Show Notes:
Today is part one of two where we are talking to J. Gabriel Gates about his novels. Over the next 2 weeks you will hear about his journey of writing since he was young, going from being traditionally published to self published, going straight to readers and avoiding gate keepers, having the freedom to do what you want with your book, selecting an audiobook narrator, using TikTok to get in front of readers and learn what they want, and weaving your story together.
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J. Gabriel Gates is the author of 5 novels as well as the forthcoming Luck Gods Series, which begins with book 1, Girl of Hearts. After receiving his B.A. in theater from Florida State University, Gates moved from Michigan to Los Angeles, where he acted in a dozen national TV commercials and wrote screenplays that were optioned by Hollywood producers. He is an alum of Spalding University’s MFA in writing program, a dad of three, and a city council representative in his small Michigan town. When not writing books, he works as the executive director of a prominent regional arts organization. He also enjoys live storytelling and has appeared on stage at The Moth.
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Transcript:
Speaker A: Welcome to Freya’s Fairy Tales, where we believe fairy tales are both stories we enjoyed as children and something that we can achieve ourselves.
Speaker A: Each week we will talk to authors about their favorite fairy tales when they were kids and their adventure to holding their very own fairy tale in their hands.
Speaker A: At the end of each episode, we will finish off with the fairy tale or short story read as close to the original author’s version as possible.
Speaker A: I am your host.
Speaker A: Freya victoria I’m an audiobook narrator that loves reading fairy tales, novels and bringing stories to life through narration.
Speaker A: I’m also fascinated by talking to authors and learning about their why and how for creating their stories.
Speaker A: We have included all of the links for today’s author and our show in the show notes, today is part one of two where we are talking to J.
Speaker A: Gabriel Gates about his novels.
Speaker A: Over the next two weeks, you will hear about his journey of writing since he was young.
Speaker A: Going from being traditionally published to selfpublished, going straight to readers and avoiding gatekeepers.
Speaker A: Having the freedom to do what you want with your book, selecting an audiobook narrator, using TikTok to get in front of readers and learn what they want, and weaving your story together.
Speaker A: Girl of Luck God Series book One four tribes of ruthless demigods rule over luck in our world hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades.
Speaker A: To save her mom, Aggie must join them.
Speaker A: A proud nerd and teen scientist, Aggie doesn’t believe in gods or in luck.
Speaker A: Her OCD is under control mostly, and her mom, Rachel, has just finished building a dark matter machine that could win back her job as a physics professor.
Speaker A: When Rachel disappears, Aggie’s search brings her to the dangerously handsome Jack of Hearts, a demigod with the power to control luck.
Speaker A: Rachel may have been captured by bad luck gods.
Speaker A: To save her, Aggie must join Jack and his fellow Valentines.
Speaker A: She finds herself whisked into their world of opulent mansions, gorgeous people and fancy cars.
Speaker A: But being a demigoddess isn’t all glamor and popularity.
Speaker A: It can be deadly.
Speaker A: Maggie must master her newfound luck powers, battle the dark suits and brave the unlucky underbelly of Detroit, all while keeping her OCD at bay or risk losing her mom forever.
Speaker A: Girl of Hearts is book one of the Luck Gods series.
Speaker A: It is a contemporary fantasy series featuring royal intrigue, slow burn romance, and a mindbending original magic system based on the four card suits.
Speaker B: The show is Freya’s Fairy Tales and that is in two parts.
Speaker B: So fairy tales are something that we either read or listened to or watched movies of as kids.
Speaker B: And also the weeks, months, years of working on your novel.
Speaker B: To then get to hold that in your hand is kind of a fairy tale for you as well.
Speaker B: So I like to start out with first thing is there any fairy tale or short story that you remember watching or listening to or reading as a kid.
Speaker B: And did your favorite change over time?
Speaker C: That’s a good question.
Speaker C: I would have to say I don’t know if it’s a fairy tale or more folktale, but Robin Hood yeah.
Speaker C: Is one that comes to mind for me just because I don’t know, I think some of the themes are so universal.
Speaker C: There’s a fun to it where they’re just in the woods, like, having a good time, playing tricks on the rich people.
Speaker C: But also, it’s weird, like, the themes that are important in those stories are still resonate today of, like, the fairness of rich versus poor and just leadership, legitimate leadership versus illegitimate leadership.
Speaker C: So it’s an interesting one.
Speaker B: So did you listen to it or did you watch the Fox movie of it?
Speaker C: It’s interesting.
Speaker C: My mom, when I was a little kid, she read to me all the time.
Speaker C: And I had a set of Abridged classic books.
Speaker C: It was really cool.
Speaker C: The Kanamani Cristo and all the classic stories.
Speaker C: There was a Robin Hood version of that.
Speaker C: And then I also had a set of really cool hardcover books that were illustrated by Ncy.
Speaker C: And I had a Robin Hood of that, and my mom would read it to me.
Speaker B: And were they different?
Speaker C: They were different, yeah.
Speaker C: Different versions.
Speaker C: I remember the Fox one more when my little brother was a kid.
Speaker C: I do remember that one.
Speaker C: And then when I was a little older, kevin Costner Robin Hood Princess Thieves movie that was a little older.
Speaker C: And that one came out.
Speaker C: It’s a classic.
Speaker B: So did that one stay your favorite throughout?
Speaker B: You just liked the went from cartoon to yeah.
Speaker C: King Arthur.
Speaker C: I was in, like, third grade when I read The Hobbit.
Speaker C: So I think, really, it was like kind of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings that it’s like, once you’ve hit that, you’re not really going back to Little Red Riding Hood.
Speaker B: Right.
Speaker C: That was really into The Hobbit and just really all my spare time imagining pretending to be in fantasy worlds like that.
Speaker C: There was not the proliferation of fantasy stories that there is now, but I really was into that world.
Speaker B: And so at what age did you start to think, I want to start writing like this?
Speaker C: I was, like, small.
Speaker C: I was probably, like, third or fourth grade.
Speaker C: And I had a little Dare folder with my little scribbled.
Speaker C: I was, like, beginning a novel based on my pretending adventures.
Speaker C: I got, like, 25 pages or something.
Speaker B: We got to be around the same age.
Speaker B: If you had a Dare folder folder.
Speaker C: Yeah, maybe so.
Speaker C: Dare folder.
Speaker B: I was trying to count.
Speaker B: So you have three books that you co wrote, and then you have the ones that you’re doing the Girl of Hearts series that you’re doing now.
Speaker B: How long did it take you to write the first full length one that you did?
Speaker C: Yes, I have the three that I co wrote.
Speaker C: I have two that are published that just I wrote and then the series that’s coming out.
Speaker C: So I have five published now and then the others coming out.
Speaker C: But the first novel I ever wrote is one that has never been published and probably never will be.
Speaker C: It was more just like literary fiction.
Speaker C: I mean, I always also love the kind of classic Hemingway type of great American novel writers literary fiction.
Speaker C: Back in the day, I began trying to write the great American novel.
Speaker C: And it was just very whatever.
Speaker C: Your first novel that will not be published.
Speaker C: But my second one is published.
Speaker C: That was the Sleepwalkers, which is a ya horror book.
Speaker C: And that one is available.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker B: So the first one you were like, yeah, maybe not for public eyes.
Speaker C: Yeah, I submitted it to a couple of little literary publishers.
Speaker C: I still remember one of the pieces of feedback I got from an editor on it, which was spot on, which was he was like, it’s beautiful.
Speaker C: The pros is lovely.
Speaker C: It’s like a piece of cake that’s all frosting because it had really very little structure.
Speaker C: I was not trying to be held down by plot or anything like that.
Speaker C: It was just beautiful writing of this weird love story, which was just weird and had an ending that was like totally out of the blue, not forget.
Speaker C: And you’re just like, okay.
Speaker C: No thought of market or like what people would think.
Speaker C: It was pure art.
Speaker C: Pure art.
Speaker B: So you took Tolkien’s description.
Speaker B: He is a little too far.
Speaker B: And left out the plot.
Speaker C: Yeah, things happened.
Speaker C: There was a plot, but it was not like logical or following any kind of discernible pattern.
Speaker C: It makes sense.
Speaker C: I don’t know.
Speaker B: The first book that I wrote was about our guinea pigs.
Speaker B: And there were pictures of the guinea pig my mom saved.
Speaker B: Like, we had it.
Speaker B: We actually, like bound it ourselves.
Speaker B: And it was for, I don’t know, some school project or whatever.
Speaker B: But that will never see the light of day.
Speaker B: But I do have it.
Speaker B: It’s like nice and bound.
Speaker B: And we like hot glued fabric around these cardboard pieces for the cover.
Speaker B: It’s great.
Speaker B: That will never be published.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker C: I also have a 200 page screenplay I wrote instead of having fun my freshman year of college.
Speaker C: That’s what I was doing, writing this epic screenplay about this guy who had age and assisted suicide.
Speaker C: But then there’s this woman he falls in love with who’s like, love is going to save him.
Speaker C: It’s so cheesy.
Speaker C: It’s unbelievably.
Speaker C: Just cheesy.
Speaker B: So freshman in college, did you tell any of your friends you were writing this?
Speaker C: I did tell people I was writing it.
Speaker C: I’ll be like, come out, hang out with us, and be like, I have to work on my screenplay.
Speaker C: I really believed I was going to win an Oscar for it.
Speaker C: I was very I’m afraid to look at it.
Speaker C: Even my work now almost like, I’m always afraid to look at it, but then now at least I look at it and I’m like, this is actually cool.
Speaker C: I like it.
Speaker C: I’m pretty happy with it, but there’s still that fear of looking back.
Speaker C: And some things I just won’t go back and look at.
Speaker C: I’m just like, no, I will not do that.
Speaker C: That’s one.
Speaker C: I will not crack the spine.
Speaker C: I will not look at it again.
Speaker B: I don’t so I talked to one author who told me to save copies of everything because you never know when you might go back.
Speaker B: And I’m one of those like you.
Speaker B: I started writing and attempting to write novels young, but then I could never develop storylines or fully developed.
Speaker B: I could get a couple of paragraphs out and then the story was gone.
Speaker B: I’m glad I never saved any of those because I would probably be going, what was I trying to do here?
Speaker UNK: Right?
Speaker B: And I say this on literally every person I talk to.
Speaker B: I started Narrating, obviously.
Speaker B: I mean, I’ve read aloud for like, I don’t know, the first book I remember reading aloud was Little House on the Prairie when I was like, I don’t know, probably eight or nine, because I’m like, in my head, I can picture the house we were at and we left there at nine.
Speaker B: So it was before nine.
Speaker B: But I remember reading that aloud probably not well, and probably with no character voices, but that’s like the first book I remember reading and liking, and then I read all the time.
Speaker B: Instead of, I’m going to stay inside and write my screenplay, I was I’m going to sit on the couch and read.
Speaker B: So that’s what I did.
Speaker B: And then for the last couple of years, I mean, it’s been I’m considerably older than nine now, but all that time, the last probably ten years, I’ve been looking for something that I could do that had to do with books.
Speaker B: So instead of sitting on the couch riding, can I get paid to read these books and review them?
Speaker B: Or can I get paid to maybe do some light editing or like beta reading or something?
Speaker B: I didn’t know that was what that was called at the time, but can I get paid to read?
Speaker B: Basically, yeah.
Speaker B: And accidentally stumbled across Narrating last year, was like, hey, I can do this.
Speaker B: So here I am now, and I actually have a classic fiction podcast that I host under a different name.
Speaker B: So I am familiar with the books you mentioned because I’ve probably done them all, right?
Speaker C: Yeah, I think it’s so cool the proliferation of just the infrastructure to be able to create audiobooks that exist now.
Speaker C: Audiobooks are such a wonderful format, and we’re so lucky to be living in the digital era that we’re in that people can record them and that there’s the infrastructure to bring them to market.
Speaker C: Yeah, it’s awesome.
Speaker C: It’s really cool.
Speaker C: It’s cool that you’re doing that well.
Speaker B: And then now I’m like, trying to write my own novels as well.
Speaker B: And so fully, I have better storylines now.
Speaker B: I’m more than a few paragraphs in now, but I like getting to talk to and we’ll get to this, but I always ask, like, do you have any tips for authors?
Speaker B: Because I talked to someone a couple of hours ago who she just published her first book, but she’s going to know more than someone who hasn’t published anything yet.
Speaker B: Every one of you guys has different you, for example, have built up a considerable TikTok following.
Speaker B: Doing your mostly goofy videos is what I see.
Speaker C: Trying to be serious in all of them, but definitely not definitely bring humor into it.
Speaker C: I mean, TikTok has been amazing for me, and I haven’t been on there that long.
Speaker C: I started just in February, so it’s been only a couple of months, really, but I was seeing a lot of Facebook groups of authors and stuff.
Speaker C: You’ll be like, oh, yeah, TikTok.
Speaker C: TikTok.
Speaker C: It’s really good for connecting with readers.
Speaker C: Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker C: Okay, maybe I’ll give it a try.
Speaker C: I think a lot of people I pop on TikTok and it looks like a bunch of 15 year olds doing a bunch of jackass type of stunts.
Speaker C: Dancing weirdly.
Speaker B: I don’t know why it’s for me.
Speaker B: Everyone was dancing and the stunt like, Why?
Speaker C: Yeah, it’s like rapid fire.
Speaker C: And you’re like, okay, I’m having small seizures.
Speaker C: I don’t know what’s happening.
Speaker C: So I’m like, I don’t know.
Speaker C: But the thing that sort of drew me into it was a lot of authors were like, man, I see how great Tik Tok is, but I’m just not comfortable being on camera.
Speaker C: And for me, so my background is not only writing all along, but my degree was in theater from college and I lived in Los Angeles and did like, TV commercials for years and stuff like that.
Speaker C: So I’m like, I’m very comfortable on camera.
Speaker C: I enjoy being on camera.
Speaker C: And so I thought, well, this might be a good fit for me.
Speaker C: So I was like, I’ll just give it a shot.
Speaker C: And I found it.
Speaker C: I really enjoyed it.
Speaker C: It’s a powerful, powerful way to connect with readers.
Speaker C: And I appreciate my past experience of being traditionally published and doing kind of the whole promotional melu that existed at that time, like around 2010, where my other books were beginning to come out.
Speaker C: If you want to be as an author, I really appreciate TikTok.
Speaker C: Sit in the barns and Noble for 4 hours hoping some people come through who like your genre.
Speaker C: Not to say it wasn’t great and I connected with a lot of readers that way, but it’s just the way it is.
Speaker C: You might be sitting there for an hour and maybe two people come by who read your kind of genre, and other than that, you’re just sitting there.
Speaker C: So to be able to instantly connect with hundreds or thousands of people who are like, excited and engaged with what you do is really powerful and just so much fun.
Speaker C: So I really enjoyed it.
Speaker B: So how long did it take you to write your first full length novel out of stage writing?
Speaker C: That’s a hard question because it was like many years ago, a long time ago that I wrote that first one.
Speaker C: I mean, I probably wrote the first draft in a couple of months, maybe three months or something.
Speaker C: But then everything I write revise it a lot, minimum, really goes through something like beginning to end, like three or four times we’ll even show it to anyone.
Speaker C: So definitely the initial draft is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the work that goes into it.
Speaker B: And so what ultimately led you to deciding to publish that?
Speaker C: Well, that one never got published.
Speaker C: That one never will.
Speaker B: So your first one that actually got published, how long did that one take you?
Speaker C: That’s kind of weird.
Speaker C: I don’t know how long it took me to write it again.
Speaker C: I don’t remember.
Speaker C: Probably four months or something to write it and then revised it for some months after that.
Speaker C: And then I didn’t get published right away.
Speaker C: It’s kind of a long story of how I actually did end up getting published.
Speaker C: But I got a contract for the trilogy.
Speaker C: It’s called the Tracks series.
Speaker C: Book One is Dark Territory, and I wrote that with Charlene Keel, who’s a great writer who had done all kinds of interesting she was like a play girl editor and she had a show daytime drama of a book she had made that she was like a head writer on and stuff like that.
Speaker C: She’s got all this interesting stuff and then she was sort of looking for somebody to co write with, and I had an idea that she liked.
Speaker C: So anyway, we together got the contract to write that series.
Speaker C: And then as that was taking place, I was in the really weird position of having my first book deal without having written the book, which is bizarre.
Speaker C: No one ever had that experience anyway.
Speaker C: I was like, okay, well, great, I have a book deal and now I have to write the book.
Speaker C: So we did that.
Speaker C: And then as that process went forward, I was like, hey, I got some other books I wrote.
Speaker C: Check out the sleepwalkers and blood.
Speaker C: Zero sky.
Speaker C: And so I gave those to the editor I was working with and they were like, oh yeah, we like these books a lot.
Speaker C: We’ll totally publish these.
Speaker C: And so that’s how bad all okay.
Speaker B: Is Girl of Hearts traditionally published as well, or did you self publish those?
Speaker C: Yeah, those are going to be my first indie published series, so I’m jumping into indie publishing right now.
Speaker B: And so what made you change directions with that?
Speaker C: Well, first of all, I spent a lot of time querying and doing that whole process.
Speaker C: And I had an agent for a while as well and had books shopped around through an agent and stuff.
Speaker C: So I’ve kind of seen both sides of it.
Speaker C: And for Girl of Hearts, it went to a lot of agents, and I got I was just getting great feedback from everybody like, oh, this book is great, but it doesn’t fit my list at this time, a lot of that.
Speaker C: And I’m at the point now where I’m even friends with a couple of agents and they’re like, yeah, this is great, blah, blah, blah, blah at this time.
Speaker C: So it’s like, okay, fine.
Speaker C: At some point, you’re just like, well, you look at all these gatekeepers and you have agents trying to guess what the editor is going to like.
Speaker C: The editor is trying to guess what the reader is going to like, even though the bookstore buyers and the bookstore buyers are guessing what the reader is going to like.
Speaker C: It’s like this game of telephone.
Speaker C: We really live in an era where.
Speaker B: You don’t even need all those people.
Speaker C: You don’t need all those people.
Speaker C: And at the end of the day, having been traditionally published, I know that at the end of the day, you’re right back to like, okay, now after jumping through all these hoops with all these gatekeepers, now your book is going in front of readers, and you have to promote it.
Speaker C: And ultimately, readers will decide yes or no whether it be successful.
Speaker C: So it’s like, okay, why are you going to go through all these jump through all these hoops trying to get all these different gatekeepers to appreciate your book as they try and second guess what somebody else is going to like?
Speaker C: It’s like, okay, I can short circuit all that and just go straight to readers with all the control that that has.
Speaker C: I think for years, I was not as experienced in marketing as I am now.
Speaker C: I was not as savvy with social media as I am now.
Speaker C: I was not as confident in my taste as an artist and as a marketer as I am now.
Speaker C: So, for example, definitely my book series, when it first came out, came out, admittedly, with the wrong covers.
Speaker C: And the publisher is just like, we like these covers.
Speaker C: What do you think?
Speaker C: And my co author and I were like, yeah, it’s different than anything else out there, which could be.
Speaker B: Yes, I noticed there were two different sets of covers up on Amazon.
Speaker C: Yes.
Speaker C: The Bars and Noble Buyer was like, we don’t really love these covers.
Speaker C: We’re pretty far down this path.
Speaker C: So we’ll put them out with these covers.
Speaker C: It didn’t go as well as it should have.
Speaker C: And so part of being indy is like, you know what?
Speaker B: You can do what you want.
Speaker C: Yeah, I picked the cover.
Speaker C: And for some people, maybe that’s not helpful if they don’t have that skill set to have the taste to pick a good cover.
Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I talk to at the end of the day for me, I plan on designing my own, but that’s something that’s in my wheelhouse.
Speaker B: Sure.
Speaker B: But I’m like, if you aren’t someone that can do that, you can look at how many different books and how many different people on TikTok that I’m sure if you ask any author on TikTok and say, hey, who made your cover?
Speaker B: They’ll tell you who made their cover.
Speaker B: So you can support small business or whatever.
Speaker B: But yeah, I have one author that he’s traditionally published, but the first book in his trilogy, I start narrating his books next week.
Speaker B: But the first book in his trilogy, he didn’t like the cover, so he hired for the second book.
Speaker B: He said, hey, I’m going to make the cover myself.
Speaker B: And they were like, okay.
Speaker B: But he didn’t like whatever it was the publisher did for the first one and wheeled and dealed, I guess, for the second one to make his own cover.
Speaker C: Yeah, right.
Speaker B: Some publishers won’t let you do that.
Speaker B: I know some won’t let you do that.
Speaker C: Right.
Speaker C: Most of them will not.
Speaker C: But sometimes you can get some input or approval, permission to approve the covers and things like that.
Speaker C: But yeah, you just have certainly a lot less control over the creative process and also as your own publisher, the other thing is you can put a book out.
Speaker C: It could be out for three weeks and you realize that nobody likes to cover and it’s not getting clicks, it’s not getting sales, people aren’t into it.
Speaker C: It doesn’t quite read to the genre, and you can just put a new cover on it.
Speaker C: You have that control.
Speaker C: You don’t have to go through the marketing department in this department, in that department, and your editor meeting with the executives and this none of that exists.
Speaker C: You’re like, this cover is not working.
Speaker C: Get a new cover, put it on there.
Speaker B: Beyond even, like, the visual part of getting them to buy it the income side of things, too, if you’re not paying out all these other people.
Speaker B: Now if you’re hiring someone to pay your cover, obviously you have to pay for all of those parts as well, but you have a little more control with picking someone within your budget, ideally someone who’s good within your budget to do that as well.
Speaker B: Now, I thought Girl of Hearts had released already, but I think I saw it’s up for pre order right now.
Speaker C: Yeah, it’s up for pre order.
Speaker C: It’s going to be out June 22.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker B: In the audiobook because I know I saw she just finished that.
Speaker B: So that should be up about the same time, right?
Speaker C: About the same time, yeah, it’s being approved by ACX right now, so yeah, probably be right about the same time.
Speaker B: It’s taken about two weeks for my.
Speaker C: Last couple of months, depending on how fast they go.
Speaker B: Yeah, anytime I submit a book nowadays, I’m like, it’s going to take either two days or two weeks somewhere in the door.
Speaker C: Within the next couple of weeks, it’ll be out.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker B: So did you know when you finished the book that you wanted it to be made into audiobook?
Speaker C: Yeah, well, that was one of the things that was really helpful, too, about ticktok is like, I just went on TikTok was like, hey, everybody, how do you enjoy your books?
Speaker C: How do you experience books?
Speaker C: Like, do you do paperback, do you do ebook, do you do audiobook?
Speaker C: And one of the cool things is going straight to readers and about a quarter of them.
Speaker C: So, yeah, audiobook is their preferred way to experience books.
Speaker C: And I personally, I do a ton of audiobooks myself.
Speaker C: I usually have a book going on my phone, and I usually have an audio book going for when I’m working out or driving around or cleaning the house or whatever.
Speaker C: So I didn’t want to leave anybody behind with this book release, I want to make sure, however you enjoy reading, I don’t want you to be able to s***** up my book that way.
Speaker C: So it was important to me to do it.
Speaker B: So you lift it up and you start getting I mean, I imagine you had multiple auditions.
Speaker B: What were you listening for?
Speaker B: As you’re listening through these people that auditioned?
Speaker B: Was there any particular, like, it has to nail this, or what were you looking for?
Speaker C: Yeah, I think it’s an interesting process.
Speaker C: This is my first time being through that process, so that was fun.
Speaker C: It’s also interesting for me, as being an actor, having an acting background to listen to.
Speaker C: It kind of the first hurdle for folks was just like, sound set up.
Speaker C: There are some of them that you listen to, and of course, it’s not like edited, it’s not mastered or whatever, those auditions, but you can tell some of them just don’t have a great sound set up.
Speaker C: And if there’s really, like, the siblings, the s sounds are sounding really weird or something like that, you just go, okay, I can tell technically, it’s not there some people it would be well.
Speaker B: And some authors wouldn’t notice that, to be quite honest.
Speaker B: You will, because you have more of that background where I can tell you, my stuff that I did at the beginning before I got this set up, sounded terrible, and people still paid me for it.
Speaker C: Sure.
Speaker C: Well, yeah, sure, that’s true.
Speaker C: I hope some of those folks are still getting work and everything, too.
Speaker C: But I was like, okay, I want to make sure that it’s the most professional sounding that it can.
Speaker C: And then another thing that I didn’t think about ahead of time, that was an important determining factor, was just like, some people, the way their voice was, it was like, okay, can I listen to this for 11 hours?
Speaker C: There are some people who like, okay, like a couple of sentences.
Speaker C: You’re like, oh, they’re acting is nice.
Speaker C: I like the way they’re delivering that line.
Speaker C: I like this.
Speaker C: But you’re like, okay, for 11 hours to listen to it a couple of times and go, okay, could I just veg out, be on a three hour car ride and have this going in the background?
Speaker C: And sometimes it was like a soothing quality or something.
Speaker B: I don’t know if you remember, and I don’t care if you insult me on here, but I actually did audition for your book.
Speaker B: But even when I reach out to authors on social media that don’t have audiobooks, I’m like, I get that you may not like my voice, and that’s part of the game.
Speaker B: At the end of the day, if that’s not your cup of tea, I’m fine.
Speaker B: I’ll move on to the next one.
Speaker B: And I think Paige did a great job.
Speaker B: So nothing against her at all.
Speaker B: She’s great.
Speaker B: But you’re my first author that I auditioned for your book, and you didn’t hire me.
Speaker B: But I’m like, hey, let’s go do this.
Speaker C: Honestly, I can’t remember specifically about your audition to comment on it, but I can say so generally, a couple other.
Speaker B: One thing I can tell you, mine wouldn’t have had bad background sound issues.
Speaker C: Because I can see you guys set it up is legit.
Speaker C: It’s great.
Speaker C: So one thing that Paige did that was really good, just as listening throughout her work on there, and she had a really good knack for and it’s hard to describe what this is, but for capturing the structure of the writing, you know what I mean?
Speaker C: She really did a good job connecting to, structurally, what I was doing, but.
Speaker B: Honestly, that’s not something that can be learned.
Speaker B: You probably work with her a lot because, you know, she knows how you write now.
Speaker C: Yeah, right.
Speaker C: It just felt like when she would say a scene, I didn’t have to work to envision it.
Speaker C: Her voice was in sync with the structure of how you pictured it in your head.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker C: And it’s hard to describe what I don’t know if I’m capturing it well, but she did a good job with that.
Speaker C: And then just, of course, acting in general, and I’m probably more NIT picky or picky than probably other people are, again, because of an acting background, like little things about the way certain lines are delivered or whatever.
Speaker B: Now, what I can tell you is I’ve seen a couple of authors list their books up, and they will be very specific with, this is exactly what I want, like, trying to take over the narrator’s job.
Speaker B: Yours couldn’t have done that, or I would not have auditioned for it, because if someone is that nitpicky up front, I’m like, I have no idea how they’re going to be on the back end.
Speaker C: The other thing is and also when I’m not doing writing stuff, I’m the executive director of a theater and a concert venue, so I understand letting artists do their job, like, in the theater.
Speaker C: I’m not in there directing the play.
Speaker C: Like, that’s the place.
Speaker C: That’s the director’s job.
Speaker C: The choreographer is going to do the choreography.
Speaker C: The music director is going to do that.
Speaker C: I’m not going to go in and micromanage those things.
Speaker C: By the same token, yeah, I’m not going to micromanage the narrator’s job.
Speaker C: With Paige and I, there were a couple of accent things that she would do.
Speaker C: An accent, and she’d be like, Is that right?
Speaker C: Is that too far?
Speaker C: Too much this, too much that.
Speaker C: There are a couple of things like that that we dialed in together.
Speaker C: But, yeah, I think that’s part of the cool thing about audio books as an art form is that absolutely, the narrator brings something to it.
Speaker C: And that’s one thing that’s fun as a writer, is you can learn something about the character and something about the writing by what the narrator brings to it, because they can bring out different colors, and they can have an inflection or a color of an emotion in there.
Speaker C: I didn’t necessarily see that in there, but I get it now, and it works.
Speaker C: I like it.
Speaker C: So it’s a cool process.
Speaker C: It’s been fun.
Speaker B: Well, and I feel like to part of it is picking the narrator that you like and then trusting them to do what they want.
Speaker B: So what I’ll usually tell people is, like, writing the book, that’s your baby.
Speaker B: Because you’re the author, you wrote this book.
Speaker B: And if you did a good job of writing your book not everybody does, but if you did a good job of writing your book, I should be able to read it as the narrator and picture the attitude of the characters to get the voices correct for the characters.
Speaker B: And I’ll tell authors, the writing of the book is your baby.
Speaker B: The audiobook is my baby.
Speaker B: So you have to hope that you put this up thinking it’s ready to be made.
Speaker B: So far, I haven’t had any.
Speaker B: The scene could have been an angry scene or an emotional scene, and I read it angry, and the author came back and said, hey, I really wanted that more emotional.
Speaker B: Okay, that’s fine.
Speaker B: I’ll swap it out.
Speaker B: Not a big deal.
Speaker B: And then I’ve had other authors that were like, oh, my gosh, you got to the emotional part, and it was just like, we’re bouncing along all this nice narrative, and then all of a sudden, it’s like, oh, my God, I want to cry.
Speaker B: But it is acting, and it’s not normal acting because obviously we’ve got to do all the different voices ourselves.
Speaker C: Yeah, it’s a challenging acting gig, you know.
Speaker C: I mean, I’m impressed with people who are able to do it because it’s got to be tricky.
Speaker A: Jay Gabriel Gates liked the story of Robin Hood when he was younger.
Speaker A: Robin Hood is a legendary, heroic outlaw, originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film.
Speaker A: According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman.
Speaker A: In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and in modern retellings he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sheriff.
Speaker A: In the oldest known versions, he is instead a member of the Yowman class, traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green, he is said to have robbed from the rich and given to the poor.
Speaker A: Today we’ll be reading Robin Hood and the Monk.
Speaker A: Don’t forget we are continuing the original story of Beauty and the Beast on our patreon.
Speaker A: Robin Hood and the Monk in summer, when the woods are shining and leaves are large and long, it is very merry in the fair forest to hear the birdie song, to see the deer draw to the dale and leave the high hills free, and shadow themselves in the green leaves under the greenwood tree.
Speaker A: It befell on wits and early in the May morning the sun up there did shine and the merry birds did sing.
Speaker A: This is a merry morning, said Little John, by him that died on the tree.
Speaker A: A more merry man than I am.
Speaker A: One lives.
Speaker A: Not in Christianity.
Speaker A: Pluck up thy heart, my dear master, Little John did say, and think that it is a very fair time in a morning of May.
Speaker A: Yet one thing grieves me, said Robin, and does my heart much woe, that I may not on solemn days to mass or Matin’s go?
Speaker A: It is a fortnight and more, said he, since I my savior see today will I go to Nottingham, said Robin with the might of mild.
Speaker A: Mary.
Speaker A: Then spoke Much, the miller’s son ever more good to him be tied.
Speaker A: Take twelve of your strong yowmen, while weaponed by thy side.
Speaker A: Such a one who would thyself sleigh, that twelve dare not abide.
Speaker A: All of my merry men, said Robin.
Speaker A: By my faith, I will not have bow, but Little John shall bear my weapon till I wish to draw my bow.
Speaker A: Thou shalt bear thine own, said Little John master, and I will bear mine.
Speaker A: And we will shoot betting a penny, said Little John under the greenwood line.
Speaker A: I will not bet a penny, said Robin Hood in faith, Little John with thee, but for everyone as thou do shoot, said Robin in faith.
Speaker A: I’ll bet you three.
Speaker A: Thus shot they fourth, these yawn in two, both at bush and shrub.
Speaker A: Win or lose to Little John, one of his master five shillings for socks and shoes.
Speaker A: A fiery strike fell between them as they went.
Speaker A: By the way, Little John said he had won five shillings, and Robin Hood said shortly Nay.
Speaker A: With that, Robin Hood called Little John a liar and smote him with his hand.
Speaker A: Little John waxed wrought therewith, and pulled out his bright brand.
Speaker A: Where thou not my master, said Little John thou should pay for it sure get thee a man who ever thou will for thou get me no more.
Speaker A: Then Robin goes to Nottingham himself morning alone and Little John to marry Sherwood the paths he knew everyone when Robin came to Nottingham certainly and without lie he prayed to God and mild Mary to bring him out safe.
Speaker A: One more time he went into St.
Speaker A: Mary’s church and kneeled down before the cross or rude all that were inside the church beheld while Robin Hood beside him stood a great head headed monk.
Speaker A: I prayed to God woe unto he for he recognized good Robin as soon as him he did see out of the door he ran.
Speaker A: At once he did run all the gates of Nottingham he made to be barred every one.
Speaker A: Rise up, he said thou proud Sheriff, hurry up.
Speaker A: Now with abound I have spied the King’s felon forsooth he is in this town.
Speaker A: I have spied the false felon as he stands at his mass.
Speaker A: It is all your fault, said the monk.
Speaker A: It’s from us he does pass.
Speaker A: This traitor’s name is Robin Hood.
Speaker A: Under the Greenwood line he robbed me once of a hundred pounds.
Speaker A: It is never out of my mind.
Speaker A: Up then rose this proud Sheriff and quickly he prepared many was the mother’s son to the church with him did fare and at the doors they thoroughly thrust with staves for everyone.
Speaker A: Alas, alas.
Speaker A: Said Robin Hood.
Speaker A: Now, miss.
Speaker A: I Little John.
Speaker A: But Robin took out a two hand sword that hanged down to his knee there where the Sheriff and his men stood thickest toward them then went he thrice drew at them then he ran, forsooth to you I say and wounded many a mother’s son and twelve he slew that day his sword upon the Sheriff’s head.
Speaker A: Certainly he broke in too.
Speaker A: The smith that made this, said Robin I pray to God give him woe for now I am weaponless, said Robin, alas.
Speaker A: Against my will.
Speaker A: Unless I flee these traitors now I know they will me kill some fell in swooning as if they were dead and lay still as any stone.
Speaker A: None of them kept their heads except for Little John.
Speaker A: Stop your wailing, said little John for his love that died on the tree.
Speaker A: Ye, that should be doubting men.
Speaker A: It is a great shame to see our master has been hard beset before and yet escaped away.
Speaker A: Pluck up your hearts and leave this lament and listen to what I shall say.
Speaker A: You served our lady many a day and very well surely, therefore I trust in her especially no wicked death shall die he.
Speaker A: Therefore be glad, said Little John and let this morning be.
Speaker A: And I shall be the monks downfall with the might of my old Mary.
Speaker A: And if I meet him, said Little John, it will be him versus me.
Speaker A: Look that you keep yourselves over by the meeting tree under the small leaves.
Speaker A: Well, and spare none of the venison that goes in this veil.
Speaker A: Fourth then went these yammen two, Little John and Much together and stayed at Much uncle’s house.
Speaker A: The highway was near as ever.
Speaker A: Little John stood at a window in the morning and he looked forth from an upstairs room.
Speaker A: He saw where the monk came riding and with him a little page too.
Speaker A: By my faith, said Little John, too much I can tell thee of Tidings.
Speaker A: Good.
Speaker A: I see where the monk comes riding.
Speaker A: I know him by his wide hood.
Speaker A: They went into the way, these jaumen, both as courteous and gracious men.
Speaker A: They asked news of the monk as if they were his friends.
Speaker A: From whence come ye?
Speaker A: Said Little John.
Speaker A: Tell us.
Speaker A: I you pray, of a false outlaw called Robin Hood was taken yesterday.
Speaker A: He robbed me and my fellows both of 20 marks and seven, if that false outlaw be taken, forsooth that would be heaven.
Speaker A: So did he me, said the monk of £100 and more.
Speaker A: I was the first to get my hands on him.
Speaker A: You may thank me, therefore I pray God.
Speaker A: Thank you, said Little John, and we will win.
Speaker A: We may we will go with you with your leave, and bring you on your way.
Speaker A: For Robin Hood has many a wild fellow.
Speaker A: I tell you uncertain.
Speaker A: If he knew ye rode this way, in faith ye should be slain.
Speaker A: As they went talking, by the way the monk and Little John took the monk’s horse by the head at once.
Speaker A: And anon John took the monk’s horse by the head forsooth you.
Speaker A: To I say.
Speaker A: So much did the little page for he should not escape away by the throat piece of the hood.
Speaker A: John pulled the monk down.
Speaker A: Jon was not afraid of him.
Speaker A: He let him fall on his crown.
Speaker A: Little John was so angry and drew out his sword so fast the monks thought he should be dead.
Speaker A: Lord mercy did he gasp.
Speaker A: He was my master, said Little John, that thou hast chosen to sell shalt thou never come at our king.
Speaker A: For to tell his tale, john smote off the monk’s head.
Speaker A: No longer would he dwell.
Speaker A: So did Much the little page, for fear lest he would tell.
Speaker A: There they buried them both.
Speaker A: And neither Bog nor Heath and Little John and Much together bear the letters to our king.
Speaker A: Little John came in unto the king.
Speaker A: He knelt down upon his knee.
Speaker A: God save you, my liege.
Speaker A: Lord Jesus, watch over thee.
Speaker A: God save you, my liege.
Speaker A: King to speak.
Speaker A: John was truly bold.
Speaker A: He gave him the letters in his hand.
Speaker A: The king did them unfold.
Speaker A: The king read the letters immediately and said I say to thee there was never yaman in Mary England.
Speaker A: I longed so sore to see whereas the monk that thee should have brought our king did say by my truth, said little John he died.
Speaker A: Along the way.
Speaker A: The King gave Much and Little John £20 in certain territory and made them Yehen of the crown and bade them go again.
Speaker A: He gave John the seal and hand to place in the Sheriff’s palm to bring Robin to him and no man do him harm.
Speaker A: John took his leave from our King for suf to you I say the nearest way to Nottingham to take.
Speaker A: He went that way.
Speaker A: When John came to Nottingham the gates were all barred tight.
Speaker A: John called up the porter and answered him all right, what is the cause?
Speaker A: Said little John.
Speaker A: Thou shut these gates so fast because of Robin Hood, said the porter.
Speaker A: In deep prison he has cast John and Much Will Scarlet forsooth to you, I say, they slew our men upon our walls and assault us every day.
Speaker A: Little John asked after the Sheriff and found him.
Speaker A: Very soon he opened the King’s privy seal and placed in his hands the boon.
Speaker A: When the Sheriff saw the King’s seal he took off his hood and on where is the monk that bore the letters?
Speaker A: He said to little John, he is so pleased with him, said little John.
Speaker A: For Swiss to you, I say, he has made him Abbot of Westminster a lord of that Abbey.
Speaker A: The Sheriff made John good cheer and gave him wine of the best.
Speaker A: At night they went to their beds and every man to his rest.
Speaker A: When the Sheriff was asleep, drunken of wine and ale Little John and Much forsooth took their way onto the jail.
Speaker A: Little John called up the jailer and bade him rise anon he saw Robin Hood had broken the prison and out of it was gone.
Speaker A: The porter rose anon for sure.
Speaker A: As soon as he heard John call little John was ready with a sword and stabbed him through to the wall.
Speaker A: Now will I be the jailer, said Little John and took the keys in hand.
Speaker A: He found the way to Robin Hood and soon had him unbound.
Speaker A: He gave him a good sword in his hand to protect his body and crown and there were the walls where lowest anony did jump down.
Speaker A: Then the croc began to crow.
Speaker A: The day began to spring.
Speaker A: The Sheriff found the jailer dead the town bell did he ring.
Speaker A: He made a cry throughout the town.
Speaker A: Whether he be yaman or nave whoever could bring him Robinhood a reward he should have for I dare never, said the Sheriff before the King do come, for I do I know for certain forsooth he will have me hung.
Speaker A: The Sheriff made to search Nottingham both the street and alley as Robin was in Mary Sherwood as light as leave on tree.
Speaker A: Then bespake good Little John to Robinhood did he say I have done thee a good turn for an ill?
Speaker A: Repay me when thou may.
Speaker A: I have done thee a good turn, said little John for sooth thee to say I have brought thee under the greenwood line.
Speaker A: Farewell and have a good day.
Speaker A: Nay, by my truth, said Robin, so shall it never be.
Speaker A: I make you the master, said Robin, of all my men and me.
Speaker A: Nay, by my truth, said little John, so shall it never be.
Speaker A: But let me be your fellow, said little John, nothing else do I care to be.
Speaker A: Thus, John got Robin Hood out of prison.
Speaker A: Certainly without lie he had.
Speaker A: When his men saw him whole and sound forsooth they were very glad, they filled up on wine and made him glad under the leaves so small in the veil and ate pasties of venison that was so very good with ale.
Speaker A: Then word came to our King how Robin Hood was gone and how the Sheriff of Nottingham does never look him upon.
Speaker A: In bespoke our comely King in an anger high to sea little John has beguiled the Sheriff.
Speaker A: In faith, so has he me.
Speaker A: Little John has beguiled us both and that fool well I see or else the Sheriff of Nottingham high hanged should he be.
Speaker A: I made him Yowman of the crown and gave him money with my hand.
Speaker A: I gave him security, said our King throughout almari England, I gave them security then, said our King.
Speaker A: I say this all to thee, for sooth such a Yowman as he is one and all England are not three.
Speaker A: He is true to his master, said our King.
Speaker A: I say, by sweet St.
Speaker A: John, he loves better Robin Hood than he does each of us upon Robin Hood is ever bound to him both in street and in stable or stall.
Speaker A: Speak no more of this matter, said our King, but John has beguiled us all.
Speaker A: Thus ends the tale of the monk and Robin Hood.
Speaker A: Or I’m, amiss god that is ever a crowned king, bring us all to his bliss.
Speaker A: Thank you for joining Freya’s fairy tales.
Speaker A: Be sure to come back next week for the conclusion of J.
Speaker A: Gabriel Gates journey to holding his own fairytale in his hands and to hear another version of his favorite fairy tale.
