Fable & The Verbivore
241 episodes - English - Latest episode: 26 days ago - ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsA podcast for writers who read, readers who write, and anyone who loves words.
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Episodes
Episode 41: How's your writing going?
August 04, 2020 06:55 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MBNotes: As Fable mentioned in the introduction to this episode, this episode references a conversation that we had in Episode 10: Choosing a Word for the Year. Fable references the Psychology theory of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. There are many great resources out there if you would like to research into this concept further, but here is an article that we thought was a good start: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Explained - https://www.thoughtco.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4582571 The bo...
Episode 40: Author Answers with Brooke Bohinc
July 30, 2020 12:00 - 5 minutes - 4.65 MBToday is our second post in our Author Answers mini-podcast series! We are so excited to have Brooke Bohinc with us today! Brooke Bohinc is a freelance book editor who is currently writing her first book. When she's not working with authors to get their books ready for publication, she's brainstorming plot twists for her own. We’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Brooke a little bit through Instagram and we love the authentic way she shares herself and her expertise with the world. Als...
Episode 39: Interview with Victoria McCombs
July 28, 2020 06:55 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBNotes: Victoria mentions that she posted a pitch on Twitter during #PitMad. This is a pitch party on Twitter where individual authors pitch their completed, polished, unpublished manuscripts. Agents and editors can make requests for more information. The next date for the 2020 #PitMad is September 3, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EDT). Check out more information on https://pitchwars.org/save-the-dates-pitmad-schedule-for-2020/. Victoria also discussed writing during NaNoWrMo camp. The camp occurs each y...
Episode 38: Pixar Storytelling Part 2
July 21, 2020 06:55 - 39 minutes - 36.1 MBNotes: The Verbivore forgot the name of the Chef in Ratatouille. The chef’s name is Gusteau. The Verbivore discusses the flexibility in Pixar’s story structure. Some of these details came from the “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling” free class available on Khanacademy.org. Here is the link: Introduction to Structure - https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-storytelling/storytelling-pixar-in-a-box/ah-piab-story-structure/v/piab-storystructure Both Fable and the Verbivore talk t...
Episode 37: Pixar Storytelling Part 1
July 14, 2020 06:55 - 31 minutes - 29 MBNotes: The Verbivore discusses the changes that were made to Finding Nemo to make Marlin more empathetic as a character, by moving his backstory to the beggining of the narrative rather than have flashbacks throughout the movie. Those details came from the “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling” free class available on Khanacademy.org. Here is the link: Introduction to Structure - https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-storytelling/storytelling-pixar-in-a-box/ah-piab-story-structure...
Episode 36: Author Answers with Erica Wynters
July 09, 2020 11:00 - 7 minutes - 6.72 MBToday is the first in our new mini-podcast Author Answers series! We have author Erica Wynters with us today answering the question, “How early do you share your work and what does that process look like for you?” Erica Wynters is the author of the In the Desert series, a set of novellas following FBI profiler Alexandra Briggs as she hunts criminals, is stalked by a serial killer, and tries to manage her new relationship with Special Agent Henry Collins. The final installment in the series,...
Episode 35: Let's talk about Inside Out
July 07, 2020 15:18 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBNotes: The Verbivore mentioned some of the story of how Inside Out came to be in the intro to this episode. Pete Docter, the director of Inside Out has done many interviews where he discusses the origin of the story idea, the brainstorming, and the hike that helped him reframe and salvage the story when it fell apart. Here are a couple of the many videos, podcast episodes and articles that helped in preparation for this episode: NY Times Article ‘Inside Out,’ Pixar’s New Movie From Pete Do...
Episode 34: We Hunt The Flame Discussion
June 30, 2020 06:55 - 43 minutes - 40.2 MBNotes: As mentioned by the Verbivore, the second book in Hafsah Faizal’s Sands of Arawiya series is We Free the Stars which is currently set to release on January 19th, 2021. Books Mentioned: We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya) by Hafsah Faizal Music from: https://filmmusic.io ’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Episode 33: Interview with Charissa Adams
June 23, 2020 06:55 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MBNotes: The Verbivore references a line from the play Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4 Scene 1. The line is said by Claudio during his public shaming of Hero. Here is the full line: “O, what men dare do! What men may do! What men daily do, not knowing what they do!” Charissa mentions author Tana French’s work as an example of someone with an acting background using that experience to be able to get inside the heads of a given character when writing in first person. Books Mentioned: Two Gent...
Episode 32: Reading diverse authors
June 16, 2020 06:55 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBNotes: The Verbivore mentions multicultural books towards the early part of the conversation. In thise case, she means both multicultural (reflecting several viewpoints) and diverse (reflecting one diverse viewpoint) books. Both Fable and the Verbivore mention being highly sensitive readers. What we mean by this is the psychological definition of a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Names are important, Poinsettia author Marlene S. DeVose’s last name is actually pronounced “Dee-Vose” with a l...
Episode 31: Writing diverse characters
June 08, 2020 18:55 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MBNotes: Fable mentioned that the author of A Curse So Dark and Lonely sought guidance from her friend who has CP to help with the creation of a character in that book. CP is short for Cerebral Palsy. Both Fable and the Verbivore talk about the idea of not having token characters in your work. The word token can have a negative connotation. We are saying make sure you include diverse characters in a thoughtful way, and that they are well developed within your setting and your story. Fable m...
Episode 30: Break out of the box with your writing
May 26, 2020 06:55 - 50 minutes - 45.9 MBNotes: The Verbivore references a part in Uprooted where Agnieszka calls out the changing feelings she has towards the Dragon and how she wants him to be human. Here is that quote: “I would never have thought of speaking so to my lord, the Dragon: I had hated him, but I wouldn’t have reproached him, any more than I would have reproached a bolt of lightning for striking my house. He wasn’t a person, he was a lord and a wizard, a strange creature on another plane entirely, as far removed as ...
Episode 29: Read what you want, write what you want
May 19, 2020 06:55 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MBNotes: Fable and the Verbivore went to the same high school but different colleges, so we shared many of the same English teachers during our fromative reading years and when we discuss our teachers we are thinking of many of the same ones. Books Mentioned: The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh The Rose and the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh Twilight by Stephenie Meyer Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer The Hunger G...
Episode 28: Interview with Shawn Smucker
May 11, 2020 18:55 - 45 minutes - 42.1 MBNotes: The Stories Between Us episode that features Chad Alan Gibbs is titled “Chad Gibbs: Writing Rejection and Independent Publishing Success”. Books Mentioned: The Day the Angels Fell by Shawn Smucker The Edge of Over There by Shawn Smucker Light from Distant Stars by Shawn Smucker Once We Were Strangers by Shawn Smucker These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia) by C. S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia Box Set by C. S. Lewis...
Episode 27: How we personally brainstorm and come up with ideas
May 05, 2020 06:55 - 28 minutes - 26 MBNotes: The Verbivore references the quote from Neil Gaiman that says, “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” Music from: https://filmmusic.io ’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Episode 26: We need each other
April 28, 2020 06:55 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MBNotes: The Verbivore talks about discussing the latest Star Wars with her sister. She is referencing the “Rise of Skywalker” movie, but also the overarching themes of the sequel trilogy and the full Star Wars saga of nine films. The Verbivore mentions the Graveyard book conversation we had early on in our podcast, that conversation is in episode 5. The Verbivore references this quote “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” - Ge...
Episode 25: Interview with Lisa Baxmann
April 21, 2020 06:55 - 46 minutes - 42.4 MBNotes: Lisa mentions several authors that she has enjoyed following on instagram and learning about their path. Those authors are Sabaa Tahir @sabaatahir and Robin LaFevers @rllafevers. Both of these writers are very open about their writing process and share writing tools and tips, words of encouragement, and their own writing struggles. The Verbivore touches on professionl writing habits that you may have to actively correct when you want to write a novel. What was meant by “professional...
Episode 24: Reading and creating in the time of COVID-19
April 14, 2020 06:55 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBNotes: The Verbivore mentions “The Wrath and the Dawn” webtoon episodic comic created by SilvesterVitale using the story by Renee Ahdieh. They are up to episode 25, and the homepage is located here. Fable mentioned an advanced copy that she is reading from an author that we connected with on the Fable and the Verbivore Instagram page. That author is S. Z. Attwell (@szattwellauthor) and her upcoming book is titled “The Burning Lands” which is due to be released in summer 2020. The Verbivor...
Episode 23: Who are you to create?
April 07, 2020 06:55 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MBNotes: The Verbivore talks about the line “Who do you think you are? Who are you to think that you could walk a road that no one’s ever walked before” from Broadway’s Hadestown. They performed this song “Wait for Me” at the 2019 Tony awards, and this video on YouTube has the part she references starting at timestamp 2:40. The Verbivore mistakenly changes a word in the Yoda quote from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It is: “The greatest teacher, failure is.” The Verbivore mentions re-framing une...
Episode 22: Imitation as a way to find your voice
March 31, 2020 06:55 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBNotes: Fable mentions the poetry writing exercise that we completed and discussed in “Episode 12: Here Are My Words”, where we read poems and then attempted to recreate the works from memory or immitate the voice or style of the work with our own words. This idea came from Mary Oliver’s book The Poetry Handbook. Fable and the Verbivore are participating in the 100 days project, each day posting a creative work (written, photographic, drawn, mixed media, etc.) from their personal Instagram ...
Episode 21: Mixing fairytale, myth, and good character development
March 24, 2020 14:23 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MBNotes: The Verbivore reads the dedication at the beginning of Hunted. Here are those words, as they were included in the book: “To the girl who reads by flashlight who sees dragons in the clouds who feels most alive in worlds that never were who knows magic is real who dreams This is for you” The Verbivore references the rule of three as part of this episode. In fairytales and many other works, you’ll find that things tend to come in threes (three little pigs, three brothers/sisters, thr...
Episode 20: Setting reader expectations through your cover and book blurb
March 17, 2020 06:55 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MBNotes: The Verbivore mentions Brené Brown’s Netflix special “Brené Brown: The Call to Courage” in this episode, which she highly recommends. The story about how the design process went for the cover of her book Daring Greatly starts at timestamp 3:10. Books Mentioned: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutko...
Episode 19: Suspense, pacing, action! Oh my!
March 10, 2020 06:55 - 38 minutes - 35.7 MBNotes: The definition of tension is "the state of being stretched tight, a strained state or condition resulting from forces acting in opposition to each other, a relationship between ideas or qualities with conflicting demands or implications". The “Mystery Box” story style mentioned by the Verbivore was created by J. J. Abrams and tends to be seen in most of his work including the TV show Lost which he co-created. In his Ted Talk, J. J. proposes that this style of storytelling makes the ...
Episode 18: Interview with Kelsie Engen
March 03, 2020 06:55 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBNotes: First off, Fable mispronounces Kelsie’s last name in this episode. We apologize for that and for any confusion it may cause. Names matter and it’s important to us that we note this mistakes. Engen is said with a soft “ng” sound, like the “ng” in “hang”, making it sound a bit like ang-in when said correctly. The short story that Kelsie mentions which further explores Queen Blanche’s origin is titled “The Queen’s Orchard” within the Just-US League anthologyThe Magic Within. Details o...
Episode 17: Being kind to your readers and writing subtle character growth
February 25, 2020 06:55 - 45 minutes - 41.7 MBNotes: Fable and the Verbivore both mention a fourth book in the Lady Sherlock Series, that book is titled Art of Theft. Sherry Thomas’ publisher has also just announced that book 5 titled Murder on Cold Street will be released on Sept. 8th, 2020. The Verbivore references Pixar’s 22 Rules for Storytelling that says, “Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.” Like anything, we don’t consider these steadfast rules, but guidelines...
Episode 16: Writing romantic chemistry part 2
February 18, 2020 06:55 - 17 minutes - 15.9 MBNotes: The Verbivore paraphrases a quote that Pixar storyteller Andrew Stanton included in his Ted Talk titled “The Clues to a great story”. That quote comes from time stamp 2:10 of the youtube.com video, and references words given to children’s TV host Mr. Rogers by Mary Lou Kownacki. He kept this written on a piece of paper in his wallet. The quote is as follows: “Frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.” There are a variety of theories and m...
Episode 15: How to write great romantic chemistry
February 11, 2020 06:55 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBNotes: There are a variety of theories and models that describe and define elements of romantic chemistry and interpersonal attraction. We choose one that spoke to us and made sense within our own life experience. The romantic chemistry framework using 4 types of attraction (Physical, Intellectual, Social, and Emotional) that the Verbivore mentioned comes from several sources, but was most informed by author Kristen Kieffer’s Well-Storied blog post “How to Craft Romantic Chemistry Between C...
Episode 14: How to review a book and other questions we aren't sure how to answer
February 04, 2020 06:55 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBNotes: Fable and the Verbivore are both exploring classes from authors and artists using annual passes on MasterClass Online Class. The conversation starts out with Laura talked about a comment made by non-fiction writer Malcolm Gladwell in his class videos about his experience with critical reviews of his work. The Daring Greatly quote read by the Verbivore and made by Theodore Roosevelt is the touchstone for author Brene Brown’s (PhD, LMSW) book by the same name. This book is a research ...
Episode 13: When good books have unsatisfying endings
January 27, 2020 19:55 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBThe Verbivore mentions Red Queen series author Victoria Aveyard educational background as a screen writer as part of the introduction. She graduated from the U. of Southern California Screenwriting program. The Verbivore’s sister Lisa is the one that recommended the Red Queen novel. The other series of books we reference that she recommended is the Winner’s Trilogy from Marie Rutkoski. The research that the Verbivore did on the Red Queen map lead to discover that Victoria Aveyard is a map ...
Episode 12: Here are my words
January 21, 2020 06:55 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBNotes: Fable states that she believes the idea for the exercise of reading a poem and then attempting to recreate the work from memory came from Mary Oliver. This is correct, and the recommendation came from her book The Poetry Handbook. Fable uses poetry from Anis Mojgani’s book, In the Pockets of Small Gods as inspiration for the style behind her second poem. The Verbivore references a sentence from Naomi Novik’s Uprooted where all the words worked together to support an overarching fee...
Episode 11: Interview with Maile Silva
January 14, 2020 06:55 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MBNotes: The references that Maile makes to closed door and open door writing is from Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Maile and The Verbivore also reference On Writing when they talk about the large number of rejections that Stephen King received and the spike on his wall where he put his rejection letters. We highly recommend this resource for writers and creatives alike. Books mentioned: Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Great ...
Episode 10: Choosing a word for the year
January 07, 2020 06:55 - 14 minutes - 13.6 MBNotes: Laura mentions the story trope of forests/woods being a place of transformation. This tends to be a story symbol/truism used in many old and modern works alike (most often in fairy tales and fantasy), where the hero/heroine travel into an enchanted forest and returns changed in some way. This device is used significantly in Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The movie Frozen 2 has Olaf call out the forest trope directly in his dialogue, which had Laura laughing out loud in the theater while watch...
Episode 9: The one where we talk about goals, habits, and the New Year
December 31, 2019 06:55 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MBNotes: The Verbivore references a journal created by a YA author that has writing topics. The journal is the The Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of Magic by Leigh Bardugo. This is one of an infinite number of tools that can be helpful, if you are not sure where to start with habitual writing. Laura uses a variety of resources based on her given mood from childhood memories, random shower thoughts, and Pinterest prompts as part of her daily writing habit. At the end of the episode, the V...
Episode 8: The one where we talk about Christmas and story
December 24, 2019 06:55 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MBNotes: The Verbivore mentions that A Christmas Carol helped construct how she saw the world and humanity while growing up. Here is the Charles Dickens quote she was specifically referencing: “I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they reall...
Episode 7: The one where we continue the page turner conversation
December 17, 2019 06:59 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBNotes: For science nerds like the Verbivore, here are some resources of the Harry Potter and Empathy study: Harry Potter and the Elixir of Empathy The greatest magic of Harry Potter: Reducing prejudice When the Verbivore mentions Belle, she is specifically referencing Disney’s animated film Beauty and the Beast. The Verbivore mentioned a Harry Potter book where she wanted to throw all the characters into time out, that was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Although, she secretly l...
Episode 6: The one where we interview Corinne Cunningham
December 10, 2019 04:00 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MBLearn more about Corinne Cunningham: http://www.corinnenoelcunningham.com/ https://www.instagram.com/crnnoel/?hl=en https://amzn.to/2qyiT4m In this episode Corinne also mentions Rachael Herron’s system for revision, which you can find here: https://rachaelherron.com/how-to-revise-your-novel/ Books mentioned: Outline Your Novel by K.M. Weiland https://amzn.to/2qAT4kb Music from: https://filmmusic.io ’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creati...
Episode 5: The book club episode where we geek out about Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book
December 03, 2019 06:59 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MBBooks mentioned in this episode: The Graveyard Book by Neil GaimanAmerican Gods by Neil GaimanStardust by Neil GaimanCoraline by Neil GaimanNeverwhere by Neil GaimanThe Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling NOTES: We say Gaiman’s name a few different ways in this episode. It is said like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlJljIjDkeI Music from: https://filmmusic.io’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Episode 4: The one where we expose our anxious self-doubt
November 27, 2019 01:11 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBRelated reading: Daring Greatly Music from: https://filmmusic.io ’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Episode 3: The one where we discuss emotional reading and POV
November 27, 2019 01:01 - 18 minutes - 16.7 MBBooks mentioned: Down the Mysterly River Music from: https://filmmusic.io ’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Episode 2: The one where Fable talks about her WIP
November 26, 2019 05:38 - 21 minutes - 19.5 MBBooks mentioned: The Princess and the Goblin Music from: https://filmmusic.io ’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Episode 1: The one where The Verbivore shares her love of books
November 26, 2019 05:37 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBEpisode Notes: Beth mentions getting the idea for interviewing each other from another podcast but doesn't speak the name of it very clearly. That podcast is one of our current favorite podcasts on writing and it's called The Stories Between Us. We hope you'll check it out. Books mentioned: Chronicles of Narnia (in particular Prince Caspian) Music from: https://filmmusic.io ’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/...