Welcome to The Siren’s Spellscript
Where Story Meets Spellwork + Free Author Tool
Dear storyteller,
Welcome to The Siren’s Spellscript: a space for fiction writers, fantasy-lovers, and creative wanderers to gather around the proverbial fire and talk about the strange, joyful, maddening business of writing.
This is where I’ll share:
How I build worlds and bend plotlines into shape
What I’ve learned (and am still learning) about self-publishing
The unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at my creative process
Tools, encouragement, and magic for wherever you are in your writing path
Whether you're sketching your first map, revising your third act, or just burnt out and wondering if you should keep going—this space is for you.
This isn’t a masterclass. This is a working spellbook.
Some pages are smudged. Some incantations are still being tested.
But every post is meant to offer something useful, honest, and a little bit magical.
Why it’s called The Siren’s Spellscript
Because writing is a kind of siren’s song, isn’t it? It pulls us toward strange, beautiful shores. And because the script—the spell—we weave as writers has real power. Power to change minds. Power to keep us afloat. Power to call others to us.
A spellscript, to me, is like a spellbook for your manuscript-writing adventure. A living, evolving record of the enchantments, stumbles, and breakthroughs that shape the stories we create. It’s part grimoire, part map, part journal, and all yours to make with a little of my help.
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Navigate to your account Settings page (click your avatar), and under Subscriptions, choose Author S.L. DeBois then toggle The Siren Spellscript to “on.” That’s it!
About me
I started writing when I was in middle school and desperate to escape reality. I absolutely loved fantasy, mystery, adventure, and romance books (and still do), because of how easy it was to let the world around you fall away and just focus on what was hidden between the words on the page. I enjoy getting lost in books almost as much as I enjoy writing them. The beautiful part about writing your own stories is they are 100% you. You have all the control. You want the villain to fall in love with the heroine? No one is stopping you. Well… except you of course. Because that’s the thing I’ve found most interesting about writing on my own: I am my own nemesis. I’m also my own hero, which, in truth, makes my head spin sometimes, but I absolutely love it.
Aside from writing, I read (duh), draw, paint, play video games, and love to hike. When I was a college student, I studied many, many topics at university including graphic design, art, history, anthropology, public relations, marketing… yup, I was that student who could never decide. Until eventually I settled on communication studies. But sadly, the class I never got to take was creative writing (feels a little like the one that got away). Unfortunately my university didn’t offer it and still to this day I wish I’d found a way to take that class. Instead, I learned what I could all on my own. Is my first draft terrible? Yes, as it should be. Does my grammar and punctuation need some work? Sure does! That’s why I hire an amazing editor. But that’s the beauty of being a writer: we’re experts at figuring it out as we move along. Just like with our stories.
When I first began writing my very first book (it was not the one I published just fyi), I got about 20 pages in before I gave up. I was a high school student and frankly didn’t feel pressured to continue it. Many years later, I began suffering from pretty bad panic attacks on the regular which nearly crippled my life. Somehow—almost magically—I rediscovered writing and while it took me almost three years to write When the Wicked Sing, I couldn’t be more proud of myself. Writing Mariana’s story basically saved my life and publishing it was… quite the experience. More on that later, but for now, just know that it doesn’t matter what stage in life you’re at, write that book, publish it, and be proud of yourself.
A free tool for plotting
I admit, I was a pantser for my debut novel, but it was HARD. I could hardly keep track of anything and my first few drafts were incredibly messy. Now, one thing I always hear about why people enjoy writing without plotting is because it gives your characters the freedom to do whatever they would naturally do in the situation you’re writing them in. And I totally agree, however, I also think that you’re very capable of giving them that freedom even if you know where you want the story to naturally progress to. I’m a very visual person, so after finishing my second to final draft (I’ve honestly lost count), I decided to make sure there weren’t any plot holes, I would write out the entire arc of my story. This was critical for fixing so many mistakes I had no idea that I’d made and helped me produce a quality final draft to send to my editor.
Because of my “lesson learned” experience, I created my own excel plotting sheet that I’m going to share with all of you as a thank you for being here and reading this far along. Doesn’t matter if you’ve just started writing your novel or if you’re already on draft 4, this will help you if you’re a visual person like me. And don’t worry, for the pantsers in the room, I’ve got some great tips coming your way with future posts. But even if you are a die-hard pantser, you may still find this plotting sheet useful for just the basics of your storyline (like I use it). Let’s keep those plot holes filled people!
What’s next
This section is currently free and open to all. But if you’d like to see it grow into something richer, more in-depth posts, Q&As, resource bundles, etc, you can pledge your support.
No payment yet, just a raised hand saying, “Yes, I want more of this!”
Thank you for reading and thank you for writing.
Grab your magical pen—we’re just getting started.
S.L. DeBois
Already a subscriber but want to receive emails from The Siren’s Spellscript?
Navigate to your account Settings page (click your avatar), and under Subscriptions, choose Author S.L. DeBois then toggle The Siren Spellscript to “on.” That’s it!