Show Notes:
Today is part one of two where we are talking to Steven Guglich about his novels. Over the next 2 weeks you will hear about writing in elementary school, going from remedial English classes to editor and chief of the school paper, starting with stories for dungeons and dragons, taking 15 years to write your first book, adapting existing fairy tales for your own book, writing before the family wakes up, finding a narrator, scheduling a book tour, helping young authors, and starting your own publishing company.
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Steven A. Guglich grew up in New York City. He lives in Williston, North
Dakota with his wife, his four children, and his collection of books. He is
an Elementary School Principal and is the 2020 North Dakota Principal
of the Year.
In 2022, he and his wife launched Your Wildest Dreams Publishing, LLC
to fulfil a dream born in the imagination of Steven’s Dad, Stanley and to
publish Steven’s books.
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Transcript:
Speaker A: Welcome to Freya’s.
Speaker A: Fairy tales.
Speaker A: 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 a fairy tale or short story read as close to the original author’s version 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 am 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.
Speaker A: Be sure to check out our website and sign up for our newsletter for the latest on the podcast.
Speaker A: Today is part one of two where we are talking to Stephen Guglich about his novels.
Speaker A: Over the next two weeks, you will hear about writing in elementary school, going from remedial English classes to editor in chief of the school paper, starting with stories for Dungeons and Dragons.
Speaker A: Taking 15 years to write your first.
Speaker A: Book, adapting existing fairy tales for your own book.
Speaker A: Writing before the family wakes up, finding a narrator, scheduling a book tour, helping young authors and starting your own publishing company.
Speaker A: Piercing the Veil Book One of the Veil Saga they say that legends are born, not made.
Speaker A: But for Jeremy Goodson and Masaru Hagen, that is far from the truth.
Speaker A: Confronted by something that neither of them can explain, two complete strangers from opposite sides of the world embark on an unforgettable journey that will forge them into living legends.
Speaker A: It’s been almost 4000 years since magic disappeared from the Earth.
Speaker A: Hidden from humanity by the veil, those who possess magic live in ancient settlements across the globe.
Speaker A: Over the centuries, these beings have pierced the veil, leaving behind glimpses and shadows of the fantastic and arcane.
Speaker A: Fueled by distant memories and humanity’s desire for wonder, familiar stories of myths and legends have been passed down for thousands of years in nearly every culture and nation.
Speaker A: Jeremy Goodson, an average overweight teacher in New York City, finds his entire world turned upside down when a stranger tempts him to leave everything behind and start a journey that will test Jeremy’s mysterious gift and bring magic and hope back to humanity.
Speaker A: Masaruhagen, the adopted son of American tech entrepreneurs living in Tokyo, has been guided by an unseen voice all his life.
Speaker A: On the eve of his 20th birthday, the voice leads him across thousands of miles on a mysterious and perilous mission he alone can undertake.
Speaker A: But there are principalities of this world that will do whatever they can to stop Jeremy and Maseru and keep magic out of the hands of humanity forever.
Speaker A: One of these men will bring hope to the world.
Speaker A: The other will bring death, the world they once knew will be changed forever, not only for themselves, but for everyone on Earth, and maybe not for the best.
Speaker B: All right, so the name of the podcast is Freya’s Fairy Tales, and that is fairy tales in two ways.
Speaker B: Fairy tales are something that we either watched or read or had read to us as kids.
Speaker B: And also the journey for you to spend weeks, months or years working on your novel, to hold that in your hands, is sort of a fairy tale for you.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker B: So I like to start off with what was your favorite fairy tale or short story when you were a kid and did that favorite change as you got older?
Speaker C: My favorite fairy tale as a kid, believe it or not, was Snow White, because my dad had this book of fairy tales and it was the original Snow White with a little bit darker and whatnot.
Speaker B: So not the nice Disney version?
Speaker C: Not the Disney version?
Speaker C: No.
Speaker C: And I remember Snow White and Rose Red, and that was a fairy tale that was in the book.
Speaker C: But as I got older, I really got into Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and a lot of the fairy tales are what really spiked my interest in exploring them more and talking about them more in the Vale saga.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker B: And is it still the same fairy tale or did it change as you got older?
Speaker C: As I got older, I don’t know.
Speaker C: There was something very intriguing to me about The Elves and the Shoemaker because there’s so many different incarnations of that story.
Speaker C: And then when you read the original story, it’s like two paragraphs.
Speaker C: What?
Speaker C: I like the idea of these elves slipping in and doing the good deed and whatnot, and I just had to explore that more.
Speaker C: So I did my own version of The Elves and the Shoemaker.
Speaker B: So it’s almost like I’m so surprised when I do an Aesop because those are all like one or two paragraphs long, asop’s fables are all very short.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker B: The lion and the Mouse and all of these things are very short.
Speaker C: That’s what surprised me about a lot of the fairy tales when I was writing The Veil Saga.
Speaker C: That man, where do we get all this information from?
Speaker C: And backlore and the original when you go, it’s like one or two paragraphs, it’s crazy.
Speaker B: Except for Beauty and the Beast.
Speaker B: That one is very long.
Speaker C: Actually.
Speaker C: I think I’ve seen that one as well.
Speaker B: Do what?
Speaker C: I think I’ve seen Beauty and the Beast or seen the written Beauty and the Beast.
Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
Speaker B: The original French was very long.
Speaker B: So at what age did you start writing, even if that was like short stories or whatever?
Speaker C: Well, I think I’ve always just dabbled and played, so I don’t know if I would consider it writing, but probably right around 6th grade, I started to write down my ideas and turn them into more than just ideas.
Speaker C: And that came more through Dungeons and Dragons, taking those ideas and playing with them dragons and sharing them with my friends and my dad in that sense.
Speaker C: So I think that was really my strong point, or my starting point, but writing wasn’t my strong point for a while because I could care less about spelling or grammar, but of course the teachers did.
Speaker C: So I’m like, right?
Speaker C: I actually had to take a remedial English class one summer, and I had a teacher there, and she really wish I could remember her name because she really helped me understand why it’s important to have those conventions.
Speaker C: Grammar.
Speaker C: Because you want people to be able to read it, too, and understand it and experience it the way that you experienced it when you were writing it.
Speaker C: That really helped that one summer when I had that remedial writing or remedial English class.
Speaker C: And then as I got into high school, that’s when it really started to take off.
Speaker C: I actually became the editor in chief of my school newspaper.
Speaker C: I was the youngest ever for my high school.
Speaker B: I started out as you took those remedial classes, you took those to heart.
Speaker C: And again, it really goes back to the teachers.
Speaker C: Teachers don’t realize, or maybe they do, but a lot of people don’t realize how important a teacher is in the life of a student, how they can really give them wings.
Speaker C: And I always say that about my journalism and 9th grade English teacher, Mrs.
Speaker C: Haltman, that she really gave me wings.
Speaker C: The summer teacher helped out a lot, too, but it was Mrs.
Speaker C: Haltman, who was also the newspaper advisor, who really saw something in me, because I originally went to the newspaper, I wanted to draw comic strips.
Speaker C: I wasn’t a great artist either, but that was my and I started sharing her some of my ideas, and she saw a writer in me.
Speaker C: She said, well, how about you be the art editor?
Speaker C: So I started out my freshman year as the art editor, and by the end of the year, as the editor in chief of the newspaper was about to graduate.
Speaker C: She wanted me to be the editor in chief of the newspaper for my sophomore and junior and senior year, so I held it all three.
Speaker C: Uh, so I owe that to Mrs.
Speaker C: Haltman.
Speaker C: She was my muse at the time, the one who gave me the wings to really explore my writing.
Speaker B: So then when did you start writing your first full length novel, whether it got published or not?
Speaker B: Because I know some have stuffed it under the bed or whatever.
Speaker C: Again, my writing most of my life was just story ideas for Dungeons and Dragons games, okay?
Speaker C: My dad was really influential in that, and we wrote together and did the few things and always had that.
Speaker C: We always wanted to write a novel together, and I always wanted to write, but there was always those excuses.
Speaker C: I don’t have the time.
Speaker C: Nobody’s going to want to read this or whatever.
Speaker C: And then it wasn’t until just 15 years ago when I was married, my wife really encouraged me to write because she knew it was a passion of mine.
Speaker C: And that is really how the Val saga got started, was that my wife just continued to encourage me and find the time to write.
Speaker C: Don’t make up the excuses, just do it.
Speaker C: And I had to find that time to write, and I did.
Speaker C: And 15 years later, the first book of the Vale saga came out.
Speaker B: So did you start writing it 15 years ago?
Speaker C: I did, yeah.
Speaker C: I started with a really bad rough draft, everybody’s.
Speaker C: Rough draft.
Speaker C: And of course, I’m thinking, oh, this is great stuff, right?
Speaker B: This is the best writing ever.
Speaker C: I think it was the story idea that most intrigued me.
Speaker C: And then after that, I decided I wanted to do some world building.
Speaker C: So that’s really what took the longest, of course, being a husband, being a full time principal, being a dad, and we had one kid at the time, and then another one came along, and another one came along, another one.
Speaker C: So four kids later and 15 years as a school administrator as well, and all that stuff that just kind of came together to I had to really balance my time well, and we had to make sure that I did have that writing time.
Speaker C: And so I did a lot of world building.
Speaker C: That’s really what took the longest, I would say, because I wanted to go back and I wanted to make sure.
Speaker C: So, yeah, that was the thing.
Speaker C: After I wrote a bit of the first draft, I decided I needed to do some world building.
Speaker C: I wanted to explore, because looking back, most of my writing as playing dungeons and dragons was world building, was just trying to create creating these races and creating these characters in their deep, rich history.
Speaker C: And that’s what I did.
Speaker C: After I kind of wrote maybe 25% of the first draft, I decided, well, I need to do some world building here.
Speaker C: And that’s when I really started to research the fairy tales and research the ideas of the races that were in there.
Speaker C: Because the Val saga, it takes place here on earth, in our time, in our place.
Speaker C: And it answers the question, where did the magic go?
Speaker C: Because if you look back in history, you look at all these cultures, they all have tales of dragons.
Speaker C: They all have tales of these strange and wonderful creatures and magic and everything.
Speaker C: Where did it all go?
Speaker C: And that’s where we get our fairy tales from.
Speaker C: So what I wanted to do is I wanted to take those ideas, those fairy tales, and expand on them and give them their origin stories, and that’s where the Veil saga came from.
Speaker C: So all these ideas of these fairy tales, they’re about creatures that hide behind the veil, and they only come out for certain things.
Speaker C: And I use the Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Speaker C: I love them because I kind of took the brothers Grimm, wilhelm and Jacob, and I made them characters not main characters, but distant characters, because they’re more like our modern day X Files guys.
Speaker C: They’re searching out the truth.
Speaker C: The truth is out there somewhere.
Speaker C: So I kind of use them as instead of writing these stories from their own imagination, I kind of made them investigators where they went, and they took the ideas or met with firsthand witnesses like the elves and the shoemaker.
Speaker B: The Grimm brothers were not most of the stories were collected from other places.
Speaker C: Exactly.
Speaker C: And that’s kind of where I got the idea from.
Speaker C: Yes, they went, and I took it a step.
Speaker B: I think it was a job.
Speaker B: I think they were paid to do it.
Speaker B: To start out.
Speaker C: I think you’re right.
Speaker B: I did the history of them from one of my other podcasts.
Speaker B: At one point, I’m like, it’s been about a year since I read that, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it was.
Speaker C: I know when you do all this research, you forget it.
Speaker C: I know I did all the research on them and why they did what they did as part of it, but that’s kind of the idea there.
Speaker C: So I went with that and took the world building to another level of expanding on their fairy tales and other fairy tales and other myths and other legends from all over the world.
Speaker C: And then I had to look at the different races.
Speaker C: There are stories of elves, there’s stories of dwarves, there’s stories of other creatures that may or may not be the same, like leprechauns.
Speaker C: When you look at the descriptions from other cultures, there are similar creatures, the and I forget some of the names, but that sound like leprechauns.
Speaker C: So I kind of grouped them in the area of gnomes.
Speaker C: They’re just what humans call them, but to them, they have their own name, and I just kind of went with that.
Speaker C: So I had to go into their culture.
Speaker C: So I had to do an entire history and culture of the gnomes, entire history and culture of the dwarves and the goblins and the elves.
Speaker C: So that took a lot of time.
Speaker C: That’s why the Vale saga took 15 years to get the first book done.
Speaker C: And then, of course, like I said, with having a full time job and being a husband and a father, I had actually found myself getting up at 04:00 in the morning to actually have a couple of hours to write before I went to work.
Speaker B: And I’m sure that wasn’t an everyday thing that you did.
Speaker C: It didn’t start out, but then it really became a habit because I found out that I was getting most of my writing done, and it was good writing.
Speaker C: The ideas were flowing.
Speaker C: As soon as I had my coffee in me, I was good to go.
Speaker C: So that’s what I would do.
Speaker C: I’d get up in the morning, I’d make my coffee, pray, and then get started with my writing.
Speaker C: And the majority of the book was written during those 2 hours every day at 04:00, and it did become a habit.
Speaker C: And then, of course, there’s other days where I like to go to a local bookstore and cafe and do some writing there and when I have time, depending on what the rest of the family is doing.
Speaker B: So how long did it take you to write the rough draft?
Speaker B: Just like that first bit.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker C: So that I would say if I had to go back, I’d say it was probably about five years ago when the initial first draft or from chapter one to chapter 75 was complete.
Speaker C: And then I went into the whole beta and editing process and all that.
Speaker C: And then that, of course, took time as well because Rewriting and I had a great editor who really helped with fleshing this book out and making it what it is today.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker B: And then I did look, and I saw you have two books out and you have an audiobook out, but I did not check for when you published either of those books.
Speaker B: So when did it actually go live?
Speaker C: So everything came out on March 31.
Speaker C: So there’s one short story and there’s one novel so far, the Val Saga and the Audiobook.
Speaker C: I wanted all three to come out at the same time.
Speaker C: I wanted, like, a big major release.
Speaker C: I didn’t want to wait, so I probably could have published the regular books a lot or the print books a little bit sooner, maybe a few months earlier.
Speaker C: But I wanted to get the audiobook done.
Speaker C: And I also wanted to pay an homage to my dad, who passed away several years ago, so I wanted it to come out on his birthday.
Speaker C: So I waited till March 31 to have everything come out.
Speaker C: We had a big launch party.
Speaker C: It was fun.
Speaker C: It was good.
Speaker C: So we did that, and the audiobook came out beautifully.
Speaker C: I mean, Sean Pratt is my audiobook narrator, and he was just so I.
Speaker B: Always look up the authors on Amazon.
Speaker B: So Sean Pratt, I started narrating nonfiction, and I actually talked to him about coaching me.
Speaker B: So when I saw his name on your book, I was like, oh, my God.
Speaker B: He had, like, audiobook royalty narrate his audiobook.
Speaker C: I did.
Speaker C: You’re absolutely right.
Speaker B: I didn’t even realize he did fiction, though.
Speaker C: Well, just like you were talking right at the beginning of the show where you have different names that you narrate under.
Speaker C: He also narrates under Lloyd James, and most of his fiction is under Lloyd James.
Speaker C: And that’s why I was surprised that he went with Sean Pratt for this fiction because I was very blessed to find Sean, and he said he doesn’t do fiction all that much.
Speaker C: And he just maybe picks a handful of fiction books to do each year.
Speaker C: And he’s very particular about the books that he does do.
Speaker C: And he said he read the manuscript when it was in its fourth draft.
Speaker C: Before even the fifth draft was done, he read the fourth draft, and he just said it was great.
Speaker C: Something that he was really excited about.
Speaker C: I loved when he was narrating.
Speaker C: He would send me these texts all the time about, oh, my gosh, my goodness, I’m up to this part, and, oh, it sounds great, or these funny things he says, okay, get ready to call Netflix because this is going to be a hit.
Speaker C: That type of stuff.
Speaker C: It was just awesome.
Speaker C: He was great to work with.
Speaker B: So how did he get a hold of your manuscript?
Speaker B: Like, how did that happen?
Speaker C: I reached out.
Speaker C: Okay, so I am super particular.
Speaker C: You’ll notice that I am a perfectionist.
Speaker C: So that’s another reason why it took 15 years to get to March 31.
Speaker C: I am a perfectionist.
Speaker B: Well, hey, I would much prefer someone take 15 years to get out a book than publish their first draft.
Speaker C: Right?
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker C: And I agree because I’ve read some other independent authors and I’m like, guys, if you just took a little more time, this could have been a great.
Speaker B: There’S a couple of authors that I talk to that do their.
Speaker B: Own editing.
Speaker B: And you would never guess that they do their own editing because one of them, she will do her draft and she probably does like two or three drafts where she’s just doing it off the computer.
Speaker B: But then she’ll order the proof copies and she’ll just keep going through and keep editing and keep ordering until she’s happy with it.
Speaker B: She’s a bit of a perfectionist.
Speaker B: And then by the time I get it, it wasn’t even the final.
Speaker B: So I’m currently narrating a book for her right now, her most recent release.
Speaker B: And so for this one she actually sent me, it wasn’t even the final.
Speaker B: I got, like, the version before the final.
Speaker B: So there was still some editing things that needed to happen.
Speaker B: And so I’d be like, hey, you flip flopped these words in this sentence.
Speaker B: Here’s the page, here’s the paragraph, whatever.
Speaker B: But I mean, in an entire 300 page book, I found maybe 20 things, maybe.
Speaker C: Okay?
Speaker B: There are authors that and we’ve talked about.
Speaker B: She’s like, if you don’t have the money, if you can be particular enough about it, you don’t have to pay an editor.
Speaker B: But I’m like, at least for the first one, because I’m currently working on my first book, okay?
Speaker B: And so I’m like, at least for the first one, I want another set of eyes on it just to make sure.
Speaker B: And if all she’s doing, like, she did a sample edit for me, but she only did, like, two pages, and all she did was move around commas and I’m like, well, if that’s all that gets edited, I can live with the comma being misplaced.
Speaker B: But two pages is different from a whole book.
Speaker C: That’s all she found on those two pages.
Speaker B: But I’m like, if that’s all she finds in most of the book, it’s like, I won’t pay someone to move commas around.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker C: And that was like I said, I was very particular.
Speaker C: I wanted to find the best editor.
Speaker C: I wanted to find the best.
Speaker C: So with Sean Pratt trying to find audiobook narrator so one of my favorite audiobook narrators is I really thought I’d like to have him do it.
Speaker C: But then his voice, he’s got such that deep, gravely and I could not hear that voice as the main character because one of the things that I did that’s different in the Val saga is I took the main character is not your typical hero.
Speaker C: He’s just this sort of fish out of water with no skills.
Speaker C: I mean, he’s a school teacher.
Speaker C: He doesn’t have the fighting skills or anything like that.
Speaker C: So I wanted to kind of explore I wouldn’t say he’s me, but I wanted to kind of explore what an ordinary person would do when they were faced with the extraordinary circumstances.
Speaker C: Because, yeah, we all sit there and we daydream and we pretend.
Speaker C: Oh, yeah, I’ll take up the sword and I’ll go out and fight.
Speaker B: We read the books.
Speaker B: We watch The Walking Dead.
Speaker B: We’re like, I could do that.
Speaker B: Right?
Speaker C: And that’s the idea.
Speaker C: Exactly.
Speaker C: And I’m thinking, we probably really wouldn’t.
Speaker C: I explored that in there a little bit about him having that bravado and then realizing that he couldn’t do it.
Speaker C: He couldn’t do some of the things he was being asked to do.
Speaker C: So I had to find the right voice.
Speaker C: And I searched around.
Speaker C: I got out of my comfort zone and I was trying to find different voices.
Speaker C: So I found Sean Pratt in a western which was surprising as Lloyd James.
Speaker C: And he had that voice, and he could do so many different voices.
Speaker C: That’s what I love.
Speaker C: I wanted somebody who had that same caliber as Michael Kramer who could do the different voices, who could get that emotion in there.
Speaker C: But yet his normal voice was that sort of soft, genuine voice.
Speaker C: So I came across him, and I was sold when I first so I started listening to books that he had narrated.
Speaker C: So then I just reached out and I saw that he was only doing nonfiction.
Speaker C: And I was like, oh, man.
Speaker C: But I sent him the manuscript, and he was hooked.
Speaker C: He was excited.
Speaker C: And I was very grateful that he chose to have me as one of the few fiction books that he does in a year’s time.
Speaker C: So it was great.
Speaker B: See, I feel like a lot of authors get overwhelmed easily when it comes to things like audio because ACX is, like, the big platform that a lot of indie authors will use unless your thing gets picked up.
Speaker B: I mean, there’s other platforms out there, but ACX is like the big one because it’s tied to Amazon and all of and like, I’ve had authors that I’ve approached on social media and they’re I like, put my book up for audition.
Speaker B: And then I got so many in that I just got overwhelmed.
Speaker B: And I’m like, you realize that nowadays when I started on TikTok a couple of years ago now, there was not a whole lot of narrators.
Speaker B: At least I didn’t see a whole lot of narrators.
Speaker B: There was a few.
Speaker B: That’s how I found out about it.
Speaker B: But now there’s so many narrators that are in book talk and talking to authors and doing all these lives with all these authors and stuff.
Speaker B: And I’m like it’s.
Speaker B: Any of us, at least the majority, would be thrilled if someone reached out to us and was like, hey, would you please narrate my book or consider narrating my book.
Speaker B: I would be thrilled if that happens.
Speaker C: I’m noticing that too, that there are a lot more narrators out there than I had even didn’t, I guess when I was shopping around.
Speaker C: Like you said, there weren’t that many.
Speaker C: And then they started to just come out of the woodwork and I’ve come across others since Sean that I thought would have been a good fit.
Speaker C: But I have no regrets about going with Sean.
Speaker C: And having him was one thing that we had in common, is we’re both me.
Speaker C: He made me go through the entire glossary and record it so that he knew exactly how I do that.
Speaker C: I wanted every word pronounced, every name pronounced.
Speaker C: I’m like, Sean, that’s going to take me a whole day to go through.
Speaker C: I mean, this is a fantasy novel.
Speaker C: There are weird words in there.
Speaker C: But no, I didn’t mind.
Speaker C: It actually didn’t take me quite as long as I thought.
Speaker C: But I was grateful for that because when he did the actual sample for me, he didn’t have that done.
Speaker C: So he did five chapters as a sample just so I could because I did a Kickstarter.
Speaker C: I wanted to have some of his voice on there and he didn’t pronounce some of the words that I would have pronounced them, but I actually liked the way he pronounced them.
Speaker C: So I changed it from based on his sample.
Speaker C: There’s a race of reptilians called I originally called him Koth, and he pronounced it Koth koth.
Speaker C: And I like, oh, I like the way the COTH sounds better than the cop.
Speaker B: Since I started narrating fiction, which I started like so I started narrating in September of 21.
Speaker B: I didn’t get my first fiction until the following January or February.
Speaker B: And I did a few fantasy books at the beginning, but nothing where they had created their own languages or anything like that.
Speaker B: And so it was a trilogy that I got hired on for it’s more than a trilogy.
Speaker B: I’ve only done three books so far that had the same as yours.
Speaker B: They took all these cultures and stuff from Lore and all of this and built this world around this or multiple worlds.
Speaker B: There’s multiple worlds.
Speaker B: And so I get the audition piece, which was his publisher, posted up, like, the first page or two or something for me to do.
Speaker B: And that was the first one where when I was reading through the manuscript, I came across, like, all these made up words.
Speaker B: There was over 300 words.
Speaker B: I don’t know how yours is, but there were over 300 words for this one that I did.
Speaker B: And so I will joke with that author.
Speaker B: He’s a perfectionist as well.
Speaker B: But I will joke with that author that people ask me all the time, what’s your favorite book that you’ve ever narrated?
Speaker B: And I’m like I like all of them.
Speaker B: First off, I wouldn’t have put in the effort and done as good of a job as I could have done if I didn’t like it.
Speaker B: But there are a few key books that I have done that I learned so much about narrating with them.
Speaker B: And that particular three books that I did, I completely had to revamp.
Speaker B: There were over 130 speaking characters.
Speaker B: I had to completely revamp how I prepped manuscripts.
Speaker B: There were over 300 made up words.
Speaker B: That was the first time I had to go to an author and be like, hey, how on earth are we pronouncing these words?
Speaker B: So now that’s something that actually with him.
Speaker B: I had him send me, like you did, a voice file of him saying it.
Speaker B: Now I do the attempted pronunciations, and I say, hey, just tell me the ones that I messed up, because then that’s less time.
Speaker B: They’re just having to listen to it as opposed to recording and thinking about how they want it.
Speaker B: So most of the time I get it right.
Speaker B: A few of them I don’t.
Speaker B: And I have a couple of British authors that I narrate for and they pronounce things slightly differently and all of this, but yeah, I’m familiar with the big fantasy worlds with all the made up things and that is definitely one of my favorites.
Speaker B: Just because it was hard and it took forever to narrate because of all the made up words and having to make sure I was pronouncing it right all the way through and it sounded natural and all these things.
Speaker B: But that will forever be one of my favorites because it just sticks in my head so much of, like, I learned so much doing that series.
Speaker B: I will probably never do one with that many characters or words again, but I learned a whole lot on that one.
Speaker C: Well, that’s good.
Speaker C: You look at each experience as a learning experience.
Speaker C: Yeah, that’s a great attitude.
Speaker B: Well, I think up to that point, I would just read through the book and then hope.
Speaker B: I remembered all the personalities.
Speaker B: That is not a good way to go.
Speaker B: It’s like writing your book and not taking it’s like writing your book, though, and not taking notes on your characters.
Speaker B: Like, what do they look like?
Speaker B: What’s their personality?
Speaker B: It’s the same thing.
Speaker B: I would just read through it and not take any notes on anything to help with anything.
Speaker B: And my memory is crap, so I don’t remember anything.
Speaker A: Stephen liked Snow White and Rose Red growing up.
Speaker A: And since we’ve already read this story, we’re going to read another Grimm story.
Speaker A: The valiant little Taylor.
Speaker A: The brave Taylor or the valiant little Taylor or the Galliant Taylor is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.
Speaker A: The Brave Little Tailor is a story of ARN Thompson, type 1640, with individual episodes classified in other story types.
Speaker A: Andrew Lang included it in the Blue Fairy book.
Speaker A: The tale was translated as seven at one blow.
Speaker A: Another of many versions of the tale appears in A Book of Giants by Ruth Manning Sanders.
Speaker A: It is about a humble tailor who tricks many giants and a ruthless king into believing in the tailor’s incredible feats of strength and bravery, leading to him winning wealth and power.
Speaker A: Don’t forget we’re reading Les Morte de Arthur, the story of King Arthur and of his noble Knights of the roundtable on our patreon.
Speaker A: You can find the link in the show notes.
Speaker A: The valiant little tailor.
Speaker A: One summer’s morning, a little tailor was sitting on his table by the window.
Speaker A: He was in good spirits and sewed with all his might.
Speaker A: Then came a peasant woman down the street crying, good jams, cheap.
Speaker A: Good jams.
Speaker A: Cheap.
Speaker A: A swing pleasantly in the tailor’s ears.
Speaker A: He stretched his delicate head out of the window and called, come up here, dear woman.
Speaker A: Here you will get rid of your goods.
Speaker A: The woman came up the three steps to the tailor with her heavy basket, and he made her unpack all the pots for him.
Speaker A: He inspected each one, lifted it up, put his nose to it, and at length said the jam seems to me to be good, so weigh me out 4oz, dear woman.
Speaker A: And if it is a quarter of a pound, that is of no consequence.
Speaker A: The woman who had hoped to find a good sale gave him what he desired, but went away quite angry and grumbling.
Speaker A: Now this jam shall be blessed by God, cried the little tailor, and give me health and strength.
Speaker A: So he brought the bread out of the cupboard, cut himself a piece right across the loaf and spread the jam over it.
Speaker A: This won’t taste bitter, said he, but I will just finish the jacket before I take a bite.
Speaker A: He laid the bread near him, sewed on, and in his joy made bigger and bigger stitches.
Speaker A: In the meantime, the smell of the sweet jam rose to where the flies were sitting in great numbers and they were attracted and descended on it in hosts.
Speaker A: Hi.
Speaker A: Who invited you?
Speaker A: Said the little tailor, and drove the unbidden guests away.
Speaker A: The flies, however, who understood no German, would not be turned away, but came back again in ever increasing companies.
Speaker A: The little tailor at last lost all patience and drew a piece of cloth from the hole under its work table, and saying, Wait, and I will give it to you, struck it mercilessly on them.
Speaker A: When he drew it away and counted, there lay before him no fewer than seven dead and with legs stretched out.
Speaker A: Are you a fellow of that sort?
Speaker A: Said he, and could not help admiring his own bravery.
Speaker A: The whole town shall know of this.
Speaker A: And the little tailor hastened to cut himself a girdle, stitched it and embroidered on it in large letters seven at one stroke.
Speaker A: What the town, he continued, the whole world shall hear of it.
Speaker A: And his heart wagged with joy like a lamb’s tale.
Speaker A: The tailor put on the girdle and resolved to go forth into the world, because he thought his workshop was too small for his valor.
Speaker A: Before he went away, he sought about in the house to see if there was anything which he could take with him.
Speaker A: However, he found nothing but an old cheese, and that he put in his pocket.
Speaker A: In front of the door he observed a bird which had caught itself in the thicket.
Speaker A: It had to go into his pocket with the cheese.
Speaker A: Now he took to the road boldly, and as he was light and nimble, he felt no fatigue.
Speaker A: The road led him up a mountain, and when he had reached the highest point of it, there sat a powerful giant looking peacefully about him.
Speaker A: The little tailor went bravely up, spoke to him and said, good day, comrade.
Speaker A: So you’re sitting there overlooking the widespread world.
Speaker A: I am just on my way thither and want to try my luck.
Speaker A: Have you any inclination to go with me?
Speaker A: The giant looked contemptuously at the tailor and said, you ragamuffin, you miserable creature.
Speaker A: Oh, indeed?
Speaker A: Answered the little tailor, and unbuttoned his coat, and showed the giant the girdle.
Speaker A: There you may read what kind of man I am.
Speaker A: The giant read seven at one stroke, and thought that they had been men whom the tailor had killed, and began to feel a little respect for the tiny fellow.
Speaker A: Nevertheless, he wished to try him first, and took a stone in his hand and squeezed it together so that water dropped out of it.
Speaker A: Do that likewise, said the giant, if you have strength.
Speaker A: Is that all?
Speaker A: Said the tailor.
Speaker A: That is child’s play with us.
Speaker A: And put his hand into his pocket, brought out the soft cheese, and pressed it until the liquid ran out of it.
Speaker A: Faith, said he, that was a little better, wasn’t it?
Speaker A: The giant did not know what to say, and could not believe it of the little man.
Speaker A: Then the giant picked up a stone and threw it so high that the eye could scarcely follow it.
Speaker A: No little might of a man do that likewise.
Speaker A: Well thrown, said the tailor, but after all, the stone came down to earth again I will throw you one which shall never come back at all.
Speaker A: And he put his hand into his pocket, took out the bird and threw it into the air.
Speaker A: The bird, delighted with its liberty, rose, flew away, and did not come back.
Speaker A: How does that shot please you, comrade?
Speaker A: Asked the tailor.
Speaker A: You can certainly throw, said the giant, but now we will see if you are able to carry anything properly.
Speaker A: He took the little tailor to a mighty oak tree which lay there, felt on the ground, and said, if you are strong enough, help me to carry the tree out of the forest.
Speaker A: Readily, answered the little man.
Speaker A: Take you the trunk on your shoulders, and I will raise up the branches and twigs.
Speaker A: After all, they are the heaviest.
Speaker A: The Giant took the trunk on his shoulder but the tailor seated himself on a branch, and the giant, who could not look round, had to carry away the whole tree and the little tailor into the bargain.
Speaker A: He behind, was quite merry and happy and whistled the song.
Speaker A: Three tailors rode forth from the gate as if carrying the tree were child’s play.
Speaker A: The giant, after he had dragged the heavy burden part of the way, could go no further, and cried, ark you.
Speaker A: I shall have to let the tree fall.
Speaker A: The tailor sprang nimly down, seized the tree with both arms as if he had been carrying it, and said to the giant you are such a great fellow and yet cannot even carry the tree.
Speaker A: They went on together, and as they passed a cherry tree, the giant laid hold of the top of the tree where the ripest fruit was hanging, bent it down, gave it into the tailor’s hand, and bade him eat.
Speaker A: But the little tailor was much too weak to hold the tree, and when the giant let it go, it sprang back again, and the tailor was tossed into the air with it.
Speaker A: When he had fallen down again without injury, the giant said what is this?
Speaker A: Have you not strength enough to hold the weak twig?
Speaker A: There is no lack of strength, answered the little tailor.
Speaker A: Do you think that could be anything to a man who has struck down seven at one blow?
Speaker A: I leapt over the tree because the huntsmen are shooting down there in the thicket.
Speaker A: Jump as I did if you can do it.
Speaker A: The Giant made the attempt, but he could not get over the tree and remained hanging in the branches, so that in this also the tailor kept the upper hand.
Speaker A: The Giant said, if you are such a valiant fellow come with me into our cavern and spend the night with us.
Speaker A: The little tailor was willing and followed him.
Speaker A: When they went into the cave, other giants were sitting there by the fire, and each of them had a roasted sheep in his hand and was eating it.
Speaker A: The little tailor looked round and thought, it is much more spacious here than in my workshop.
Speaker A: The giant showed him a bed, and said he was to lie down in it and sleep.
Speaker A: The bed, however, was too big for the little tailor.
Speaker A: He did not lie down in it, but crept into a corner.
Speaker A: When it was midnight, and the giant thought that the little tailor was lying in a sound sleep, he got up, took a great iron bar, cut through the bed with one blow, and thought he had finished off the grasshopper for good.
Speaker A: With the earliest dawn, the giants went into the forest and had quite forgotten the little tailor, when all at once he walked up to them quite merrily and boldly, the giants were terrified.
Speaker A: They were afraid that he would strike them all dead and ran away in a great hurry.
Speaker A: The little tailor went onwards, always following his own pointed nose.
Speaker A: After he had walked for a long time, he came to the courtyard of a royal palace, and as he felt weary, he lay down on the grass and fell asleep.
Speaker A: Whilst he lay there, the people came and inspected him on all sides, and read on his girdle seven at one stroke.
Speaker A: Ah, said they, what does the great warrior want here in the midst of peace?
Speaker A: He must be a mighty lord.
Speaker A: They went and announced him to the king, and gave it as their opinion that if war should break out, this would be a weighty and useful man who ought on no account to be allowed to depart.
Speaker A: The council pleased the king, and he sent one of his courtiers to the little tailor to offer him military service.
Speaker A: When he awoke, the ambassador remained standing by the sleeper, waiting until he stretched his limbs and opened his eyes, and then conveyed to him this proposal for this very reason have I come here, the tailor replied, I’m ready to enter the king’s service.
Speaker A: He was therefore honorably received, and a special dwelling was assigned him.
Speaker A: The soldiers, however, were set against the little tailor and wished him a thousand miles away.
Speaker A: What is to be the end of this?
Speaker A: They said among themselves, if we quarrel with him, any strikes about him, seven of us will fall at every blow.
Speaker A: Not one of us can stand against him.
Speaker A: They came, therefore, to a decision, but took themselves in a body to the king, and begged for their dismissal.
Speaker A: We are not prepared, said they, to stay with a man who kills seven at one stroke.
Speaker A: The king was sorry that for the sake of one he should lose all his faithful servants wished that he had never set eyes on the tailor, and would willingly have been rid of him again.
Speaker A: But he did not venture to give him his dismissal, for he dreaded lest he should strike him and all his people dead and place himself on the royal throne.
Speaker A: He thought about it for a long time and at last found good counsel.
Speaker A: He sent to the little tailor and caused him to be informed that as he was a great warrior he had one request to make to him.
Speaker A: In a forest of his country lived two giants who caused great mischief with their robbing, murdering, ravaging and burning and no one could approach them without putting himself in danger of death.
Speaker A: If the tailor conquered and killed these two giants he would give him his only daughter to wife and half of his kingdom as a dowry.
Speaker A: Likewise, 100 horsemen should go with him to assist him.
Speaker A: That would indeed be a fine thing for a man like me, thought the little tailor.
Speaker A: One is not offered a beautiful princess and half a kingdom every day of one’s life.
Speaker A: Oh, yes, he replied.
Speaker A: I will soon subdue the giants and do not require the help of the hundred horsemen to do it.
Speaker A: He who can hit seven with one blow has no need to be afraid of two.
Speaker A: The little tailor went forth, and the hundred horsemen followed him.
Speaker A: When he came to the outskirts of the forest, he said to his followers just stay waiting here.
Speaker A: I alone will soon finish off the giants.
Speaker A: Then he bounded into the forest and looked about right and left.
Speaker A: After a while he perceived both giants.
Speaker A: They lay sleeping under a tree and snored so that the branches waved up and down.
Speaker A: The little tailor, not idle, gathered two pockets full of stones and with these climbed up the tree.
Speaker A: When he was halfway up, he slipped down by a branch until he sat just above the sleepers and then let 1 st after another fall on the breast of one of the giants.
Speaker A: For a long time the giant felt nothing, but at last he awoke, pushed his comrade and said why are you knocking me?
Speaker A: You must be dreaming, said the other.
Speaker A: I am not knocking you.
Speaker A: They lay themselves down to sleep again, and then the tailor threw a stone down on the second.
Speaker A: What is the meaning of this?
Speaker A: Cried the other.
Speaker A: Why are you pelting me?
Speaker A: I am not pelting you, answered the first growling.
Speaker A: They disputed about it for a time, but as they were weary, they let the matter rest and their eyes closed once more.
Speaker A: The little tailor began his game again, picked out the biggest stone and threw it with all his might on the breast of the first giant.
Speaker A: That is too bad.
Speaker A: Cried he and sprang up like a madman and pushed his companion against the tree until it shook.
Speaker A: The other paid him back in the same coin, and they got into such a rage that they tore up trees and belabored each other so long that at last they both fell down dead on the ground at the same time.
Speaker A: Then the little tailor leapt down.
Speaker A: It is a lucky thing, said he, that they did not tear up the tree on which I was sitting, or I should have had to sprint onto another like a squirrel.
Speaker A: Louis tailors are nimble.
Speaker A: He drowed his sword and gave each of them a couple of thrusts in the brass, and then went out to the horsemen and said, the work is done.
Speaker A: I finished both of them off, but it was hard work.
Speaker A: They tore up trees in their sore need and defended themselves with them.
Speaker A: But all that is to no purpose when a man like myself comes who can kill seven at one blow.
Speaker A: But are you not wounded?
Speaker A: Asked the horseman.
Speaker A: You need not concern yourself about that, answered the tailor.
Speaker A: They have not bent one hair of mine.
Speaker A: The horsemen would not believe him and rode into the forest.
Speaker A: There they found the giants swimming in their blood, and all round about lay the torn up trees.
Speaker A: The little tailor demanded of the king the promised reward.
Speaker A: He, however, repented of his promise, and again bethought himself how he could get rid of the hero.
Speaker A: Before you receive my daughter in the half of my kingdom, said he to him, you must perform one more heroic deed.
Speaker A: In the forest roams a unicorn which does great harm, and you must catch it first.
Speaker A: I fear one unicorn still less than two giants.
Speaker A: Seven at one blow is my kind of affair.
Speaker A: He took a rope and an axe with him, went forth into the forest, and again bade those who were sent with him to wait outside he had not longed to seek.
Speaker A: The unicorn soon came towards him, and rushed directly on the tailor, as if it would gore him with its horn without more ado.
Speaker A: Softly, softly.
Speaker A: It can’t be done as quickly as that, said he, and stood still and waited until the animal was quite close, and then sprang nimbly behind the tree.
Speaker A: The unicorn ran against the tree with all its strength and stuck its horn so fast in the trunk that it had not the strength enough to draw it out again, and thus it was caught.
Speaker A: Now I’ve got the bird, said the tailor, and came out from behind the tree and put the rope round its neck.
Speaker A: And then with his axe he hewed the horn out of the tree, and when all was ready, he led the beast away and took it to the king.
Speaker A: The king would still not give him the promised reward and made a third demand for the wedding.
Speaker A: The tailor was to catch him a wild boar that made great havoc in the forest, and the huntsmen should give him their help willingly, said the tailor, not his child’s play.
Speaker A: He did not take the huntsmen with him into the forest, and they were well pleased that he did not, for the wild boar had several times received them in such a manner that they had no inclination to lie and wait for him.
Speaker A: When the boar perceived the tailor, it ran on him with foaming mouth and wetted tusks, and was about to throw him to the ground.
Speaker A: But the hero fled and sprang into a chapel which was near and up to the window at once, and in one bound out again.
Speaker A: The boar ran after him, but the tailor ran round outside and shut the door behind it.
Speaker A: And then the raging beast, which was much too heavy and awkward to leap out of the window, was caught.
Speaker A: The little tailor called the huntsman, thither that they might see the prisoner with their own eyes.
Speaker A: The hero, however, went to the king, who was now, whether he liked it or not, obliged to keep his promise and gave his daughter and the half of his kingdom.
Speaker A: Had he known that it was no warlike hero but a little tailor who was standing before him, it would have gone to his heart still more than it did.
Speaker A: The wedding was held with great magnificence and small joy, and out of a tailor a king was made.
Speaker A: After some time the young queen heard her husband say in his dreams at night, boy, make me the doublet and patch the pantaloons, or else I will wrap the yardmeasure over your ears.
Speaker A: Then she discovered in what state of life the young lord had been born, and next morning complained of her wrongs to her father and begged him to help her get rid of her husband, who was nothing else but a tailor.
Speaker A: The king confronted her and said, leave your bedroom door open this night, and my servant shall stand outside, and when he’s fallen asleep shall go in, bind him, and take him on board a ship which shall carry him into the wide world.
Speaker A: The woman was satisfied with this, but the king’s armor bearer, who had heard all, was friendly with the young lord and informed him of the whole plot.
Speaker A: I’ll put a screw into that business, said the little tailor.
Speaker A: At night he went to bed with his wife at the usual time, and when she thought he had fallen asleep, she got up, opened the door, and then lay down again.
Speaker A: The little tailor, who was only pretending to be asleep, began to cry out in a clear voice boy, make me the doublet and patch me the pantaloons or I will wrap the yard measure over your ears.
Speaker A: I smote seven at one blow, I killed two giants, I brought away one unicorn and caught a wild boar.
Speaker A: And am I to fear those who were standing outside the room?
Speaker A: When these men heard the tailors speaking thus, they were overcome by a great dread and ran as if the wild huntsmen were behind them and none of them would venture anything further against him.
Speaker A: So the little tailor was, and remained a king to the end of his life.
Speaker A: Thank you for joining Freya’s fairy tales.
Speaker A: Be sure to come back next week for the conclusion of Stephen’s journey to holding his own fairy tale in his hands and to hear another of his favorite fairy tales.
