A podcast for story lovers, Storybeast explores how we weave tales and why we love them. Co-hosts Ghabiba Weston and C. Shack chat with each other and legendary guests about different elements of various books, tv shows, plays, and other modalities to explore this fundamental aspect of humanity. Come for the story, stay for the snacks.
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.In this episode of Season 4 Part 2:Courtney and Ghabiba reflect on the past seasonThe duo discusses the concept of "dreaming big" and how to do it when you feel like you can'tThe banter is as high as the heat as Ghabiba explains the concept of the snackdownThe beasts battle it out in an epic snack battle with the menu you voted for!Ghabiba and Courtney wish you a fantastic summer!For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Daniel Habib.Daniel Habib is an American-Lebanese author, teacher, and acclaimed filmmaker. A student of King, Barker and Ito, his prolific screenwriting career has birthed numerous successful series and feature films, earning both critical acclaim and commercial success. Today, he channels his dark gift into crafting thrilling and heart-pounding stories across various media formats.In this episode:Daniel elaborates on his "dark gift" of the story craftwe chat about stepping into your story identityDaniel shares about his storytelling journeyyou'll hear more about the politics of TVyou get a peek behind the scenes of the horror anthology, Arabian NightmaresDaniel shares advice for writers who want to write across media formatsyou'll hear about bleeding through the pen and being a buffetDaniel shares some insight into his latest film, "Cobra."For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.In this episode of Season 4 Part 2:Ghabiba introduces the topic of today's discussion, “space,” with a pun (please clap)The duo pulls apart concepts of scene setting, feelings in spaces, and connect it to the last G&C episode on “time.”The beasts discuss the pressures to create quickly and how it can conflict with a creative's need to playCourtney recommends Zoe York to help you figure out your long term goalsGhabiba brings up the concept of giving yourself “space” as a creative and Courtney vows to clean her room. The duo discusses how if you're not looking at your dream, it doesn't mean it's gone.Ideas of small person image and safe places in one's mind surfaceA loving chat about snacks, including pasta and crackersThe beasts banter about the smackdown- don't miss your chance to vote on April 4th!For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing Legendary Eva Des Lauriers.Eva Des Lauriers is the author of the Young Adult romance, I WISH YOU WOULD, out with Henry Holt & Co (BYR) May 21, 2024. When she isn't writing, you can find her wandering through the redwoods, staring at the sea, or pretending she's in a music video. She lives with her family and her collection of kissing books in Oakland, CA.In this episode, you'll hear aboutthe aftermath of I WISH YOU WOULD's debutthe gorgeous editions of IWYWthe mental health experience after debutingEva's way to protect her creative spacethe quiet grief cycle of creationEva's one piece of advice to debut authorsEva sophomore novelEva's advice for channeling your inner young adult when writing YAwhat book 2 has taught Eva (be prepared to feel inspired)how Eva gets unstuckEva's writing ritual, including a meditation by Julia Jacksonhow Eva settles the tea battle between Ghabiba and Zeyneb HoldridgeFor more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.In this episode of Season 4 Part 2, the Beasts:discuss various ways time is used in storieshow time done well is often unnoticeable, but executed poorly can ruin a storygive examples of how time is used in Six of Crows, the Way of Kings, Arcane, and New Moon.use every opportunity to make puns about timeCourtney discusses her use of a ticking clock in her novel, Lady of Roses and RuinGhabiba raves about a new bookFor more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Ruth McKell have the pleasure of interviewing Legendary Taylor Grothe.Taylor Grothe is an autistic, nonbinary queer writer passionate about voice-driven narratives centering on strong, compelling femmes and enbies. A 2024 Nonfiction MFA Candidate in Fairfield University's Creative Writing Program, their work can be found in Coffin Bell, Bag of Bones Press, Haven Speculative, Shortwave Magazine, and various other places. They were a Round 9 Author Mentor Match adult mentor, the graduate Assistant Managing Editor of Brevity Magazine for 2022-23, one of the founding members of and the 2023-24 program coordinator for Round Table Mentor, and a host of Queer Author Talk (#QATalk) on X, formerly Twitter. They are scheduled to speak at StokerCon San Diego 2024, on the Modern Young Adult Horror panel. When not writing or playing cello, you can find them planting the garden alongside their two young children and spouse in the most haunted state in America, Connecticut.In this episode, you'll hear:how to say French words like an American (spoiler, none of us actually knows the correct way)how Taylor started writing horrorabout the joy of unhinged freedom in writing horrorabout using atmosphere to build characterwhat's behind Taylor's story inspirationwhat we consider the book version of a jump scareabout Taylor's incredible debut, HOLLOW: where craft skills meet heart skillsabout Taylor's top 3 horror writing tips for aspiring horror writers Taylor's research processthe secret to sounding like an expert in anything you writeabout a jumping off point for starting your own idea trove (great for short story ideas!)Taylor's advice on how to tackle writing a short storywhat writing non-fiction can teach you as a fiction writersome love for cheeseFor more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story.In this episode of Season 4 Part 2, the Beasts:discuss some amazing achievementsgive revision tips for pantsersget real about embracing "the suck" of hard tasks and balancing that with real lifetalk about some amazing snacks (like usual, but also, these really are good)For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing Legendary Maddie Martinez.Maddie Martinez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where her love of stories began with desert plumes and watermelon sunsets. She has a Bachelor's in Political Science from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Master's in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University in Washington, DC. You can now find Maddie in New York City, filling her tiny apartment with an unwieldy number of books. The Maiden and Her Monster is her first novel.In this episode:Courtney and Maddie bond over living in New Mexico.We chat all things The Maiden and Her Monster.Maddie shares more about her research process and story inspiration.We get into the love of broadway, freaks, and monstersStorybeast fieldtrip to a Hozier concert anyone?We chat lessons in pacing and the fashion icon advice that can help guide your story craft.Maddie shares her horror recs and offers us candy.For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to a special FANGIRLING episode, in which your Beasts (Courtney and Ghabiba) discuss Season 1 of Arcane with the incredible Ruth Mckell. In this episode, you'll hear: Major fangirling!! And spoilers!!! Don't say we didn't warn you! Different corruption arcs in Arcane and how we view them Jinx apologists defending her Theories for season 2Thank you for joining us on this mini series. We hope to do more. If you have special requests for future FANGIRLING topics, let us know!For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Alix E. Harrow.Alix E. Harrow is the NYT-bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches, Starling House, and various short fiction, including a duology of retold fairy tales (A Spindle Splintered and A Mirror Mended). Her work has won a Hugo and a British Fantasy Award, and been shortlisted for the Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, Southern Book Prize, and Goodreads Choice awards. She's from Kentucky, but now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband and their two semi-feral kids.Her writing is represented by Kate McKean at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.In this episode, Alixshares how she approaches short vs long form fictiontalks about her writing processshares advice on honing your writing skillsgives us a delightful intro to a 1926 novel that revived her story joy. A witch who runs off to the woods? Deals with the devil? Please and thanks.delves into how she likes to use framing devices in her writingtells us her fav fairy tale and tropesindulges Courtney's need for secrets by telling us more about her forthcoming "lady knight time travel" book (Fall 2025)points out what happens as the Tamora Pierce girls are coming of age: i.e. more lady knight books to look out for soonFor more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks!A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify.As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast.Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to a special FANGIRLING episode, in which your Beasts (Courtney and Ghabiba) discuss Season 1 of Arcane with the incredible Ruth Mckell. In this episode, you'll hear: Major fangirling!! And spoilers!!! Don't say we didn't warn you! What makes a strong female character A discussion of various characters and if they qualify as "strong" Different types of strength Join us for final (for now) FANGRILING OVER ARCANE episode to discuss corruption arcs. Are you ready? For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston has the pleasure of interviewing legendary Gabriella Buba. Gabriella Buba is a mixed Filipina-Czech writer and chemical engineer based in Texas who likes to keep explosive pyrophoric materials safely contained in pressure vessels or between the covers of her books. She writes adult romantic fantasy for bold, bi, brown women who deserve to see their stories centered. SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW is out now, DAUGHTERS OF FLOOD AND FURY coming your way July 2025. In this episode, you'll hear about getting ATLA's prince Zuko (Dante Basco) to narrate Saints of Storm and Sorrow writing as a BIPOC author giving yourself permission to write from a place of inner truth Ghabiba's take on what makes fan fiction so popular finding validation in stories that resonate Gabriella's incredible book looks and her product recs Gabriella's publishing journey the power of spite the dark side of publishing for marginalized authors the one thing Gabriella learned about the publishing process that she didn't know going in the book 2 struggle bus Gabriella's favourite snack For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to a special FANGIRLING episode, in which your Beasts (Courtney and Ghabiba) discuss Season 1 of Arcane with the incredible Ruth Mckell. In this episode, you'll hear: Major fangirling!! And spoilers!!! Don't say we didn't warn you! Character foils Relationship foils Storytelling strategies and how these relate to theme Join us for the next FANGRILING OVER ARCANE episode to discuss strong women. After that...corruption arcs, anyone? For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Katherine Arden. Katherine Arden is the New York Times Bestselling author of books for adults and children, including The Winternight Trilogy, The Small Spaces Quartet, and The Warm Hands of Ghosts. She lives in Vermont. In this episode, you'll hear about: the importance of writer boredom in allowing space for your imagination Katherine's methods for keeping that space Katherine's stationery recs Katherine in danger of purple pen theft by Courtney the writer moratorium Katherine's inspo behind the small spaces quartet horror: dread and fright through atmosphere horror as a study of emotion exploration without the abstract the emotional component to building atmosphere plotting versus pantsing (find out which one Katherine is) and staying true to your characters Katherine's advice on approaching revision Tamora Pierce and her formative influence Katherine's advice for creating vivid scenes for the reader the worst writing advice Katherine's ever heard For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode of Season 4 Part 2, the Beasts: get real chatty about things they love, but insist they are not sponsored (really, they are not) talk about goals and themes for 2025 Courtney says numbers and Ghabiba does the math (it's book related, promise!) Discuss burnout and how to avoid it this year Claim Emily Rath as their own and get real into the excitement for North is the Night Talk about upcoming projects Allude to a secret that is now out--congrats to McKell Wall on her book announcement, Honey in Her Veins. Chat about upcoming Arcane episodes with McKell. Have snacks. Find Courtney's spinach and artichoke dip recipe she liked here or here Ghabiba's kale salad recipe. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this final episode of Season 4 Part 1, the Beasts: recount the highlights of the Storybeast virtual conference, 'Romantasy Summit 2024' share some of their takeaways (one of those may or may not be how to scoop out an eyeball) share resources non-attendees can access feel cool because they can now do an Anakin sword spin recommend a show which they feel is a great study in characterisation give some hints for who to expect in our Legendary line-up for Season 4 Part 2 For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Thea Guanzon. Thea Guanzon is a New York Times, USA Today, Indie List, Sunday Times, and global bestselling author from the Philippines. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, with a specialization in International Politics and a minor in Peace Studies. When she's not writing, she likes to travel, fangirl over villains, play Dungeons & Dragons, annoy her cats, and drink iced coffee. She currently resides in Metro Manila. In this episode, you'll hear about: Thea's author journey Inspiration for the Hurricane Wars Reylo as the third pillar of civilization delicious food and what to expect from Monsoon Rising (out December 10) For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode: Courtney shares her take on essential Romantasy ingredients. you'll hear about what to expect from Romantasy Summit's sword yoga guided break Ghabiba shares a fun sword fact you'll hear about a gift from WeaponUp from Romantasy Summit attendees the Beasts announce a Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale for Romantasy Summit Courtney has Lie Pie A special note for our listeners: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into the course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. Registration closes December 4th, 2024. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Emily Varga. In this episode, you'll hear about: Emily's publication journey Feminine Rage Tropes and characters in For She is Wrath Advice on managing life as an author And lots of swords A special note on our winter conference: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into our course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode Ghabiba has feelings (who would've guessed) the beasts discuss facing challenges in your pj's the world is on fire: the outside challenge how do I create in times like this? the inside challenge you'll hear about craft challenges that can help you step outside your comfort zone and expand your talent Gabi reveals a secret future legendary whose wisdom has been instrumental in helping her break out of her writing comfort zone Courtney talks about getting past the "graveyard of beginnings" Ghabiba shares more about her short stories and touches on tapping into "the you outside of writing" to lend context and flavor to your characters and themes Courtney plays the audience and Ghabiba gives you a micro-documentary on a snake from Africa the beasts discuss finding ways to challenge yourself within a genre and interpret conventions with intention Ghabiba talks about using physical changes within a story to represent themes, esp. helpful in short form fiction where a lot of what you want to convey is implied Courtney talks about when real world challenges spill into your writing space the beasts discuss finding YOUR internal character motivations and staying challenged Courtney shares book recs in the spirit of short stories and ARCANE! A special note for our listeners: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into the course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. Save your seat today. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Clare Sager. Clare Sager writes fantasy stories with adventure, intrigue, darkness, and a heaping spoonful of steamy romance. Her favourite tropes include enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and tricky fae bargains that just might be more trouble than they're worth. She lives in Nottingham, Robin Hood country, so it's no surprise she writes about characters who don't always play by the rules. In this episode, you'll hear: About dealing with burnout Love for Becca Syme and her Better Faster Academy Shout outs to Charlie's Book Recs' substack How Clare's method of relaxing impacts her stories Clare hint at what's next for her in the writing world Bonding over poison A special note on our winter conference: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into our course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode: Ghabiba flies solo and says nice things about Courtney It's Courtney's birthday and she has a gift for you! you get a reminder of the Lit for Lebanon auction and some Very Cool Things you can bid on until 2 November. Ghabiba answers the top three questions from you, our lovely listeners! you'll hear about the common denominator of your success you'll hear about the ins and outs of handling feedback you'll hear how to start a podcast A special note for our listeners: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into the course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. Don't forget to save your seat today. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Cecy Robson. Cecy Robson is an international and award-winning author who is published with Penguin, Random House, and now Entangled Publishing's new imprint, Red Tower Books. As an immigrant of El Salvador with proud Nahua Pipil indigenous heritage, Cecy became the first college graduate in her family and has worked as a registered nurse for twenty-three years. In her free time, Cecy creates magical worlds, heart-stopping romance, and young adult adventure. You can find Cecy laughing, crying, and cheering on her characters as she pens her next story. In this episode, you'll hear: about beautiful book covers the ways in which Cecy will hurt you with her books the amazing story behind the birth of BLOODGUARD some Aragorn appreciation (to no one's surprise) about Romantasy drawing on Romance series conventions and what to expect next from the BLOODGUARD world about Cecy's fun way of making sure her fight scenes work about the time Cecy went to get a tissue and got an agent instead about the power of kindness in the writing community Courtney and Cecy bond over their collection of medieval weaponry how "the family that slays together stays together" Cecy's method writing approach: how to use the power of music and visualization as inspiration for deepening character and emotion Cecy bringing feelings into snacks--and we're here for it! about the legality of carrying swords in North Carolina Cecy proclaiming Courtney and Ghabiba her forever besties Cecy offers two of her books as gifts to our listeners! Check out our Instagram for more on how to enter. Storybeast is a proud supporter of the Lit for Lebanon auction, where we're offering four full passes to Romantasy Summit to raise funds for Threads of Peace. To bid, check out 32auctions.com/l4l A special note on our winter conference: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into our course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: Courtney's reading streak and the duo's love for City of Brass by Shannon Chakraborty Myths, fairytales, and history to give story a grounded element, as well as favorite retellings Courtney talks out loud about her worldbuilding spiderweb process with examples Ghabiba compliments Courtney's brain The pair talk about brain fatigue The snack chat devolves into bickering, but Courtney shares this recipe (probably again) Opportunities to donate to the Lit for Lebanon auction A special note for our listeners: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into the course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. Don't forget to save your seat today. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary K.A. Linde.K.A. Linde is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wren in the Holly Library. She is prolific in both romance and fantasy and loves the blend of the two. She has a Masters degree in political science and bachelors in philosophy from the University of Georgia. In her previous life, she was a head campaign worker for a presidential campaign and the coach of the Duke University dance team. She loves reading fantasy novels, traveling to far-off destinations, and dancing in her spare time. She currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her husband, son, and super-adorable puppy. In this episode, you'll hear: Gabi getting an idea for a new job the beasts fangirling with KA Linde over puppies and ATLA about the gorgeous THE WREN IN THE HOLLY LIBRARY map about K.A. Linde's process for exploring setting and history us all nerding out over easter eggs in THE WREN IN THE HOLLY LIBRARY K.A. Linde's approach to writing politics in fantasy about magic: writing it, reading it, getting excited about it about retellings and making them their own as a writer K.A. Linde's gasp-worthy writing journey and her process for releasing up to 6 books a year A special note and a gift for our listeners: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into the course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. For $30 off your purchase, use our code BEBRAVE30 at checkout. This code is valid through October 13th. Don't wait, save your seat today. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: How Ghabiba met Sarah A. Parker in person Phantasma by Kaylie Smith Long chats about historical romance novels Reading slumps and the challenges of keeping focus while reading Stories by Alix E. Harrow we recommend Why Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent is so good Delicious, mouthwatering briyani A special note and a gift for our listeners: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into the course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. For $30 off your purchase, use our code BEBRAVE30 at checkout. This code is valid through October 13th. Don't wait, save your seat today. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Sarah A. Parker. Sarah is an international bestselling author who grew up on a farm in New Zealand, where she spent her days getting lost amongst the rolling pasture, building forts in the hedge, climbing trees, and exploring the forest pathways—making up elaborate stories that never lost their grip on her. She now lives in Australia with her husband, dog, three children, and countless plants, and spends her days pouring her stories onto paper rather than throwing them to the wind. Her genre of choice is epic fantasy romance, and she thrives off dreaming up real, complex characters and immersive worlds to get lost amongst. In this episode, you'll: find out what to expect from book 2 of the MOONFALL series hear about graveyard sentences, a.k.a Sarah's story tomb find out how far into MOONFALL's book 2 you're going to cry hear some of Sarah's song inspirations for WTMH find out when to expect TO BLEED A CRYSTAL BLOOM 4 hear Sarah talking about how she holds more than one story hear how Sarah bunkers down to draft hear more about Sarah's writing process discover Sarah's advice for recapturing the excitement in the editing phase hear about the ways in which Sarah has taught herself to be brave hear how Sarah balances the indie-trad roads have insight into Sarah's perspective on honoring the story hear Sarah's advice on finding beta readers find out Sarah's favourite thing to write discover how excellent of a Keeper of Secrets Sarah truly is discover Sarah's story/scene unlocking tools be delighted when you listen to the end to discover the greatest thing Sarah has created A special note and a gift for our listeners: Join us for Romantasy Summit this December and discover our amazing, online conference for writers creating in the fantasy and romance genres. Take a look at our welcome page or jump straight into the course offerings to see what our incredible faculty are teaching. For $30 off your purchase, use our code BEBRAVE30 at checkout. This code is valid through October 13th. Don't wait, save your seat today. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: The first look at what the Big Secret is that we've been keeping Special code STAYBEASTLY50 for $50 off at registration Themes for this season Strategies for dreaming BIG and keeping that power Who to look for when it comes to protecting your energy What to do when you're still looking for a person to be your "hope holder" Snacks (including a quick recipe for Courtney's easy cheese dip) Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: the entire SNACKDOWN SMACKDOWN menu, including genre sips, "there's only one" amuse bouches, fanfiction ships as appetizers, our favorite found family group as the main meal, and which of our delicious Bridgerton couples became our dessert the distinct parallels between snacks and story what to expect for our next season Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Page Powars. Page Powars is the author of The Borrow a Boyfriend Club and the forthcoming And They Were Roommates. Outside of writing, he helps with music soundtracks and unfortunately plays Genshin Impact. He lives in the New York City area. In this episode: Join the debate on whether John Green is real Prepare to become addicted to Genshin impact Hear Page's wild story process that made other author's gasp Hear about your new favourite character BLAZE ALPHA DESTROYER (he's coming soon and will steal your whole heart) Hear about the The Borrow a Boyfriend Club characters as cupcakes Will Asher be getting therapy at the beach? Find out here. Hear more about And They Were Roommates Courtney puts on her hype queen crown to sway Page into writing a romantasy You get a tiny Zuko cameo For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: Summer England's podcast how to nest metaphors the use of microcosm in story what to feed evil people Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Sarah MacLean. New York Times, Washington Post & USA Today bestseller Sarah MacLean is the author of historical romance novels. Translated into more than twenty-five languages, the books that make up “The MacLeaniverse” are beloved by readers worldwide. In addition to her novels, Sarah is a leading advocate for the romance genre, speaking widely on its place as a feminist text and a cultural bellwether. A columnist for the New York Times, the Washington Post and Bustle, she is the co-host of the weekly romance podcast, Fated Mates. Her work in support of romance and those who read it earned her a place on Jezebel.com's Sheroes list and led Entertainment Weekly to call her "the elegantly fuming, utterly intoxicating queen of historical romance." Sarah is a graduate of Smith College & Harvard University. She lives in New York. In this episode, you'll hear about: what's going on Sarah's tombstone writing character motivation in romance the third act break-up as a beacon of hope unlikeable heroines the cultural work of genre fiction Sarah's advice for reading as a writer buttons (and wires) of emotion for readers and writers "taking the finger" and why AI will never take over romance novels For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: what working "smart, not hard" means to us perfectionism tips for battling bad self-talk and a smart way to make your soup for long writing days Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Angela Montoya. Angela Montoya lives in Northern California with her family. When she isn't with her partner, two children, goats, chickens, and dogs, you can find Angela co-hosting the podcast, Of the Publishing Persuasion. Her debut novel, SINNER'S ISLE, has received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly and trade reviews from Booklist and The Bulletin. In this episode, you'll hear about: creepy parrots the debut experience Angela's publishing journey the therapy of writing a book visual inspiration as a basis for worldbuilding Ghabiba's method for finding the name of the unknown (or as Courtney likes to call it, "the thingy") the power of idea collaboration in the birth stages of a story cup filling with podcasting keeping sight of why we write, words of wisdom from Angela's dad the cat that stole Angela's heart the place to go for cave cheese For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: what dungarees are being savvy with potential scams collaboration resources, like Writer Beware and a new goodbye Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Nadine Flint have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Nadia Saward. Nadia Saward is a Commissioning Editor at Orbit Books and a writer of Fantasy Romance. She has an MA in Creative Writing and lives in London with her husband and perfectly round cat. Their debut novel BEST HEX EVER is slated for release in October 2024. In this episode, you'll hear about: tea, snacks, and smut what makes a good horror the role of streaming services in making horror feel more accessible marketing from an editor perspective unveiling the submission process tips for agents when corresponding with editors pitching considerations and story angles the ins and outs of auctions and pre-empts how to access sales data for comps the value in tropes and content warnings Nadia's advice on pitching with tropes For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to @deore.music for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: Sarah A. Parker's trad debut, When the Moon Hatched, and it's release date of next week. Personal explorations on finding time to write Expectations vs. reality Courtney mentions this episode of Becca Syme's Quitcast podcast Snacks (duh) Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston have the pleasure of interviewing Emily Rath. Emily Rath is an internationally bestselling author whose chart-topping, sex-positive, queer-inclusive fantasy and romance novels include the Second Sons Regency romances, the Tuonella Duet fantasy novels, and the why choose tiktok sensation, the Jacksonville Rays Hockey Romances. A former university professor, she holds PhDs in Political Science and Peace Studies. Emily was born in Florida, raised in Kentucky, and now lives with her husband, son, and cat in Jacksonville, Florida. In this episode, you'll hear about: good change and how that can also be traumatic the grief of letting go the fears and pressure of meeting reader expectations transitions learning to thank yourself weaving in moments of gratitude lessons in branding and context on social media when your work finds itself in unexpected spheres Emily's new fantasy learning as you go Emily's changed storybeast (and a made-up "fact" about basilisks) authenticity, empathy, kindness going rogue Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: Courtney and Ghabiba's long discussion on the ravens at the tower of London, their special biscuits, and research still to be done Ghabiba's analogy of story as a machine Essential questions Ghabiba asks herself in a draft Courtney's seasons Ghabiba's top tip for writing-related injuries A long chat about delicious scones and a wonderful full circle moment Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston have the pleasure of interviewing Leigh Bardugo.Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House and the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology—and much more. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University. In this episode, you'll hear about:managing success and creativity with gratitude and heart disaster origami Leigh's advice for dealing with anxiety as a creative putting perfectionism aside when drafting/exploring a new story Leigh's take on social media what the greatest control you have over your career is the importance of dog content podcasts that inspire Leigh...think foodseeking story research that brings you joy more on Leigh's bajillion books deal youths and ghosts guarding yourself against seeking validation protecting your creative energy Leigh's rec for a great show for writers short stories as a tool for developing your craft SIX OF CROWS (obviously) how Leigh writes heists our "Kaz Brekker would never" game and the birth of The Brekkery the dangers of raw broccoli Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: bringing story to life in your head by being magical and mystical Courtney's request for Super Stabby Resources the murder library and modernising evil hooking a reader and keeping them engaged the story opening as a dating metaphor emotional napkins: gaining a reader's trust as a craft device an underused tool for gaining reader investment the boundaries of vulnerability self trust as a writer Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Courtney Shack, Ghabiba Weston, and Nadine Flint have the pleasure of interviewing Julie Phillips, author of THE BABY ON THE FIRE ESCAPE; JAMES TIPTREE JR, THE DOUBLE LIFE OF ALICE B SHELDON; and the to-be-titled biography of Ursula le Guin. In this episode, you'll hear: About Julie's thoughts on writing while mothering What a dramatic line is in biography Ghabiba, Courtney, and Julie compare fiction to writing bigraphy About fairytales that feature mothers Julie's process for writing Ursula le Guin's biography Ursula le Guin's REAL writing advice and if her writing routine on the internet was something she actually did Find us on our website and on Instagram at @storybeastpodcast. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: Types of conflict you can use to amp up the tension in your story. Examples of how to pair internal conflict with external conflict Our favorite craft books for creation conflict and character We say a version of "juice" at least five times We talk about using processes of self-introspection when it comes to "judgment" to inform not only our character's transformational journey, but also our own. Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Episode #58: On mythology, writing with vulnerability, and moving targets of success, with Legendary, Genevieve Gornichec. Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Courtney Shack, Ghabiba Weston, and Nadine Flint have the pleasure of interviewing Genevieve Gornichec, author of THE WITCH'S HEART and THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN. Genevieve Gornichec earned her degree in history from The Ohio State University, but she got as close to majoring in Vikings as she possibly could, and her study of the Norse myths and Icelandic sagas became her writing inspiration. Her debut novel, The Witch's Heart, was released in 2021 and has been translated into a dozen languages. Her sophomore novel, The Weaver and the Witch Queen, released on July 25th, 2023. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio. In this episode, you'll hear: how the original, unpublished ending of the witches heart was even more heartbreaking a heartfelt discussion about breaking out of the wheelhouse about facing book 2 expectations as a writer Genevieve's take on writing outside of lived experience thoughts on writing with vulnerability and coming to terms with sharing it with strangers Genevieve waiting for you to publish your Norse mythology! insight onto Genevieve's writing and research processes about the folk culture of memes about cutting words as an overwriter a raw discussion about burnout, and how to move through it about protecting your mental health and creativity as a creative about moving targets of success and rest as an act of resistance Be sure to listen to the end for how potatoes make or break time travel. Check out this link to Genevieve's further reading resources for the THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN. Find us on our website and on Instagram at @storybeastpodcast. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: Courtney's emotional landscape of publishing a book Practical and heart-centered self publishing tips Applications Courtney has used to publish LADY OF ROSES AND RUIN Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston have the pleasure of interviewing Kristin Dwyer, author of SOME MISTAKES WERE MADE and THE ATLAS OF US. Kristin Dwyer grew up under the California sun and still prays every day for a cloudy sky. When she's not writing books about people kissing, she and her spouse can be found encouraging their four overly opinionated misfits to get into trouble. Kristin is a part-time hair model and wants you to know she is full-time TSA PRECHECK, and one time a credible news outlet asked for her opinion on K-pop (it was the best day of her life). Please do not talk to her about your fandom, she will try to join. In this episode, you'll hear: Courtney's tips for working on your inner snake Courtney giving Kristin oil pastel homework about the pressures of love and hate on our stories the Beasts and Kristin questioning the premise of work-life balance about Kristin's passion for mid-points and her brilliant take on how to make sure yours is doing its job the takedown of the 3 act structure lie (yeah, we said it) Kristin's advice on writing emotion-forward stories Kristin's top tip for keeping readers hooked about the Cat Door Dilemma how Ghabiba "broke Kristin's brain" with a new take on finding the door into a story about the lessons we can learn from fan fiction Kristin's advice on writing fearlessly how Ghabiba and Kristin rope Courtney into the BTS fandom. Who do you think Courtney's bias is? Kristin's top TV show recs **You can find Kristin's latest release, THE ATLAS OF US, out now** Find us on our website and on Instagram at @storybeastpodcast. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: How Courtney's debut, LADY OF ROSES AND RUIN, got pirated Find Jessica Taylor's blog post on piracy here How Courtney looked into muso and pirate.io to assist with taking down the pirated material Gabi's plan to take the pirates to task A Call To Action: Cursing the Pirates (DM us, we want to see your curses) Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome to our first LEGENDARY episode of Season 3! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston have the pleasure of interviewing Nisha J. Tuli, author of TRIAL OF THE SUN QUEEN and HEART OF NIGHT AND FIRE. Nisha J. Tuli is a Canadian author whose books feature kick ass heroines, swoony love interests, and slow burns with plenty of heat. She is the author of the Artefacts of Ouranos series, as well as an e-book/POD fantasy series forthcoming from Bookouture in 2024 and a contemporary romance series being published by Hachette starting in 2025. Find out more at https://nishajtuli.com/ In this episode, you'll hear: about Nisha's perspective of marketing Nisha's hybrid author career and how TRIAL OF THE SUN QUEEN took BookTok by storm Nisha's inspiration for her books and writing to market Nisha's epic answer to the storybeast question **You can find Nisha's latest release, DANCE OF STARS AND ASHES, out now** Find us on our website and on Instagram at @storybeastpodcast. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: Courtney's current read, YOU'RE A BADASS by Jen Sincero embracing distraction in a useful way trying on vibes giving into the wild joy of creating when it's okay to take your time pegging ideas Ghabiba's method for deciding which research makes it to the draft balancing story nuggets letting yourself play everyday Notion Notion pie Season 3 getting its first buffalo dip feature Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another LEGENDARY Storybeast episode! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston have the pleasure of interviewing Aurora Ascher. Paranormal & fantasy romance author Aurora Ascher loves misunderstood monsters, lovable anti-heroes, and epic happily-ever-afters. A woman of many creative pursuits, Aurora is also a musician and visual artist. She currently resides in Montreal with her trusty espresso machine and her endlessly patient husband, whom she sometimes doesn't see for hours until she emerges from her writing cave like a bear in springtime. **SANCTUARY OF THE SHADOW is now available wherever books are sold** In this episode, you'll hear: about pretty books and publishing with Red Tower about facing the blank page Aurora telling us about the delicious tropes and morally grey characters in SANCTUARY OF THE SHADOW how other creative pursuits influence Aurora's storytelling about the circus inspo behind SANCTUARY OF THE SHADOW Aurora's recs for long series where the villain gets a turn to shine about alien-themed reading in a cave Courtney recs the anime : The Devil is a Part-Timer about cultivating safe spaces for yourself as a writer Aurora's wisdom on leaving what doesn't serve you Find us on our website and on Instagram at @storybeastpodcast. For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
Welcome back to another episode of Storybeast, where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: Gabi's definition of "snack characters" A brief-ish digression into venus fly traps--flowers or just fiends? Gabi calls Courtney a snack Gabi talks about how first lines can be used to introduced character and mentions Six of Crows...again. Reader magnets--what they are, how to distribute them, and ideas for your newsletter Our favorite side/snack characters and why we like them Of course, snacks that include pumpkin cookies and a warm brussel sprout salad. Courtney learns something new about Gabi that she should have already known. Find us on our website and on Instagram (@storybeastpodcast). For more storytelling content to your inbox, subscribe here. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/storybeastpodcast/message
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