Moving forward I am still happy to offer resource links and answer more simple questions. But with the wave of feedback requests I’m getting, it is taking up a lot of my work time. 

I work full time as well as run Viva la Voice Acting full time. On top of that I try to have contests and challenges running as often as I can. But of course my favorite work is book coaching. What is book coaching? It’s exactly what I’ve been doing with several of you but in a deeper way. I’ve studied and been trained to coach authors into creating the best book they can. From outlining, to drafting and editing, to querying and indie publishing, I’ve taken authors from beginning to end. My book coaching services are usually a little pricey simply because so much of my time and energy goes into the coaching, unlimited email support, full read throughs of your manuscript throughout the entire writing process, developmental, copy and line edits, research into publishers and agents that would be interested in your story, etc. 

That being said, I have loved how active you all are in the Jack Frost Love Story Writing Challenge. Which is why I want to offer a huge discount to any participants interested in paid book coaching. I’m offering my basic book coaching at over 70% discount. Normally $350/month, I’m offering it to participants for just $100/month! This can be for ANY story, it does not have to be the Jack Frost Love Story. Get your first coaching call for free, try it out before you commit. Due to time constraints, I do only have a few slots open because I want to give each of you the time your story deserves.

What You Get Every Month:
1:1 Coaching
Review of 20 pages (5000 words) every 2 weeks
Feedback by way of inline comments
Two 30 min phone calls per month to go over feedback.
Unlimited email support to answer any questions that arise.

If you feel you don’t necessarily need a month’s worth of coaching, I’m also offering mini zoom coaching sessions (45 mins) for $45 a session. 

Please note that these discounts are not on the website and must be requested via email. 

Okay now that we’ve paid the piper, it’s time for the end of month check in. 

Milestone Moment Stats:

What is the title for your Project? (working title is fine, you can change it later)

On a scale of 1-10 (1 being overwhelmed, 10 being extremely comfortable with your progress) where are you?

What is your document’s current word count? 

(For those hand writing please put the number of pages).

Are you at the beginning, middle, or end of your story? 

(Your best guess is acceptable).

Are you interested in book coaching?

What is your biggest struggle right now with your story?

What would help you make progress in your story?

2/17/26

You all are doing wonderfully! I’m so excited that you’ve been sharing your progress with me. As February comes to a close please note that you’ll want to be finishing the month with about 2,000 words to stay on track for the 50,000 word year end minimum. If you are not there yet, don’t stress, just see if you can add more time to your story in March to keep up. If you need help please reach out. I’m here as a resource.

I have an awesome announcement. We finally have Jack Frost Merch! We’re starting with stickers and keychains this month. We are looking to expand the merch store throughout the next few months, so stay tuned. For now you can purchase stickers and keychains on the website shop here: Shop – Darby Rand We have worked to keep prices as low as possible, if you remember, this challenge is completely funded by Viva la Voice Acting and we refused to charge an entry fee. Purchasing merch from the shop not only helps keep the challenge running, it also supports this Colorado small business. I hope you’ll all consider checking it out.

On another note, I am considering hosting virtual writing sprints as well as craft skill building lessons. Please reply to this email and let me know if either of these would interest you. If we have enough interest I’d be happy to try it out and see if we can help and inspire each other.

Now for the Mini Challenge of the week. This week we want to connect with our audience. The Jack Frost Love Story Writing Challenge is not just about writing a story, it is about being an author. And one of the most important things an author can do for their story is share about it. That is why this week I’m asking you to post a snippet of your story to your social media. What’s a great line you love from your story? Do you have a short pitch for it yet? Share something that can start building a hype for your story. Social media is a great place to gain support from fellow authors and creatives.

Mini-Challenge: Share something about your Jack Frost Love Story to social media, tag Storyteller’s Odyssey, and comment with the link to storytellersodyssey.com so others can come see what the challenge is all about.

Don’t miss your chance to grab the Jack Frost key chains. We’re only making 1 order so get them while they last. 

2/4/26

Hello wonderful authors. I’ve been tied up with life events so this week’s mini-challenge is super simple. To participate simply incorporate cake into one of your current scenes. It can be as simple as your character glancing it through a window or a prominent plot point like a celebratory party. Either way if you want points for this challenge you will need to send me 500 words that will be in your first draft with the cake at least mentioned. 

Do not worry about sending background info or explaining the scene, a cold scene is fine. (Lol see what I did there???) No context is needed, just show me you plan to add some cake to your story. 

Mini-Challenge: Send 500 words that will be in your first draft making a reference to cake somehow.

1/31/26

Hello Authors!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful Saturday. We have reached the end of our first month and that means it’s time for our Milestone Moment. But first let me remind everyone that the Character Tie-In Mini-Challenge submissions are almost closed. If you haven’t submitted a name for selection now’s the time. Character Tie-In – Darby Rand Also don’t forget to encourage your fellow author and reader friends to consider submitting a name and character trait. 

Next week I will select 3 names from those that have commented on the page. If your suggested name is selected, you’ll receive 150 points. Then you all have the opportunity to include one of the character names and personality traits into your story as a side character. They do not need to have a big role, they can be mentioned once or play an important role in the plot. But the authors who choose to include a character with one of the Character Tie-In names will receive bonus points at the end of the year. 

Now back to our Milestone Moment.

The important part of this challenge is consistency and participation. So for our Milestone Moment your goal is to report where you’re at in your story. There is no wrong answer. This is simply to gage how well everyone is doing and where I can help with targeted mini-challenges. For instance if everyone is struggling to get into their story, I may host a virtual writing sprint. This simply helps me know how best I can serve all of you. All you have to do is fill out this form and reply to this email.

Milestone Moment Stats:

What genre have you settled on?

Do you have a title for your Project?

Did you write an outline or are you discovering your story as you go?

How many words are you hoping this book will be? (50,000 is the minimum)

What is your document’s current word count? 

(For those hand writing please put the number of pages).

Are you at the beginning, middle, or end of your story? 

(Your best guess is acceptable).

2/17/26

You all are doing wonderfully! I’m so excited that you’ve been sharing your progress with me. As February comes to a close please note that you’ll want to be finishing the month with about 2,000 words to stay on track for the 50,000 word year end minimum. If you are not there yet, don’t stress, just see if you can add more time to your story in March to keep up. If you need help please reach out. I’m here as a resource.

I have an awesome announcement. We finally have Jack Frost Merch! We’re starting with stickers and keychains this month. We are looking to expand the merch store throughout the next few months, so stay tuned. For now you can purchase stickers and keychains on the website shop here: Shop – Darby Rand We have worked to keep prices as low as possible, if you remember, this challenge is completely funded by Viva la Voice Acting and we refused to charge an entry fee. Purchasing merch from the shop not only helps keep the challenge running, it also supports this Colorado small business. I hope you’ll all consider checking it out.

On another note, I am considering hosting virtual writing sprints as well as craft skill building lessons. Please reply to this email and let me know if either of these would interest you. If we have enough interest I’d be happy to try it out and see if we can help and inspire each other.

Now for the Mini Challenge of the week. This week we want to connect with our audience. The Jack Frost Love Story Writing Challenge is not just about writing a story, it is about being an author. And one of the most important things an author can do for their story is share about it. That is why this week I’m asking you to post a snippet of your story to your social media. What’s a great line you love from your story? Do you have a short pitch for it yet? Share something that can start building a hype for your story. Social media is a great place to gain support from fellow authors and creatives.

Mini-Challenge: Share something about your Jack Frost Love Story to social media, tag Storyteller’s Odyssey, and comment with the link to storytellersodyssey.com so others can come see what the challenge is all about.

Don’t miss your chance to grab the Jack Frost key chains. We’re only making 1 order so get them while they last. 

1/12/26

Good morning lovely authors,

You have all been randomly assigned a tribe. Your tribe is ________________. Please feel free to check out the page. By now you should all have at least your first 1000 words done, don’t worry if you’re not there yet though, you can always catch up. This week our mini challenge is based on your first sentence. 

For me the first sentence of a story helps me decide if I want to keep reading. If the first sentence doesn’t captivate me, I worry about the rest of the story. The first sentence is your first impression for your reader, make the most of it. For example my first sentence of Fluorescent Frost is: “1256 days, that’s how long I’d managed to avoid the Compliance Wards, or CWs as we called them in Novanex.” It may not be my best first line, but I’m pretty proud of it. The sentence evokes curiosity while also giving clues about the setting. 

MINI CHALLENGE – Reply to this email with your story’s first sentence. This sentence WILL BE POSTED on your tribe’s page. And next week there will be community voting. You have until Saturday 1/17/26 10pm MST to submit your first sentence and be able to participate in the voting contest. Voting will open next Monday 1/19/26.

Remember you are receiving points for participation in these mini challenges that will count toward the final rewards of the year. But you also can win immediate prizes. This challenge has a prize as well. The tribe that gets the most votes, will have the opportunity to submit their first 2 chapters for constructive feedback. This is NOT required, it is meant to be a helpful resource for you, but if you’re uncomfortable sharing at such an early stage of your writing, don’t feel pressured. I have been a book coach since 2018 and have worked with several authors through every phase of writing so I’m confident I can be a valuable resource for you.

Looking forward to seeing your wonderful first lines.

1/5/26

Good morning my lovely authors,

You have all been randomly divided into different tribes. Your tribe is your community. Should your tribe end the year with the most points, EVERYONE in that tribe will receive an incredible prize! A full year of indie publishing support. Wondering what this looks like? Check out the coaching page on my website for a detailed breakdown. 

In short, you’ll receive a full review of your manuscript (limit 1 per person) with inline comments, monthly 1:1 calls to go over comments and next steps, a year of marketing template that I myself use and have seen impressive results, a walk through of KDP publishing, and unlimited email support. Are you excited yet??? 

So how do you earn points for your tribe? This week’s mini challenge is to update your Tribe’s page. Reply to this email with a brief bio of yourself, and whatever social media links you’d like to add to your profile. (This will be important for points in the future so please consider sharing). Biographies need to be under 150 words and this is not the time to talk about your WIP. (We’ll get to that later in the challenge). 

Participation in challenges and milestones earn both you and your tribe points, so the more active you are, the higher your chances for success. So what are you waiting for? Get to working on that bio and be sure to send it over.

MINI CHALLENGE – Write a bio in 150 words or less, and supply whatever social media links you would like on your challenge profile along with a profile picture (does not have to be a self portrait, could be just a fun picture that represents you like your cat). 

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” -Arthur Ashe

1/1/26

Good morning my lovely authors,

Today is the official start date of our Jack Frost Love Story Writing Challenge. From here on, there is only one time restriction for the main challenge: to write at least 50,000 completed story based on the Jack Frost love story prompt by December 31, 2026. There WILL be optional mini challenges as well as rewarded milestones throughout the coming months. 

Think of the optional challenges as “extra credit” where you can earn additional points toward your final score. The final scoring will happen at the end of the year, December 31 2026, when all completed manuscripts will be evaluated. The bigger the competition gets, the bigger the prizes get, updates to the prizes will be announced via email, as well as updated on the challenge landing page. 

For now, your goal for the week is to finish your first 1,000 words. It doesn’t have to be gold, just work to put words on the page, allow the faucet to start flowing. You have 365 days, I will help coach you along the way and keep you on track, so don’t over think it. Just put pen to paper and start. Between writing sessions, be sure to share with your fans what you’re writing. 

If you’re seriously interested in publishing this story one day, start marketing it now. Need ideas of what to post? Follow me across social media, feel free to tweak the questions and posts I release for your own story. There will be some challenges that need your audience to participate, so consistently posting on social media will help you earn more points. Okay, that’s the only tip I’m offering right now. You should be writing anyway. 

You’ve got this,

Let’s get started.

Darby Rand