147. How to Ask Powerful Questions to Unlock Your Creativity (and Your Life)

“As a storyteller, WHAT IF is fabulous. What if it was like this? What if it was like that? What if I did this? What if I put it this way?“

In “How to Ask Powerful Questions to Unlock Your Creativity (and Your Life)” podcast host Beth Barany, explains the power of asking questions that include effective questions for creativity and how they can help with the world building for your story. She also shares her current and upcoming projects and the specialized coaching support she offers to writers. Enjoy!

RESOURCES

How is the Question by Beth Barany:

https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2018/05/03/how-is-the-question-by-beth-barany/

Key Words for Critical Thinking, Editing + Essay Questions:

https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2015/09/27/key-words-for-critical-thinking-editing-essay-questions/

GET HELP WITH YOUR WORLD BUILDING - START HERE

Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/world-building-resources/

Sign up for the 30-minute Story Success Clinic with Beth Barany: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/story-success-clinic/

Get support for your fiction writing by a novelist and writing teacher and coach. Schedule an exploratory call here and see if Beth can support you today: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/discovery-call/

• SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
• SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade

c. 2025 BETH BARANY

https://bethbarany.com/

--
CONNECT
Contact Beth: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast/#tve-jump-185b4422580
Email: beth@bethbarany.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethbarany/

CREDITS
EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://get.descript.com/0clwwvlf6e3j
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Transcript

147. How to Ask Powerful Questions to Unlock Your Creativity (and Your Life)

[00:00] Introduction and Host Background

Hey everyone. Beth Barany here with How to Write the Future Podcast. I'm a science fiction and fantasy writer and writing teacher, coach, editor, and filmmaker. 

[00:12] The Power of Asking Questions

Today I want to talk to you about a superpower, one of my superpowers, and that's asking questions. 

Questions are amazing and they can also be a-- I don't wanna say crutch, I wanna say a black hole, a downward spiral into nothingness. 

So there are really powerful questions you can ask that will help you move forward in your creative work and in your life. And there's also some questions that you can ask that won't help you in most situations.

It's good to know what they are, right? It's good to know what both are. 

I have met lots and lots of people, who will say: Why me? 

It's hard to answer that question. I'll also say there are a lot of people, including myself, who will ask the question: Why? And there's not always an answer to WHY?

[01:01] Effective Questions for Creativity

But there are some other powerful questions that you can ask, and the most powerful question, in my opinion, that you can ask, and I'm gonna tell you right up front is: How? 

And the second most powerful or maybe right on par with how-- how do I do this? How can I get from here to there? How does this work?

The second most powerful question I would say is: what if?

As a storyteller, WHAT IF is fabulous? What if it was like this? What if it was like that? What if I did this? What if I put it this way? So HOW. And WHAT IF.

[01:35] Real-Life Applications of Powerful Questions

So just a real life example, I'm raising money for my film and I am asking. How do I do that?

And I ask other people, how do I do that? And then I ask, what if I did this? Or what if I did that? What if I throw a party? What if I do a Kickstarter? Both of which I've done.

What if I did these Zoom things? What if I created this kind of offer, these kind of gifts? And then I start testing that with people.

And when it comes to HOW, I use this question all throughout learning how to write fiction. How do I tell a story? How do I understand conflict? 

[02:11] Another powerful question: What?

And I wanna say that another powerful question is WHAT.

What is this? What is conflict? What is story development? 

These questions, HOW, WHAT IF, and WHAT can, or I should say, these question words, can really help you.

[02:27] Current Projects and Updates

Now as a second part to this episode, I wanna share with you a little bit about what I am up to. 

So a little update on, as I was talking about, film. I have my short film in in post-production, Henrietta the Dragon Slayer. And I've decided that this film, it's not just a short film that's gonna live by itself and maybe do the festival circuit.

The short film is actually a proof of concept that I want to turn into a TV series, a limited TV series, maybe eight episodes, maybe 10. I haven't decided. 

So what I filmed is a proof of concept, meaning we're going to take it all the way to make a beautiful little short, it's gonna be about five to seven minutes long, and it's going to be the opening of our TV show.

So that is one of the projects that I have in the works right now. It's very exciting. I'm working with a small team and I am raising money for it. So you can find out about how to support this or learn more about it. Follow us on the socials, et cetera, in the link in the show description.

Okay, now the next project that I'm working on is book five in my Janey McCallister mystery series.

I am in the finishing phase of this book. I've been working on it for three years. It's a big book. It follows in the life of Janey McCallister Space Station investigator on a new mission to a new location and it's 500 pages right now, and, maybe it will come out at the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026, but I'm finishing it right now and I may do a Kickstarter for it for the fans.

So stay tuned for news on that.

What else is going on? 

[04:09] Writing and Teaching Endeavors

I am a writing teacher and coach, so on the writing teacher side, I teach online and in person, and I've done several in-person, workshops. In the last, Hmm. Gosh, I. How long has it been in the last while? I can't count while I'm talking. Sorry guys.

And I have some upcoming. I love teaching in person live workshops. I've even been flown to other parts of the world to teach my material and, and yeah, so I love doing that. If you want me to come and speak in person or even online, let me know. I've done tons of different workshops and you can go check out all the different workshops I've done, and the topics I cover at the speaking page on my website. 

What else is going on besides running my business as a creative entrepreneur? Oh, yeah. 

[04:55] Coaching Creative Entrepreneurs

I have been coaching people to develop their own creative entrepreneur business. That's still in the beginning phase. I have several clients who I help with, that one person who wants to be a book coach, another person who's An editorial assistant and a third person who wants to be a VA, a virtual assistant. So I'm helping them with the nuts and bolts and the mindset and the steps that they can take. It's not a training program where you just read material about how to do something. I actually coach people who are ready to go and do that thing, and I help them with making connections, getting speaking gigs, putting on workshops, finding clients, getting work.

In fact, I hired one of the people I trained to do some work for me as an editorial assistant, and he's training and working for me and it's a really nice synergy. 

Now it's a very specialized type of work. If you wanna be a creative entrepreneur, where do you go? Who do you talk to? I know a lot of creative entrepreneurs and I love, love helping people figure out how to turn their creative passion into a business that works for them. So if you're interested in that, just DM me or drop me an email or connect with me through the podcast contact page. 

[06:05] Specialized Support for Writers

And then lastly, I help writers who have finished their first draft of their science fiction and fantasy novel in a small group mastermind program that meets twice a month. If this is the right fit for you, please do check out the material. I have a lovely page that explains all that I do.

If you're not sure if this is a program for you, please contact me. It's really for people who have finished that first draft, not 50 pages, not halfway, but finished and they want to learn how to edit and get it ready for publication and get it ready for beta readers and get it ready to bring it out into the world.

It's not a easy process, nor is it a short process. So my program is a 12 month commitment and I have people in the program who've been there for a while. 'cause people all have lives. None of these people are full-time writers. And neither am I. I'm not a full-time writer. I actually don't want to be a full-time writer.

I wanna be a writer and a teacher, and a coach, and a filmmaker and all the things. So that is what I am up to. 

Also, I have a few openings for people who don't really fit in any kind of writing program, and they want highly customized support from me. It's not a program. It's not regimented. It's highly tailored, and I only have a few spots for people who want coaching, and I will also look at work. 

You can be at any stage. You can have an idea. You can be halfway through, you could have started, but if you're deeply committed to that, 

There's a highly customized support coaching package, I guess I could say, that we highly customize to you. So I have a few spots for that if you're interested and just reach out to me and we'll get on a Zoom call or a phone call, or if you're local to me in the San Francisco Bay Area, we can actually sit down and have a cafe meeting, which would be amazing.

I specialize in helping writers who don't know where they fit. specifically science fiction and fantasy writers. They're somewhere in there and they're like, I'm not sure. And maybe they're doing a mashup. I do mashups. 

So I took the mystery genre and I took the science fiction genre and I put them together and I'm doing that on purpose.

And I've thrown in some romance as well. So I have actually three genres there. I make my own secret sauce, my own kind of story, and it works. I'm well reviewed. I've won an award, actually a few awards and it's really fun, but it's not easy to do. 

So if you're an author like that and you're wondering, how does this story fit? How do I sell something like this? How does it work in the marketplace? and you're not sure and you want support, highly customized, specialized support that's unique to you, Then come talk to me. I would love to talk with you. 

[08:45] Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

Now, just to point out, I'm gonna circle back to How I started today's episode, which is asking powerful questions to unlock your creativity and your life.

Ask the question: HOW? How do I do this? How do I create a story with these disparate pieces and I put them together and it's something I'm super passionate to tell? How do I do that? How do I make it work?

For example. Ask the question. WHAT IF? What if I got support? What if I got help? What if I did a search? What if I asked my friends? What if I asked people if they knew other people who could help me? 

That's a question I often ask myself, especially as I venture into this new realm of filmmaking. 

So that's my episode for today, everyone. 

[00:09:29] Stay Tuned - Great Episodes Coming!

Stay tuned for some great episodes coming.

We're gonna have some interviews coming. I have an interview with a historian coming up to talk about women warriors. I have some story success clinics coming, and there's some openings there if you wanna be a part of the podcast and come on and talk about your writing problem. And I will coach you on air live, and also I have some fun episodes coming about world building, about magic systems, about creating your own religion.

So that's some of the episodes that are coming in the next few months, All right, everyone, write long and prosper.