Hot Seat Coaching: Producer Andrew Parrella Steps Out From Behind the Mic

Jennie Nash launches a brand-new Hot Seat Coaching series on the podcast—real, on-air coaching sessions where listeners get to hear a story develop in real time.

In the first episode, Jennie brings #amwriting podcast producer Andrew Parrella out from behind the microphone as he begins work on his first novel. Fresh off completing the Blueprint challenge, Andrew shares his gothic horror premise: a Dracula-inspired story set in 1920s London, where Abriana Harker—the daughter of Mina Harker—faces a string of mysterious deaths unfolding against the backdrop of the suffrage movement.

Jennie and Andrew pressure-test the blueprint together, refining the novel’s central point, exploring how Van Helsing’s legacy shapes the world of the story, and identifying ways to strengthen Abriana’s role so the plot is driven by her choices. Andrew leaves with clear next steps—and this is just the beginning: he’ll return in future episodes as Jennie continues coaching him through the process of developing the novel.

You can connect with Andrew via his website AndrewParrella.com

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Transcript

Jennie: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Jennie Nash and you’re listening to the hashtag am Writing podcast. The place where we help writers of all kinds play big in your writing life. Love the process, and stick with it long enough to finish what matters most. Hi, I’m Jenny Nash and you’re listening to the hashtag am Writing podcast.

This is something new. It’s a hot seat coaching episode where we’re gonna work through a real challenge in real time with a real writer. And today. I’m joined by a really special guest. His name is Andrew Perella, and he has been the producer of this podcast for many, many years and is stepping out from behind the microphone to write his first novel.

Andrew participated in the Winter Blueprint challenge that we recently completed. Which is to say he answered all 14 of the blueprint questions during our challenge and, and produced a [00:01:00] finished blueprint. And so I wanted to get on with him and talk about what do we do next? How do we go from there to the next thing?

And he agreed to do that to help show our listeners how it goes. And I’m so excited about it because. He just did incredible work and also has so much work to go, so hopefully we’re gonna get to, we’re gonna get to follow Andrew as he does this for a few episodes and bring you along on the journey. So welcome Andrew from Behind the Microphone.

Andrew: So much work to go. Thank you, Jenny. I’m really excited to be here.

Jennie: So Andrew is, has a long career i