Comfort Reads, Vampires, and Unhinged Chaos

A “comfort read” sounds like it should be cute and cozy, but that’s not how our brains work. We get honest about the books we reread on purpose even when they’re messy, dark, or emotionally brutal, and why knowing what’s coming can feel more comforting than a gentle plot. If you’ve ever reread a story that made you cry just because it’s familiar, you’re not alone.

From there we detour into the reality of talking about romance books online: sudden viral moments, comment sections that get weirdly personal, and why having an opinion about a character can spark an all out debate. We also share a surprise indie author connection that turns into a new reading plan, including a Why Choose setup with vampires and marketing that absolutely knows what it’s doing.

Then we go deep on audiobook narration: accents that feel authentic versus forced, single narrator versus dual narration, and how one voice can permanently change the way you picture a character in your head. We wrap with a peek into Emma’s writing process, from character bibles and scent details to editing support, plus a frank chat about formatting issues, sloppy grammar, and how AI mistakes can expose broken story continuity.

If you like romance reading culture, BookTok discourse, indie authors, audiobooks, and craft talk, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who rereads “too intense” books, and leave us a review with your definition of a comfort read.

Check out our Bookshop.com book store where you can get your own copy of the books we are covering!  https://bookshop.org/shop/wreckedbyfiction

Transcript

Cold Open And Vibes Check

Emma 0:01

Welcome to the Wrecked by Fiction podcast.

SPEAKER_04 0:06

Yes, it is. Did I read it on my watch break? Yeah. I made I made no because I didn't know there was gonna be a quiz.

Emma 0:13

Hey, everything's for a great while I was watching a movie with my six-year-old. Yeah. I didn't know I could be both right and so fucking wrong. Wrecked by fiction, where we read, cry, and question our emotional stability.

SPEAKER_04 0:31

You ready? No. Hey there, huh? How are you doing?

Amanda 0:38

I feel like we always have to do something weird to get us started.

Emma 0:44

Yeah, we usually I don't know. We do do something at the beginning of every episode where it's hello.

Amanda 0:54

Hey, I mean some of those weird things made for the nice opener that we have, so it works.

Emma 1:04

That opener.

What Comfort Reads Really Mean

Emma 1:06

Yeah, right? That's you telling me that Denna Vipers is something I'm not allowed to read over and over again, okay?

Amanda 1:13

I didn't say you couldn't read it over and over again. I just said that it's it's not it's not a comfort read.

Emma 1:21

Yes, it is. That's like the book I just finished rereading about the the two college boys who one of them was uh assaulted by his pastor when he was 12 years old. And it's about, you know, he goes on this journey of faith and like how to like differentiate like what happened to him and all of this stuff, and I cry every single time, and I posted it, and other people are like, Thank God somebody else thinks this is a normal thing to reread over and over again.

Amanda 1:58

I'm like, yeah. Okay, I need to know what your definition of comfort is then.

Emma 2:03

I mean, it's anything that I number one, I can't stop thinking about it.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Okay.

Emma 2:09

So that book is called For the Fans.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Okay.

Emma 2:12

And it I love that book. Okay. It's so fucked up. But I I know one thing is I know what to expect. The other thing is, do I have an emotional response to it?

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Okay.

Emma 2:28

I'm not well, and I don't reread things that I don't have an emotional response to.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Right.

Emma 2:34

Like I can't bring myself to sit through another couple of days of reading if I haven't responded to it once strongly enough or whatever.

unknown 2:44

Okay.

Emma 2:45

But I don't know.

Amanda 2:47

I think of comfort reads as like something that would give you a warm, fuzzy, and like gentle and not trauma.

Emma 2:59

Well, but like when you know it's like when you re-watch a TV show. Do you have a comfort TV show?

Amanda 3:07

Gilmore girls.

Emma 3:08

Okay. Did you not get emotionally invested in their lives and the first time you ever watched that show and you had some sort of response to the way that like when you didn't? I'm so sad. When Rory left Logan at college graduation and I mean I was mad, but I w I didn't get like I didn't cry.

Amanda 3:32

I will tell you, I did ball at almost every episode of This Is Us. I don't watch it anymore because I don't want to cry again.

Emma 3:40

I can't watch that show.

Amanda 3:42

No, it's it is I can't watch that show.

Emma 3:44

I think I watched that show like two times and I could like two episodes, and I was like, I don't I don't like it. I didn't like it. But I don't know. I I watch like I will re-watch Gilmore Girls, but like when I think of re-watching TV shows, it's like The Office or Parks and Wreck, which I haven't done in years. But those I would consider comfort shows the same way as I would I don't know, Corey watches Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings over and over and over and over again. Or like when he's having a really hard day, there's a cartoon Star Wars TV show. I don't know what it's called, but I always know I can tell his mood off of what he's watching. If he's watching that at the end of the day, I'm like, okay. But you've also told me that, you know, it's rereading haunting and hunting Adeline is a strange thing to do. But it's like I already know exactly what's gonna happen. I enjoyed it the first time. I was emotionally invested in the character development.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

Okay.

Emma 4:49

And so rereading it feels comfortable. So maybe not like maybe not like warm fuzzy, I guess.

Amanda 4:58

Yeah. Or like the same way You're looking more for like comfort for you is predictable.

Emma 5:04

Yes. It's yeah.

Amanda 5:06

Not warm fuzzy, just predictable.

Emma 5:08

But I know it and that but that's why I re-watch the same TV shows over and over again. Because I don't actually have to watch it because I already know exactly what happened. Like any episode of The Office comes on and I hear four minutes of dialogue, I can tell you what's gonna happen in that episode. Yeah. That's how it is with books. Like talking about Dena Vipers or talking about um haunting or hunting Adeline, or there's another book that I reread pretty regularly, other than for the fans, which we just talked about. Um but yeah, I don't know. I think that it for me it's comfort because I the I already know what's gonna happen. I don't have to be, it doesn't take any extra brain power. Right.

Amanda 6:00

I get that. It makes more sense now knowing that you're looking looking more for the predictability and not that it's a soft and gentle

Predictability Versus Warm And Fuzzy

Amanda 6:10

storyline. Like to me, oh yeah, like a comfort book would be something comedic or funny or you know, like one of the Jana Ivanovich books that I read that's about the little bounty hunter chick that she's just goofy and gets herself into these silly predicaments, right? Like that to me would be a comfort read. Reading Dena Vipers will not be would not fall into that category. But now I know you're looking for predictable, so that makes sense. Okay.

Emma 6:45

Yeah, and I well, and I also think that I read a lot of the time I read five out of five spice level books too, as as a comfort read. But it don't I don't view it that way while it's while I'm doing it. It's like to get out of like after a book that really fucked me up. Right. Or after a book I really hated. Um yeah.

Amanda 7:11

Yeah.

unknown 7:12

Okay.

Amanda 7:13

So we just had different ideas of what comfort is, that's all.

Emma 7:17

I don't know.

Amanda 7:18

No judgment.

Emma 7:19

Just it sure sounded like you were judging a little bit.

Amanda 7:24

I wasn't judging you. I was just very confused as to why you found that as a comfort read, and now I understand. It's because you know what's gonna happen. You know what to expect. That's your comfort. You don't like surprises.

Emma 7:38

Oh no, nothing about me um is spontaneous. No, not a single thing.

Amanda 7:44

Except for when I text you and I'm like, hey, I'm coming over and we're gonna go do this. Okay, bye.

Emma 7:49

Yeah, you don't have a choice. Yeah, and then I uh tell Corey that we're gonna go do something, and he said, You never have ideas like that. I was like, I don't think about these things. They're not it's not my spontaneity. It's Amanda's. I don't know. I would be in my house 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, if you weren't my friend. So I don't do I can go. No, you can't. You can try.

Amanda 8:24

You have other friends, like it's fine.

Emma 8:29

Wow, you sound real butthurt about the fact that I have other friends, okay?

Amanda 8:34

I'm not butthurt about it. It's okay. We're here first. My other friends aren't you, so uh I'm gonna need some tissues.

Emma 8:45

If that's what makes you cry, then we need to pivot the things that you're being forced to read. Oh gosh. I got to play scary dog bodyguard in the hospital for you, so that was fun. I'm yeah, no, I take that's like high ranking on the like friends list of things I get to do.

Amanda 9:11

Give me the opportunity. Yeah, it's fun times.

Emma 9:15

It is. Yeah. I've only done it I don't know, a couple of times in my life before that, so that's fun. Okay. But so Becca Mac? Oh god. Yeah, we were gonna talk about Becca Mac. Well, you read, so I mean, I don't know. The internet is really excited for us to talk about these things.

Amanda 9:37

I think I yeah, I looked at it the other day and it was already I haven't looked at it again, but there were tons of comments.

Emma 9:45

Do you want to guess how many views are on that? One video where I'm it's a solo episode that's already gone out. Or no, that hasn't even gone out yet. Yeah that I posted the a teaser. Yeah. I didn't even mention that it was Beckhamac. Yeah.

Amanda 10:00

And everybody was all over it.

Emma 10:02

And everybody's all obsessed.

Amanda 10:03

I have no idea because I don't I don't know what our normal views are.

Emma 10:07

I mean, so that I I would call that video the only viral content that we've put out.

Amanda 10:14

I don't know that I've ever put any viral content out, so I don't know.

Emma 10:20

But on the rect page, it's the only thing that's hit over 10k. It's sitting at about 30 right now.

Amanda 10:26

Holy cow.

Emma 10:28

30k views.

Amanda 10:30

I would have been like 700.

Emma 10:33

That's like our normal content. Okay. Is a is around seven. Okay. Um our like anywhere between seven and like 1500 is what we usually pull. Um, but something about Becca Mac hit the algorithm, and everybody

BookTok Attention And Comment Wars

Emma 10:50

in those comments, like, bring me back, tag me when they post the videos.

Amanda 10:54

Oh gosh. And I'm like so. Well, all right then. I don't know. We'll see.

Emma 11:02

Are all of Beck Mac's books available in audiobook, or did you have to read were the three that you have read so far?

Amanda 11:10

Yeah, the three I've read so far are audiobook. I haven't checked the rest yet. I was I moved on and did One Last Rainy Day. Yes. And then Severed Heart. Yes.

Emma 11:23

Which did you finish Severed Heart?

Amanda 11:25

Not yet. Okay. I think I'm I'm not gonna lie. I don't know.

Emma 11:30

Don't lie. It's fine. I don't want to worry about it. We're not talking about Kate Stewart right now. I am people owe 43% of the stuff. We're not gonna I'm not re hold on a second, I'm not ready to talk about McMack yet. I okay, so I run our social media, right? Like so I field all of it, all of the content. Yeah, and all of the comments and all of the shares and all of that. Oh my god. Our feelings about Kate Stewart and the Ravenhood, some people are angry. Why? Because of our shit talking about Tobias. He's an asshole. Yeah, no, they're say there was there was a whole string. She like wrote a novel, I'm not joking, about all of this stuff where she was like, the book wouldn't exist if Tobias hadn't pushed the the storyline forward. And she went on this huge rant.

Amanda 12:35

Oh my gosh. Okay, I'll have to go look. I do go and read comments sometimes, but once I've read them, I don't tend to go back to that video again. So I'll have to go look at that. Interesting.

Emma 12:47

It was the one, it's I'm pretty sure it's the short I posted where I it's from the Exodus episode where I'm like, where it's like Alicia knows, and I'm like, Alicia knows what that you suck. Me too. Which I thought was funny. It was funny. Um but also he is a fucking idiot. He is. Especially in Exodus.

Amanda 13:06

Yes.

Emma 13:07

Like, I mean, I don't think I think Finish Line is a different story, but like the Finish Line episode hasn't even gone out yet, right? Or it did. It just did. Just did this week. Yep.

Amanda 13:19

Um Yeah, no, he's a total dumbass in Exodus, but okay.

Emma 13:25

Yeah, so no, I think that there is the the social media thing is crazy because you want the comments because it pushes forward, right? Yeah. Any any interaction is good interaction. Right. Um, but some of those people just fucking eat me alive on there. That's wild. And I'm like, oh my god, like the people on YouTube, YouTube is brutal. I something about the people telling me how wrong I am about my opinions on things is crazy. That's nuts. And I'm like, you know, if I said half the shit I'm actually thinking, that would be a problem, probably, for me. But um, in the line of uh because this is gonna be its own

An Indie Author Reaches Out

Emma 14:20

thing, by the way, we're gonna have to finish this conversation and then start the next one. Yeah. Um I do have a surprise for you that I have not informed like it is a surprise, surprise. I I have been doing something that I had not informed you of until right now on recording. Um a uh indie author contacted me.

Amanda 14:48

No way. Mm-hmm. Okay.

Emma 14:50

Um, and she is interested in talking to us and possibly uh she doesn't live here. She's in like Oregon, I think.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Okay.

Emma 15:02

Um but she would I in possibly invited her to like Zoom called That'll be fun uh episode. Um she is gonna mail us her most recent public published book. Okay. Um so that we not only can put it up on the screen, but also um that we can read it uh in our hands. Obviously it's like Kindle, it's on Kindle too, but like um What does she write? Uh kind of all over the place. So I before I agreed her so her name is Paige Moore. Okay. Um before I agreed to move forward like and create a sort of like ongoing um working relationship with her, I uh found one of her books and I was like, you know, it's nothing is that serious, right? So do you remember in February when I read a Christmas book? That was her. Oh, okay. And her humor is spot on so good. Yay. Um and I yeah, I read her the book I read was her Christ, I believe it's called like Christmas Disaster or something. Um, and it's about um a man whose name is literally Nicholas Claus.

Amanda 16:31

Okay.

Emma 16:32

Um and he gets arrested on Christmas Eve uh for urinating in an alley um outside of a bar. I like it. And um his life is just a mess. And um it the whole the whole storyline is them like this woman who is a uh a male woman and she was searching in like the discarded or like lost male, right? And she found a letter with their his, it was N clause and then their address, and so she went, she was like, Oh, this is from 20 plus years ago or something. I'll take it to their house. It's uh very obviously a letter to Santa that never arrived arrived, right? Okay, and so she went to go take it back, and she found out that like she she met his mom, like just right off the bat. Yeah, she had never met him, um, and then she like followed and watched him, like his mom was like, He's not here. Um he was, you know, Christmas Eve is really hard for him. Um, me too, if my name was Nicholas Claus. Yeah, um for sure. But she watched him pee in an alien get arrested. Um, and so she a stranger, male woman, it's a meat cute, it's fine, bailed him out of jail.

unknown 17:54

Oh gosh.

Emma 17:55

And then uh went to his family Christmas party. It was it's very funny, uh obviously super fast-paced. Yeah um, you know, it's it's very much that like there's some miscommunication trope in there, uh, which I didn't mind uh because you get both POVs, which we've discussed many times. So like the one chapter is her or his POV, um, where he he wakes up after their night together and she's sleeping beautifully beside him, and he like sneaks out, runs down to the coffee shop to get coffee for the whole house. Okay. And as he's coming back, he rounds the corner of his house and he sees her like sprinting out. She's like, I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here. And then so he's like pissed and sad and whatever. And then the next chapter, it's her POV of waking up in an empty bed thinking that he abandoned her.

Amanda 19:02

And I'm like, You just went to go get coffee.

Emma 19:04

Yes, yeah. Um, so you do get both sides, okay, uh, which I liked. Um, but uh yeah, her humor is really good. Um, she has a lot of other types. Um there are a couple of uh like um it's all really like contemporary romance, I would say. Okay. Um, but the one that she invited us to read is um is the first Why Choose book she's ever released.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Okay.

Emma 19:38

Um and it's I believe I'd I have to double check, um, but I believe it's like almost like a paranormal like fantasy realm situation. Okay. Um, like I think it's vampires. I could be wrong.

Amanda 19:53

I'm open.

Emma 19:54

Um, but yeah, so she's down to uh visit for uh on an episode, and um she promoted us on her uh Instagram. I think she shared a couple of ours to her story too, but occasionally she'll pop up in the comments on our videos on TikTok too. Okay, but yeah. Check that out. I don't she kind of came out of nowhere, but um, I love it. That's the point. I mean, that's why when we first started this whole thing, Indie Authors was the you know the main goal.

Amanda 20:31

So Yeah, we want to help support yeah support

Audiobooks Accents And Narrator Choices

Amanda 20:35

the people that aren't, you know, big already. Right, for sure.

Emma 20:40

So the book, it is vampires. This is this is the book she wants us to read. It's called The Blood Captive.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Yeah. Page more just drop the blood captive. Three vampire brothers, one human dark cave into impossible danger. Oh the answer to Why choose when you don't have to? Paperback available on Amazon. Get on the go on. That's a good girl.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

Yeah. Does it come with the vampires?

Emma 21:32

I I um I'm I just got really hot. My eyes are watering. Oh my god. That might be the first that's that's the first time I've actually she sent that to me in a private message. I hadn't watched it until just Thank you, Pai. Thank you, Paige. Paige. Uh where are we gonna I can't pick up my phone.

Amanda 22:12

I'm gonna need a minute to cool off.

Emma 22:21

Paige Moore. Her TikTok bio says, I make people up, then I ruin their lives, and then I make them kiss. You're welcome. Just so you know.

Amanda 22:42

And she she lives how far away from us? Because I feel like she would fit right in our show. Yes.

Emma 22:46

Uh no, when we talked, um, where is she? I believe she's in Oregon. Um I believe the last time we talked about it. Yeah.

unknown 22:58

Yeah.

Emma 22:58

It came out, the book came out on March 2nd, by the way, so it's just it's just came out. She was gonna send me all of her art on. I said, I just played that last video on the podcast I'm filming right now, and uh Amanda, it made Amanda all hot and bothered, thought you want to know. Um yeah, so she said something. Um I don't know. She said something, and I remember telling her like that the way she responded was exactly how I would have responded. Um and she said, Oh yeah, we're gonna get along great. I was like, yeah. Yep, legit. We are. So I wonder if that voice, I'm trying to think if that voice is like if she got an audiobook or if or if she like, I don't even know where how narrator I have no idea.

Amanda 24:07

Whose voice is that? I need to know what his face looks like.

Emma 24:12

Damn. Yeah. Yeah, that was something else for sure. Something else.

Amanda 24:20

So is there an audiobook version in his renarrating?

Emma 24:24

Right, right, right, right, right, right, right. Right.

Amanda 24:30

Emma might actually listen to an audiobook.

Emma 24:33

Um yeah, I don't usually. Especially with accents, because sometimes I struggle. I've listened to a few where the where it's like Scottish or Irish or something. I can't. I can't. I can't get into okay, so uh another hockey she's well most well known for her hockey series. However, that's not the first books I read by her. Right. Um, but Dr. Emily Wrath uh wrote Pucking Around. Okay. Which I don't know if you have if you are on the internet enough to know that series. No. Um, but it's the first book is Pucking Around, and it is a it's a Y choose. Um the whole series isn't Y Choose, but that one is. Right. And um but in her most the most recent, the final release for that series um was called Pucking Strong, and it came out late last year. It was so good.

Amanda 25:47

Yeah.

Emma 25:48

However, I and I again, I don't listen to audiobooks, right? Right, but I heard that the narrators for that book, it was so brutal because there was a um the I think they call him the Swede. Uh-huh. But I don't think I don't know if that's accurate, if that's what he actually put in the book. I believe they call him the Swede, but I think they call him the Swede, and then people correct them. I'd have to back go back and look, but his name is Henrik. Okay. Um and he is not American. Right. Um, but he the voice that they used, I just saw so many videos and comments and reviews that people couldn't finish the book because of his the way that he talked in the audio.

Amanda 26:51

See, and I have struggled with some audiobooks where if it's obviously an American putting on an accent, yeah, I could see that it's a struggle. Which is why even when I was auditioning, I don't audition for anything that requires an accent. Right. Because I'm not gonna pretend to do one that I don't know how to do.

Emma 27:11

Yeah. Right.

Amanda 27:12

Like that, or that I'm not fluent in. I'm not fluent in another language enough to do that. So yeah, it's it can be a hard thing to listen to.

Emma 27:24

Yeah. Well, it was like the I'll I might play it because it's funny, but there's uh in Game Changer, um, which is the Scott and Kip book, right? Kip's voice in the audiobook sounds like he's talking with his mouth full.

Amanda 27:47

Oh god.

Emma 27:48

Like he talks. Like it's horrible. I couldn't do that. It's so bad. Um it is worth me forcing you to listen to what it sounds like. Oh, calm down. Yeah, literally all I had to do was on calm down. I had to look up Kip. I had to type in Kip on TikTok and it says Kip Audiobook Accent is the second search.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Okay.

Emma 28:18

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Yeah. All the names here are kind of dumb. So what's good here? The man asked, squinting at the menu. Um there's one with blueberries and pineapple and kale. No. But you can't taste the kale, I swear. It's good. I like it.

Emma 28:39

That would be the It's like supposed to be a Brooklyn. I was gonna say it's alm almost Almost like New York suburbs accent, but Yeah. Yeah, that's what it's supposed to be. Um it's bad. Yeah, that's bad. It's it it's like he's talking with his mouth full. Um I I there's a reason that I don't I get it. I get it. Yeah, that's there's a reason that I don't listen to it because I can't do the uh the weird accent situation where well and that was one of the things I just told you the other day with uh Severed Heart that I was kind of struggling a little bit because the Tyler accent seems a little put on.

Amanda 29:32

Did you tell me that at ballet the other day?

Emma 29:37

Oh, ballet was a mess. Yeah, it was. Um his like the southern thing, or like what is it that you don't it's it just is and maybe it's because I lived in the south for a while, it doesn't sound accurate, I guess, in my opinion.

Amanda 29:57

Um and it's not always consistent. Yeah, so it just gets a little bit.

Emma 30:03

Yeah, I could yeah, yeah. I could see that being an issue. Um did you feel the same way about like Tobias's French?

Amanda 30:14

No, I felt like that one was okay.

Emma 30:16

Okay. Interesting. Yeah. I will say that I don't know, in the clips of the Tyler audiobook, like pieces of the audiobook, um, I didn't hear it being weird. Maybe it's just parts of it that are like, but I also I I didn't listen to the whole thing, right? So like I'm I'm sure after a while there's some f fatigue or whatever that happens.

Amanda 30:46

Well, and it could have part of it too, could have been that I kind of expected because all of the other books are narrated narrated by the same two people.

Emma 30:56

Yeah.

Amanda 30:56

So I kind of assumed that this one also would be, and it's not, it's two completely different people.

Emma 31:02

Well, yeah, it's different characters. Uh right, I get that.

Amanda 31:05

But the previous book had been I mean, it was always the same two people that played all of the characters, including Tyler and Delphine.

Emma 31:16

Yes. So the audiobooks for those books you I remember you struggling with when you started them because you are and honestly, I think audiobooks make no sense to me because I know that through you telling me, right, you've run into where um the the male narrator will narrate all of the men, no matter what character is. Right. The female will narrate all of the females, right, no matter the character. Right. You've also run into situations where um if it's the male POV chapter The woman is narrating or no, the male is The male's narrating even her parts.

Amanda 32:04

Which was a little weird at first.

Emma 32:06

So I think that's interesting. I don't and I I have no like point of reference. Right.

Amanda 32:12

Right, then you've got the Sarah J. Moss ones that it's one person doing. That one woman.

Emma 32:19

That woman is across every series. Yes. It's the same woman. Good for her, you know. Right. She probably did well for herself on all of those books.

Amanda 32:29

Had to have. I would hope. Yeah.

Emma 32:31

I hope it wasn't a granted uh the Wyvern Wyvern thing is disheartening.

Amanda 32:40

Um there were a lot of mispronunciations, but we won't go there.

Emma 32:45

But no, I think that's interesting because I don't know if there's like a I don't know how to describe that. Like the is there like a template that like when you publish a book and you decide, oh, I'm also going to publish an audiobook, right? Then like there is like one way to do it, or like does it not matter? Like when you format text, like you create a book and you print it, there are things you have to do, right? Like publishing houses have formatting. So I think that's interesting that there it's kind of a free-for-all.

Amanda 33:28

Um, yeah. If I had to guess, it's probably dependent upon the author's budget for the audiobook. Okay. Would be how they determine whether it's one narrator versus a group of narrators versus one male, one female kind of thing.

Emma 33:47

Um, because I also know that like releasing an audiobook at the same time as like on the same day that you publish a book is not normal. No. Like now, that's the expected, right? There are so many audiobook listeners now that when a book comes out and it's only available like in an ebook or hard copy. A hard copy, yeah. People are like, oh man, I have to wait for the which I think is the case with Becca Mack. I don't believe that Breathe With Me has come out. Um, the one that was released in, I believe it was November. Right. Like, I don't believe the audiobook has come out for that book. But yeah, I think that that's so interesting to me as someone who doesn't listen to audiobooks. Um, because really the only time I've listened to audiobooks is Sarah J. Moss and then Manicold.

Amanda 34:53

Okay.

Emma 34:53

I listened to Manicold, but on Spotify. Yeah. Like for free because of the the way that it was originally, you know. Yeah.

Amanda 35:07

So interesting. I know that um Onyx Storm was released as audio the same.

Emma 35:16

The same day. They're now, especially with how large like the fandoms have gotten, it is normal for them to like, as soon as the book goes into like its final uh like editing round or whatever, they'll send it off to narrators. Yeah. Um, like Elsie Silver. Um her next book is I think it's called Fever Dream or whatever, is being published um sometime in 2026, and she is right now releasing like little videos of the dual narrators, um, like teasing. Right. Like she just announced who's narrating the book.

Amanda 35:59

That would make sense because one of the things, and I think I text you about this when I noticed it, was that there were because I was listening to the audiobooks of the Beckham series, but also if there was something that came up, I would run to the book, like the e-book, and go highlight it, right? And there were parts that I would watch, and the dialogue would be just a little bit different every now and then from what the narrator was saying versus what was in the ebook. So yeah, that's interesting.

Emma 36:33

Well I mean I don't know because I uh you have done um like the auditions for like narrating books and stuff. Right. Um so I don't know, like I'm sure there are like a a ton of different like avenues of like the way like how they're finding narrators, but I also know that there are some book narrators, especially in the romance world of reading, that are like sought after. Yeah. Yeah. Do you know? Uh there's only one um man that I know of by name that I can tell you like almost at least one in every like super popular series in the romance book world, he has narrated.

Amanda 37:27

Okay.

Emma 37:28

That's Teddy Hamilton.

Amanda 37:29

Do you know who that is? I don't know it. I'm sure that I have heard him, but I don't know any of the names. I'm terrible. Like, even musicians, and sorry to all of my musician friends, I I know their names because I hung out with them, but I couldn't I can listen to a song and know the lyrics and know the song, but I don't I couldn't tell you who sang it 90% of the time unless it was super popular. Um, and similar with book narrators. I don't I don't know who it is that I'm listening to. I just know what book I'm listening to.

Emma 37:59

So well, I also think that's interesting because I don't think it matters.

Amanda 38:06

It doesn't. Like, even with the one that I am narrating, I'm not looking for the attention for it. Like it's not my book. I'm just reading it so that and my thinking about an audiobook when I'm narrating it is that someone who is vis visually impaired, I'm helping them to be able to enjoy the book.

Emma 38:30

Yep.

Amanda 38:30

Or for people like me who are busy and I can listen to it while I'm working and still be readings like in a way, right? So that's what I'm thinking. I'm not thinking about doing it so that I can become famous off of it. Like that's not my motive with it.

Emma 38:46

I mean, I know there's like an entire like population of people who will listen to audiobooks because somebody specifically narrated it.

Amanda 38:57

Yeah.

Emma 38:57

Yeah.

Amanda 38:58

See, and now that I am doing that and I've been posting some of my recordings on TikTok, uh-huh, more of them are coming up in my FYP doing lives while they're narrating. And I'm like, why? I don't know. I mean, it's great for them that they're monetizing that too, I guess, but it's well, I also think it's interesting because especially like, I mean, to go back to that video that Paige sent us, right?

Emma 39:26

Where you had your body had a visceral reaction to the way that man sounded. Yes. Whether that man was real or not, right? Whether in a computer voice for all we know. Nobody knows. I don't know. She didn't, I haven't checked if she's answered us yet. Yeah. Um, but when you find out what someone looks like. It's so wild. And you've been listening to, especially in like different books where like from one character to the next, uh that their voice, there are subtle changes, and the way that they, you know, inflection matters and the depth of their voice versus, you know, whatever it is. I think it's so interesting. So I have listened, you know, you're scrolling on TikTok, and there's little uh uh like the audio at the bottom is from an audiobook. Right. But it's the person in the video is just the person who's recording, right? Right. It's not the audiobook person. And so when I will hear little snippets of books and um there espe I Teddy Hamilton is really like the only person that I can think of in this moment, but he looks I didn't know what he looked like for a really long time. He looks absolutely nothing like what you would think he would look like. Yeah. Um based on the way he sounds.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Okay.

Emma 40:57

Which is the kill it for you? No, I mean I don't give a shit. I don't listen, I don't listen to audiobooks. So it doesn't really matter to me. Right. Um, but now if I do listen to something that is his voice, I see him instead of instead of the character. Yeah. Which for me, that ruin as a reader ruins the character that I have built up and created and the the work that the author has done to paint the picture of what this character looks like. Yeah. Because I know what Teddy Hamilton looks like, and that's his voice. So that character is now him.

Amanda 41:34

Yeah.

Emma 41:35

Whether I want it to be that way or not, that's just how my brain works. Right. So I do, and I mean, he's incredible. Like the way, like the work he has done and um the the way he is sought after in like the book narrating community, I think is so interesting. Um, like what he has built for himself is incredible. Um I do think that it impacts the way that I choose my like the way to consume my books, though. Yeah. So I get that. I don't know. And I know that there you have given up on audiobooks because of the way they some people talk.

Amanda 42:15

So I think that's just normal. I've also given up on eBooks because the grammar was terrible too.

Emma 42:22

Um Paige

Writing Craft Notes And Character Details

Emma 42:25

did give me a little bit of insight that Kindle changed their formatting requirements.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Okay.

Emma 42:30

And so a lot of ebooks, the way that they um so Kindle changed their formatting requirements, and so everything that had been uploaded prior to those changes basically went to like a factory setting. So, so nothing if they did, if you didn't immediately alter it and change it and re-upload it or whatever, um, the formatting could be completely off in the ebook. Okay. So like paragraphs that were paragraphs aren't paragraphs anymore. There's like random enters and spaces, and so, and I was like, She was like, don't judge me based on the formatting because I haven't edited yet. Right. And I was like, Okay, good to know.

Amanda 43:11

Right. Um the things I've been running into haven't been formatting. Okay. It's been like grammar. Words are flip-flopped, or the wrong version of a word is used, like the wrong to.

Emma 43:27

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amanda 43:29

Or the wrong there, or a complete misspelling, or like the one the other day where I just finally started skipping through because they it was based on a reality TV show that they were filming, and the name of the TV show switched halfway through.

Emma 43:46

You mentioned that what the heck? Which makes no sense. No, yeah. That's insane. Yeah. I I do think that well, and that's like when I was talking to you about the Fantasy series where it was so obvious that the la the final book was written with AI.

Amanda 44:08

Yeah.

Emma 44:09

Because all the details were wrong. And I'm like, if a person wrote that, that wouldn't have happened. There's no way in like when I think about it, yeah, like intellectually, you would know.

Amanda 44:23

Yeah. Like I have no desire to write a book. I know that that's something that you have started. Yeah. But if I was, I feel like I would have a whole board. I do. It maybe not a physical board, but at least a word document. I do. Like gives me the details of each character so that I don't forget, right? And I could reference back to that.

Emma 44:44

I can't imagine not having that somewhere. I only have uh like 10-ish chapters written of my own fic fiction work. Yes. And I have each character lined out, even characters that were only mentioned once. I like have the way I describe them. I have their uh, you know, physical appearance and personality traits all listed. Right. Um because that's like my biggest fear is that I will 75% of the way through the book, I will forget that I made the female main character blonde. Right. And I will put something or the color of their eyes, too, is something um that I want to make sure, you know, have made sure to remember. Or I don't Romance Books has this really big thing about the way people smell.

Amanda 45:35

Yes.

Emma 45:36

And describing the way, and sometimes that changes over the course of a book, and I'm always like, but you said here that they smelled like leather and books. Right. And then over here they smell like grass and mint. Right. Yeah. Sunshine. Yeah. Or um uh tobacco and whatever whatever it is.

Amanda 46:01

Tobacco and cedar.

Emma 46:02

Cedar is huge. Yeah. Um, what's another one that's really big? Uh amber.

Amanda 46:08

Yes.

Emma 46:08

Saying things smell like that Corey, one of his biggest pet peeves is when I say something about a book and that person in the book smells like amber, he's like, amber doesn't smell like anything. And I'm like, you're not wrong. Okay? I'm not arguing with you. I'm just saying that's what they say they smell like. Right. Um, so yes, I do, I do have a word document with every character and all of the things I have already because I am terrified of getting it wrong 50% of the way.

Amanda 46:37

Do your characters have a scent?

Emma 46:39

Some of them I have mentioned the way they smell, yeah, because in my because I I didn't expect to experience this, but um I have talked to some people who have who have works of fiction, right, that they have published. And the way that they describe it is that they're not the author, the person in real life isn't actually like doesn't decide how the story goes. Right. The care once the characters have been created, they take off. They take they do their own thing. Yeah. I didn't expect that to be because that's not how my brain works. Right. But it is so accurate. I I didn't decide how to describe the way that the um MMC smells. The FMC did. I don't know. I don't know where it came from. It just happened. But I can tell you that he smells like freaking cherries, but not and then and then there's it's important because the distinction was made that it's not like like sweet cherries, like candy cherries, but like cherry trees. Yeah. Like outside that cherry dirt smell.

Amanda 47:47

You know what would be really fun? That place that I go to in Kansas City. Yeah.

Emma 47:55

Uh-huh.

Amanda 47:56

We get your book done.

Emma 47:57

Okay.

Amanda 47:58

And we go up there and we do a co a collaboration with them. Oops. And talk to them about even just one character. Because they do customs.

Emma 48:08

I think that'd be interesting to like even take um like in Throne of Glass, yeah, how the smell of uh home for Ailen and Rowan smell are the same smell. Yeah. That pine and I don't remember snow or whatever it was. Yeah. Um, yeah, no, I think that'd be fun. I don't know. I'd have to pull really cool.

Amanda 48:32

Yeah. Yeah. So might have to message them. That might be my own little thing to work on on the side. Yeah, that'd be fun.

Emma 48:39

Well, I I found an editor for my book. Yeah. Yeah, someone who does it for uh is uh has a journalism degree, and I might be related to them, but uh he opted not to judge. So Okay. I have read a little bit of it. Did you read the everything I sent you or did you stop? I stopped after the first chapter because I didn't want to You were invested you got invested. I remember you did real quick. I remember you telling me that you were like, I want to read more, but I know that it's not done, and so if I finish what you did send me, then I'm gonna be upset that there isn't more. And I'm pretty sure when I sent it to you, I only had six chapters done. Yes. And I I stopped five and a half chapters done.

Amanda 49:27

Yeah. But I I told you I was immediately like.

Emma 49:31

Yep.

Amanda 49:32

Yeah. Your writing style is spot on for what I like. Maybe your book will be the first one that gets me to cry.

Emma 49:38

Well, I don't know if I'm writing a book, but I don't know. Like I said, I haven't decided. It's not up to me at this point. I don't get to decide how emotionally traumatic the book is.

Amanda 49:49

And that's okay.

Emma 49:50

So because it's not up to me. Nope. It's not.

Amanda 49:54

I've heard that from other authors before too, that they've said that.

Emma 49:58

After a certain point, you don't decide anymore. Right. Little and that's like uh like with like plot holes and like uh little side quests that are happening in the book, too. You're as an author, you're like, what is happening? How did how did we get here? And then you're like, no, we gotta get back on like what is the point of this. And then but I don't my my only thing, I don't write now, I don't want to write a series. The goal is one book. One book by itself. That's not gonna happen. The goal is one book. I have an entire uh series plotted out.

Amanda 50:42

Yeah.

Emma 50:42

In a different it's not the book I'm writing right now. But different one. It is, yeah, it's good. And I don't it's it's fantasy though. Uh this is I would consider it, I guess the one I am currently writing, I would I guess I would consider probably fantasy, but not really.

Amanda 50:59

But it would the little bit that I did read, I wouldn't have gone that way unless it's gone a different direction.

Emma 51:05

No, but I mean like magic. It has a magic system. So where does that okay so I could see that so f but fantasy is it does isn't right.

Amanda 51:14

No.

Emma 51:15

But like I I also wouldn't call it like romanticy either or like paranormal or I don't know. I don't know what you would technically classify it as. And a whole new genre. But the other, the series that's planned out, which is it's probably right now, probably a trilogy that's actually like laid out book for book, it's kind of scary. I'm not gonna show you because it's a little it gives a little like um have you seen that meme of Charlie Day from Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where he's standing in front of the board and he has a cigarette and he's doing this and there's little strings. Yeah, it's like that. Like the way I plan that book. Uh that series always like that.

Amanda 51:58

You need to borrow a wall in my garage. It's a little scary. Okay. So we need a we need an Emma

Quick Wrap And Goodbye

Amanda 52:05

daycare day. So you can I have two jobs now.

Emma 52:08

I there is no Emma doesn't get to go to daycare anymore.

Amanda 52:11

I know. It's not fun.

Emma 52:13

Used to go to day daycare a couple times a week.

Amanda 52:15

I know. I think Poppy misses you. Mm-hmm. She's a menace. She's lucky she's cute. Well, we were supposed to talk back and back. I mean, I'm not disappointed. This was a good conversation. This is fine. We needed this. Um we haven't gotten to just sit down and chat for a while.

Emma 52:34

Life's been um I guess I should probably we should probably end this episode without just like walking away. Bye. See ya. Oh God, fuck. That was so funny. Okay. Well, I guess there's that. Okay, bye.

SPEAKER_06 53:00

See you next time.