Fable & The Verbivore

Today, Fable and the Verbivore have the great pleasure of sharing our latest author interview! In this episode, we’re talking with author K.T. Anglehart.

K.T. (Katrina) is a writer who loves all things magical. Her first novel The Wise One was released right around Halloween last year and is an urban fantasy set in Ireland, which focuses on the main character McKenna as she grapples with her newly awakened magical abilities and travels to Ireland seeking answers about her past. Katrina is currently working on writing the sequel in this “The Scottish Scrolls” series, more information on her series can be found on her website at https://www.ktanglehart.com/.

In this episode, Katrina talks about sharing your work and figuring out what’s yours to take away from the critique process, relaxing and allowing your first drafts to be as messy as they need to as you work towards finding and making it a book, and how mythology can be a great source of inspiration when starting the world building process.

Throughout the episode, Katrina offers some great writing advice about following your interest and the things that excite you, as well as not giving up on an idea but sticking with it and continuing to develop it and enrich it over time.

Towards the end of this episode, Katrina mentions that something she wished she knew earlier in her writing journey was how important it is to start building a support system for your writing and to find a community of writers you can exchange your work with.

Katrina posts regularly on Instagram often with stunning Celtic and fantastical images as well as great writing advice. We highly recommend connecting with her and her work on Instagram @kt_anglehart and on her website at https://www.ktanglehart.com.

We hope you enjoy this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Today, Fable and the Verbivore are excited to share our June book club episode! This month we chose to dig into Leigh Bardugo’s enthralling fantasy heist duology, the Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

This series has a funny history on our podcast, as Fable read it over a year ago, loved it, and has mentioned it multiple times on our show - and it has been on the Verbivore’s TBR list for over two years. But we both feel that this conversation was well worth the wait.

The Six of Crows duology focuses on a motley crew of characters brought together in the grimy Barrel of Ketterdam - who have to overcome their differences and execute an impossible heist – all while facing possible death and betrayal at every turn. To us, this book combined the best that the found family story trope has to offer along with the engrossing twists and turns of a great thriller.

In this episode, we discuss how the author created larger-than-life characters that are none-the-less grounded in reality, how the opening chapter of Six of Crows play out the stakes of this story in miniature, and how the timing of POV switches right as a character is facing an important decision can create an internally driven cliffhanger.   

We also talk about how forcing characters into the perspectives of someone they are at odds with can help build tension and internal conflict around what they’ll chose to believe going forward and how that will impact their actions. 

We hope you enjoy listening to this episode, we sure enjoyed having this conversation! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Today, Fable and the Verbivore are rounding out their mythology and fairytales conversations with an episode on symbolism.

There are many frameworks for defining and describing types of literary symbolism. We reference one of these, but feel that the most important feature of symbolism is that wherever it’s used the word or element contains additional meaning and attributes beyond just the surface level definition. It can also serve as a sort of shorthand, giving a reader a known element to build the unique aspects of a story upon.

We mention that the authors intended meaning and the contextual meaning that the reader brings to a story may not always work together in harmony. For writers, researching and paying attention to the cultural context of a setting and timeframe for the story can be helpful to ensure the symbolism is used to your advantage and to avoid attaching unintended meaning to some of your story elements.

Some examples we discuss include the green light in The Great Gatsby, the gift of gloves in Caraval, the ribbons, flowers, and seeds in The Grace Year, and the snake biting its own tail in Mexican Gothic. We also talk about symbols as a way to set your story apart and make it distinctive, many book covers take advantage of key visual elements to draw a reader in to a story.

We hope you enjoy listening to this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Today, Fable and the Verbivore talk about all things fairy tales.

Fairy tales are defined as “a story, often intended for children, that features fanciful and wondrous characters such as elves, goblins, wizards, and even, but not necessarily, fairies. Fairy tales are often traditional; many were passed down from story-teller to story-teller before being recorded in books.”

Birthed from locally shared folk tales that were passed down by word of mouth through generations, to the Disney movies and inventive modern retellings that we have at our fingertips today, fairy tales are all a part of our lives.

During this episode, we talk about how fairy tales may be stripped down storytelling but they still carry a lot of emotional weight and represent in often fantastical situations things that we can relate to in our own lives. They are also a great writing tool that can be used by taking elements of one of these timeless stories that many of us know and adding a unique setting and asking “what if” in order to create something altogether new but still familiar. Or twisting around the story and changing the perspective or the meaning.

We hope you enjoy listening to this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

This week, Fable and the Verbivore dive into all things Mythology and the retellings that these narratives inspire.

Myths are a genre of Folklore and are defined as "a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events." They’re also characterized by their cultural significance and staying power.

From Disney movies to Star Wars to Percy Jackson to American Gods, elements of myth can be found in many places within modern novels, cinema and television, and even musicals. We talk about many examples that we personally enjoy, as well as some fascinating and diverse myth retellings that are new or upcoming.

We also discuss how elements of classic myths are used to help tell new stories and to even change the cultural mindsets of the people who interact with them. And how approaching a retelling from a unique lens can help create something new that also connects with and adds to the human experience.

We hope you enjoy listening this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Today, Fable and the Verbivore are thrilled to share our May book club episode! This month we focused on the romance genre and chose as our read the hilarious and delightful Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters.

The story of Would Like to Meet revolves around the heroine Evie’s many attempts to create a successful real-life meet cute, so that she can inspire a client at the struggling film agency she works for out of a writing funk – hoping to spark an idea that will help him to finally finsh his long delayed Romantic Comedy script. To us, this book read like a humorous love letter to rom coms and those that enjoy watching and reading them - while also challenging and even subverting some of the antiquated tropes in the genre.

In this episode, we talk about how the author contrasted the ridiculous and occasionally over the top meet cutes sequences with layered characters and subtle moments that felt human and relatable. There are also several key pieces of Evie’s history that are hinted at, but are left to unfold naturally over time which setup some fantastic reveals.

Towards the end, we talk about how on theme the chapter openings were with the location and secondary scene headings setting the stage for the action as you would typically find in a screenplay. It was a brilliant way to establish the location and situation, so that the story could just jump directly into the meat of the moments.

We hope you enjoy this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Today, Fable and the Verbivore talk about meet cutes - the tropes we enjoy and books/movies that do them well.

As we prepare for next week’s book club episode on the romantic comedy Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters, we thought it would be fun for this week’s episode to look a little deeper at the concept of the meet cute.

Throughout this episode we dive into the four different types of meet cutes, how they can be used in stories to set up character relationship dynamics and create uncertainty or tension, and how focusing on character driven scenarios can help these scenes ring true. Also, we bring up some examples of favorite movie meet-ups that we feel create memorable connections (or disconnections) that move their plots forward while also telling us something about the characters personalities and the obstacles in their way.

Towards the end, we talk about avoiding cliches by focusing on the unique situations and settings that your characters would find themselves in and the ways in which they’ll interact going forward - be it a conflict driven, an attraction driven, or a more nervous/neutral first meeting. We also talk about subverting and twisting around some of the more common tropes to create something new.

We hope you enjoy listening this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Today we are delighted to share our latest author interview! In this episode, Fable and the Verbivore get to speak with author and self-styled banter enthusiast Chandra Blumberg.

Chandra is a writer who loves a good romance and witty dialogue. At the end of last year, she signed with BookEnds Literary Agency and her debut novel Digging Up Love is set to publish in December of this year. We first connected with Chandra on Instagram @chandrablumberg and strongly related to her humorous and thoughtful posts on being a writer and a mom. She consistently drops wisdom and advice on the writing craft and great reading recommendations - along with scrumptious looking baking project photos.

In this episode, Chandra shares some of the lessons she’s learned along her writing journey. Reminding us not to believe the lie that our dreams are unachievable. Though it may take time, hard work and continuing to learn will help you get where you want to be. Her advice for writing moms is not to put too much pressure on yourself if it takes a while to get back to reading and writing during stretches of time - and remember the things you do while taking care of your kids can help inspire you later.

Chandra touches on some of the things that have inspired her stories - a great reminder that ideas can come from anywhere if we pay attention. She also discusses how diverse the romance genre is, that there is a story for everyone, and describes her own recipe for romance.

Towards the end, Chandra talks about the importance of pacing for writing humor, allowing your characters to say what they want as you write dialogue (without editing up front), and some of the strategies she uses for keeping track of information in her romance series.

Chandra posts regularly on Instagram with humorous anecdotes and glimpses into her writing life. We highly recommend connecting with her on her Instagram @chandrablumberg and on her website at chandrablumberg.com.

We hope you enjoy listening this episode, we certainly enjoyed this conversation! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Today, Fable and the Verbivore continue our conversation with our reader friend Sara Laverty. But this time, we talk about life, books, movies and tv shows, and how we’re all doing.

This was an informal conversation that took place after wrapping up the Animal Dreams book club recording. We’d kept recording through it, but hadn’t originally planned to share it. However, we enjoyed it so much that we thought it might connect with others as well.

In this episode, we talk about a lot of different things: the books and movies we’re enjoying, physics and time travel, the broad landscape of science fiction, how creativity has looked for us this year, and being a friend/support/keeper to yourself during life’s hard times.

We hope you enjoy this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

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Fable & The Verbivore

Today, we have Francesca Brine with us for our Author Answers episode. Francesca is a 27 year old Scottish author of Adult Fantasy novels. In today’s episode she shares about her experience with querying and encourages all of us to stick with it, even when faced with rejections.

Francesca says: “I have always loved writing, I think it came along very soon after my love of reading. Creating stories and letting folks find an escape or a laugh is my main goal, it's why I write! I was first inspired to write by the late and great Sir Terry Pratchett, and his Discworld fantasy series of books. His satirical tone and his wonderfully original world just grabbed my imagination and never let go. I attended Stirling University and have my bachelors degree in English Literature with honours. So far I've completed 15 novels, and there's plenty more still to come!”

You can learn more about Fran on her Instagram account (@fran.writes), where she shares about her comics and about her writing journey.

Keep writing and keep putting your work out in the world!

Into the Woods,

Fable & The Verbivore