Today is part two of two where we are talking to J. Gabriel Gates about his novels. Over the next 2 weeks you will hear about his journey of writing since he was young, going from being traditionally published to self published, going straight to readers and avoiding gate keepers, having the freedom to do what you want with your book, selecting an audiobook narrator, using TikTok to get in front of readers and learn what they want, and weaving your story together.

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J. Gabriel Gates is the author of 5 novels as well as the forthcoming Luck Gods Series, which begins with book 1, Girl of Hearts. After receiving his B.A. in theater from Florida State University, Gates moved from Michigan to Los Angeles, where he acted in a dozen national TV commercials and wrote screenplays that were optioned by Hollywood producers. He is an alum of Spalding University’s MFA in writing program, a dad of three, and a city council representative in his small Michigan town. When not writing books, he works as the executive director of a prominent regional arts organization. He also enjoys live storytelling and has appeared on stage at The Moth.

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Welcome to Freya's Fairy Tales, where we believe fairy tales are both stories we enjoyed as children and something that we can achieve ourselves.

Each week, we will talk to authors about their favorite fairy tales when they were kids and their adventure to holding their very own fairy tale in their hands.

At the end of each episode, we will finish off with the fairy tale or short story read as close to the original author's version as possible.

I am your host.

Freya victoria I'm an audiobook narrator that loves reading fairy tales, novels and bringing stories to life through narration.

I'm also fascinated by talking to authors and learning about their why and how for creating their stories.

We have included all of the links for today's author and our show in the show notes.

Today is part two of two where we are talking to Jay Gabriel Gates about his novels during the past two weeks.

You will have heard about his journey of writing since he was young.

Going from being traditionally published to selfpublished, going straight to readers and avoiding gatekeepers.

Having the freedom to do what you want with your book, selecting an audiobook narrator, using TikTok to get in front of readers and learn what they want, and weaving your story together.

Girl of Luck God Series book One four tribes of ruthless demigods rule over luck in our world hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades.

To save her mom, Aggie must join them.

A proud nerd and teen scientist, Aggie doesn't believe in gods or in luck.

Her OCD is under control mostly, and her mom, Rachel, has just finished building a dark matter machine that could win back her job as a physics professor.

When Rachel disappears, Aggie's search brings her to the dangerously handsome Jack of Hearts, a demigod with the power to control luck.

Rachel may have been captured by bad luck gods.

To save her, Aggie must join Jack and his fellow Valentines.

She finds herself whisked into their world of opulent mansions, gorgeous people and fancy cars.

But being a demi goddess isn't all glamor and popularity.

It can be deadly.

Maggie must master her newfound luck powers, battle the dark suits, and brave the unlucky underbelly of Detroit, all while keeping her OCD at bay or risk losing her mom forever.

Girl of Hearts is book one of the luckgods series.

It is a contemporary fantasy series featuring royal intrigue, slow burn romance, and a mindbending original magic system based on the four card suits.

I thought the next book is also listed up for pre order.

When are you planning on having the second book done?

Yeah, that one is book one is June 22.

Book two is July 27.

Oh gosh, that fast.

So it's coming up.

It's coming up quick.

So book one has been done for quite a while, and book two is the one that I've been working on and I'm still scrambling very actively to finish up, but I really wanted them to come out kind of like a one two punch so that people aren't waiting forever for the second book of the series.

So you didn't get the Windows book to come out?

Right?

I'm going to get Windows book three come out because that's going to take a little longer for me to put.

Together audiobook already in the works for book two.

It is going to soon be in the works, but it's not yet.

We haven't started on it yet.

But.

Finish the regular the book first before you can start the audiobook.

Yeah.

And then are you focusing on this series, or do you have other side projects going at the same time?

Right now I'm really focused on this series.

I want to get certainly on a wrap up book two.

I'm going to get book three out.

I'm not sure yet if it's going to be a four or a five book series, but I'm definitely focused on that.

I do have some other books that are pretty close to being ready to come out.

They just have to really go through a process with an editor and I can release them.

So I'm going to have to just strategically think about when to release those.

But one of them is a middle grade novel.

I have also a Ya horror novel that probably could just use one more some brushing up and then I'll release it.

But I have to figure out when to release those in the context of this series coming out.

But definitely my main focus is on finishing up this series and getting it out to readers.

Okay, obviously I know because I see your TikToks all the time, but how do you use TikToks to help you further?

Because I know you said Facebook groups were talking about it, but kind of how did you get into that and how did you morph to what you.

Do now on there?

Yeah, again, so it's only been since February.

In Facebook groups, I always see authors talking about TikTok and they're all like, oh, I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm just starting out.

And it's like, bro, nobody knows what they're doing.

Maybe somebody does, but it's like I'm always like I mean, just literally the way I do it is every day I think, I got to do a TikTok tomorrow.

What should I do?

Same.

Once in a while, I'll think of an idea or two and I'll put a note in my phone.

But in general, I try to mix it up.

I try to have some posts that talk about my work or what I'm working on or the book that's coming out.

Or I do have the novella of the series that people can get for free if they sign up for my email list.

So once or twice a week, I'll mention those things.

I always want to have something that's about reading.

I mean, I like to ask questions like I said, I got great information about audiobook versus ebook versus paperback by just asking the question.

I just asked about like today or whatever.

Ask about genre, what genre do you read?

So it's just fun too.

And that also elicits responses.

So you're getting interactions with people, you're getting to know people.

And so I ask questions on there.

Sometimes when I finish a book, I'll share some things I liked about that book.

I don't do reviews per se because I really don't want to be in the business of criticizing other writers myself.

But what I do is I post three things that I liked about a particular book and then just like some humor, just like you said, some silly stuff, being goofy with a trending sound or whatever.

If I can wrap it back to my writing or books in some way, it usually has something to do with books in some way, right?

Because I really try to keep it that I don't want a bunch of random people.

I mean, I'm trying to be in the book talk community and just share and communicate with readers.

So that's my aim.

They're really falling baskets, like about my own writing, the writing life, books I'm reading, and just funny goofy stuff.

Hopefully they're all entertaining.

TikTok is an interesting art form because it is like even if it's 7 seconds, right, you're telling a story, right?

So I try to have it be engaging.

Hopefully everyone is something that elicits some response from people, even if they claim a click that they liked it or they weren't going to respond or laugh or share their favorite book or their opinion or their thought on this or that trope or whatever.

So hopefully elicit interaction.

That's one cool thing about TikTok too, is like a lot of other social medias, I feel like you're just kind of throwing something out to avoid.

You might get some likes or whatever, but it's like I don't know what really happened with that.

But book talk is great because it really gets out to people.

People really respond.

People are enthusiastic, people are so kind and supportive.

It's like amazing.

Even if my books come out and nobody buys them and whatever, it's already been amazing life changing experience just to interact with all the readers on there.

It's been awesome.

So Monday through Friday, I try to post like one a day and it's typically about narrating because I usually do it at the beginning of my narrating day.

So I'm thinking about I'm about to start narrating this book.

What random things can I say today?

But yeah, and I've noticed I have recently been getting comments on like older videos of like how do you get I don't even know.

It was a video, totally unrelated, but someone was like, hey, how do you get into narrator?

Or whatever?

And I'm like, I'm not comfortable enough to coach anybody, but here's how I learned what I did.

Yeah.

So at the end of the day, I don't know what you sound like based on your comment, and I don't know who would or would not like your voice, but here's where to go to get information to see if it's for you or not.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

It's a great platform for sharing information and knowledge.

And it's always fun because in these communities, there are always people who are super experienced, been doing things for years, and there are people who are aspiring and have maybe never done something, but they would like to try it out, whether it's narration or writing or what.

So, yeah, it is cool to be able to share those interactions with people and share knowledge.

And it's like wherever you're at, there's somebody who knows a lot more than you and there's somebody who knows a lot less than you and would benefit from your insight.

Because a couple of people that I've talked to, most of the people I've talked to so far have been people I narrated for.

And a lot of them, it was their first book.

But someone who's just starting out and just learned how to do all this is going to have it fresh in their mind for someone else.

For someone like you who's been doing it for a little bit, you may not remember those little nitpicky things that you had to learn at the beginning that are now second nature to you.

So I always segue into what is tips and tricks you would give for authors that are wanting to maybe they've been writing since they were a kid and thinking about publishing.

Like, what are some tips or tricks or whatever that you would give for someone?

Yeah, I mean, I think always my advice for anyone starting off with writing or aspiring, trying to begin, is to create a daily discipline to write consistently.

That's like Stephen King's book writing.

His big advice, it's the same thing, which is step one is put your b*** in the chair.

Right.

And take the time.

Honestly, a lot of my writing career takes place in an hour a day, maybe 2 hours a day, but like an hour, but consistently, consistently.

Because I think people get into a lot of trouble when they are like, okay, I have some time.

On a Saturday, they sit down.

On a Saturday, they write for 4 hours.

They feel great about it.

Right?

Well, Monday they're busy.

Sunday they don't write.

Monday they're busy.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, two weeks go by, they sit down, they start to write again and then they have writer's lock.

Right.

But it's like you spend that much time away from work and two things happen.

Number one, you forget all the little threads.

It's like weaving.

You're holding all these little threads of the store.

When you put those down and then come back and pick them up, it's hard to remember where everything went.

So either you need one h*** of a plan at the beginning that your threads are there for you to follow already yeah.

Or you need to consistently be.

Now, for me, I'm obviously narrating during the week, so I'm researching for my own novels on the weekends, which is the only time I have available to write.

Yeah.

But ideally, I'm doing that consistently every single weekend.

This weekend did not work out for me, but normally it does.

Well, see, and I don't want to poopoo somebody who only has time on the weekend.

So I do think it's beneficial, even if it's a half an hour, to sit down for a half an hour and write one page.

Right, one page.

And that keeps your head in the story.

My goal is usually, like, one chapter, because my chapters tend to be I'm researching for a book right now, so I'm very much entrenched in reading a bunch of stuff.

But I was writing a book, got 30,000 words in, and it went, nope, we're going to pause, so we're going to run off with the other story.

So we're researching other story right now.

But when I was writing the story that's now on pause, it was like trying to get one chapter a day done, even if that's some of the chapters were short, some were longer, but that was, like, the goal right now.

This week that didn't work.

I'm prepping a trilogy to narrate right now that I start on Friday.

So I'm like, this has to be done.

It has to be ready to go.

Yeah.

It's very hard.

Everybody is balancing life with their artistic life.

There are definitely years where I lived in Los Angeles, I was in the apartment management business when I was doing acting.

I was doing auditioning for TV commercials and then leasing apartments.

But during my lunch break, I would literally go into an empty apartment and for 45 minutes, while I start my lunch, I would be writing, because that was the time that I had to write.

So that was 45, 45 minutes.

But if you keep your head in the book and keep working on it consistently, it's amazing what you can accomplish.

And then the other thing you said about was planning, and I'd say that'd be my other piece of advice that I've learned the hard way over the years is that I have become more of a planner than a panther, more of a plotter than a panther than I used to be.

And I think there's still plenty of I've developed a little more systematic way to outline a plot so that I have it laid out ahead of time.

And there's still I mean, I still surprise myself every time I sit down to right.

Like everytime I sit down to write, something random comes out of left field.

That's just weird and surprising, and you have to leave that space for it.

That's the interesting stuff that is the gold.

And what makes it interesting for readers, it makes it feel real is because.

That'S the character that runs in and tells some joke that yeah, you had no idea what's coming.

Right.

The banter that you didn't pre plan or the thing that goes sideways on your character.

And I think life is like that.

You plan a trip to the beach and then whatever the place you try and go to lunch is closed, you end up going to the store.

For me, you plan a trip to the beach and then neither of your cars will start.

Right, exactly.

But having a plan does help because you can literally save with 4 hours of outlining, you can save four months of rewriting.

And I found that out the hard way with rewriting whole things that you get down a certain path and you go, I have no idea where this is going.

And that's another thing we're like, oh, I have writer's block.

It's like you're writing something with you're writing a road to nowhere basically, right.

Because you didn't know where you were going.

And if you just pre plan ahead of time, then at least you know where you're going.

Right.

You just have to write your way there.

So do you have a particular software or way that you outline no, I'm.

Not fancy with my software.

I write on Microsoft Word.

I'm old school.

It's Microsoft Word.

But I have a template for plotting that I have developed over time.

It's like a mishmash of like a few different philosophies of plotting.

And I think when I was younger again, I thought, oh, that's formulaic, it's somehow going to damage your art or whatever.

It's not at all because I can tell you from experience if you sit down and try to write something brand new right?

Like some unplotted thing that no one's ever heard of, it's either going to be bizarre unreadable garbage or it's going to end up having a plot anyway.

Right.

It's going to have a despite you right.

It's going to have a middle and an ending, right.

Or you're going to have all the comments like I feel like this author was all over the place because it never happened.

Yeah, it has to have something or that will be your bad commons is it never went anywhere.

Yeah, right, exactly.

So if you think ahead of time about and it helps with just the proportionality of your story too.

It helps when you're feeling a little lost.

You can go like, well, what should happen right now in the story?

And you can look at like, well, I'm at about page 75, right?

So I should be transitioning into kind of the middle part of my story a little bit and you can think these are the kind of things that ought to be happening.

It's just a way to check yourself.

Right.

If you're on page 75, of a 300 page story, and you're still very much in the beginning, right.

And you haven't really transitioned to the main action.

Maybe that's a little bit of a red flag.

Like, okay, maybe I need to hurry up and turn the page to more the middle action of the story.

So it's just a good way to measure the proportionality of your story to make sure it's moving along pacing wise.

The way, if, you know, I need to make it to this big battle scene, it also gives you a little bit of, how do I segue to that?

Let's write that to get there.

Yeah, it helps provide you motivation, too, because that big battle scene right.

If you're excited to get to it, that can be the thing that keeps you writing and keeps you moving forward.

It's like, oh, I really want to get to that scene, so I'm going to write my way to it.

And that helps to also stem off that writer's block.

I have seen a couple of authors on TikTok say that they will skip ahead and write the scene they're really looking forward to.

And I'm like, but then what happens when you get to the end of the book and all you have left to do is the boring stuff?

Right?

I don't do that.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Yeah, I don't do it because then I feel like all those little subtle things that brought me to that, I feel like I'd end up having to rewrite that scene anyway because all the little subtle threads that brought me into that point might be different.

So I wouldn't personally do that, but I get why people might do it.

All right, so you are working on finishing up this possibly four books, possibly five books.

And then do you have any and getting other ones edited?

Do you have any other series on the horizon or any other plans for anything coming up?

Yeah, I have an idea for another series after this one.

The Luck Gods universe that I'm writing in now is cool because I could write infinite books in this universe, which is pretty cool.

So I could always come back to it.

I could always write more.

I could always write different spin offs.

Like, even like the novella that I have is a side story.

So that's something that's cool about this, just to talk about it a little bit.

The magic is a luck based magic system, and the characters are these demigods that are based on the playing cards, like hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades.

The black suits have dominion over bad luck.

The red suits have dominion over good luck.

And they're kind of always in turmoil, trying to balance power towards themselves to where they're on suit.

That usually happens.

It usually happens, right.

But it's kind of cool because there's just like that right?

There is what, 52 characters?

Yeah, there's a lot that you could do.

And then there's all the ancillary sort of magic Perry or what they call but the magical luck beings that are also connected to it takes a place in modern day Detroit, so it's contemporary.

But there's also some other luck beings that exist as well.

So I could just write forever in this world.

So that's cool.

So I may write a lot of books in it, who knows?

But I do have an idea for another series.

But the other series is one that I've been thinking about for about ten years too, and there's still like pieces of it that aren't quite in place in my mind.

So I'm happy that I'm still working on this other series.

But yeah, at this point in my life, things like marinate for five, six years before I have time to work on them anyway.

And so they're hopefully ready to go.

So I'm working on the researching I'm planning a mythology related series.

And so I'm currently reading through which I had no idea I would consider it more fantasy.

But the Akatar series is in the mythology sub genre, which I can kind of see how some of the characters are like a picture of even though they don't use the same names.

But as I'm reading through that, I'm not copying, but it's helping develop my storyline of, oh, I could do not related to a guitar, but it's helping me build the storyline by reading a different book.

I'm making my own books.

Sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

Stories are just the same way.

Every car has four wheels and an engine and a passenger space or whatever.

The more you read, the more you can internalize all those different possible story structures.

It's pretty helpful.

A lot of authors that I've talked to, too, it's like they'll hear a song or they'll watch a show or whatever.

And it will be, but what would happen if this got changed this way?

How would that story play out?

And that's where their book came from.

Is that what would happen if I talked to Jason Durrow, who's also on TikTok, and that was his story?

What would happen if this is how it was?

The world was like this and that's how his story came about.

Or I talked to one who one of her books came from a song that she heard on the radio one day or a dream that they had one day or whatever.

Yeah.

That inspiration can come from anywhere and countless ways you can create the stories and change them.

Right?

Yeah.

And I think none writers are often like, wow, how do you get the idea for it?

And it's like the hard part is not necessarily the idea, right.

Because there's so many ideas that are things you could write.

But it's like an idea that.

First of all.

You want to spend years potentially working on it.

But also the idea that you're just solving certain things about it.

Like making it a story that resonates not just the kernel of the idea.

But fleshing that out with characters and with its own mythology and its own internal logic and all that stuff.

Like I said, there are ideas that I've had for years and books that I've even written, a couple of versions of that.

There's still something that yeah, things where I have a concept, but like, okay, what's the real action of the story beyond the concept?

What do they do?

Okay, here's the concept, but what's the meat in the sandwich?

And it's like, I still have stories that I'm like, maybe someday I'll figure it out.

I mean, they're always there on the back burner, right?

Yeah.

And I feel like sometimes I tried to write the first time I really remember writing, there was this movie on Disney Channel, and I was probably a little older than someone who should have been watching it, but this girl had a journal that she would write and publish, and none of her friends knew she was this author of this journal.

And I started trying to write at that time, and it was terrible.

But ever since then, it's the same thing, trying to come up with not only the characters, but the storyline.

And like, I love and this does not happen often.

I'm very good at guessing the ending of a story, very good at guessing the who done it, even if it's a very well written you shouldn't have caught it.

I can usually pick out what's going to happen at the end beyond, like, the guy always gets the girl and stuff in romance.

So for me, there's very few books that surprise me to get there.

But I hope to write a book that would surprise someone because that is so rare for me to have a book that actually ends up surprising.

I want to have that book where you get to the end and you're like, how the heck did that happen?

Where did that come from?

It can't be an unreasonable thing.

It has to be like a thing that could have happened thing.

But yeah, it is always an amazing trick when you have an ending that surprises you.

But then you look back, you're like, oh, d***, all the pieces were there.

They did it, they foreshadowed it, but yet I didn't see it coming.

I agree.

When you're right, it doesn't happen all the time.

I narrated book one in a series, and she dropped these little nuggets of, like, the friend of the main characters having these dreams of her flying with these other characters in this story.

And I know because me and her talk that book two, she adds an extra.

So book one is told only from the main character's perspective.

Book two, she adds the male main character from book one, and then this friend.

And I'm like, I could see all the little nuggets you were dropping that some people may not put those together.

But I'm like, I can see things are going to happen in book two that I can already kind of guess that's what's going to happen because of these little nuggets that most people are like, oh, she just had a dream.

I'm like, no, there's never just a.

Dream in a book, right?

It's either nightmares from something that happened or it's like foreshadowing for something that's coming.

Or like, the dreams are something.

Right?

Well, then there are the books where you can see from the beginning.

You can tell what's going to happen, but you're either like, dreading it or you're like, excited.

Like, make this thing happen.

Like, come on, how's it going?

You know it's there.

You know it's going to come.

But you still have that, like, tension about it, to be quite honest.

So I just finished book three of Akatar.

So I'm three massive books into this series.

But the big battle that happens in book three I thought was going to be the final battle.

So I'm like, what the heck is going to happen in book four?

Because book three already took the battle I thought was going to be the end.

Right?

I'm like, I know it's going to be.

I mean, people on TikTok wouldn't be talking about it if it wasn't great.

So I'm sure it's going to be amazing.

But I'm grounded from reading until I prep my trilogy.

Yeah, right.

Got to work first, unfortunately.

Yeah, like yours, I'm sure it's a fantasy.

Many characters author also wrote his own language.

So I have that aspect in the Narrating as well.

Nice.

I'm like, yeah, it's just a little more prep than I'm used to.

The normal read through and get a feel for the characters.

Yes, it's own language thing, that would be a challenge.

He spent ten years developing his language before writing his books.

That's amazing.

I'm seeing he's got influence of Tolkien and stuff like that as well.

But it's fascinating working.

I mean, both the seeing.

So on TikTok, I see after I got past the initial dance videos and stuff, I'm now like narrators and authors and writers.

I see all the all the things that I'm sure you're also seeing.

It's just interesting to see.

I forgot where I was going with that, how they all come together.

And I've seen several videos lately about authors.

Don't get in the reader side of don't pretend like you're a reader because now you're an author.

You've seen those.

I'm like, well, technically I wouldn't consider myself a writer yet because nothing's published yet.

But I'm like writing.

But I still read a lot more than I write.

Yeah.

I mean, I like to connect with people as a fellow reader.

And I also like to connect with readers as an author.

And I also like to connect with other authors as an author.

So I don't know.

Yeah, hopefully nobody.

Feels like I'm being, you know, disingenuous or something like that.

I think people have a right I think an author has a right to put on their reader hat and express themselves as a reader.

There's no readers.

I feel like you have to be reading stuff in I mean, you can write in multiple genres, that's fine, but you have to be reading stuff in whatever genres you're writing in to know what are the trends or whatever.

Yeah.

So I feel like that's part of the job, too, is looking at not necessarily because I've seen authors talk about you need to make sure your covers match what the trending covers are.

Make the cover that you like, I don't care what that is.

But if you don't know what books are in your genre and, like, what that's about, for sure, you may have trouble writing.

There's nothing new there's.

Just redeveloping those things.

At least.

I don't know.

Maybe you don't.

I haven't seen any new genres lately.

You have to read a new genre.

And in fact, somebody had a comment on one of my TikToks.

It was sort of like alluding to that.

Like they were working on something, and then they're like, oh, I don't know.

It's a little bit like whatever.

I remember when I started out as a writer that I would write something and then something would come out that was, like, very vaguely, or somebody would be like, oh, that's kind of like, whatever.

Oh, no, somebody else has a thing.

It's a little bit like my thing.

I'd be like especially because I took myself very seriously as an artist.

Right.

No.

I got to make sure I have to make sure that what if somebody steals my idea?

Like, I don't want to put my book out because somebody steals the idea.

Bro, every idea is out there.

If you don't think that someone has done something like what you did, like, is Harry Potter the first ever story of somebody at a magic school?

Yeah.

If you think that it's the only thing like something again, you need to read some more in your genre.

Right.

Everything is a little bit like something, you know?

Yeah.

The issue is, if you are writing if you are writing your own stuff, you need to not be copying what someone else does.

You need to have which I mean, if you're using your brain like you should, you are going to have your own thoughts and perspective and changes that you would like to see made that's going to develop your own story.

And that's part of being a writer, is writing your own perspective on things, whether that's someone else's book that inspired you or a song or random people that have dreams.

I mean, I guess I've been dreaming a guitar.

I wouldn't write that as my book.

I would come up with some spin on it.

But yeah, just knowing, reading, having an idea and I was talking to, author I talked to earlier today about like, werewolf books.

How many different ways have werewolves and vampires been redone?

People still read it and people still write it.

How many?

Dozens of different ways.

Right?

Yeah.

You can't be like, oh, no, someone else wrote a vampire book is no good now.

Like, that's okay.

The rooms dracula's been around.

Dracula has been around for a while.

You're not the first one.

But it's funny, I still am kind of in that mindset.

I'm like, I'm going to make a completely original magic system with original gods no one's ever heard of.

I probably get a lot further just like writing about the Greek gods or something like that.

People know about.

Yes, I want to make up my own total new thing that people are like, what's that?

But, you know, again, like, anything and there's an audience for it, you know what I mean?

There are people who would prefer to read about something that already exists, and there's people who are going to go, this is like brand new.

Like, I'm going to take a shot on it and see if it's interesting.

But again.

My attempt is attempting to merge the different mythologies together with a twist.

So like, I don't know, and I haven't fully developed everything yet, but essentially all the stories are true, kind of thing.

Or all the stories were like them sitting around a campfire making up stories one night, and people have now taken this fact or whatever.

I'm not all the way there yet, but I'm researching a bunch of different mythologies to use some from all of them.

Yeah, that's fun.

That's great.

Well, then that gives you a kind of maximum flexibility, right?

Yes, whatever works.

Well.

That'S the beauty of fantasy.

You can do what you want, but I do enough.

I'm researching because there are some things when you're using known characters already, there are certain things that you want to make sure that are there.

So you can clearly distinguish Zeus from the other ones or whatever.

Like there's those powers that need to stay true to that character, but it's fantasy.

So you could do what you want with the rest of it.

Right.

By the same token, that's true.

That is the advantage of having a completely original system that's not based on anything else.

I can do what I want.

They're not really supposed to be like that.

They're supposed to be however I want.

That's why I don't write nonfiction, right?

It's whatever I want it to be.

That's fun.

Yes.

I like that.

You're the god of your own little world.

Yeah.

All right, so I think we are about done.

Do you have any parting words or tips before we close it out?

No, I don't think so.

I mean, I think just for writers out there, just keep reading, try and be consistent with your work and for readers out there, thank you.

Because you guys are amazing.

You're the reason that you have purpose to all of our sitting around making stuff up.

It's a beautiful melding of mine.

Authors and readers come together and check out my book.

So, yeah, June 22, girl of hearts comes out.

It's going to be on Ku.

It's going to be available on ebook through Amazon and paperback through everywhere and hardback through Amazon and it's going to be available on audible and the both due date July 27.

Well, these episodes will actually air in August, so both of your books will be out.

So I'll have links for them to buy the books.

In the show notes, I'll find some Robinhoodesque stories.

So I get a little bit of talking to authors, which is part of my job as a narrator.

And then I get the narrating, the fairy tales at the end in there as well.

And I try to stick close to the original author's version, which a lot of times is trying to teach some kind of a lesson, however twisted that lesson might be.

Sometimes it gets twisted.

Sometimes the Disney versions are way nicer than the originals in most cases.

I still remember my daughter who's now aged first time we read her like one of the original versions of little red riding Hood.

I just remember her going, oh, my cuts open the ball.

Oh my gosh.

It was like back in the day.

I'm like, I don't know what the lesson was.

Scare the crap out of the poor kids.

Be afraid of your grandmother.

Your grandmother may not be your grandmother.

Yeah, I did Hansel and Gretel for one of the authors.

That was her favorite story growing up.

And that story is like, I'm going to eat you.

Or the parents are like, or the dad and the stepmother are like, we're going to leave you in the woods because we can't afford to eat.

So we're just like ditch you in the woods.

Super macabre.

I like that one too.

That's a great story too, because it is so dark.

Why, that is terrible.

Well, thank you so much for your time today and I hope you have a good rest of your Saturday and I will see you around.

TikTok awesome.

Thanks for having me.

You have a good day.

You too.

Thanks.

Bye, jay gabriel Gates liked the story of Robin Hood when he was younger.

Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film.

According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman.

In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth and in modern retellings, he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the sheriff.

In the oldest known versions, he is instead a member of the Yowman class, traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green.

He is said to have robbed from the rich and given to the poor.

Today we'll be reading how Robin Hood Came to be an Outlaw by Howard Pyle.

Don't forget, we are also continuing the original story of Beauty and the Beast on our patreon.

How Robin Hood became an outlaw.

Listen and hearken, gentlemen, that beat a freeborn blood.

I shall you tell of a good yawnman.

His name was Robin Hood.

Robin was a proud outlaw.

While as he walked on the ground so courteous and outlaw as he was one was never known as found in the days of good King Harry II of England he of the warring sons.

There were certain forests in the north country set aside for the king's hunting and no man might shoot deer therein under the penalty of death.

These forests were guarded by the king's foresters the chief of whom in each wood was no mean man but equal in authority to the sheriff in his walled town or even to my lord bishop in his abbey.

One of the greatest of royal preserves was Surewood and Barnsdale forests near the two towns of Nottingham and Barnsdale.

Here for some years dwelt one Hugh Fitzuh as head forester with his good wife and son, Robert.

The boy had been born in Loxley town in the year 1160 stern record say and was often called locustly or Rob of Lockersley.

He was a comely wellknown stripling and as soon as he was strong enough to walk his chief delight was to go with his father into the forest.

As soon as his right arm received sue and sinew he learned to draw the longbow and speed a true arrow.

While on winter evenings his greatest joy was to hear his father tell of bold will of the Green the outlaw who for many summers defied the king's foresters and feasted with his men upon king's deer.

And on other stormy days the boy learned to whittle out a straight shaft for the longbow and tip it with grey goose feathers.

The fond mother sighed when she saw the boy's face light up at these woodland tails.

She was of gentle birth and had hoped to see her son famous at court or abbey.

She taught him to read and to write to dolph his cap without awkwardness and answered directly and truthfully, both lord and peasant.

But the boy, although he took kindly to these lessons of breeding was yet happiest when he had his beloved bow in hand and strolled at will listening to the murmur of the trees.

Two playmates had rob in these gladsome early days.

One was Will Gamwell, his father's brother's son who lived at gamewell lodge hard by Nottingham town.

The other was Marion Fitzwalter only child of the earl of Huntingdon.

The castle of huntingdon could be seen from the top of one of the tall trees in Sherwood.

And on more than one bright day Rob's white signal from his tree told Marian that he awaited her there.

For you must know that Rob did not visit her at the castle.

His father and her father were enemies.

Some people whispered that Hugh Fitzew was the rightful Earl of Huntingdon, but that he had been defrauded out of his lands by Fitzwalter, who had won the King's favor by a crusade to the Holy Land.

But little cared Rob or Marian for this enmity.

However it had arisen.

They knew that the great green wood was open to them and that the wide, wide world was full of the scent of flowers and the song of birds.

Days of youth speed all too swiftly and troubled skies come all too soon.

Rob's father had two other enemies besides Fitzwalter, in the persons of the lean Sheriff of Nottingham and the fat Bishop of Hereford.

These three enemies one day got possession of the King's ear and whispered therein to such good or evil purpose that Hugh Fitzooth was removed from his post of King's Forester.

He and his wife and Rob, then a youth of 19, were descended upon during a cold winter's evening and dispossessed without warning, the Sheriff arrested the Forester for treason, of which, poor man, he was as guiltless as you or I, and called him to Nottingham jail.

Rob and his mother were sheltered overnight in the jail also, but next morning were roughly bayed to go about their business.

Thereupon they turned for succor to their only kinsman, squire George of Gamewell, who sheltered them in all kindness.

But the shock and the winter night's journey proved too much for Dame Fitzhugh.

She had not been strong for some time before leaving the forest.

In less than two months she was no more.

Rob felt as though his heart was broken at this loss.

But scarcely had the first spring flowers begun to blossom upon her grave when he met another crushing blow in the loss of his father.

That stern man had died in prison before his accusers could agree upon the charges by which he was to be brought to trial.

Two years passed by.

Rob's cousin Will was away at school and Marian's father, who had learned of her friendship with Rob, had sent his daughter to the court of Queen Eleanor.

So these years were lonely once to the orphaned lad.

The bluff old squire was kind to him, but secretly could make nothing of one who went about brooding and as though seeking for something he had lost.

The truth is that Rob missed his old life in the forest no less than his mother's gentleness and his father's companionship.

Every time he swam to the string of the longbow against his shoulder and heard the grey goose shaft sing, it told him of happy days that he could not recall.

One morning, as Rob came into breakfast, his uncle greeted him with, I have news for you, Rob, my lad.

And the hardy old squire finished his draught of ale and set his pewter tankered down with a crash.

What may that be, Uncle Gamwell?

Asked the young man.

Here's a chance to exercise your good longbow and win a pretty prize.

The fair is on at Nottingham, and the Sheriff proclaims an archer's tournament.

The best fellows are to have places with the King's foresters, and the one who shoots straightest of all will win a prize for a golden arrow.

A useless bobble enough, but just the thing for your lady love.

Hey, Rob, my boy, hear.

The squire laughed and whacked the table again with his tankerd.

Rob's eyes sparkled.

Dwar indeed worth shooting for, uncle mine, he said.

I should dearly love to let arrow fly alongside another man, and a place among the foresters is what I have long desired.

Will you let me try to be sure?

Rejoined his uncle.

While I know that your good mother would have had me a clerk of you, but, well, I see that the greenwood is where you will pass your days, so here's luck to you and about.

And the huge tanker came a third time into play.

The young man thanked his uncle for his good wishes and set about making preparations for the journey.

He traveled lightly, but his UBO must needs have a new string, and his clothyard arrows must be of the straightest and soundest.

One fine morning, a few days after Rob might have been seen passing by way of Locksley through Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamtown, briskly walked he and Gayle, for his hopes were high, and never an enemy had he in the wide world.

But it was the very last morning in all his life when he was to lack an enemy.

For as he went his way through Sherwood, whistling obliged tune, he came suddenly upon a group of foresters making mary beneath the spreading branches of an oak tree.

They had a huge meat pie before them and were washing down prodigious slices of it with nut brown ale.

One glance at the leader and Rob knew at once that he had found an enemy, toast the man who had usurped his father's place as head forester, and who had roughly turned his mother out in the snow.

But never a word said he, for good or bad, and would have passed on his way had not this man cleared his throat with a huge gulp, bellowed out by my troth, here's a pretty little archer.

Where you go, my lad?

With his tuppany bow and toy arrows be like he would shoot at Nottingham fair.

Ho.

Ho.

A roar of laughter greeted the sally.

Rob flushed, for he was mightily proud of his shooting.

My bow is as good as yours, he retorted, and my shafts will carry as straight and as far, so I'll not take lessons of any of ye.

They laughed again loudly at this, and the leader said with a frown, show us some of your skill, and if you can hit the mark here's 20 silver pennies for you, but if you hit it not, you are in for a sound drubbing for your partner.

Pick your own target, cloth, Robin.

A fine rage.

I'll lay my head against that purse that I can hit it.

It shall be as you say, retorted the Forester angrily.

Your head for your sauciness that you hit, not my target.

Now, at a little rise in the wood, a herd of deer came grazing by distant, full five score yards.

They were kings deer, but at that distance seemed safe from any harm.

The Head Forester pointed to them.

If your young arm could speed a shaft for half that distance, I'd shoot with you.

Done.

Cried Rob.

My head against 20 pennies.

I'll call Jan.

Find fellow in the lead of them.

To breathe his last, and without more ado, he tried the string of his longbow, placed a shaft thereon, and drew it to his ear.

A moment, and the quivering string sang death as the shaft whistled across the glade.

Another moment, and the leader of the herd leapt high in his tracks and fell prone, dying of the sword with his heart's blood.

A murmur of amazement slept through the foresters, and then a growl of rage.

He that had wagered was angriest of all.

Know you what you have done?

Rash youth, he said.

You have killed a king's dear, and by the laws of King Harry, your head remains forfeit.

Talk not to me of pennies, but get you gone straight, and let me not look upon your face again.

Rob's blood boiled within him, and he uttered a rash speech.

I have looked upon your face once too often already, my fine forester.

Tis you who wear my father's shoes.

And with this, he turned upon his heel and strode away.

The forester heard his parting thrust.

With an oath red with rage, he seized his bow, strung an arrow, and without warning launched it full Afrob.

What was it for the latter that the forester's foot turned on a twig at the critical instant?

For as it was, the arrow whizzed by his ear so close as to take a stray strand of his hair with it.

Rob turned upon his assailant not two square yards away.

Ha, said he, you shoot not so straight as I.

For all your bravado.

Take this from the tuppany bow.

Straight flew his answering shaft.

The Head Forester gave one cry, then fell face downward and lay still.

His life had avenged Rob's father, but the sun was outlawed.

Forward he ran through the forest before the band could gather their scattered wits still forward into the great greenwood.

The swaying trees seemed to open their arms to the wanderer and to welcome him home.

Toward the close of the same day, Rob paused, hungry and weary, at the cottage of a poor widow who dwelt upon the outskirts of the forest.

Now, this widow had often greeted him kindly in his boyhood days giving him to eat and drink.

So he boldly entered her door.

The old dame was right glad to see him and baked him cakes in the ashes and had him rest and tell her his story.

Then she shook her head.

It is an evil wind that blows through Sherwood, she said.

The poor despoiled and the rich ride over their bodies.

My three sons have been outlawed for shooting king's deer to keep us from starving and now hide in the wood.

And they tell me that two scores, as good men as ever drew bow are hiding with them.

Where are they, good mother?

Cried Rob.

By my faith, I will join them.

Nay, nay, replied the old woman at first.

But when she saw that there was no other way, she said, my sons will visit me tonight.

Stay, you hear, and see them if you must.

So Rob stayed willingly to see the widow's sons that night for they were men after his own heart.

And when they found that his mood was with them they made him swear an oath of fealty and told him the haunt of the Band a place he knew right well.

Finally one of them said but the Band lacks a leader one who can use his head as well as his hand.

So we have agreed that he who has skill enough to go to Nottingham and outlaw and win the prize at archery shall be our chief.

Rob sprang to his feet, said, in good time, cried he, for I had started to that selfsame fair and all the foresters and all the sheriff's men in kristendum shall not stand between me and the center of their target.

And though he was but barely grown, he stood so straight and his eyes flashed with such fire that the three brothers seized his hand and shouted, allaugusly.

Allacously.

If you win the golden arrow you shall be chief of outlaws in Sherwood Forest.

So Rob fell to planning how he could disguise himself to go to Nottingham Town for he knew that the foresters had even then set a price on his head.

In the marketplace it was even as Rob had surmised.

The Sheriff of Nottingham posted a reward of £200 for the capture, dead or alive, of one Robert Fitzouf, outlaw.

And the crowds thronging the streets upon that busy fair day often pause to read the notice and talk together about the death of the Head Forester.

But what with wrestling bouts and bouts with quarter staves and wandering minstrels there came up so many other things to talk about that the reward was forgotten for the knots and only the foresters and sheriffsmen watched the gates with diligence.

The Sheriff indeed spurring them to effort by offers of largesse.

His hatred of the father had descended to the sun.

The great event of the day came in the afternoon.

It was the archer's contest for the golden arrow and 20 men stepped forth to shoot.

Among them was a beggar man, a sorry looking fellow with leggings of different colors and brown scratched face and hands.

Over a tawny shock of hair, he had a hood drawn much like that of a monk.

Slowly he limped to his place in the line while the mob shouted in derision.

But the contest was open to all comers, so no man sent him.

Nay, side by side with Rob, for it was he stood, a muscular fellow of swarthy visage, and with one eye hid by a green bandage, him also.

The crowd jeered, but he passed them by with indifference while he tried his bow with practiced hand.

A great crowd had assembled in the amphitheater enclosing the lists.

All the gentry and populace of the surrounding country were gathered there in eager expectancy.

The central box contained the lean but pompous sheriff, his bedold wife and their daughter, a supercilious young woman, ANAF, who, it was openly hinted was hoping to receive the golden arrow from the victor and thus be crowned queen of the day.

Next to the sheriff's box was one occupied by the fat bishop of Herford, while on the other side was a box wherein sat a girl whose dark hair, dark eyes and fair features caused Rob's heart to leave twas made Marion.

She had come up for a visit from the queen's court at London town and now sat demurely by her father, the Earl of Huntingdon.

If Rob had been grimly resolved to win the arrow before the sight of her sweet face multiplied his determination and hundredfold, he felt his muscles tightening into bands of steel, tense and true, yet with all his heart with throb, making him quake in a most unaccountable way.

Then the trumpets sounded and the crowd became silent while the herald announced the terms of the contest.

The lists were open to all comers.

The first target was to be placed at 30 LS distance, and all those who hit its center were allowed to shoot at the second target, placed ten l's further off.

The third target was to be removed yet further until the winner was proved.

The winner was to receive the golden arrow and a place with the king's foresters he.

It was also who crowned the queen of the day.

The trumpet sounded again, and the archers prepared to shoot.

Rob looked to his string while the crowd smiled and whispered at the odd figure he cut with his very colored legs and little cape.

But as the first man shot, they grew silent.

The target was not so far, but that twelve out of the 20 contestants reached its inner circle.

Rob shot 6th in the line and landed fairly, being rewarded by an approving grunt from the man with a green blinder who shot 7th.

And with apparent carelessness yet true to the bull's eye, the mob cheered and yelled themselves hoarse at this of even marksmanship.

The trumpets sounded again, and a new target was set up at 40 LS.

The first three archers again struck true amid the loud applause of the onlookers, for they were general favorites and expected to win.

Indeed, Twas whispered that each was backed by one of the three dignitaries of the day.

The fourth and fifth archers barely grazed the center.

Rob fitted his arrow quietly and with some confidence spread it unerringly toward the shining circle.

The beggar.

The beggar.

Yelled the crowd.

Another bull for the beggar.

In truth, his shaft was nearer the center than any of the others, but it was not so near that, blinder as the mob had promptly christened, his neighbor did not place his shaft just within the mark.

Again the crowd cheered wildly.

Such shooting as this was not seen every day in Nottingham Town.

The other archers in this round were disconcerted by the preceding shots, were unable to keep the pace.

They missed one after another and dropped moodily back while the trumpet sounded for the third round and the target was set up 50 LS distant.

By my halo, dumb.

You draw a good bow, young master, said Rob's, clear comrade to him, in the interval allowed for rest.

Do you wish me to shoot first on this trial?

Nay, said Rob, but you are a good fellow by this token, and if I will not, I hope you may keep the prize from Jan Stutters.

And he nodded scornfully to the three other archers, who were surrounded by their admirers and were being made much of by retainers of the sheriff, the Bishop and the earl.

From them his eye wandered toward Maid Marian's booth.

She had been watching him, it seemed, for their eyes met.

Then hers were hastily averted blinders.

Quick eye followed those of Rob.

A fair made that, he said, smilingly, and one more worthy the golden arrow than the sheriff's haughty mist.

Rob looked at him swiftly and saw not but kindliness in his glance.

You are a shrewd fellow, and I like you.

Well, was his only comment.

Now the archers prepared to shoot again, each with some little care.

The target seemed hardly larger than the inner ring had looked at the first trial.

The first three sped their shafts, and while they were fair shots, they did not more than graze the inner circle.

Rob took his stand with some misgiving.

Some flecking clouds overhead made the light uncertain, and a handful of wind frolicked across the range in a way quite disturbing to a bowman's nerves.

His eyes wandered for a brief moment to the box where and sat the dark eyed girl.

His heart leapt.

She met his glance and smiled at him reassuringly, and in that moment he felt that she knew him despite his disguise, and looked to him to keep the honor of old Sherwood.

He drew his bow firmly, and, taking advantage of a momentary lull in the breeze, launched the arrow straight and truth, singing.

Across the range to the center of the target.

The beggar.

The beggar.

A bull.

A bull.

Yelled the fickle mob, who from jeering him were now his warm friends.

Can you beat that blinder?

The last archer smiled scornfully and made ready.

He drew his bow with ease and grace, and without seeming to study the course, released the winged arrow forward.

It leapt through the target, and all eyes followed its flight.

A loud uproar broke forth when it alighted just without the center and grazing the shaft sent by Rob.

The stranger made a gesture of surprise when his own eyes announced the result to him, but saw his error.

He had not allowed for the fickle gust of wind which seized the arrow and carried it to one side.

But for all that, he was the first to congratulate the victor.

I hope we may shoot again.

In truth, I care not for the golden bobble and wish to win it in despite of the sheriff, for whom I have no love.

Now crown the lady of your choice and turning suddenly, he was lost in the crowd before Rob could utter what it was upon his lips to say that he would shoot again with him.

And now the herald summoned Rob to the sheriff's box to receive the prize.

You are a curious fellow.

Enough, said the sheriff, biting his lip coldly, yet you shoot well.

What name go you buy?

Marian sat near and was listening intently.

I am called Rob the Stroller, my lord sheriff, said the archer.

Marian leaned back and smiled.

Well, Rob the Stroller, with a little attention to your skin and clothes, you would not be so bad a man, said the sheriff.

I'll like you the idea of entering my service.

Rob the Stroller has ever been a free man, my lord, and desires no service.

The sheriff's brow darkened, yet for the sake of his daughter and the golden arrow, he dissembled Rob the Stroller said he, here is the golden arrow which has been offered to the best of archers this day.

You are awarded the prize.

See that you bestow it worthily.

At this point the Harold nudged Rob, and half incclined his head toward the sheriff's daughter, who sat with a thin smile upon her lips.

But Rob heeded him not.

He took the arrow and strode to the next box, where sat Made Marion.

Lady, he said, pray accept this little fledge from a poor stroller who would devote the best chefs in his quiver to serve you.

My thanks to you, Robin the Hood, replied she with a roguish twinkle in her eye, and she placed the gleaming arrow in her hair while the people shouted The Queen.

The Queen.

The sheriff glowered furiously upon this ragged archer, who had refused his service, taken his prize without a word of thanks, and snubbed his daughter.

He would have spoken, but his proud daughter restrained him.

He called to his guard and bade them watch the beggar.

But Rob had already turned swiftly lost himself in the throng and headed straight for the town gate.

That same evening, within a forest glade a group of men, some twoscore clad in Lincoln green sat round a fire roasting venison and making Mary suddenly a twig crackled.

And they sprang to their feet and seized their weapons.

I look for the widow's sons, a clear voice said, and I come alone.

Instantly the three men stepped forward.

Tis Rob.

They cried.

Welcome to Sherwood Forest.

Rob.

And all the men came and greeted him for they had heard his story.

Then one of the widow's sons, stout Will stepped forth and said comrades, all ye know that our band has sadly lacked a leader one of birth, breeding and skill be like.

We have found that leader in this young man and I and my brothers have told him that the Band would choose that one who should bring the Sheriff to shame this day and capture his golden arrow.

Is it not so?

The band gave a scent.

We'll turn to Rob.

What news bring you from Nottingham Town?

Asked he.

Rob laughed.

In truth, I brought the Sheriff to shame for mine own pleasure and one is golden arrow to boot.

But as to the prize, he must intake my word for I bestowed it upon a maid.

And seeing the men stood and doubted this, he continued but I'll gladly join your band and you take me as a common archer for there are others older and may have more skilled than I.

Then stepped one forward from the rest, a tallsworthy man and Rob recognized him as the man with the green blinder.

Only this was now removed and his freed eye gleamed as stoutly as the other one, robin the Hood.

For such the lady called you, said he, I can vouch for your tail.

You shamed the Sheriff in, as I had hoped to do.

And we can forego the golden arrow since it is in such fair hands as to your shooting and mine we must let future days decide.

But here I will stootly declare that I will serve none other chief save only you.

Then goodwill Stutely told the outlaws of Rob's deeds and gave him his hand a fealty.

And the widow's sons did likewise.

And the other members everyone write gladly because Will Stootly had heretofore been the truest bow in all the company.

And they toasted him in nut brown ale and hailed him as their leader by the name of Robin Hood.

And he accepted that name because Maid Marian had said it.

By the light of the campfire, the Band exchanged signs and passwords.

They gave Robin Hood a horn upon which he was to blow to summon them.

They swore also that while they might take money and goods from the unjust rich they would aid and befriend the poor and the helpless and that they would harm no woman, be she maid, wife or widow.

They swore all this with solemn oaths while they feasted upon the ruddy blaze under the Greenwood Tree.

And that is how Robin Hood became an outlaw.

Thank you for joining Freya's fairy tales.

Be sure to come back next week to hear Ellie's journey to holding her own fairy tale in her hands.