Show Notes:
Today is part one of two where we are talking to Karli Rush about her novels. Over the next 2 weeks you will hear about taking inspiration from anywhere, including music to write a book, how writing a book is like building a house, how she chooses her narrators, and what’s coming next for her books.
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Karli Rush was born in the heart of Cherokee Nation and lives in its capital. Her Native American heritage holds sway over her writing in many ways. She has the patience of a brain surgeon operating under fire in a war zone. You can chalk that up to her being the mother of an autistic kiddo. With the passion of a starving artist, she writes. The obsession to tell her tales has led her to write novels in the worlds of Dark Paranormal Romance, Dystopian, and Vampires. She walks in two worlds, one grounds her and the other frees her imagination.
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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 hold 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 as possible.
Speaker A: I am your host, Freya Victoria.
Speaker A: 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 C: We have included all of the links.
Speaker A: For today’s author and our show in the Show Notes.
Speaker A: Today is part one of two where we are talking to Carly Rush about her novels.
Speaker A: Over the next two weeks, you will hear about taking inspiration from anywhere, including music to write a book, how writing a book is like building a house, how she chooses her narrators, and what’s coming next for her books.
Speaker A: Strings of which love story book one.
Speaker A: In a world where witches live among humans, Oliver Lockhart keeps her magical traits a tightlipped secret, until one night while out with a friend, she discovers another witch seducing a crowd with his Siren esque voice.
Speaker A: His lyrics are more than just words.
Speaker A: They are the emotions drawn from the sea of people gathered around the stage.
Speaker A: Oliva refuses to succumb to any of this because she feels it’s all smoke and mirrors.
Speaker A: Luke Pierce, the spellcaster’s lead performer, holds many abilities and one is capturing feelings from others.
Speaker A: He uses this to his advantage, but when he strikes the wrong chord with the beautiful dark haired girl with electric blue eyes standing in the crowd, everything changes.
Speaker A: Both witches have secrets which must be kept under lock and key, for these secrets hold a fear they both have and hold on to as if it’s forbidden to show anyone which which will cast the first spell to unlock the other’s heart or will their pasts overrule them.
Speaker B: The show is Freya’s Fairy Tales and part of the show is both fairy tales or something.
Speaker B: As far as I know, every kid either read or listened to or watched movies of as a kid, and then also you going through the process of weeks, months, years of writing books to hold those books in your hand is also a fairy tale for you.
Speaker B: So we kind of cover both aspects, starting with as a kid, do you remember a fairy tale that you just loved as a kid?
Speaker B: And did that fairytale change over time?
Speaker D: I never really had a favorite fairy tale when I was a kid.
Speaker D: That sounds really bizarre.
Speaker B: Is there one that you remember, like listening to or watching?
Speaker D: What about Rapunzel?
Speaker D: I know that’s probably a common one.
Speaker D: Probably.
Speaker D: I don’t want to say Snow White, because that’s probably I mean, I don’t know, I’m just throwing that one out there.
Speaker B: And so now do you have a favorite now or just a favorite story in general that I mean, obviously you have your own books.
Speaker B: I’m sure your favorites.
Speaker B: But a favorite, like short story or anything nowadays that maybe helps inspire some or all of your books or a favorite movie that you watch way too many times.
Speaker D: Oh, my gosh, you’re going to dive into movies.
Speaker D: That’s terrible.
Speaker D: Don’t do that to me.
Speaker D: Yeah, because I’m a big movie buff.
Speaker D: I love movies.
Speaker D: And I get a lot of inspiration from those, like Vikings.
Speaker D: I know you don’t have Vikings in your books, but some of them are really well told.
Speaker D: Like Vikings, Vikings.
Speaker D: The whole series is great.
Speaker D: I love that one.
Speaker D: Game of Thrones.
Speaker D: I know some people are like, oh, my gosh, really?
Speaker D: I do like Game of Thrones.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker B: Those books.
Speaker B: I watched the series, but I came in, I think I started watching, like, when the second to last season was airing.
Speaker B: So then I got to watch it, like pretty much straight through the final airing of the last season because I came in so late to the game.
Speaker B: Oh, really?
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker B: I don’t know why I didn’t watch because everybody talked about it pretty early on.
Speaker B: But then I started watching it, not realizing I’m in season seven and season eight is going to be the final one.
Speaker B: And then I just watched straight through and I was like, well, hey, that worked out.
Speaker B: Now the books, on the other hand, I’m stuck on book three because those are harder to get through.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker D: Unlike you, I think I got through the first one and I was like, okay, I enjoy the movies.
Speaker D: Definitely the movies.
Speaker B: So at what age did you decide, depending on how you decided, like, hey, it would be cool to write a book or I know I’m going to write a bunch of books when I get older.
Speaker B: Was there a certain age where you decided you wanted to try writing?
Speaker D: Honestly, I was a lot like you from reading your bio, reading a lot of books, being an avid reader when you’re growing up, when you’re young, that’s pretty much what you do back then.
Speaker D: We didn’t have video games like we do now or the Internet, or I didn’t.
Speaker D: So I read a lot of books.
Speaker D: So when I got into College and took English.
Speaker D: Comp, I just wrote whatever our professor would tell us.
Speaker D: And I would write haunted stories, just creative writing.
Speaker D: And she actually read one of my stories in class.
Speaker D: And all my friends were like, oh, my gosh, you really should really focus on that.
Speaker D: And I was like, no, I was a young mom.
Speaker D: I mean, I am a mom, but I had two young kids.
Speaker D: My boys are now 29 and 28.
Speaker D: And then I’ve got my younger one that’s 19.
Speaker D: But you know what I mean?
Speaker D: You’re just like, oh, what?
Speaker D: I’m just trying to get through College.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker D: But I kept writing just on the side.
Speaker D: So I guess about nine years ago, I really started focusing on it and started really writing.
Speaker D: So, yeah, that sounds.
Speaker D: I don’t know, that’s so scattered sounding bits and pieces here kind of led me to the point of just really start writing about nine years ago.
Speaker B: I get that in College because what do a bunch of College kids know?
Speaker B: In my head, that’s what I would be thinking.
Speaker B: Like, what do you know?
Speaker B: It’d be different from, like, a publisher seeing your writing and being like, oh, my God, you need to write a book.
Speaker D: I know you kind of like, yeah, whatever.
Speaker D: You just play it off and then.
Speaker D: But, you know, you’re a writer because you’ll see something and it’ll inspire you.
Speaker D: Like the movies or for me, Strings of Magic was from a song Killing Me Softly, right?
Speaker D: And I just went here, and I know that’s an old song, but it just clung to me.
Speaker D: And I always thought that would be really cool to write about a singer that would sing your life about something that was really hard for you to get through or going through, and they’re singing about it to the public.
Speaker D: And so that’s where that story originally came from was that song.
Speaker D: And you just kind of formulate like you.
Speaker D: I know you’re trying to write your own novels now, and you kind of just go, here’s my idea.
Speaker D: B, I’m going to start writing it.
Speaker D: C, I’m going to start filling out to me.
Speaker D: I call it, like kind of building a house.
Speaker D: You got your foundation.
Speaker D: This is my idea of your frame.
Speaker D: And you start filling in all of the details, all the necessary things that you need to put into your story to make it complete and everything kind of trickles in.
Speaker B: It’s really cool.
Speaker D: I think if you stick with it, you really get the hang of writing, and especially if you just keep doing it and don’t stop.
Speaker B: I don’t know.
Speaker D: Maybe it’s different for other people.
Speaker D: I don’t know.
Speaker B: That’s what I always think with everything.
Speaker B: It’s like, I don’t know.
Speaker B: Other people may do it differently.
Speaker B: What do I know?
Speaker B: I’m me.
Speaker B: You said you started eight or nine years ago with novels.
Speaker B: What inspired you to write?
Speaker B: Because Strings of Magic wasn’t your first one.
Speaker B: What inspired you for the first book that you decided we’re going to do.
Speaker D: A full book, press it down.
Speaker D: This is going to sound crazy.
Speaker D: It was a dream.
Speaker A: You’re my second one.
Speaker D: I know a lot of authors.
Speaker D: I’ve heard them say they had a dream.
Speaker D: Something comes to them and they’ll try to scribble it down when they wake up.
Speaker D: And usually a lot of them say it’s very vivid.
Speaker D: Mine was very vivid, and I could actually go to sleep.
Speaker D: The next night and something would reoccur from that dream again.
Speaker D: Same characters.
Speaker B: It was really weird.
Speaker D: It was like, kind of channeling into a different world.
Speaker D: And I ended up writing down, which is my biggest book.
Speaker D: I think it’s 185,000 words, don’t go.
Speaker D: It’s one of the biggest ones I’ve written, and I wrote that.
Speaker D: Raven Bounds the second one, demon Bones the third one, shadow bounds the fourth one, and Ice Bounds the fifth one.
Speaker D: And then I have a spin off of Fire Bound, a side character from all of that.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker D: But it just boom.
Speaker D: Like I said, you just had a dream, or I had a dream, and you just keep going from one scene to the next or one storyline going, and it just unraveled.
Speaker D: I was really lucky that it came to me so easily because it really did.
Speaker B: So what would you do?
Speaker B: Just kind of like wake up in the morning and type up the next part of what had happened?
Speaker D: Pretty much.
Speaker D: My husband would sit down and he’d write notes when I get up.
Speaker D: Of course, you make breakfast and get the kids ready and get them for school or whatever you’re doing.
Speaker D: But I would sit down.
Speaker D: He was so good with me because he was like, here’s your room, here’s your chair, here’s your notes, here’s your drink.
Speaker D: And he would just go, right?
Speaker D: And I would just write, right?
Speaker D: I would write for like 8 hours a day.
Speaker B: Oh, God.
Speaker D: And just that’s the one thing I love is being able to have that or had because now it’s a little different.
Speaker D: It’s a little more difficult to have that much time now to write.
Speaker D: But yeah, it was just I could sit down all day and he would help take care of he was sort of like the mom going around trying to help take care of the boys and the cooking, and that was really nice.
Speaker D: But he was just like my partner and my team.
Speaker D: He really worked with me on it, and he’d go over the storylines with me and just really supportive encouraged me, and that’s just what kept me going.
Speaker D: And I completed the entire series.
Speaker D: Oh, gosh, I don’t know.
Speaker D: It didn’t take me very long to complete the entire series, but, yeah, I just kept writing it.
Speaker D: As soon as I get up, I go over my notes and I just start writing.
Speaker B: That’s cool.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker B: My husband is pretty he’s actually writing his own book now, which he very creative person, but he’s dyslexic.
Speaker B: And so he was always afraid that I can’t write this book because I’m going to have too many errors in it or whatever.
Speaker B: And so over our anniversary weekend, I guess it’s about right.
Speaker B: A month ago, I’m like, well, I’m talking my book, and he’s talking like this idea that he’s had for forever.
Speaker B: And I’m like, why don’t you write it?
Speaker B: Well, I can’t because I’m dyslexic, and I’ll have too many issues.
Speaker B: I’m like, dude, I will edit your book like you’re fine.
Speaker B: Write it.
Speaker D: Oh, gosh, absolutely.
Speaker B: He’s the Hunt and Peck typer, so it’s very slow going.
Speaker D: I really think if you have the passion for it, I think you can do anything regardless of what’s going on, you know, whatever it is, I think you really, really just keep supporting him.
Speaker D: Definitely.
Speaker D: I think that’s a good thing that you’re doing with him.
Speaker D: He’s excited to see his novel.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker B: So you said you were writing for 8 hours a day.
Speaker B: So how long did it take you to write 185,000 words?
Speaker B: How long did it take you from dreams to publishing that one Crescent bound.
Speaker D: That one took me about a year.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker B: And where the next one is faster or about the same time?
Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
Speaker D: Because they ended up being about, I don’t know, 60,000, maybe $75,000.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker B: Much, much shorter then.
Speaker D: Yeah.
Speaker D: Generally if I have things planned out, you can write it in three months.
Speaker D: Of course you’ve got your editing.
Speaker D: I usually take off a month for editing, going back through getting it out to your beta readers, making sure everything’s where it needs to be and then published.
Speaker B: How did you find beta readers for the first one?
Speaker B: Obviously, no one’s going to know Besides your friends and family.
Speaker B: No one’s going to know who you are at that point.
Speaker D: Well, honestly, no one in my family or my friends in my town.
Speaker D: I live in a very small town.
Speaker D: I’m in Oklahoma in a very small town.
Speaker D: Nobody really knows.
Speaker D: I write because I write steamy stories.
Speaker D: And when I have told them, they’re like, oh, really?
Speaker D: No, I had no idea.
Speaker D: Yeah.
Speaker D: I really didn’t tell anybody in the beginning, but I just put it out there and I had a lot of feedback.
Speaker D: I had a lot of people come and email me or contact me and it just bloomed from there.
Speaker D: You got to understand, back when I started, when the Indies first started coming out, we had a great advantage because we were able to get on Facebook.
Speaker D: You could do what you wanted, you could help.
Speaker D: And I used to be on a really great team of other authors.
Speaker D: They were amazing.
Speaker D: And we all collaborated together.
Speaker D: We all talked.
Speaker D: We always went over story ideas together.
Speaker D: It was just a really good group of friends and they were from all over the world and we would just help each other.
Speaker D: We would help share.
Speaker D: If we’re having a free book, if we were promoting a book or newly releasing something, whatever, we help share that now.
Speaker D: It’s all changed.
Speaker D: It’s all changed.
Speaker D: If you do anything you sneeze on social media, it’s like, okay, that’s going to cost you $20.
Speaker B: It’s just crazy.
Speaker D: Everything has just changed.
Speaker B: Yeah, well, I’ve noticed or I’ve seen a lot of authors that have been around for a while talk about how TikTok came out of left field for a lot of authors that were used to like, here’s what’s worked for me before and keep trying to do that.
Speaker B: But then TikTok came around and started taking all these nobody authors, not nobody, but ones that weren’t known.
Speaker B: And all of a sudden they’re hitting in the top ten on Amazon, and they’re like, what?
Speaker B: I’ve seen a lot of one authors that have been around for a while that are like, we had to learn this whole new platform to figure out how to sell our books.
Speaker D: Yeah, I totally agree with them.
Speaker D: It’s completely changed.
Speaker D: It’s a constant learning.
Speaker D: It’s constant learning how to get it out there.
Speaker D: And if you’ve got the money, if you could drop a couple of thousand for marketing, promoting and stuff, then bless you.
Speaker D: Okay, I guess.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker B: How far into publishing Crescent Bounds did you decide?
Speaker B: Have you finished the whole series before you decided to turn those into audiobooks, or did you fairly early on decide to turn those into audio books?
Speaker D: No, usually I always all on my books.
Speaker D: I always just use them, put them out there publishing as Kendall, usually paperbacks and now hardbacks.
Speaker D: I never really considered any audiobooks for them until way later.
Speaker D: And the whole entire CrossFit bound series has been re edited, revamped, and all new covers.
Speaker D: I just had all new covers done on them last year and was talking to a couple about audio and just any of my books.
Speaker D: So I always do it.
Speaker D: My mindset is always getting it into the Kendall edition and then paperback and now Hardback, and then I go back in and do audio.
Speaker D: I know a lot of authors will do the whole thing altogether.
Speaker D: They’ll have the audio and everything.
Speaker D: And bless them, too, because I’m just one woman over here to take care of what I can, right?
Speaker D: Yeah.
Speaker D: You just have to figure out what works for you.
Speaker D: And if you can get it all lined up, then it works out.
Speaker B: I would imagine.
Speaker B: Now I plan on narrating my own, so that will be a little bit different.
Speaker B: But I imagine for, like, and you’re not the only author that’s told me they like to have one author that I work with that’s like, oh, I want to kind of see how the book is received to let it be out for like six months first and then address the audio.
Speaker B: But yeah, you’re right.
Speaker B: I did one book for a publisher, and they wanted the audio at the same exact time as the other.
Speaker B: Meeting deadlines is interesting.
Speaker B: And then there’s some, like, I don’t know that we ever had this conversation about, oh, it might take a long time to get the audio book out or whatever, but I’ve had to have that conversation with some authors.
Speaker B: Like, hey, I’m booked until this date.
Speaker B: Is that okay?
Speaker B: Now your first one, you said you talked to a couple about doing the audio.
Speaker B: Did you actually do auditions for the Crescent Bound series or.
Speaker B: No.
Speaker D: Yeah.
Speaker D: Actually, Crescent Bound is an audio.
Speaker D: The rest of them, I wanted to have like, a mail because I was at a convention one time and me and this author, I forgot her name.
Speaker D: Now I just forgot her name.
Speaker D: She was telling me, yeah, you really should have a male character in there.
Speaker D: And at the time, I do have it’s split.
Speaker D: I have the female, the main character, and the male main character.
Speaker D: And I switched different chapters.
Speaker D: So then you’ll have a female and the male voice, and she says, yeah, you should have them both do it.
Speaker D: And I was like, I didn’t know you could.
Speaker D: Wow, that’s too.
Speaker B: From what I’ve heard, it’s difficult if you don’t have I know there’s quite a few, like, husband and wife teams that will conarrate.
Speaker B: But for me, husband Dyslexic, he would essentially have to memorize the chapters.
Speaker B: So getting two people from different houses to be able to conarrate, making sure the sound all sounds the same is difficult from what I’ve heard, but I’ve never tried it, so I don’t know for sure.
Speaker D: It would be really cool.
Speaker D: It would be really cool.
Speaker D: I think it kind of gives I love when narrators and I will say this when I have the Kindle books out and they’re doing okay.
Speaker D: But I have noticed that I sell way more audiobooks.
Speaker D: It’s kind of weird because it’s like more people, I guess, like the audios.
Speaker D: They enjoy being able to write me and tell me they’re driving to work.
Speaker D: They got a long period from driving to wherever they’re going, and they’ll listen to it.
Speaker D: I’ve got best sellers on there, like Nine Lives.
Speaker D: She was amazing.
Speaker D: I have occasionwoman in there, and she did the accents perfectly.
Speaker D: She was amazing.
Speaker D: That one really sells well.
Speaker D: And Memorials of a Superhero.
Speaker D: And she did amazing, too.
Speaker D: And those two are my best sellers.
Speaker D: It’s kind of weird because people are like, oh, they’re in paperback or, oh, they’re in Canada.
Speaker D: I just immediately go to the audio, and it’s sort of weird to see what people want.
Speaker D: So I guess it’s kind of what clicks for you.
Speaker B: And so when you’re listening through auditions, what are you listening?
Speaker B: I mean, I imagine it depends on the book and the characters and whatever, but is there anything specifically that you’re listening for as you’re listening through?
Speaker B: Like, for example, since I did Strings of Magic for you, is there anything in particular that you were looking for from your narrator?
Speaker B: Like, oh, I want them to sound a certain way or anything like that?
Speaker D: Oh, yes, yes.
Speaker D: I think any author would be looking for the tone and their demeanor.
Speaker D: Are they capturing the character the way the way you see them, the way you hear them in your head?
Speaker D: And I think you captured live in Strings of Magic pretty well.
Speaker D: I’m always looking for that little extra amp to me.
Speaker D: I think if you guys do narrators, as actors, you want to give that little to it.
Speaker D: Make sure your voice is carrying that weight of a sad emotion.
Speaker D: Is it a sad scene or are they excited and you have that little tone that switches so you can tell the difference?
Speaker D: And that’s what I’m hoping to hear.
Speaker D: I think I got a compliment once that somebody did in Memoirs of a Superhero and she did.
Speaker D: It was really cute.
Speaker D: They were on the phone.
Speaker D: The two main characters were and she acted like she was chewing gum because she was chewing gum.
Speaker D: She’s like, yeah, okay, I’ll write it in.
Speaker D: Yes, that was just great.
Speaker D: I just love little things like that.
Speaker D: Those things can really add to it.
Speaker D: It can make that into a book, an audiobook.
Speaker B: I had one where I had to knock on the wall because the guy was knocking on the bathroom door.
Speaker B: And so I like knocked on the wall because I’m going to sound stupid if I’m like, knock, knock is saying knock, knock.
Speaker B: But I’m like, it makes more sense for me to just knock on the wall next to me.
Speaker D: Yes, I think things like that really bring it out more.
Speaker D: So yes, definitely do more of that.
Speaker B: Now yours.
Speaker B: I don’t think there was any of that kind of anything written into the book for Strings of Magic.
Speaker B: I didn’t have a need to do any of that.
Speaker B: I just remember as I was reading through the manuscript for that book, I’m like, and I think I told you this already.
Speaker B: I’m like reading along, reading along.
Speaker B: And I’m like, oh, this is really good.
Speaker B: Like they’re together.
Speaker B: It’s a part romance and all of that.
Speaker B: And I’m like, oh, they’re together.
Speaker B: And I’m like, I’m only halfway through this book.
Speaker B: How on Earth is she going to try this out for another half a book?
Speaker B: And then the plot twist happens, which I don’t think is in any of your descriptions of the book.
Speaker B: So I won’t spoil it, but the twist happens and you’re just like, okay then.
Speaker B: So that’s how she does it.
Speaker B: Now, that one you said was inspired by a song.
Speaker B: Did you have a plan going into the book or into any of your books?
Speaker B: Do you plan them out ahead of time or kind of write and see what happens?
Speaker D: I wing it.
Speaker D: I am not a planner.
Speaker D: I don’t outline and I don’t write big chart of all this that most a lot of authors probably do.
Speaker D: And it’s probably a great thing to do.
Speaker D: Everything’s in my mind.
Speaker D: That’s what I was telling my editor.
Speaker D: She was like, well, you got to get this done and you got to get this done.
Speaker D: And I was like, it’s all in my head.
Speaker D: It’s all in my head.
Speaker D: And I think for Strings of Magic, I happened to hear that song again.
Speaker D: And like I said, it’s an old song.
Speaker D: And I heard it again and I thought, I want to write this.
Speaker D: It was just a drive in me, that passion.
Speaker D: And I called my friend and talked to her.
Speaker D: We talked all night, and she was like, yeah, you should do this.
Speaker D: And we brainstormed all night long.
Speaker D: And I was like, yes, this is it.
Speaker D: I’ve got to flow with this.
Speaker D: And even though I had other characters in my head because I’ve got like, Earthbound supposed to come out.
Speaker D: That’s a part two from The Fire Bound.
Speaker D: And I’m going to revamp a book called Pine Needles, which is kind of a post apocalyptic kind of thing.
Speaker D: I’m going to revamp that one hopefully by the end of this year.
Speaker D: But I just stuck with that.
Speaker D: I just had to push everybody off to the side and say, you guys do quiet.
Speaker D: And this is the one I’m going to do.
Speaker D: So it’s hard.
Speaker D: And I think I saw you on Instagram that you had asked authors, how do you handle when you have all these other stories storming in on you?
Speaker D: How do you handle when you’re trying to work on a story and you’ve got these other characters or a scene comes in your mind and you want to.
Speaker D: Yes, write what you so you will remember, right, right.
Speaker D: Keep it somewhere.
Speaker D: Or if you’re like me, you can probably just stash it in your head somewhere, but try to stay with your goal.
Speaker D: You’re going to go from this story to the end, and then you can follow with your other stories.
Speaker D: It’ll all stay usually right if life is not too chaotic.
Speaker B: Well, what happened to me?
Speaker A: So what happened to me?
Speaker B: I have been attempting to write stories since I was like, a teenager.
Speaker B: I would have these ideas, but they never formed past the idea stage.
Speaker B: I would start writing and it would just stop.
Speaker B: There was no continuing the story.
Speaker B: It’s like, well, I don’t know where to go from here.
Speaker B: So I would just stop and do something else.
Speaker B: And then the story, the first book that I’m about 30,000 words into, it was very much a I had this idea, and I’m like, well, it has been several years since I sat down and tried to write anything.
Speaker B: So I’m like, we’ll just try and see what happens.
Speaker B: And I knocked out 15,000 words relatively quickly.
Speaker B: And I’m like, well, this is clearly going to have a story.
Speaker B: And then I started having I don’t even know what it was, but I started having these like, I love mythology and mythology, like Retellings, Greek, Norse, Native American, whatever, like, just mythology in general and retellings and stuff like that.
Speaker B: I’ve read quite a few theories that are that way.
Speaker B: And I’m like, oh, that would be really, really cool.
Speaker B: And then, like, the second I think that the story starts writing itself in my head, and so I’m trying to finish this other book that’s now about 30,000 words in, and my brain is like, no, we don’t know where that story is going right now.
Speaker B: We want to write the other story.
Speaker B: So I’ve been trying to truck through and get that one finished.
Speaker B: And finally this week I decided that last weekend, I think I wrote, like, a thousand words when I had written like 7000 the weekend before.
Speaker B: So I’m like, we’re just going to have to press pause on this one and write the one that’s taking over my brain.
Speaker B: Maybe that one will have to be paused so I can go back to the other one.
Speaker B: But for now, if one is writing itself, we’ll pause and come back to that one later.
Speaker D: It’s a challenge.
Speaker D: It can be a big challenge.
Speaker B: When I actually had another author, I keep saying I need to research because in my head with mythology, there’s some things you can’t just wing it.
Speaker B: When you’re using mythology characters, you need to know what their powers are.
Speaker B: If there’s any big character traits of these people or gods that are, like, very prominent things that if you leave that out or get that wrong, everyone’s going to let you know that in the comments.
Speaker B: I’m like, my research is more like, let’s make sure we don’t screw up these characters still create them myself.
Speaker B: But I need to kind of know what’s happening.
Speaker B: But beyond, like, I didn’t plan the first one.
Speaker B: I don’t plan on beyond.
Speaker B: I like, know, I want it to be a series.
Speaker B: How many books?
Speaker B: I don’t know.
Speaker B: And like, what?
Speaker B: I want each book to kind of be surrounded around.
Speaker B: What order?
Speaker B: I don’t know yet.
Speaker B: I have a bunch of mythology books to read through is where I’m at right now.
Speaker D: A lot of research.
Speaker B: Yes.
Speaker D: I enjoy writing fantasy.
Speaker D: I really do.
Speaker D: And I think I’ve had somebody ask me which way I like because I do have a contemporary romance out called Let Your Hard Drive.
Speaker D: And I don’t like writing contemporary romance, although that one got good reviews, and it’s probably one of the best books I’ve written.
Speaker D: When you’re writing contemporary romance, everything is really factual.
Speaker D: And the girl was driving on Route 66, so I was going through and did virtual tours myself, following the road and trying to see what was there.
Speaker D: What could she do?
Speaker D: Sightseeing?
Speaker D: What was the big thing to stop and check out?
Speaker D: And so I was very rigid and tried to be very concise writing that story.
Speaker D: But then I was like, okay, I’m done with that one.
Speaker D: I love the book.
Speaker D: I put my heart into it, which I do, all of them, but I really do like writing fantasy because it’s just like the Crescent Bound series.
Speaker D: I’ve created my own witches.
Speaker D: I’ve created I’ve had a lot of readers and fans and friends.
Speaker D: We want a story where all the witches are coming in.
Speaker D: So the next book I’m putting, oh, Lord, help me.
Speaker D: I’m going to try to put some of the characters from Crescent down into wishes of magic where they’re all going to meet.
Speaker D: I know I probably shouldn’t be saying all this, but just to give the spoiler.
Speaker D: Exactly.
Speaker D: Because they’re all like, Where’s Mr.
Speaker D: Worthington?
Speaker D: I want to see Mr.
Speaker D: Worthington or Alyssa or Mark or some of the old crew from the Crescent down and try to pull them into the next story.
Speaker D: Because I’ve created my own world.
Speaker UNK: Right?
Speaker D: And it’s just like I said, it’s like building a house.
Speaker D: This is my world and I love it.
Speaker D: It’s like playing a video game.
Speaker D: I love playing video games.
Speaker D: Just when you’re in those games.
Speaker D: I’m so stunned at watching how they create the world.
Speaker D: And just like last of us are uncharted.
Speaker D: I just love video games.
Speaker D: Sorry.
Speaker D: And when my son, my older son comes over and shows me something new, I’m just in awe because just the imagination put into it and creating just from nothing.
Speaker D: Just amazing world.
Speaker D: And that’s what I love.
Speaker D: I love about writing Anafi.
Speaker D: You can create your own worlds.
Speaker UNK: Carly didn’t really have a favorite fairy.
Speaker A: Tale as a kid, but she suggested Snow White for one of our stories.
Speaker A: Snow White is an 18th century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world.
Speaker A: The Brothers Grim published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimm’s Fairy Tales and numbered as Tale 53.
Speaker A: The original German title was Snee.
Speaker A: Wynn, a Low German form, but the first version gave the High German translation Snee.
Speaker A: Wycan, and the tales become known in German by the mixed form Snee Witchen.
Speaker A: The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854.
Speaker A: The fairy tale contains such elements as the magic mirror, the poisoned Apple, the glass coffin, and the characters of the Evil Queen and the Seven Dwarves.
Speaker A: The seven dwarves were first given individual names in the 1912 Broadway play Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and then given different names in Walt Disney’s 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Speaker A: The Grim story, which is commonly referred to as Snow White, should not be confused with the story of Snow White and Rose Red, another fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.
Speaker A: Today we will be reading Tale 53 or Little Snow White.
Speaker A: Don’t forget, we are also continuing the original story of Beauty and the Beast on our Patreon.
Speaker A: Little Snow White, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm once upon a time in midwinter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a Queen sat sewing at her window, which had a frame of black Ebony wood.
Speaker A: As she sewed, she looked up at the snow and pricked her finger with her needle.
Speaker A: Three drops of blood fell into the snow.
Speaker A: The red on the white looked so beautiful that she thought to herself, if only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood.
Speaker A: In this frame.
Speaker A: Soon afterwards she had a little daughter who was as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as Ebony wood, and therefore they called her little Snow White.
Speaker A: And as soon as the child was born, the Queen died.
Speaker A: A year later, the King took himself another wife.
Speaker A: She was a beautiful woman, but she was proud and arrogant, and she could not stand it.
Speaker A: If anyone might surpass her in beauty.
Speaker A: She had a magic mirror.
Speaker A: Every morning she stood before it, looked at herself, and said, Mirror, mirror on.
Speaker C: The wall, who in this land is.
Speaker A: Fairest of all to this?
Speaker A: The mirror answered, you, my Queen, are fairest of all.
Speaker A: And she was satisfied, for she knew that the mirror spoke the truth.
Speaker A: Snow White grew up and became even more beautiful when she was seven years old.
Speaker A: She was as beautiful as the light of day, even more beautiful than the Queen herself.
Speaker A: One day, when the Queen asked her, Mirror, mirror, mirror on the wall, who.
Speaker C: In this land is fairest of all?
Speaker A: It answered, you, my Queen, are fair, it is true, but Snow White is a thousand times fairer than you.
Speaker A: The Queen took fright and turned yellow and green with envy.
Speaker A: From that hour on, whenever she looked at Snow White, her heart turned over inside her body.
Speaker A: So great was her hatred for the girl.
Speaker A: The envy and pride grew even greater, like a weed in her heart until she had no peace day and night.
Speaker A: Then she summoned a Huntsman and said to him, Take Snow wide out into the woods.
Speaker C: I never want to see her again.
Speaker C: Kill her, and it’s proof that she is dead.
Speaker C: Bring her lungs and her liver back to me.
Speaker A: The Huntsman obeyed and took Snow White into the woods.
Speaker A: He took out his hunting knife and was about to stab it into her innocent heart when she began to cry, saying, oh, dear, Huntsman, let me live.
Speaker C: I will run into the wild woods.
Speaker A: And never come back because she was so beautiful.
Speaker A: The Huntsman took pity on her, and he said, Run away, you poor child.
Speaker A: He thought, the wild animals will soon devour you anyway.
Speaker A: But still it was as if a stone had fallen from his heart, for he would not have to kill her.
Speaker A: Just then a young boar came running by.
Speaker A: He killed it, cut out its lungs and liver, and took them back to the Queen as proof of Snow White’s death.
Speaker A: The Cook had to boil them with salt, and the wicked woman ate them, supposing that she had eaten Snow White’s lungs and liver.
Speaker A: The poor child was now all alone in the great forest, and she was so afraid that she just looked at all the leaves on the trees and didn’t know what to do.
Speaker A: Then she began to run.
Speaker A: She ran over sharp stones and threw thorns, and wild animals jumped at her, but they did her no harm.
Speaker A: She ran as far as her feet could carry her, and just as evening was about to fall, she saw a little house and went inside in order to rest.
Speaker A: Inside the house everything was small, but so neat and clean that no one could say otherwise.
Speaker A: There was a little table with a white tablecloth and seven little plates, and each plate had a spoon, and there were seven knives and Forks and seven mugs as well.
Speaker A: Against the wall there were seven little beds, all standing in a row and covered with Snow White sheets.
Speaker A: Because she was so hungry and thirsty, Snow White ate a few vegetables and a little bread from each little plate, and from each mug she drank a drop of wine.
Speaker A: Afterwards, because she was so tired, she laid down on a bed, but none of them felt right.
Speaker A: One was too long, the other too short, until finally the 7th one was just right.
Speaker A: She remained lying in it, entrusted herself to God, and fell asleep.
Speaker A: After dark, the Masters of the house returned home.
Speaker A: They were the seven dwarfs who picked and dug for ore in the mountains.
Speaker A: They lit their seven candles, and as soon as it was light in their house, they saw that someone had been there, for not everything was in the same order as they had left it.
Speaker A: The first one said, who has been.
Speaker C: Sitting in my chair?
Speaker A: The second one said, who has been.
Speaker C: Eating from my plate?
Speaker A: The third one who has been eating my bread, the fourth one who has been eating my vegetables, the fifth one.
Speaker C: Who has been sticking with my fork.
Speaker A: The 6th one who has been cutting with my knife, the 7th one who.
Speaker C: Has been drinking from my mug.
Speaker A: Then the first one saw that there was a little imprint in his bed and said, who stepped on my bed?
Speaker A: The others came running up and shouted.
Speaker C: Someone has been lying in mine as well.
Speaker A: But the 7th one, looking at his bed, found Snow White lying there asleep.
Speaker A: The seven dwarfs all came running up, and they cried out with amazement.
Speaker A: They fetched their seven candles and shone the light on Snow White.
Speaker C: Oh good heaven, oh good heaven, they cried.
Speaker C: This child is so beautiful.
Speaker A: They were so happy that they did not wake her up, but let her continue to sleep there in the bed.
Speaker A: The 7th dwarf had to sleep with his companions 1 hour with each one, and then the night was done.
Speaker A: The next morning Snow White woke up, and when she saw the seven dwarfs, she was frightened, but they were friendly and asked, what is your name?
Speaker A: My name is Snow White.
Speaker A: She answered.
Speaker C: How did you find your way to our house?
Speaker A: The dwarves asked further.
Speaker A: Then she told them that her stepmother had tried to kill her, that the Huntsman had spared her life, and that she had run the entire day.
Speaker A: Finally coming to their house, the dwarf said, if you will keep house for.
Speaker C: Us and Cook, make beds, wash soap, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay with us and you shall have everything that you want.
Speaker A: Yes, said Snow White, with all my heart.
Speaker A: So she kept house for them.
Speaker A: Every morning they went into the mountains looking for ore and gold, and in the evening, when they came back home, their meal had to be ready.
Speaker A: During the day the girl was alone.
Speaker A: The good dwarves warned her, saying, Be.
Speaker C: Careful about your stepmother.
Speaker A: She will soon know that you are here.
Speaker A: Do not let anyone in now.
Speaker A: The Queen, believing that she had eaten Snow White’s lungs and liver, could only think that she was again the first and the most beautiful woman of all.
Speaker A: She stepped before her mirror and said.
Speaker C: Mirror, mirror on the wall.
Speaker C: Who in this land is fairest of all?
Speaker A: It answered.
Speaker UNK: You, my Queen, are fair, it is true.
Speaker A: But Snow White, beyond the mountains with the seven Dwarfs is still a thousand times farther than you.
Speaker A: This startled the Queen, for she knew that the mirror did not lie, and she realized that the Huntsman had deceived her and that Snow White was still alive.
Speaker A: Then she thought and thought again, how could she kill Snow White for as long as she was not the most beautiful woman in the entire land?
Speaker A: Her envy would give her no rest.
Speaker A: At last she thought of something coloring her face.
Speaker A: She disguised herself as an old peddler woman so that no one would recognize her in this disguise.
Speaker A: She went to the house of the seven Dwarfs.
Speaker A: Knocking on the door, she called out.
Speaker C: Beautiful wares for sale.
Speaker C: For sale?
Speaker A: Snow White peered out the window and said, Good day, dear woman.
Speaker C: What do you have for sale?
Speaker C: Good wares.
Speaker A: Beautiful wares, she answered.
Speaker C: Bodice lace isn’t all colors, and she.
Speaker A: Took one out that was braided from colorful silk.
Speaker C: Would you like this one?
Speaker A: I can let that honest woman in, thought Snow White, then unbolted the door and bought the pretty bodice lace.
Speaker A: Child, said the old woman, how you look.
Speaker C: Come, let me lace you up properly.
Speaker A: The unsuspecting Snow White stood before her and let her do up the new lace, but the old woman pulled so quickly and so hard that Snow White could not breathe.
Speaker C: You used to be the most beautiful.
Speaker A: One, said the old woman, and hurried away.
Speaker A: Not long afterward, in the evening time, the seven dwarves came home.
Speaker A: How terrified they were when they saw their deer, Snow White, lying on the ground, not moving at all, as though she were dead, they lifted her up, and, seeing that she was too tightly laced, they cut the lace in two.
Speaker A: Then she began to breathe a little, and little by little she came back to life.
Speaker A: When the dwarves heard what had happened, they said the old Peddler woman was.
Speaker C: No one else but the godless Queen.
Speaker A: Take care and let no one in when we are not with you.
Speaker A: When the wicked woman returned home, she went to her mirror and asked, Mirror.
Speaker C: Mirror on the wall, who in this land is fairest of all?
Speaker A: The mirror answered.
Speaker UNK: Once again, you, my Queen, are fair, it is true.
Speaker A: But Snow White, beyond the mountains with the seven Dwarves is still a thousand times fairer than you.
Speaker A: When she heard that, all her blood ran to her heart because she knew that Snow White had come back to life.
Speaker A: This time, she said, I shall think.
Speaker C: Of something that will destroy you.
Speaker A: Then with the art of witchcraft, which she understood, she made a poisoned comb.
Speaker A: Then she disguised herself, taking the form of a different old woman.
Speaker A: Thus she went across the Seven Mountains to the Seven Dwarves, knocked on the door, and called out, Good, where is for sale.
Speaker C: For sale.
Speaker A: Snow White looked out and said, Go on your way.
Speaker C: I am not allowed to let anyone in.
Speaker C: You surely may take a look, said.
Speaker A: The old woman, pulling out the poisoned comb and holding it up.
Speaker A: The child liked it so much that she let herself be deceived, and she opened the door.
Speaker A: After they had agreed on the purchase, the old woman said, now let me comb your hair properly.
Speaker A: She had barely stuck the comb into Snow White’s hair when the poison took effect and the girl fell down unconscious.
Speaker A: You specimen of beauty, said the wicked woman.
Speaker A: Now you are finished, and she walked away.
Speaker A: Fortunately, it was almost evening, and the seven Dwarves came home.
Speaker A: When they saw Snow White lying on the ground as if she were dead, they immediately suspected her stepmother.
Speaker A: They examined her and found the poisoned comb.
Speaker A: They had scarcely pulled it out when Snow White came to herself again and told them what had happened.
Speaker A: Once again they warned her to be on guard and not to open the door for anyone.
Speaker A: Back at home, the Queen stepped before her mirror and said, Mirror, mirror on.
Speaker C: The wall, who in this land is fairest of all?
Speaker A: The mirror answered.
Speaker A: You, my Queen, are ferret is true.
Speaker A: But Snow, I’d be on the mountains with the seven dwarfs is still a thousand times farther than you.
Speaker A: When the Queen heard the mirror saying this, she shook and trembled with anger.
Speaker C: Snow White shall die, she shouted, if it costs me my life.
Speaker A: Then she went into her most secret room.
Speaker A: No one else was allowed inside, and she made a poisoned Apple from the outside.
Speaker A: It was beautiful white with red cheeks, and anyone who thought would want it, but anyone who might eat a little piece of it would die.
Speaker A: When coloring her face, she disguised herself as a peasant woman and thus went across the Seven Mountains to the Seven Dwarves.
Speaker A: She knocked on the door.
Speaker A: Snow White stuck her head out the window and said, I am not allowed.
Speaker C: To let anyone in the doors have.
Speaker A: Forbidden me to do so.
Speaker A: That is all right with me, answered the peasant woman.
Speaker C: I’ll easily get rid of my apples.
Speaker C: Here, I’ll give you one of them.
Speaker A: No, said Snow White.
Speaker A: I cannot accept anything.
Speaker C: Are you afraid of poison?
Speaker A: Asked the woman.
Speaker C: Look, I’ll cut the Apple in, too.
Speaker C: You eat the red half and I shall eat the white half.
Speaker A: Now the Apple had been so artfully made that only the red half was poisoned.
Speaker A: Snow White longed for the beautiful Apple, and when she saw that the peasant woman was eating part of it, she could no longer resist, and she stuck her hand out and took the poisoned half.
Speaker A: She barely had a bite in her mouth when she fell to the ground dead.
Speaker A: The Queen looked at her with a gruesome stare, laughing loudly, and said, White.
Speaker C: As snow, red as blood, black as Ebony wood.
Speaker C: This time the dwarves cannot awaken you back at home?
Speaker A: She asked her mirror, mirror, mirror on the wall.
Speaker C: Who in this land is fairest of all?
Speaker A: It finally answered.
Speaker A: You, my Queen, are fairest of all.
Speaker A: Then her envious heart was at rest, as well as an envious heart can be at rest.
Speaker A: When the dwarfs came home that evening, they found Snow White lying on the ground.
Speaker A: She was not breathing at all.
Speaker A: She was dead.
Speaker A: They lifted her up and looked for something poisonous.
Speaker A: They undid her laces.
Speaker A: They combed her hair, they washed her with water and wine, but nothing helped.
Speaker A: The dear child was dead, and she remained dead.
Speaker A: They laid her on a beer, and all seven sat next to her and mourned for her and cried for three days.
Speaker A: They were going to bury her, but she still looked as fresh as a living person and still had her beautiful red cheeks.
Speaker A: They said, we cannot bury her in the black Earth.
Speaker A: And they had a transparent glass coffin made so she could be seen from all sides.
Speaker A: They laid her inside, and with golden letters wrote on it her name and that she was a Princess.
Speaker A: Then they put the coffin outside on a mountain, and one of them always stayed with it and watched over her.
Speaker A: The animals, too, came and mourned for Snow White.
Speaker A: First an owl, then a Raven, and finally a Dove.
Speaker A: Snow White lay there in the coffin a long, long time, and she did not decay, but looked like she was asleep.
Speaker A: She was still as white as snow and as red as blood, and as black haired as Ebony would.
Speaker A: Now it came to pass that a Prince entered these woods and happened onto the dwarf’s house, where he sought shelter for the night.
Speaker A: He saw the coffin on the mountain with beautiful Snow White in it, and he read what was written on it with gold letters.
Speaker A: Then he said to the dwarfs, Let me have the coffin.
Speaker UNK: I will give you anything you want for it.
Speaker A: But the dwarfs answered, we will not.
Speaker C: Sell it for all the gold in the world.
Speaker A: Then he said, Then give it to me.
Speaker UNK: For I cannot live without being able.
Speaker A: To see Snow White.
Speaker A: I will honor her and respect her as my most cherished one.
Speaker A: As he thus spoke, the good dwarfs felt pity for him and gave him the coffin the Prince had his servants carried away on their shoulders.
Speaker A: But then it happened that one of them stumbled on some brush.
Speaker A: And this dislodged from Snow White’s throat the piece of poisoned Apple that she had bitten off.
Speaker A: Not long afterward, she opened her eyes, lifted the lid from her coffin, sat up, and was alive again.
Speaker A: Good heavens, where am I?
Speaker A: She cried out.
Speaker A: The Prince said joyfully, you are with me.
Speaker A: He told her what had happened and then said, I love you more than anything else in the world.
Speaker A: Come with me to my father’s Castle.
Speaker A: You shall become my wife.
Speaker A: Snow White loved him, and she went with him.
Speaker A: Their wedding was planned with great splendor and Majesty.
Speaker A: Snow White’s godless stepmother was also invited to the feast.
Speaker A: After putting on her beautiful clothes, she stepped before her mirror and said, Mirror.
Speaker C: Mirror on the wall.
Speaker C: Who in this land is fairest of all?
Speaker A: The mirror answered, you, my Queen.
Speaker A: Our ferret is true.
Speaker A: But the young Queen is a thousand times farther than you.
Speaker A: The wicked woman uttered a curse.
Speaker A: And she became so frightened, so frightened that she did not know what to do.
Speaker A: At first she did not want to go to the wedding.
Speaker A: But she found no peace.
Speaker A: She had to go and see the young Queen.
Speaker A: When she arrived, she recognized Snow White and terrorized.
Speaker A: She could only stand there without moving.
Speaker A: Then they put a pair of iron shoes into burning coals.
Speaker A: They were brought forth with tongs and placed before her.
Speaker A: She was forced to step into the red hot shoes and dance until she fell down dead.
Speaker A: Thank you for joining Freya’s fairy tales.
Speaker A: Be sure to come back next week for the conclusion of Carly’s journey.
Speaker A: To holding her own fairy tale in her hands and hear another of her favorite stories.
