About Megan Fuentes

I’ll be honest—”story coach” was a title that snuck up on me! An author friend asked me to help her work out some particularly knotted story threads in her novel. At the time, I wasn’t yet published, but I was obsessed with story structure (still am!), and I loved the challenge presented to me of fixing a story that a more experienced writer couldn’t. Over the course of a lunch at our local Panera, I had her tell me a summary of the story and her vision for it. I listened, jotted down what already worked, pointed out the problems I saw, and took notes. By the time lunch was over, she had a book that made sense, and I was hooked on helping writers. It was many sessions with other writers later that she called what I love to do story coaching.

Authenticity, passion, and creativity. I’m extremely dedicated to helping writers tell stories that reflect their genuine thoughts and feelings about the world. Those, I believe, will always resonate best with readers.

My background is in education, so I’ve been tutoring students in story since I was a student myself! These experiences forged my ability to “translate” storytelling knowledge from one school of thought to another. You can come to me as a dedicated student of a particular plotting method, a die-hard pantser, or a novel-writing novice, and you will walk away with the same bone-deep understanding of your story.

To help bridge communication gaps, I use an eight-point character arc structure with language that’s accessible to all and flexible enough for any genre. My method focuses on uncovering your character’s wound, wrong idea, and right idea to build arcs that feel cohesive, emotionally satisfying, and most importantly, true to you.

I have a partner named Logan, and we’ve been together for over ten years (yes, we’re high school sweethearts!). We have a black cat named Rochelle, who we found in a dumpster when she was no bigger than Logan’s palm, and we just had to have her.

I lived in Florida for most of my life—first Tallahassee, then Orlando. Like many who move to the City Beautiful for college, I worked at Walt Disney World for a spell. More specifically, I “made magic” in Africa at Animal Kingdom, at Beaches & Cream Soda Shop at Disney’s Beach Club Resort, and all around Disney’s Hollywood Studios (including Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge).

Mid-2024, Logan and I left the Sunshine State for the Garden State. We especially love living so close to New York City!

Lightning round: I love completing escape rooms with my family, I’m a bullet journal and Notion girlie, I’m fascinated by gemstones and minerals, and I drink iced coffee like it’s water.

I plan to have a blog post all about this published soon!

My vision is for you to leave your session with complete clarity and buzzing excitement about your story, so you can write it with confidence.

“Everything is figureoutable.” No matter what I’m up against (or what my clients are up against), a way to solve the problem will always emerge. It just takes time, focus, and a dedicated brainstorming session or two. I think this perspective comes from my love of puzzles and escape rooms!

First, you’ll pop over to this link. After purchasing, you’ll be given a link to a form to fill out where you’ll tell me about your approach to storytelling, the story you’re working on, and what’s got you stuck. You’ll also choose a date and time for us to meet—just make sure you’ll have one or two hours for us to dive deep into your story. And that’s it! Start to finish, it’ll take you ten minutes to set up, tops.

I’ll come to the session having read the summary and your notes you gave me via the form you used to sign up, and you’ll come to the session ready to take notes or add on to the notes you have. After intros, you’ll explain your vision to me again in your own words (because, as we’ve all experienced, “onscreen words” come out differently than “out loud words”), and I’ll share my screen with you as we identify the load-bearing aspects of the narrative. What comes after that depends on the needs of your unique story, but trust that it will involve mapping out your main character(s)’s arcs and a lot of collaborative brainstorming.

At the end of the session, I’ll give you a copy of my notes and a feedback survey, and you can feel free to email me anytime if your story becomes stuck again!

I’ll let a few of my clients speak for themselves about their experiences!

Carian Cole: “I was at a roadblock with my story, and Megan came up with multiple ideas and directions for me to take my story. It was clear she put a lot of time, thought, and interest into the ideas she presented to me. They were not just generic, canned ideas. She explained her ideas and the different ways they could go.”

Stephanie Harrell: “The first time we worked together I was a brand new author and still trying to figure out the nuances of creating a story. Megan was extremely patient and helped me work through creating not just a great story, but she was able to help me realize what type of story structure I related best to.”

Tia Marlee: “Megan took a hodge podge of ideas and thoughts and helped me craft a story outline that was EXACTLY what I was hoping for. She took the time to hear my ideas, help me identify the wounds/misbeliefs of my characters, and create a story flow that I am very proud of. I don’t know that I could have gotten my brain unstuck without her.”

I have a quiz you can take!