Dipping into things writers do for their genre. Plus, link to the mentioned map generator. Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator at https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/
Tea and Tales
S1:E2 I'm a Writer
I was watching a lot of series today because I didn't want to do anything. Well, I just oodenish to editing. I did five chapters edited yesterday and I'm doing more chapters today. Cool! Five chapters! I know. That's impressive. You know what? I will see us doing this recording as my editing for the day. Well, sometimes that's how writing goes, isn't it? Why? I've got my tea. I'm ready to go. How about you? I am ready. I'm ready. Hey ho. Let's go. Hello everybody and welcome to episode two of Teen Tales podcast. What's episode two about? Wait, what are we talking about today? I'm a writer. Am I really a writer? Are you? Are you really? That is the question. Isn't it? That is the real question. Sometimes we feel like we're not. But there's so many things that writers have in common. It doesn't matter which genre you are. You're going to be a writer who has pens and notebooks and files and finished projects and unfinished projects. But there's also things that are kind of specific to each of our genres that we do more than probably. Oh, absolutely. I enjoy going onto social media. My Instagram during the evenings, I'm scrolling, like I think a lot of people do. And then of course, there are specific things that do go trendy. And I don't know if you remember Sarah, but there was this one thing where people were like, "I'm a photographer." Of course I'm going in and in and in and in. And I was like, "Oh my gosh. That is such fun." And we should definitely be doing that. So I decided that would be like a fun little, I almost want to say game for us to play today. Okay. Are you up for it? Okay. Are you up for it? I'm totally up for it. I'm about to keep this up. I'm totally up for it. I'm about to keep this up. Give me any comments. Yeah, I'm Dave's romance. So you can't have that genre today. You can pick something else. Okay. I'll be fantasy today. Okay. Okay. I'm so glad. I'm glad we have this conversation. Okay. Are you ready for this? Okay. I'm a romance writer. Of course every guy I meet I think is going to be my one true love. Your one true love. Oh. My one true love. Mm-hmm. But is it like really every guy? Listen, Sarah, the heart wants, what the heart wants. I can't. I'm not in charge of that. If you have read one more than one romance novel, you know, you would have known. I'm called out. Okay. Yes. Yes, I'm calling you out. I am. Next week, Sarah will be reading a romance novel. Gone. You're gone. All righty. Yes. Crack on. Go. Okay. Let me give you a fantasy one. Just because I'm ready for you. All right. I think I've got one. I'm a fantasy writer. Of course I have a dozen ways to make a world map. Ooh. That is probably why I do not write fantasy. Is that sounds like an author? And luckily for me, I don't have to create my own world where I have to imagine places because I write in the world that I do live and so that makes it a lot easier. Okay. Now you have to tell me that. What kind of methods do you use? Because I've seen people that have like a piece of paper and then they have like dice or something and they roll it and then that's going to be their world. That's one way. My favorite way is the marble method, a jar of marbles of different sizes and different shapes and then I'll just mix it all up, put it in the jar, put it on the ground, lift and then scattering and that because it's my world that becomes the different places. It's pretty cool. Wow. The absolute favorite though is using the Azgar fantasy map. Yeah. I think it actually showed it to me once. Doesn't it also like form into a globe and then you can see like your whole country or planet or whatever in a globe? Yeah. It's a fantastic tool. I love it for both my sci-fi and my fantasy writing because it can do the entire globe or just one landmass depending on what you need but it takes a lot of the guesswork out of building a world. Yeah. I'll put the link of it down in the videos for everybody. Small. Alrighty. Are you ready for our next one? Yes. I'm ready for another. Ooh. Okay. Are you right now? It's right. Of course I'm going to see two people hate each other and assume they'll fall in love especially when you have a hot new neighbor. A hot new neighbor? Ooh. That's what I'm saying to you. A concept that I've ever experienced it in my life before. I think I've only lived next to old people or families. It doesn't really help me. No, that chump doesn't help you very much. I can actually see it working though as a military wife. A lot of these single military ladies move into new places every three years or so. I can see it. But I mean my favorite part of it though is the enemies to love us part. Like that is my jam. That is didn't give my own number one trip in romance is enemies to lovers. I think you helped me develop an enemies to lovers part in one of my novels. Do you remember that? Yes. Probably because I just like bickering with people. I think that is one of my top qualities. I see it as a quality not a disadvantage is what I'm buying with. It's challenges people. It's good. It's all good. These people on their toes is what I'm saying exactly. Alrighty. Next go go go. I'm a fantasy writer. Of course I have a fascination in creating species that are not human. That is very believable. I 100% believe that because even as I was reading Akatal, the Akatal series, I was sitting there and I'm like cool cool cool. So these dudes have wings. Hmm. Interesting. But that was a choice. I don't know how that works. Or where Tammin turns into a wolf or a beast or something. And I'm like, hmm, I hear you, I see you, you do you boo. Interesting choice. I think it might be quite fun to actually create these creatures. It is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, some people don't care for it. So you lower fantasy people are going to be a lot more tame than us higher fantasy people. But it is a ton of fun because you get to just imagine if I was not human, what would I want to be? And you can create anything. A flapjack. A flapjack. Of course. There you go. If not, why not? That's what I'm saying. I love this one. Okay. I'm a romance writer. Okay. Of course, I'm releasing that breath. I didn't know I was holding after sharing a lingering look with my crush. It gets worse though if you held your breath like five pages ago and you're only releasing it now. And I was like, how's that made it really possible, but cool. Shallow breathing in between, I guess. I think I just paused out in between the lingering look, you know. And then the rest of the book is actually you unconscious and what you think is going to happen with your crush. What? Wow. Wow. Give me no, I have too many already. No, but that I must admit as a romance writer, that phrase, tends to end up in my novel a lot of times. And they know when I do the editing, I'm like, hmm, you should probably delete that one. That is one too many holding breaths over there. She could be a Olympic swimmer by now. Hallelujah. Novel. Basically. Basically. Okay. Hit me with your next one. I'm a fantasy writer. Of course I geek out on things like old military technology. Interesting explain how because it's useful like building your spaceships or something or how do you use it. That's for sci-fi. But yeah, a lot of fantasy happens to happen pre industrial eras. So if you want to bring in a feeling of authenticity, you have to research things that actually existed or could exist and roll it into your character. I see. I see. That does make sense. But the amount of research writers do that does not even end up on the pages is crazy. Absolutely. There's a whole big thing underneath that people don't hear about, that they don't know about. Right. Right. We have no. It's crazy. No, we're talking about that more in our next episode, aren't we? I think we are. I think we are. Ooh. A little teaser there. Ooh. Ooh. Alrighty. Are we going to do one more each? Pull this episode. Let's do one more. Yeah. Alrighty. I'm a romance writer. Of course I have to go back to my hometown after being single for many years because all the single guys back there are hot, stable, reliable and looking for commitment. You see, that's how I know that romance is a fantasy because I've literally like traveled all over the world and came back to where I came from and yep, no single stable, reliable man over here. I feel the same way. I traveled halfway across the United States to marry my husband, so I absolutely get it. Wow. But it is a nice fantasy, it is a nice thought that you could go home and those guys have grown and matured and work hard on their farm and can provide. It's a good dream. True. True, true. I think it's because I've just always been a city girl, so I grew up in this city. Not city city. Things like New York or D.C. think more like in between Suburbian. I think that's what the name is for it. Yes. I grew up like in a Suburbian area. Hit me with one more. I'm a fantasy writer. Of course I have watched hours of videos on weird plants and animals just for inspiration. Okay. I could see how you would be doing that because I mean if you want to poison someone, you kind of have to know what problems you couldn't do it. Not all plants are poisonous that we don't know about, but yes, I do enjoy bringing out things in our real world that people think are fantasy, but then it's like, no, actually look over there in Australia. Like in my current novel that I am editing my trees are sentient and I took that inspiration from new research about how trees have a sound that they actually produce and speak to each other with. So I'm using that in the world as inspiration. It's a real world thing. And yet in my fantasy book, it doesn't feel like what we experience. Yeah. Wow. That is simply one way to look at it now. Now I will never be able to read a novel without assuming that the plant they refer to has a whole history and a family and babies and a unicorn as a place. It just might be deeper than you think. We like to keep things short and simple here at T&TEL's podcast. We want to get you back writing, putting your fingers to the keyboard, putting the pen on paper. But if you have any ideas, maybe you write a different genre than we do and want to throw something in the comments about what do you do as a writer? Absolutely. If you like what we're doing and if you love hearing us babbling in your ears, then please go and follow us on Instagram at T&TEL's podcast and on Facebook at T&TEL's podcast and on April Twitter at podcasttetails. And go scroll up onto your device or wherever you were listening from and get your purple apple icon and please go like and comment on our podcast because apparently that brings us up to the top. Thank you for joining us. See you next time. Thank you for listening. Bye. Bye. the next time. the next time. the next time. the next time. the next time. (upbeat music) You