Where I Left Off

Live from Ink and Indie - Romance Author Panel

• Kristen Bahls • Season 2 • Episode 55

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Thank you to Staci Hicks at Romancelandia and Stevie and Makayla for helping with the episode!

Author Panel:

Harriet Ashford (Author):

Kristen Bahls (Author):

Marie Mitchell (Audiobook Narrator):

K. Sinko  (Author):

For links to the books discussed in this episode, click the link here to take you to the Google Doc to view the list.

For episode feedback, future reading and author recommendations, you can text the podcast by clicking the "Send us a message button" above.

For more, follow along on Instagram @whereileftoffpod.

SPEAKER_07:

I'm Krista Balls, the author of A Flare for Trouble, and you are listening to Where I Left Off, a Bookish Podcast. And today we have a very special episode because this is a live recording from Ink and Indy in Maryland. Yay! And this is a panel discussion with authors Kay Sinko and Harriet Ashford. So I'm gonna go ahead and let them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit about their books.

SPEAKER_06:

Um hi, I'm Harriet Ashford from Houston, Texas. And um The Trouble with Love in Inc. is my first novel. And it is an enemies to lovers with fake dating, one bed. Essentially, she hates him from the start. Whenever he swoops in and steals the promotion, she was all but promised. And to make matters worse, he finds out a secret.

SPEAKER_05:

I'm sorry, I gotta stop because I see someone at the back and I'm gonna cry. Sorry. Am I narrator here? I love her so much.

SPEAKER_07:

And anyway, um is actually our special guest on the panel today. Marie, can you tell us a little bit about your journey to get here to support Harriet today?

SPEAKER_09:

I rode on a plane. Um so I think it was almost in like late August, your husband and Stacy uh kind of both approached about like, I think actually Mr. Ashford approached me about coming to Maryland, and then I approached Stacy about how can we make this a surprise and not make it weird? Which we made it sufficiently weird. Um and um I think it was just really funny because I had bought the tickets and I had everything ready to go, and then you contacted me like nine days later, like, hey, you want to come down to Houston? And I'm like, yeah, you can't tell me no after Gabriel Michael said yes. So I it was supposed to be our first time meeting today, but we met last week by chance. So it's still special.

SPEAKER_06:

Um, okay, so the trouble with love and ink is an enemy celebrators with fake dating, one bed. Um essentially, Emily hates him from the start when he swoops in and steals her promotion. Um, to make matters worse, he finds out a secret she's keeping and he won't tell anyone, but she has to agree to be his fake date for a destination wedding in Costa Rica. And um, the trouble with love and coaches is a sports romance with Forbidden Love. We got found family. Um, essentially, April is training for an Iron Man, and Gabe knows he can help get her to the finish line, but it could cost him the promotion of his dreams. Um, and then training he's up in more ways than one. Well, hi everyone.

SPEAKER_04:

My name is Kay Cinco. I am from New York City, so I'm really excited to be here. I have written a few books. Um, the series I'm probably most known for is the Scoops series. So Safe Harbor was my first book. It is uh it's a series set in coastal small town Connecticut uh about a group of coworkers that work at an ice cream shop. Each book follows one of the females that works in the ice cream shop. It's like a really cozy found family, but a lot of my books deal with some heavier themes. I like to like bring lots of like things that are good for like people to talk about. So I'll bring up like different mental health, financial struggles, addiction, and that sort of thing in some of my books. So yeah, that's the scoop series. Safe Harbor became an Amazon bestseller and won two awards, the Indy Indiverse Awards. And then I also wrote some standalone adult romances. So uh if you're looking for a cozy fall romance set in New York City with a very yummy chef who is basically like Jeremy Allen White from The Bear. Um, and he makes her say yes, chef in bed. That is Sunday Supper. Um, yeah, it's a really good one. And then uh Call of the Loon is another one of my books set in um northern Minnesota. Yeah, set during the pandemic. So it like deals obviously with a lot of really heavier themes there, and it's like a second chance romance. They're coming back together after eight years of not speaking to each other. Very sweet. And then I also wrote a novelette, please be mine. It's a Valentine's Day story told through letters.

SPEAKER_07:

Well, I have to start out the podcast, how I do every episode. Authors always have the best recommendations, and narrators always also have the best recommendations. So if we can talk about what we are all currently reading right now.

SPEAKER_06:

Okay, so first of all, I am a bad author right now, and I'm right in the middle of listening to our second audiobook um that's coming out, The Troubled Love and Coaches. And so, like, that has taken up so much of my time. Um, just a little plug here, if y'all don't know. Um, Marie Mitchell, it's a duet, but Marie Mitchell's doing um the female voice. Um, the male voice is Gabriel Michael, voice of Zaydan Ryerson. So if you enjoy that, you this might be your cup of tea. Um, so that's been really amazing. And so the last book I actually read was Flare for Trouble, which is by Kristen, and it is so amazing, such a great, cozy um teacher mystery. And as a teacher, I can verify it is like hits the nail on the head, and it is so good, just absolutely so adorable. So thank you for writing such a fun book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09:

I was trying to look up, I'm really bad at author names, which is terrible considering my job. But I'm reading The Butcher. I'm in my like spooky girl phase right now. So I've read Sloughfoot and Thistlefoot and Behind Her Eyes, which is also like a series on Netflix. So now I'm going back and watching that. But what I'm currently reading is The Butcher, and I will find the author's name if anybody needs it.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh right now I'm almost finished with Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry. Um which is really I'm I also really love a lot of romanticy, is what I read. Um, so yeah, it's it's just like scratching the edge for me.

SPEAKER_07:

It's so good. That's my book club pick for this month. So now I'm about to read it. Yes, that was what our book club picked. Yeah. Yay. I can't wait. Uh I actually, so a friend was working at Barnes and Noble, and they let her look at the arc shelf and they said, pick any arc. And so at that location, they really didn't like romance. And so in Ark of Good Spirits by B.K. Borison was just sitting on the shelf. And so she let me read it. So I'm in the middle of it right now, and then I'm gonna give it back to her. Yeah, it is really cool. So I got like can I send you, can meet you my address so you can send it to me after yes, book club, perfect. We can just mail it and make it the traveling book. Yes, it is it is really good. It's kind of based on uh the Christmas Carol, and so yeah, she falls in love with the ghost of Christmas past, and they're both trying to figure out why she's there and what she did. Yeah, so it is it is really, really good. It's so clever. She's so clever.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yes. I'm so pumped. Everything, I feel like everything she writes is just gold. It is so good, so well written.

SPEAKER_07:

I agree. I love Love Light Farms and that entire series and First Time Caller and all of those too. Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Can we just talk about the fact that like she's a mechanic in that book? Oh, yeah. I think that's such a unique like job for a female like main character to have.

SPEAKER_07:

So, next up, what is your current work in progress, and what is your current uh book that you're working on for narrating as well? Because it it is a work in progress.

SPEAKER_04:

Um, so my current work in progress, I have a holiday romance coming out November 6th. It's called Ruin the Friendship, and it's got all the things that you'd want with that title. So it's Fribbid and Love, Brother's Best Friend. Um it's a fast burn. He's like like head over heels for her, and there's lots of fake dating.

SPEAKER_07:

So and when does it come out?

SPEAKER_06:

November 6th. Yeah. Um, our next one will be the third book in the trouble series. Um, if you've been following me on social media and you're like, wow, she won't shut up about the birds. That's the bird book that we're working on, the researching. Um, and essentially, um, Trevor, which you'll meet in the second book, he ends up getting a job at Exposure, which is a nature, um, it's a nature magazine, and um, he takes a picture of this birding guide, and he just thinks she is so beautiful, and she ends up on the front page of this magazine, and she wasn't supposed to be there, and it gets her fired. And so she like really hates this guy, um, but he needs her help to find a specific bird, and they go off on an island together, and you know the rest. Um, so it's been a lot of fun to write. Um, yeah, just like lots of the the birding, it's it's been really fun.

SPEAKER_09:

Uh, we're still like we're in the the final stages of the trouble with love and coaches, but there's still pickups and stuff like that to do. So still working on that. I do have a book coming up with a publisher that I can't talk about yet. But if you are interested in um narrators in general um and Dungeons and Dragons, we have a Dungeons and Dragons podcast called Punch and Roll for Initiative. Um we stream, actually, they're streaming tonight, and um, that's a lot of fun. And then I also record for webtoons.com um in some of their um webtoons that are coming out on audio.

SPEAKER_07:

So how many projects do you typically have going at one time?

SPEAKER_09:

I rarely work on, like commercial work aside, I rarely work on more than one book at a time because I will rush inadvertently, like I I want to get that next one started, you know what I mean? So I I take only a book or so at a time, um, but kind of in this cadence where like one is wrapping up and the next one's ready to go.

SPEAKER_07:

And also, sorry, another follow-up question that I thought of. Okay, you're good. Um, so whenever you're trying to decide on the voice for a character, how do you kind of go about that? And like what's your process to make it sound like that specific character for each book?

SPEAKER_09:

Um, most narrators we have like uh probably say three to five, like standard characters. Like this is you're gonna have your like best friend character who's usually gonna be like more high-pitched. That's Haley in The Trouble with Love and Ink. But in this one, we couldn't, I couldn't give them the same voice because they all appear in the dang book. Um, but also like the best friend in this one, she's kind of hippie-ish and she's sassy, and she's so she's gonna be like a deeper voice. So some of it is preparing your manuscript ahead of time and understanding who the characters are a little bit more. Sometimes you need to reach out to your um author and be like, well, like what are you envisioning for this character? Although usually I'll test some stuff before and see if the author comes back like I hate that. Never so um, but most of it's just the the prep work and seeing how um how they sound in my head, I guess. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_07:

That sounds like a really lengthy process for sure.

SPEAKER_09:

Yeah, prepping, I think, is it's key to making the book go smoothly. There has been one singular time in my career, and it was my very first book that I thought I could do without like a bunch of prep ahead of time, and that's when you find out that there's a Scottish character in chapter four. Um like there you they've been Scottish, but you were not Scottish. And so, you know, when you have to go back and rework those things, um, everybody's first book is terrible as a narrator, but um, you you get better over time, and one of those things is learning to prep better.

SPEAKER_07:

Makes sense. One of those things that like trial by fire, I guess. Kind of like writing. I feel like it's like writing it away. When you said everyone's was terrible, I was like, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Just trying to figure out what you're doing at first.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07:

So moving on to a little bit of the panel. Um, Harriet, how did you okay? So you really get into the research of your books. For book one, it was calligraphy. For book two, it was uh Iron Man, and then book three is now birding. So how do you choose which topic is gonna go next?

SPEAKER_06:

So it has to be something I am 100% interested in because like it's going to be my hyper focus for the next year or whatever. And I mean, truly, with birding, I mean, we we're out there like the book's already pretty much the draft's done, and we're still out there birding this morning, and it's just like our life now, like it's a part of us now. And so it's like we always try to pick I always try to pick something that okay, this is going to hold my interest for a while because I've really got to figure these characters out. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah. Do you have an idea, any ideas what book four is gonna look like that you can talk about?

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, wait, hold on, let me see how much I can say. Um, so book four will follow Anderson, and Anderson is a musician, and so I'm really excited about that too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07:

And you're still gonna get to see all the characters that you know and love from the other book 100%. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06:

I can't stop. I just love them so much, like I've gotta put them in there. I don't know. Next question is for K5.

SPEAKER_07:

So, how do you create tension between your characters? Um, and they just have such good banter and such a good back and forth in the scoop series and really throughout all of your books. So, how do you not make it sound forced and so natural? Do you have any kind of like tips or tricks that you rely on most of the time?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, okay. So for tension, I would say a lot of the tension that is built between characters is more of like the actual physical, like watching what they're doing. So like different like way body language things or different ways that they interact with each other that isn't actually being spoken. There's certain moments where I write where it kind of feels more like cinematic because I feel like you're watching something, you really see the tension based on like how they're acting, right? And like what like how what they're doing with their bodies. And so I try to emulate that in my books as well to create that tension, um, instead of it being something that's like internal monologue. It's one of the reasons why I actually decided to do third point of view in my books rather than uh first point of view, because I liked the idea of you kind of seeing the tension from that rather than from like internal monologue. And then in terms of banter, it's a lot of like I have a lot of really funny notes in my phone of like things that people say. So do not make jokes around me because you never know if it'll end up in one of my books. I'm so sorry. But it's also just like I live living in New York, you just hear people like saying weird things all the time. They're not realizing they're in public, and I'm like, I'm gonna write that down because that is funny. Um so there's a lot of that, a lot of like like taking up like of what people are saying, and just like my husband and I have like a funny banter every now and then, and just like actually all the time. But so it's like I'll like write certain things that you know we'll say together or whatever. But um yeah, that banter comes from just a lot of like listening. Like, how are people gonna talk? How are they gonna act? What are the kind of things that they're gonna say in a certain situation?

SPEAKER_07:

And when you said some of the scenes were cinematic, do you see them in your head as you're writing them and can kind of picture them like a movie?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, absolutely. For part of my research is like scouting different locations for like, yeah, okay, if this were a movie or a scene, this is how I would like see it, you know. So not a ton of you know what, yeah, that's that's kind of true. Not a ton of my books the different locations that are there that I'm like, they're fictional, but they're also very heavily based on places that exist. And so that really does help me with like putting together how it all looks, like when I'm like writing it out or whatever.

SPEAKER_07:

Was it easier with all of your books or was there one that was kind of hard to picture at first?

SPEAKER_04:

I think that's with all of my books. Yeah, I don't know. Like I've I've preferred. Yeah, because I think if I'm gonna put something together, a lot of okay, a lot of what I write um the place is really the first thing and then the story comes with it. So if I'm in like like the restaurant that is widest restaurant in New York is heavily based on a restaurant that I really, really love in New York, and I was eating dinner there, and that's when the story like popped up in my head. So like that's I feel like the place and like putting things together that way comes first from those experiences, and then the story kind of flows.

SPEAKER_07:

So do you have a notebook for story ideas and any that you want to share that you think you might do in the future? You're putting me on the spot right now. I have to try to get, you know, a little something.

SPEAKER_04:

I I don't know if anybody follows me on Instagram, but I just went on this big journey. Um, I was in London last year. Um, and oh yay. I was in London last year, uh took a break from my job and decided to go to Le Court en Bleu, and I studied wine. So I did that for six months and I got my diploma. I now work as a Somalier. So I've had a lot of changes happen in the past year. Yeah, I mean, I can't go to London for six months and not write something set in London. That would be crazy. Uh so I will say this definitely something in London in the future, and we'll probably heavily be focused on wine. Um, and that's all I'm gonna give you.

SPEAKER_07:

Thank you. I appreciate it. Oh man. Uh, Marie, this next question is actually for you, so I'm gonna pass it to you. So, what is the most common misconception that either authors or readers have about audiobook narration?

SPEAKER_09:

Authors think we're busier than we are. It's true story, not just with Gabriel, um, who we didn't think you would would have space for us, but he did. I I just I've had several times an author who was like, Well, I was gonna contact you, but I figured you were busy. And I'm like I said, I usually only take books a couple in advance because I don't ever want to rush somebody's baby in order to get to the next baby. I am not somebody who books out like a year, and if I like the project, then I'm gonna do it regardless. Um, and I think that like Gabriel, we got lucky, but like came to the table with the same attitude, especially for Indies. Like, we Trad Pub's gonna schedule you out a year, but for Indies, we can make time.

SPEAKER_07:

Can you talk a little bit about the process of getting him and how that worked too? Here, I'll hand it to Harriet too.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, and so the process um with Gabriel. So, first of all, I Marie has been just like, you know how you find people who are in your corner and like they've got your back, and like that was Marie from the start. Like, from the start. She, you know, um, what was it, Femme Audio Takeover? Ended up doing a few of my lines. She ended up ordering my book, like before I even decided she um she ended up reading it, all this, and I was just and she, you know, gushed about it, and just she's just this champion for indie authors, and I just remembered like like and on top of her being so talented, her having the perfect Emily voice, I'm like, she's just someone who is genuinely on indie author side, and I was like, I want her on my team, and so it's like she did the Trouble with Love and Inc. And like I just thought blew it out of the water, like just it was everything I could have wanted and more. And so, like, with the Trouble with Love and coaches, like I knew I wanted her on the project for sure, but it's a dual point of view, and so we wanted a male in it. The only thing is, then that's a lot more money, and um, I'm an indie author and a teacher, you know? And so um what ended up happening was I wasn't looking for a ghostwriting job, it just fell from the sky, like into my lap, and I I messaged Marie like right away, like, I mean, the ink had not dried on the check, and I said, Do you think this is enough for us to do this project? And she said, Yeah, I think actually um we can actually be picky about it. And um, you know, going back at the time I was drafting The Trouble with Love and Coaches, I was listening to Fourth Wing on audiobook, and of course, like his voice, like I know I'm biased, but his voice is just so great. And there were so many times when I was writing Gabriel's lines, and it's a little confusing because Gabriel Michael and Gabriel Torres, and I promise I did not name him after him, but it just so happened to happen that way. But anyway, when I was writing his lines, I would like hear it in like his deep Zaydan voice, and it like really helped me like wrap my head around the character and like would he really say that? No, let me kind of refra So anyway, from the beginning I kind of had like him, his the idea of him, but it's Gabriel Michael, voice of Zayd and Ryerson. And so I ended up finding his email, and I wrote this long, the most awkward, pathetic thing you've ever seen. And it was like, oh, I love you so much, and I know I'm just an indie author, and I for this reason, this reason, and this reason, I know you wouldn't want to take on my project, but I just wanted to say that no matter what, I love you as an audio a narrator, and I would love it if you would consider being a narrator for my book. And I could see he opened it up. Well, before that, I wrote that out and I was like, I'm not gonna send it. And Marie was like, Yes, you are, it's gonna be fine, just send it. The like what's the worst that could happen? The worst he can say is no. So I was like, sure, fine, I'll just embarrass myself. So I sent it and I see he opens it and no response. And I was like, fair. We all knew that was gonna happen. That's fine. So we start we start kind of like figuring out who else we get who else can do this, and it's really not looking great because all your friends were like booked out for a while, it wasn't looking great. And then 24 hours later he says, Yeah, I'm interested. And then he he was within budget, and the way I hyperventilated was like, I must be misunderstanding. Like, I don't the amount of unhinged voice notes I sent to Marie.

SPEAKER_09:

I have blackmail material.

SPEAKER_06:

I know, and so anyway, it just like all came together, and then you know, we we ended up getting him. Um, he's just so kind. We found out, you know, for a while I thought I'd catfished myself. Like, this isn't really Gabriel Michael, and then he sends a video of him saying my lines, and again, I'm like, oh my god, it's Gabriel Michael! Anyway, um, then if y'all don't know the local bookstore that I work with, they ended up saying, Hey, do you think that we could have Gabriel Michael and Marie do a podcast with us um for a book event? And I was like, Marie for sure, because she's my homie. And I said, But but Gabe, I'll ask. And um his assistant was like, Yeah, sure. I was like, oh wow. And then the bookstore goes, What what if you what if you got him? We got him in person, and I go, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, yeah, what if? And they go, Harry, we're serious. And I was like, Oh, and sure enough, I ended up asking, and he said, Yeah, I'll come to Texas, and it's just been the craziest, wildest ride. And we had it last week, and these two just like the crowd loved them, they are so kind, so amazing. So, anyway, that's enough about that. But it was just the best experience of my life.

SPEAKER_07:

Whenever uh you guys are recording, do you both record together? So you've been talking to each other a lot, or is it kind of like you record your thing, he records his thing, and then an audio engineer is putting them both together.

SPEAKER_09:

You can do both, but in our case, we were completely asynchronous. Um, I actually finished recording, I think about a week before he did. Do you know there's more work to it when you do async because there's a chance that like I'm narrating something he's saying and we might not have left things off the right way, but that's where the engineer comes in and lets us know hey, like could you go back and fix this? If we really needed to, um, I'm sure we could have done like a directed session kind of thing too. But all of those, like getting three busy people in across multiple time zones together to produce a book these days is really hard. Like COVID let us do this at home now, which is wonderful, but actually getting people into the same room is really hard.

SPEAKER_06:

So but it's crazy because you would not know that they are in different rooms, like when you listen to it, the banter is just like bah bah bah, and like the tension, like I know this story backwards and forwards, and the way I was crying in our hotel room last night because we were like listening to it together. Oh my gosh, it was so good. And like I've said over and over again, like I'm an indie author, like y'all didn't have to hit it that hard, but they like acted their hearts out, like for real. It's so good.

SPEAKER_07:

Well, congratulations to you both, and we can't wait to listen to it. Yay! So, are you for this is for everyone? Are you a plotter or a pantser? And then Marie will talk a little bit about how you kind of like mark up scripts for audiobooks. So we can go for everyone. Who would like to go first?

SPEAKER_04:

I am definitely a plotter. Um, I spend more time plotting and outlining and planning out my book than I actually do writing. So like the research part of it, like outlining everything, like sitting down to write that isn't a long process for me. I've you know, I've studied journalism, I've like been writing my whole life. So like that part isn't as hard. It's like the planning it out that like I find that takes a lot of time. So definitely a plotter.

SPEAKER_07:

Do you typically like use a computer software or is yours all manual and paper? Like how do you kind of piece things together? Um, I use Notion.

SPEAKER_04:

I don't know if anybody else is a Notion user on here. It's like a I don't know, like a note, it's a it's a like a note app, but it's like on steroids. So it's just like you can add all these little like folders and you can add like cover images and like play with emojis and you can make like calendars and I've got spreadsheets and it's like a whole thing. So I like organize my whole book in there where I have like different folders and the chapters and everything that played out.

SPEAKER_07:

Thank you. All that helps to hear. It's really interesting to hear how everyone kind of crafts their stories.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, so I we've talked about this before. I try really hard to be a plotter, and like I do, I plot out exactly like down to the dialogue, what they all need to say, and then inevitably I get in there and I'm like, this isn't working. Like, I don't know why. It just doesn't. And so, like, inevitably, I will like have to rip the first manuscript in half, like start over again. And I don't know why I'm not great at it, but it's just my process. I've learned I've just got to do everything the hard way, I guess, and just like fail, fail, fail, fail. Oh, this is right, maybe.

SPEAKER_07:

I was gonna say Ali Hiswood literally like writes her entire book pantser style and then rewrites it like two or three times. So there really isn't like a right or wrong way, it's just whatever works for you.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, and you you're a plotter, right?

SPEAKER_07:

You save the cat.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07:

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm a hardcore plotter. Uh, I literally have like word count ranges of from 600 to 3,000. This is going to be happening. Um, but my books are cozy mystery with romance. So in order for me to have a mystery happen sequentially and like clues to kind of fall into place, I do have to plan that out a little bit more and just kind of yeah, small bullet points. So that helps.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, so I love cozy mysteries, and I have a question for you if that's okay. Um, how in the world do you plan a mystery? Like, do you go backwards? Like, I need to know. I'd like this is one of those things where people are like, what other genre would you write? And like I'd write murder mysteries. So But I'm not smart enough. Smart enough. I like read so many of them in the fall. Like, that's like my thing. Um, and I just I need to, I want to know inside your brain.

SPEAKER_07:

So I decide who the victim is first, and then I decide what the motivation is, uh, why they were killed. So for example, uh the second book is actually taking place at a Christmas lodge. And so I figured out who the victim was first, why they were killed, uh, who the murderers were, and then I kind of backed it up from there. So they are actually um stabbed with a vintage Christmas tree topper.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh my gosh. And yes. So rad. Yes. I found it on Etsy, by the way. So this murder was homemade. Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_07:

So then I just started backing it up from there and kind of figuring out, okay, if they were stabbed, like why were they stabbed? How are they stabbed? What's the manner of death, and kind of how can they uncover these clues? And mine are definitely amateur sluice, so they're not very intuitive, so they're kind of figuring out as they go along. So half the clues they kind of stumble onto, and then half of it they're kind of figuring out as they go. So then I decide what are they gonna stumble on, and then what are they actually gonna figure out, and then I can kind of piece together like what details are actually leading you to picking this specific thing.

SPEAKER_06:

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_07:

I try, and then I just see what it sounds like, and the beta readers tell me that does not make sense at all, and I fix it, pretty much. Yeah. Lot of plot holes, lot of plot holes.

SPEAKER_06:

100%.

SPEAKER_04:

I just got uh beta feedback back for the book that's coming out in November, and just like the little things that they'll catch here or there that are just like, I didn't even think of that. Um, like one of my one of my very close friends who's a beta reader, been one for a while. She like pointed out something in the prologue where she's like, Well, you said this here, and now I'm really confused back here in like chapter 23. Like, those things don't connect. I'm like, how did you find that? What?

SPEAKER_06:

It's awesome. They are crazy cool. And like I I the the way that I really I take what they say to heart, I will rip up like the last book. I ripped the last third of the book, like completely off and started started over because their feedback, and it was so much stronger because of it. It's insane.

SPEAKER_07:

The ideas that they come up with, like you said, when they notice things that you're just I didn't even think about that. You're just too close to it. You're too close to realize. Yeah. How many beta readers do you both typically use?

SPEAKER_04:

I think I have five to seven. I I have three. Like I've I've because I've gone through a few books now where like I've had different people beta read, but I've got three that are like, okay, these three are my solid ones. You know, I've got like my one that is my writing friend, I've got one that's like my reading friend who's like will catch all of the little plot holes, and then I have one who's my hype girl. I mean, she'll catch things, but she just makes me feel really good.

SPEAKER_06:

Yes, that's a perfect mix. No, you need that. Well, and it is important. I I tell my beta readers, it's not like I'm fishing for compliments, but I do need to know when you like the apart because I need to know to not get rid of it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_07:

I will say um for anyone that ends up beta reading, if you do, you can also tell them when you laugh. Uh that's something that I do for other authors. Like if I laugh out loud, I'll write, you know, laughed out loud, and that, yeah, that helps a lot. But yeah. I had nine and that was way too many. And I had like 1400 comments, and I will never do that again. But now I know. Now I learned. And Marie, so whenever you are marking up copy for narration, what kind of things are you looking for just generally?

SPEAKER_09:

I usually first go through and mark up characters that they're all gonna get highlighted. I use I annotate on um uh like a tablet, and so you know, girls' names, of course, are gonna be some shade of pink, usually, boys' names are gonna be the blues um and greens, and um, which in this case I marked them up and thankfully I did, but like um I just left all of the boys in blue because I didn't have to read any of them this time, which was very nice. But I also go through and like uh red dot any words that I know in my head the first read-throughs that I want emphasis on those words. I also, uh, for any Star Wars fans, I write punch it chewy on the margins when I'm like this is gonna be my section here. Um, just like a lot of things like that, too. I try not to share it with my authors because it almost looks like I've edited their book. I'll add in commas. The commas are not where commas should go, the commas are where I need to breathe. Um, so doing those things in the first couple run throughs really helps make the recording just go so much more smooth. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_07:

And have you honed your process kind of as you've done more books?

SPEAKER_09:

Yeah, definitely. I used to just didn't highlight anything. Like I read the book, but I didn't go farther than that. And then um over time it's gotten more involved. And then last year I was lucky enough to talk with Carol Mondo, and she's a big narrator, and she actually did a course for us on how to really like pump up your prep just to make that easier on yourself, and that's really helped in the last year.

SPEAKER_07:

Okay, we're going to get to some rapid fire questions, and then we will be taking audience questions. So go ahead and start kind of thinking what you want to ask any of the authors. So with the rapid fire questions, we're going to try to give answers with little to no explanation if we can.

unknown:

Yikes.

SPEAKER_07:

Maybe not our thing, but we'll try.

SPEAKER_05:

I'm a talker.

SPEAKER_07:

If you want to give a couple sentences, I give or take, give or take. Okay. Rapid fire question one is your favorite romance trope? This could be to read or to write. Fake dating. Enemies to lovers. Friends to lovers. Grumpy sunshine. Oh, that's a good one. Uh, next up, favorite epilogue that you have written or narrated. This is so mean.

SPEAKER_04:

Um, probably the offer. It's it and it ends up, it ends the whole scoop series.

SPEAKER_06:

I like the way love and ink. I like love and ink the most, I think.

SPEAKER_09:

Yeah, same.

SPEAKER_06:

I was thank you.

SPEAKER_07:

And then next, dream fictional couple that you would go on a double date with.

SPEAKER_04:

When I say Tyler Swift and Travis Gill. No, I was kidding. 100%.

SPEAKER_06:

Zaydan and Violet. Are you trying to die?

SPEAKER_09:

Um, I actually like Beck and Emily, and I feel like I'd get along very well with them.

SPEAKER_07:

Uh, what song would be the soundtrack to your latest? Gabe's abs if there's one. We were talking about this earlier.

SPEAKER_04:

And all I had in my head at the time was When did you get to me inspired by that song? I wanna ruin the friendship. But then also Taylor Swift's new ruin the friendship song could work, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah, I get that. Is there a song that you thought of whenever you listened to Harry Hitzbook? I don't think I'm not trying to. And then um last question and the rapid fire round what is a romance book that you always recommend? Guys, I love that. Um, and I would say probably for book one, Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo, um, and I'm not far enough into the Beach Reed, Emily Henry. No, yet, but probably a Christmas song, maybe if something's a little Christmassy and stabby.

SPEAKER_09:

Um A Love Letter to Whiskey by a Candy Steiner if you want to get your heart repeated.

SPEAKER_07:

And then um, last question in the rapid fire round what is a romance book that you always recommend?

SPEAKER_04:

I'm having like a lot of like brain fart moments. It's Rebecca Ross, A River Enchanter.

SPEAKER_07:

I will be recommending that from here on out. I bought it because of you. Practice makes perfect by Sarah Adams. Oh, yeah. Have to bring in some Sarah Adams, yeah. I was literally wearing um an LA Shark. That's the best though. Sometimes you know, a little bit of emotion. Okay. Um the View by Jessica Joyce. Uh I just read Well out of the way. I thought we did good. And I will be recommending that from here on out. And Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams. Have to bring in some Sarah Addams, yeah. I was literally wearing um an LA Shark lovely today. Yep. Okay, and that is the end of the rapid fire question round. We were really, really rapid. That was pretty good. That was almost too good.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, cool. Can I say my characters for a double date? Because I wrote a chef, and I feel like if I'm gonna do dinner, I should hang out with the chef, you know? So I would pick uh Bella and Wyatt from Sunday Supper.

SPEAKER_07:

Don't be shy. So my assistant, Michaela, assistant slash producer, she's been keeping time for me today, so thank you, Michaela. She will be up here, and so if anyone has a question, you can walk up to Michaela and we will hand you the microphone and you can ask it, and it will be recorded on the podcast. And Michaela has a couple questions to start us out.

SPEAKER_02:

Here's some online questions.

SPEAKER_06:

I um I actually started out on my unpublished novel is fantasy. And while that is a dumpster fire and I have no plans on going back, I would love to do um a cozy fantasy one day when I get time.

unknown:

Yeah, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_07:

Oh, I'm sorry. Forgot there was one away. It's all good.

SPEAKER_04:

I was just gonna say uh I mean, cozy mystery, probably. But I like the element of like also adding romance because I think romance always has to be in there for me, but definitely like some kind of mystery.

SPEAKER_06:

Wait, Marie, how about you tell everyone like if you could what you the genre you want to narrate you were telling us the other day?

SPEAKER_09:

I want to do thriller and suspense. I am um not mad about being typecast as a rom-com narrator, but one of these days I'm gonna be spooky.

unknown:

I love it.

SPEAKER_05:

I love it.

SPEAKER_02:

I believe we have a question.

SPEAKER_08:

Yay! It's been so fun having you here. So thank you all so much for coming in. Um I am an illustrator by profession, but I unfortunately do not work in the book market. So I'm a little curious about as indies, how did you go about choosing your illustrator? Is there anything you looked for? Anything, did you scroll through portfolios? What caught your eye and what kind of information did you give your illustrator in order to create these beautiful editions?

SPEAKER_06:

I love that question. That is so cool. Thank you for like making art and putting it out into the world. Um, so I use a website called Readsy, and it's where they like vet um illustrators. But when I was there, what was important to me is of course like the portfolio, and I wanted to see the characters mainly like the colors that went into it, because basically you just want something that screams, okay, like this is this genre, you know, get the feeling from it. But also the reason I picked my specific illustrator is whenever she asked me about, hey, what's your book about, and I told her about it, she just seemed genuinely excited about it. And I was like, Then you're mine. Okay, it's done.

SPEAKER_04:

My answer is really boring. I'm so sorry. Um, I actually had a few friends in New York who are like, I really want to make a book cover, and I ended up using my friends. So that the scoop series is done by my friend Johnny, and then Hannah did Sunday Supper as well as Ruin the Friendship. Um, maybe in the future I'll like look to hire somebody else. We could chat. I'm like, yeah, you're throwing her. Do you have a business card? Let's hang. Um, but yeah, I just I had some friends in the city that wanted to give it a go and work on their portfolios. I'm like, yeah, why not? Let's help each other out.

SPEAKER_07:

So um so I actually went off of an author friend's recommendation. Um I asked her for some illustrators and she sent me a couple names. And once I talked with her, I looked at their portfolio. Um and actually what I gave them, what she asked for was Pinterest images of their body language and their clothing. Uh, and then I described the scene for her and told her specifics like the bookcase has to be green, this has to look like this, and I sent her my Pinterest. I have like a Pinterest picture with bullet points of like their height, their eye color, their stuff like that. So I gave her all that info and sent it off, and she just took what was in my brain and put it out there.

SPEAKER_04:

Um that's really big is like asking any client you have, like for their inspiration, um, sending out like even like Pinterest boards, like this isn't really meant for the public, it's just for me as like a vibe check. It's really, really I'm sure you know this, but it's like very, very helpful to like give them like okay, this is what I want my cover and my book to feel like, and then like they can take that.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah.

unknown:

Thank you guys so much.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, absolutely. Just to like go off of that, it's funny you say that, and I think it's so important too. But like I sent my Pinterest picture that I had for Beck, and it came out like he looked like Michael Bolton, and Michael Bolton's great, but like not what I had pictured at all. And I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna give you freedom as an artist. And then she came up with this cutie, and I was like, Yeah, sorry I said anything, just do your job.

SPEAKER_02:

Alrighty, we have another audience question.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello there, thank you all for coming. Um, I have a question for both our authors and our narrator, and it regards um consistency in the characters that you create, particularly when it comes to their dialogue and their mannerisms and such. When you are writing a character, you have a general idea of how they're gonna behave, their personality, but when you're creating scenes and dialogue, how do you ensure that the character you are writing from page one is the same, is halfway through is the same towards the end, you know how they react to things, how they respond, and then when you're doing narration, how do you ensure that their um affectations and their emphasis on things is the same at the beginning as it is towards the end and things of that nature?

SPEAKER_09:

Um so for me, um, and you'll find a lot of narrators do this, um, after I've decided on the the voice and maybe I mean the habits and affectations a lot of times come from the text itself. But um I'm going to the first time I talk is them, I'm gonna save it as a sound clip, and it's gonna be like in its own little file so that God forbid the number of times that it happens, not in your books, thankfully, but get that character disappears for 24 chapters. I do not remember what they sounded like six weeks ago. So I have that file to kind of remind me and get me back in that space. Um for characters that are more common, like Haley, I lost Haley's voice during a live recording. Um, and there's usually a sentence of theirs, a phrase of theirs that will stick with me and will kind of get me back to where it was. So that helps a lot too.

SPEAKER_06:

I think this is such a great question because it's so hard to make sure you you're like creating this person and with all their flaws and you know, like you said, the things that they say. And honest to God, I always think I know this character when I start out and write a book. I have no idea. I'll have no idea who this character is until months later, and then finally I get them. And then when I'm going back and I'm doing my drafts, I'm like, absolutely, he would not say that, or he would not do that. And that's why like I think I change so much, and I think that's why whenever I'm doing my plotting, it doesn't work out quite as well because I always think I know them and no I don't.

SPEAKER_04:

For me, I I feel like a lot of people in general like the way that they act like around people and the different decisions they make is a combination of like their personality, but also like their fears and their insecurities. And so when I think of my character and like make a little character profile, that's like the biggest thing is like what are their fears? What is the thing that they're afraid of? And what are their insecurities? How does that play out in the story? And then how does that play out in their behaviors? And you'd be surprised that like a lot of the time that just kind of comes out with however they speak or act in certain situations, especially if their insecurity is tied to like their work of any kind, and that's a big part of the story. Yeah, so like for example, with Sunday Supper, a big insecurity for the chef was that he hadn't won like a Michelin star an award yet. So he had a big insecurity about his work there. And so then how does that play out with like also there's insecurities because um of certain uh sexual things he cannot do? But I took that as a challenge when I wrote that book. Yes, chef. Um but there's lots of there's lots of insecurities there as well. So then he is a very, he's very humble, but then he's also like very guarded. And so yeah, like how does that play? Like, I don't know. That's that's the biggest thing for me is that like the consistency really comes from those things because that's just how they act. Because that's how all we all we all act. We all act based on those things.

SPEAKER_07:

So um in in book one, I actually kind of wrote it out of order a little bit. So I went based on my mood. If I was feeling a little bit more like one character that day, then I would write theirs, and if I was feeling another, then I would write theirs. Um probably won't do that quite as much in book two, but I would definitely say that um I'll take my mood and I also whenever I'm plotting, I put like little. You were also an author just with him, or like their phrasing or their way of saying something, so that way I have something to kind of go back to and get me ready before I write in uh their point of view. Hi.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh this is a question purely based on curiosity.

SPEAKER_07:

Um, in your book, are any of your victims or characters based on people you know in real life?

SPEAKER_04:

And have you told them?

SPEAKER_02:

That's a great question.

SPEAKER_04:

I have a very hard rule that I don't write about my friends or family. So no. However, when I first published uh Safe Harbor, my whole because I'm from a small town in Connecticut, and it was like a big thing where everyone was trying to figure out who the main character Calvin is, and it was like gossip in town. And so when I got home for like the holidays, like a lot of people came up to me about it. I'm like, no, no, it's based on no one. But people had all their opinions. But yeah, it's like I I would say out of anything, in Call of the Loon, Archer is very close to my husband. Other than that, no.

SPEAKER_06:

Um, a lot of the banter just comes out from my husband, but none of the characters, like like you said, with friends and family, usually it's like off limits the same. Um, I will say that we were talking about Clay is so unlovable. The the um he's like our villain in the second book. And um I it's not like the things that he did necessarily came from a person, but like the way he made me feel like someone made me feel, I was like, this feels awful. And like I hate the way I feel right now after talking to this person. And I was like, let's write him in a book. So now everyone can hate on them.

SPEAKER_04:

Um, however, if I have friends who have weird romantic encounters, that almost always goes in the book, especially if it's like from weird hinge dates. Like I'm I'm write all that down.

SPEAKER_07:

Uh Cohen, my male main character, is actually a combination of all the male teachers I've ever interacted with. Um so they they all have a lot of similarities and different things to their personality. So I kind of took little pieces of everyone and just put them into one person and made it him. But yeah, victims, I should start doing that on people that bug me. Yeah. That's a genius idea. I'm gonna use that. I'm definitely gonna use that. Yeah. Therapeutic. Therapeutic.

SPEAKER_02:

We have another audience question.

SPEAKER_07:

Hi. Um, what book traumatized you? Safe Harbor. I started the scoop series, and um, it is really, really sweet and fantastic. And then you get to the super emotional part, and I don't think I've ever cried as much during a book as I cried when I read Safe Harbor. There's this plot twist that just takes you by surprise. So please read the scoop series. It is really, really, really good.

SPEAKER_04:

Um I I'll I won't say say what the plot twist is, but um I have a brother who is an addict. Um, he's three years into recovery. Um, but that's something that is a big part of my story. And so um uh Safe Harbor is the perspective of a sister who has a brother who is an addiction. And it's like her realizing those things and his behaviors, and so it like there is when I first started writing that book, it wasn't meant to be a romance, and then Calvin just kind of like sauntered in and like took my heart, so um ended up being a romance, but yeah, it's it traumatized me, but like in a way of like going back to a lot of the things I dealt with when I was in high school. So yeah.

SPEAKER_07:

It's definitely one of those books that you feel like you came out a better person after reading it and you understood a perspective that you might not have thought about before.

SPEAKER_04:

My brother hasn't read that read it yet, so I feel like there's gonna be a lot of conversations in the future um through his healing process. Um and I told him to take his time, but yeah, I feel like there's more trauma to come.

SPEAKER_06:

I usually try to like stay away from the hurdy hurdy books, like the really like painful ones. I'm just like such a Disney reader, but um Flowers for Algernon, am I gonna say that wrong? Is that right? Yeah, it's like a classic. Oh my gosh. Oh, that like ripped my soul out. So what about you, Marie?

SPEAKER_09:

I'm gonna go back to a love letter to Whiskey. I think that it was my first time, and this was because I I narrated a book for Candy, and then it was the first I had really heard of her. And then of course I fell in love with her writing. But that was the first time I had had like the that toxic relationship that you know you should quit, and like that somebody got that whole thing in writing and the absolute pain of how it goes down, especially one that's protracted over like 10 years. Otherwise, um, when you first asked the question about like trauma, it was gonna be it by Stephen King. But I decided I'd go with the uh romance traumas, the rom traums.

SPEAKER_05:

The rom traums.

SPEAKER_07:

Oh, and if you want another book that is going to tear you to pieces, uh Peyton Corinne's series is amazing. It's hockey romance, and oh man, Unsteady is the first book and unloved is the second. And I couldn't stop crying when I was reading Unloved, and I had to keep closing it, but it is so good. It's one of those like just emotionally deep recommendations.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. Uh from Marie. What is the most interesting scene you have narrated lately? If you can answer.

SPEAKER_09:

Um earlier this year I did a time travel romance, which was that first for me. And narrating the scene in which she disappears was definitely um a new one where the the she walks out and I won't give it away in case anybody wants to listen to it, but the thing that transports her actu accidentally happens, and so she's gone, and then you're playing this like bereft man who's like, where the hell did she go? And this is you know, like 1800s, vic not 1800s, but like Victorian settings. So um they don't have any like concept for like how to discuss that sort of thing either. So that was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02:

And a question for everyone Do you listen to music while you write for our authors? And if so, tell us a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_06:

It depends. Sometimes I need just silence. Um, but if I am gonna listen to music, it usually can't be. I'll like have playlists like when I'm driving in the car where I'm thinking of scenes when I'm when I'm sitting at the computer, it'll usually be um either video game music because that's designed to like make you focus, which I really need, or um, I'll just do uh like lo-fi playlists.

SPEAKER_03:

Me too. I'll just like my YouTube is so funny because the algorithm is just different, like lo-fi creators, and I just like go down a rabbit hole of all of them.

SPEAKER_04:

But yeah, so usually it's like I need dead silence or something lo-fi. And that's nice because it also if I put one of those videos on, it's like an hour, hour and a half of music, and I focus for an hour and an hour and a half, and by the end of it, I'm like, oh, I had a good writing session and it came to an end. It was good.

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah. If you have not listened to Palmer, I would highly recommend him. He is like kind of the mixture between calm and they are kind of like love songs, but they're a little bit more chill. So I feel like I can kind of listen in and out, but still focus. So I just pretty much put him on.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. We have another audience question.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Um, if your couple got accidentally handcuffed together for 48 hours, what is the first fight that they'd have and how fast would it turn into foreplay?

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, so in Sunday Supper, the big thing between the chef and the female main character is they fight about meatballs. Um, specifically because she goes to the restaurant and he makes like a weird deconstructed meatball that's like very fancy, and she comes from like a meatball empire in New York, so she's like, This is like crazy weird. And they end up fighting about it, and that's how they fall in love. But I feel like it would go back to the meatball of and they would be fighting about that. And I mean, Wyatt can't control himself, so I feel like it would just escalate very quickly, but man, this is so hard, but I love it.

SPEAKER_06:

Okay, so I I'm I'm I'm into the book three right now, and my head is really with Trevor and Marg. So um, I would say Trevor really likes to make her mad. Um, and so I would say he would just purposely be like, oh hey, there's this bird over there, and she'd be like, No, that's not a whatever bird he said, and he's be like, Yeah, it is, and then they would just fight about that. And I think it would probably turn pretty saucy pretty quick, but yeah, he just likes to irritate her.

SPEAKER_04:

Please write that into the next book. I'm also sitting here like, okay, but then how would the spicy scene happen with the handcuffs if they're handcuffed together? Like, how would that go? Now I'm like playing that out in my head. Should I write that?

SPEAKER_07:

I was about to say, please write that in the next book.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, what if they get to go to jail because one of them or like they're both seem like victims or not victims, um what's the word I want? They're both going to jail because of a murder that they didn't do and they're both handcuffed together. Is that weird? Spicy, spicy in jail?

SPEAKER_07:

Please put that up on your ideal. Um my books are closed door, um, but typically in a cozy mystery, uh, you follow the same characters throughout the entire series. Um, and so with this, I have to go very slow burn to keep it going the whole time. So it would be a little bit slower, but they could still have some tension if they're handcuffed together and they're trying to solve things. And, you know, maybe one of them might want to stab each other with the Christmas tree topper by the time they're done. I don't know. Like it could happen for sure. Thank you so much for your time today. This was so fun. And thank you also to Stevie and Michaela for your help. And that's it for today. Thank you for listening to Where I Left Off a Bookish Podcast. You will see links to everyone's social media accounts and of course the links to purchase their novels through Romance Landia in the show notes below. And thank you so much to Stacy at Romance Landia for having us for Ink and Indy twenty twenty five. Thank you.