Recorded live at When Words Collide 2026 in Calgary, this special episode of StoryCentric brings together authors Andrew Buckley, Finnian Burnett, and Miranda Krogstad, with Yewande Daniel-Ayoade moderating a lively, funny, and refreshingly candid conversation about building a creative career when the traditional rulebook doesn't quite fit.

From teaching and speaking gigs to freelance writing, workshops, custom projects, and unexpected collaborations, the panel explores the many ways writers can make a living doing what they love. They dig into the mistakes, breakthroughs, creative risks, and deliberate choices that shaped their careers, along with the ongoing challenge of balancing artistic ambition with the inconvenient necessity of paying rent.

They also tackle a bigger question: What does success actually look like when you get to define it yourself?

Whether you're an aspiring author, an established writer looking to shake things up, or someone wondering if there's a way to make this whole writing thing financially viable, this conversation offers plenty of insight and encouragement.

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Posting horror stories anonymously on Reddit can lead to some unexpected places. For Marcus Kliewer, those places included a book deal and a Netflix sale. No pressure on your next post.

In this episode of StoryCentric, Andrew Buckley sits down with Marcus to explore the winding road from growing up in Kelowna and experimenting with film, stop motion, and screenwriting to finding his creative home in prose. Marcus shares how returning to Reddit during the pandemic opened doors he hadn’t expected, why he values the creative control of novels, and what happens when Hollywood comes knocking.

They also dig into his early fascination with horror, the storytelling lessons he brought over from screenwriting, and the creative choices behind his audio collection, Please Remain Seated. It’s a candid conversation about sudden success, the pressure to chase the next big moment, and remembering why you wanted to tell stories in the first place.

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Hollywood is built to say no, and Thomas Dean Donnelly has spent 30 years figuring out how to keep going regardless. The screenwriter whose credits include Sahara and Doctor Strange joins StoryCentric to trace his journey from movie-obsessed kid to USC Film School, selling his first screenplay in his mid-20s, and surviving the highs, lows, and occasional chaos of a career in Hollywood. Tom gets candid about imposter syndrome, endless rewrites, networking without “networking,” working with Christopher Vogler, and why writers need to separate creative drafting from critical editing. We also dig into his pivot from screenwriting to indie publishing, his bestselling spy thriller series, and why reinvention might be one of the most important skills a working writer can have.

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