Latest / Mythmakers / This Ravenous Fate: Hayley Dennings, Vampires and the Harlem Renaissance
Transcript
- 0:00Hello and welcome to Myth Makers. Myth Makers is the podcast for fantasy fans and fantasy
- 0:11creatives brought to you by the Oxford Centre for Fantasy. My name is Julia Golding. I'm an
- 0:18author but I also run the activities of our centre and today I am joined from the Bay Area
- 0:24in the US by a wonderful new writer or new to me. We're here more how long she's been in the
- 0:31writing game but that is Haley Dennings and I have here to share with you a wonderful
- 0:38you see look at this production values of her new book this ravenous fate. So Haley as a way
- 0:45of introducing yourself to us all and do you want to tell us about what were your favourite fantasy
- 0:51rates as you were growing up? Yeah so first of all thank you so much for having this really exciting
- 0:58it's been lovely getting to meet you and getting to know you. My favourite fantasy works
- 1:03growing up I read so much but I think definitely one of the more informative series when I was like
- 1:10really little where the Warriors Cats books which I guess like I don't know if you would consider
- 1:14them technically fantasy like yeah they're like yeah yeah cat yeah but I just I love like the kind
- 1:20of world building and like the clan dynamics there so those were definitely my first like
- 1:24introduction to fantasy and then I think the Hunger Games like really got me into like the sci-fi
- 1:29fantasy space I realized like how much you could do with like you know incorporating like social
- 1:35issues and interesting commentary and that book has I feel like it's timeless like I still love it so
- 1:42much and obviously she's still expanding on the world but yeah those are definitely my favourites
- 1:46but there's so many I feel like I could walk forever. No but that's that's really helpful
- 1:50because you're obviously from a younger generation and I remember the Hunger Games when it came out
- 1:56but as a book more than my children were reading and of course the follow on with the films
- 2:01which took a slightly different track to the books didn't they I think that is the one to
- 2:05these things are you a fan of the film series or did you are you a book purist? I really really
- 2:12like the films as well I think especially like catching fire I think I feel like everyone thinks
- 2:17that that's like the best book to movie adaptations is just so good but I mean yeah the books are
- 2:23still my favourite but I remember like being so excited when I was in middle school I was like
- 2:27counting down the days for when the first movie came out and it still is like they're great to watch
- 2:32now so I love both and fantastic so that's covered my second question which is really about what
- 2:39books had influence on you and it sounds though the Hunger Games has been your sort of I know
- 2:44your totemic book that you keep going back to and for me that's the kind of Tolkien is that for me
- 2:52so tell us how you managed to get published because that is no easy feat so what was the path
- 3:00that you took I've had the benefit of reading your acknowledgements at the end so I've got an
- 3:06idea but perhaps you'd like to share with us how your journey from the first idea to actually
- 3:13having a book out there yeah so I feel like my journey was like traditional but like a little
- 3:21not traditional because I obviously I've like been online in these online spaces like being a
- 3:28bookish influencer I guess some people would say like I really just go on there and I just love
- 3:33to talk about my favorite books I don't even like see myself as that but yeah so I just I feel like
- 3:38I kind of built a community and just one day I decided I really wanted to get into the writing
- 3:43community specifically and that's where I found like so many other writers I learned that like this
- 3:48where people you know learn about like agents and different publishers and I've been wanting like
- 3:54it's always been my dream to be a published author so I feel like I probably know more than like
- 3:59the average person who like isn't you know I'm trying to achieve this goal but yeah so like
- 4:06definitely like joining what it was really helpful I remember like the first day that I tweeted
- 4:11about my idea for this ravenous fate my agent now like she liked my tweet and I remember like
- 4:18freaking out because I had just watched an interview with her like a few weeks before and I was like
- 4:24that's my dream age I was like I need her to work with me because she's amazing and then she like
- 4:31knew about me and I was like that's crazy and so yeah I just continued to like talk about my journey
- 4:36on Twitter and I got like a lot of interest from editors and agents there would be some who like
- 4:42message me asking to like read my book before I was even done with that and I was like oh this
- 4:48is just like a real thing because at this point the ravenous fate was the fifth book that I had written
- 4:52so I was like okay I think this time I actually need to like try to get this one published all my
- 4:57friends like you need to stop stalling like this is the one and all the interest from the professionals
- 5:03like in the industry I was like okay yeah it's real so I did that and then one of my mentors and
- 5:09friends Jen Ferguson she messaged me about this opportunity with we need diverse books it's like
- 5:16a revision workshop for black creatives and I applied for that and I got it and so I spent like
- 5:22the summer revising my book and at this point there was like a couple agents who were like waiting
- 5:27to read my book and I was like oh my god the pressure is on like I actually need to make this book
- 5:31good and I need to you know actually get it out there one day and I decided to participate in a
- 5:38Twitter pitch competition called DVPET and that's I think when I got like the most interest and when
- 5:46people were like really exciting it felt really real and then a little bit after that I query
- 5:52got my agent and then we went on sub got my book deal so yes it's like a long long process but
- 6:06also people can be on sub or in the query churches for a long time so I'm really lucky that for me
- 6:11it did not last that long and I think honestly I just tried to use like a lot of the resources
- 6:18I had at hand like social media and like I'm being able to show publishers and agents that there
- 6:24were people interested in my book definitely really helped but it was a long process like that was
- 6:29my fifth book for a long time I didn't think that it was going to happen because the book right
- 6:34before then I tried to send it to a revision workshop and it was rejected and I was like well maybe
- 6:39I'm just not meant to be a writer like maybe this is not for me and then the book I decided to
- 6:44write after that was this ravenous fate and now it's coming out in two weeks so it all worked out
- 6:49and congratulations brilliant and that's fine this is broadcast I think your book will be out so
- 6:55that will be you'll be able to with your listening to this you don't have to wait two weeks you'll
- 6:59be able to get it now which I strongly encourage you to do so and it was interesting listening to you
- 7:06talking about having written four other books first I've just been recommending the Neil Geiman
- 7:12talk he gave the Tolkien at 50 talk at Oxford just recently in the summer and he quoted Ray Bradbury
- 7:24the science fiction writer saying every writer has a that no what is it a million a million bad words
- 7:30to get out of them before they're ready to be published I don't know if that's strictly true
- 7:35but it's quite a nice thought for those of you who have been around this circle of being rejected
- 7:40that actually maybe that's just some of your million that you need to get out your system before
- 7:46you get the book that has the excitement around it okay so tell us a little about this wonderful
- 7:52idea you've had this ravenous fate I kind of it's a bit like your elevator pitch but tell us what
- 7:58we would be reading if we pick it up or listen to it or however we have our books these days
- 8:04yeah so I'd call this ravenous fate my south of vampire book because it follows a vampire
- 8:10and a vampire hunter in 1920s Harlem who are forced to work together to solve a mysterious
- 8:17string of murders that might be connected to a cure for vampirism which in the book I call it
- 8:24reaperhood they're called reapers and yeah young adult historical fantasy lots of
- 8:31lead and on tree and crime and yarning because the main characters are hellhead friends that
- 8:40turned into enemies and now must grapple with all the shared history between them while
- 8:45having to work together to defeat a greater evil so it's a lot it's dark but
- 8:52pulled to the bram of like a lot of black history that I think is really important to kind of
- 8:57resurface because the main reason I wrote this book was because I felt like there are a lot of parts
- 9:02of our history that are kind of brushed over and the Harlem Renaissance was one of those things
- 9:06hugely like celebrated time period where blackness was really celebrated and I feel like a lot of
- 9:12times when black history is brought up or taught at least like in my classrooms where I went to
- 9:18school it was always a focus on our trauma so I've always been really fascinated with the Harlem
- 9:24Renaissance and how it's like a celebration of blackness and you know but I still obviously
- 9:29when writing the book wanted to be honest to you know everything going on during that time
- 9:34but it was really fun to get to explore the fun parts of you know the expansion of the culture
- 9:40and all the things that black people were accomplishing so yeah that's my long pitch
- 9:46I know that's great and I don't know much about the Harlem Renaissance other than
- 9:50the occasional film particularly recently there's been a few films about that period but it was
- 9:56a lot of it was new to me so I it was great to read but I are picking up on the theme of blackness
- 10:05the first thing struck me is your dedication where you dedicate it to black girls you are
- 10:11and I love that of course you are you're more than you know exactly I don't want any
- 10:17that's just wonderful dedication I loved it but it may be think about your choice to have all
- 10:22the main characters from within the black community in Harlem um am I writing connecting
- 10:30the dedication to that choice because I can imagine a world of like central casting or
- 10:36publishers saying well it's all very well having these strong black characters but let's also
- 10:40include for diversity you know um a white character or a Asian character a main character because
- 10:47you do have these characters there but not as the main characters and am I right that there is a
- 10:52connection between this enough to be these characters from this world you don't have to
- 10:57do a sort of social engineering of balance yeah yeah no definitely I think like it's interesting
- 11:05my dedication I like thought really long and hard about it for a long time because it was like this is
- 11:11my first book and I want it to obviously be something meaningful so I was like I need to do something
- 11:16like really artsy or whatever and then I was like no what is the main message that I want for this
- 11:20book it's that I want people who look like me like when I was younger and I didn't have books that
- 11:25people who look like me and then I want them to know that their stories matter and you know they are
- 11:30heard they're seen and you know they're loved so that definitely was a large part of it and
- 11:37I mean it's interesting that you mentioned that because like growing up when I first started writing
- 11:42I didn't write about black people or black girls I wrote about white characters because I didn't
- 11:48know that I could write about black people because all the books that were around me like at my
- 11:53school my libraries like they had people that do look like me so I didn't know it was possible for
- 11:58someone who looked like me to be a hero or like even the villain or like any part of the story
- 12:03that was really important to me whenever I sat out and I actually started writing my own books
- 12:07my mom like one day I think she read one of my stories when I was younger and she's like why don't
- 12:11we write a black girl and I was like I didn't know I could do that so that changed my life
- 12:18and then looking one step further though because yeah there was a stage particularly if you look
- 12:23back at Hollywood films there was the stage the cringy stage of the black best friend you know the
- 12:28sort of the awareness was growing in the casting people that you needed to include a more diverse
- 12:35but it ended up being we can't make it the main character or make it the best friend so high school
- 12:40musical for example is this classic example of that but you've just said right that's not in the
- 12:47same way as we read books which might have a kind of all white cast like the original version of
- 12:53the very Potter stories you see fine that's that's how it is and in your in your way you're also
- 12:59normalizing the fact that you don't have to you can get past that of course there is a theme of
- 13:06blackness in it but it's just they're just the characters right yeah yeah I'm so fast the labels
- 13:12they're wonderful wonderful characters so thank you for doing that it was great um also we should
- 13:17mention that um the the other sort of marginalized coming more into the center sort of theme is
- 13:25that of a same-sex attraction because your two characters are from both women both girls
- 13:33so I'm imagining it's important to you that you've seen more stories to allow people to think of
- 13:38same-sex attraction stories is that am I yeah where did that come out 100% honestly I just like
- 13:47even like from my own identity to just queerness is a big part of my life and I think that
- 13:54I feel like a lot of times in publishing they usually allow like one marginalization they're like
- 14:00you can be black or you can be gay but like if you're both that's too much though for this book I
- 14:07was just like no I want to tell a story that feels the most real and natural to me and like
- 14:12there are a lot of different components for this for me but like the at the heart of the story I
- 14:17was like it's two girls who have like a really intense relationship and so I always knew it was
- 14:23going to be between them because it was kind of based on like feelings that I had surrounding
- 14:27my own friendship breakup which as I've like been in this community and like been promoting my
- 14:33book and talking about a friendship breakup I've realized I'm like this is like a really big thing
- 14:37in queer specifically sapphic communities where they have like an intense relationship with
- 14:41their friend and then you know the feelings are a bit confusing especially when you're younger
- 14:46and so that's like really interesting for me to get to explore especially for like a younger
- 14:50audience where feelings and emotions are so big and like even the littlest things that up and
- 14:54feel like it's the end of the world and then I think also like specifically for like vampire
- 15:00literature caramelize one of the first like well-known vampire books and that book is supposed to be
- 15:06like a warning against homosexuality and specifically like lesbianism the vampire is seen as a monster
- 15:13who's like tunting the main character and corrupting her and so getting to write this book that's
- 15:18kind of like a response to that and saying that that's not the case that it's okay if you know
- 15:24you're queer and you're different it doesn't make you a monster but it's also really important
- 15:28to me as well so yeah getting just getting to write that I like feel completely free and like you
- 15:34said like normalizing it so it's not you know just someone picks up this book and it's like this is
- 15:39like a block lesbian book like I can read it for a diversity or whatever you know like this is
- 15:44just a book that anyone can read and just like have fun with and see themselves in.
- 15:49I kind of was I sort of wondered if I even should ask these of these questions because I think
- 15:53I so much more read about vampirism really and and friendship but I thought the identity thing
- 16:01is is there and I thought well I need to ask you it's a bit like you know why it's it would be odd
- 16:06but I do want to stress that in case someone listen to this has got ruined the sick being a vampire
- 16:13isn't equated to being queer at all it's just that that friend has fallen to this repudum
- 16:21it's nothing it's not to do with her sexual identity it's just this other that's she could
- 16:26have been anything yeah I don't want to make people think that there's a connection there
- 16:31right so let's turn to vampire story which is it's just great fun so
- 16:39this cuts across the racial tensions of the era because anyone become a reaper
- 16:47and let's think more about your characterisation of the interval jazz era can you
- 16:53just talk a little bit more about what you like about the vampire presence in that era because
- 16:59it seems to be a really good fit because of all the sort of like the seediness and the
- 17:05species and anyway over to you because you're the you are through this yeah no I love that question
- 17:11all these questions have been so good but I mean I just like you said I think it just fit the
- 17:16aesthetic very well and when I was like doing research on the Harlem Renaissance and the 1920s
- 17:22so many but like so much of the time one of the lines that like stuck out to me a lot is like
- 17:27this is one of the most morally corrupt periods of US history and I was like yeah like
- 17:32this is so fascinating there's so much like bad stuff going on in the shadows and like
- 17:38still things that like the government is trying to hide and that you know people don't want
- 17:42to teach kids about in history class and so that was really interesting to me I really wanted to
- 17:48lean into the darkness aspect so I thought it would be cool to kind of have these like contrasting
- 17:55aesthetics of like the glitz and the glamour but then also like kind of the blood and the shadows
- 18:01are kind of you know lurking amongst all that decadence and so vampires definitely fit into that
- 18:08because I think vampires like when you look at them like they look pretty human at least like
- 18:12some of them you know depending on the lore that you believe in but then like you get to know them
- 18:18or like you look closely or you let them bring you into the shadows and they turn up to be
- 18:22something incredibly dangerous and you know violent and I thought it was like a really interesting
- 18:29imagery and like a theme to follow because I think like for so much of US history specifically
- 18:35the US has tried to like make itself seem like it's this great place of dreams or people can come
- 18:41and like achieve all their dreams and be successful and like be happy but there are all these things
- 18:47that they kind of like brush under the rug these terrible terrible things that they've done to like
- 18:51marginalize communities and I just thought like I want to tell that story where it's honest about
- 18:58you know how great the US seems on the outside but then when you really get into it there are a lot
- 19:04of terrible things lurking beneath and I feel like the Harlem Renaissance is perfect for that because
- 19:09yeah there's this great migration where black people are going to the north to like at a better
- 19:13life for themselves but like if that's not an easy fix like they're still having these struggles
- 19:17they are still left out and having to you know make a lot of sacrifices to even make a living
- 19:23and so yeah I think it just like fit the aesthetic perfectly and I saw someone else online talking
- 19:29about how like the rise in vampire fiction is kind of correlated with the I guess like like our state
- 19:38of like how we feel nowadays with like the economic decline and just overall like how things are
- 19:43kind of terrible in the world and I was like yeah it's really interesting because I think horror as
- 19:47a genre has always been a really great way to reflect how society is feeling and so yeah getting
- 19:54to dive into that with vampires using that as a way to kind of depict this like hidden aspect
- 20:01of US history and you know how it spreads kind of like a poison like and to have like racism
- 20:08in US and intergenerational trauma within black communities I feel like it was just the perfect way
- 20:13to explore that I think monsters and general immortality the great way to look at humanity through
- 20:20a new lens that kind of reveals these new aspects yeah because if you think about what the
- 20:29I mean obviously the vampires an old old old story but when it started coming into literature
- 20:34started around the time of Byron and there was a feeling of the gentleman vampire at that stage
- 20:40and it's associated with feudalism and then you go on to the brown stoker version of Dracula
- 20:46so it's a looking at a sort of fear of fear of women the vampire brides it's the fear the fear of
- 20:56sexual sexuality in a way yeah yeah so this sort of unbridled passion of the vampire in a way our
- 21:06modern vampires are relatively tidied up in the sort of vampire fiction that you get in
- 21:13Christine of England and all that so you seem quite good guys well they very often they split
- 21:19them into two sorts there's the kind of sexy ones who are not devolved and there's the devolving
- 21:25sort so there's this sense of the breakdown of the human body quite often it's fascinating the
- 21:30number of different as you say we keep reinventing the vampire and loading onto it all sorts of
- 21:35stuff think about the historical moment you've said some fascinating things already about the jazz
- 21:42era but I was wondering whether any specific historical figures who lie behind some of your
- 21:47characters that perhaps we don't particularly meet here in the UK people we wouldn't have heard of
- 21:52that once you want to acknowledge or point us to to find more out out about after this
- 22:02uh they're honestly is I didn't really base any of my characters off of real people and this
- 22:10kind of worked out hard for me doing the historical part because obviously I wanted to like remain
- 22:15true to history but at the same time it's like fantasy and there's a lot of stuff happening that
- 22:20didn't actually happen and I kind of struggled with knowing like how to balance that but all of my
- 22:26characters are like very original like Lisa and Elise are their own people I would say probably like
- 22:33the like Stephen is more so based on you know the rich like socialites at the time no one really
- 22:41specific but then also like for the politicians I did try to do more research on like the political
- 22:47state at the time and like what people were valuing and so yeah a lot of that I didn't really base
- 22:54anyone on real historical figures just because I'm like so specific about my character is and I was
- 22:59like I don't want to like get anything crossed here but there's I don't know maybe some of the
- 23:08singers or whatever at the period I had a really holiday soundtrack in my head I don't know if that's
- 23:14bit late but that's what was yeah no there's yeah there I mean they're definitely like some I
- 23:19I guess you'd call them like cameos for some characters like more in the background like Alan
- 23:25Locke I think he was mentioned if the line wasn't cut I don't remember if it was and then there's
- 23:31like some descriptions of like jazz music for a singer I don't know I'm like blanking on what her name
- 23:38is but there's like a whole like line about like her singing and it's like Laila's walking past the
- 23:44club where she's supposed to be performing and then there are lines about like writers being in
- 23:49the background like you know picking up on the gossip writing down inspiration for stories was
- 23:53supposed to be a call out to like Zora Neal Hurston so yeah there's definitely some references
- 23:59there but I don't know I think like I'm so weird with historical because I'm like I have like
- 24:06more of a focus on the places I think than the actual people and so I more so I wanted to focus
- 24:12on like the contributions that the people made and like how I can incorporate that in like
- 24:17their movements in the story rather than like the people themselves but there's definitely like
- 24:21some inspiration there of course because they have huge influence over the time period but yeah
- 24:27really love that question yeah so um the cotton club I've heard of was the name and is that
- 24:33am I right in thinking that's a real place yeah good good I was just slightly worried I was
- 24:38uneducated about the Harlem Renaissance wouldn't probably get it my facts right okay so I was
- 24:43going to say I just wanted to point out what amazing prose writer you are because when I first
- 24:49picked up this book um it's got some cover quotes which wouldn't immediately entice me into it
- 24:54because I'm slightly squeak well squeamish I am not slightly so things that say sweetly vicious
- 24:59I think oh well my delicate sensibilities be able to cope and I totally did cope because um
- 25:07you just write so beautifully and have you had some creative writing training or is it just because
- 25:11you read a lot and you've absorbed and developed your own style tell us a little bit about how
- 25:16you write and your approach to style your voice I suppose well first of all thank you that's
- 25:24very nice and like I don't want to raise to people compliment my prose I'm always kind of shocked
- 25:29because I feel like that's not one of my strengths it is it's been it's thank you
- 25:35been amazing hearing that feedback and honestly yeah I think it's just because I read a lot because
- 25:42like I have a lot owned I love like beautiful prose so I tend to gravitate more towards writers
- 25:48and books that have that and I love to like study them I love poetry so that's another thing that
- 25:54I think would definitely have influenced my writing I was an English major English and French major
- 26:00in college and I like English has always been my favorite subject I wanted to do creative writing but
- 26:04they like didn't have that at my school so I couldn't really do it so I don't know if I was like
- 26:09specifically trained in creative writing more so like literature analysis and stuff like that but
- 26:16I would say that absolutely helped me as well like reading outside of the usual genres that I read
- 26:22and like learning the various different types of like writing sentence structure all of that has
- 26:27influenced me a lot and like as for my writing process I just I don't know I'm I'm very much
- 26:36applauded so I have to have everything planned out when I first came up with the idea for this book
- 26:41I think one of the first things that came to me was ending for the entire duology so always
- 26:46known how the story is going to conclude and that definitely helps me like write everything
- 26:52going out to there like figuring out the theme that I want running through the whole story and
- 26:56also like how I want my prose to you know fit a setting and I think specifically for this book
- 27:02I was like this time and aesthetic is so specific so I feel like my prose needs to match that
- 27:09away and I remember I read jazz by Tony Morrison and she talked about having a similar thought and how
- 27:16he wanted her writing style to be reminiscent of the energy of the time and I was like I don't know how
- 27:21she succeeded in doing that obviously Tony Morrison the mind of a mastermind but yeah again like but
- 27:27that's just like that's what I do for my writing is I I feel like I have to read really far and like do
- 27:32all this research and like really understand how I want the full like style and like like emotions
- 27:40and vibes of the book to come out because it really is it's like more than just the pitch
- 27:44and the aesthetic but it's really down to like the specific word you use and so yeah that really
- 27:51is my process but I am also a perfectionist so in edits I'm constantly tweaking things and
- 27:59trying to make sure that it reads right so I'm glad that you found it to be really nice and
- 28:06that other people do as well because that tells me that I did a good enough job you certainly did
- 28:11and I agree about the perfectionism I have that I just did the very last round of edits on a book
- 28:17that's coming out in October and I was looking back at my email and I'm talking about the placement
- 28:22of a comma in one line I'm thinking they'll be getting that thinking gosh she's so you know
- 28:29go away anyway it mattered to me so I thought I'd mention it so do you have oh I should ask you
- 28:38before I ask you for your fantasy tip but you mentioned it's a duology do you have you finished
- 28:42part two and is there a publication date part two yeah we don't have the exact date yet I've written
- 28:49the first draft and I'm currently doing my edits we're aiming for an August 2025 release so I
- 28:57guess as long as I can finish these edits on time hopefully that'll still be the case but yeah
- 29:04book two and a lot it's very hard like I've talked to a lot of writers and they're all like book two
- 29:10is the worst I think you're gonna have the worst time and I was like no it's fine it's just a sequel
- 29:14like I'm just continuing what I already have no it's it's been really hard but it is a lot of fun
- 29:19kind of bittersweet because obviously I have to say goodbye to these characters but I don't know
- 29:24I think duologies are so perfect in like length and like story arcs so it's been really cool
- 29:31and like a fun challenge getting to really test my skills and how I can make sure these characters
- 29:36are developed their relationships are developed and that I give everyone an ending that is worthy
- 29:41and good so been a lot by I'm getting through it well that sounds great they look forward to part two
- 29:49so going back to what I mentioned about a fantasy tip and this could be something you've read
- 29:54something you've watched or just something that came to you whilst you were writing your own fantasy
- 29:59something you think would help her an aspiring writer I picked up a few tips along the way like
- 30:08Reid Tony Morrison I mean I'm hoping people are making notes but there's anything else that
- 30:15perhaps you've watched recently or or read recently that may do you look again at your own writing
- 30:21yeah honestly I think the number one thing that's helped me is going outside of writing and studying
- 30:30like story structures of other stories that you really really love and just understanding
- 30:34what they do and why it works for you so for me arcane on Netflix is I think like probably the
- 30:41most brilliant show ever and I anytime I see any part of it I'm just constantly inspired by you
- 30:48know the way that they've laid everything out and like the next season is coming out literally
- 30:54just a trailer the piece of art so I think like I don't know whenever people say like you should
- 30:59read a lot yes I agree like Reid Tony Morrison I think everyone should read Tony Morrison because
- 31:03she's brilliant but I think it's also important to get into other mediums because there's so many
- 31:09different ways to tell a story and if you like you can learn a lot from other genres like
- 31:15I always say that horror and horror tropes are so fascinating and smart and the way that they
- 31:22depict are able to depict certain themes and issues and so I always kind of slip like little horror
- 31:29things into my books no matter well not like a romance book but like my fantasy books for sure
- 31:35have like a lot of horror aspect and I'm aware that like not everyone's gonna want to do that
- 31:39but I think just looking at the way that they use certain like genre conventions or tropes is
- 31:46really really helpful so that's always my number one tip read broadly and widely but also like
- 31:53don't be afraid to take time to like watch stuff as well like animated things tv shows movies
- 31:59also like listen to music read poetry that's like my number one thing I would say poetry
- 32:04and other genres outside of what you're writing for sure thank you that's a great tip
- 32:10right so just a little bit of fantasy imagination now we always end with where in all the fantasy
- 32:16world is the best place for something and we've we've covered quite a few you know best
- 32:20wood best tavern best library and so on and I thought it'd be quite fun to choose any fantasy
- 32:28universe where you have something of an underground club like a speed easy and it doesn't actually
- 32:34have to exist already in that fantasy world but you can just like I don't remember there being one
- 32:39in wind in the willows but let's you know we could put one in there just for the fun of it
- 32:44and where would you like to open up your speed easy and throw up in the doors for people to come in
- 32:51I love this question and I feel like I have two different answers
- 32:55like give my two yeah all right so first I want to say like the world of arcane because I think
- 33:03especially the under city likes on they kind of have stuff like a speed easy but that's why I think
- 33:09it would be very fitting you know people can walk in and there's like a lot of corrupt
- 33:15crazy stuff going on and I think would be very fitting but then I also want to say
- 33:19something in the world of like spirited away which I know like the aesthetics aren't the same
- 33:24but I think that's why it's so fascinating because maybe if I opened up a speed easy there
- 33:30people would for once at least in my world have a break and be able to relax I think the world
- 33:37of spirited away is very beautiful and it would be so interesting to like see the contrast of like
- 33:42a speed easy versus like the spirit world now spirited away and all the creatures that are
- 33:47frequenting those so yeah that's my answer I really loved spirited away just because they're so
- 33:52different all the creatures and the sort of the quietness of some of the moments like when she's
- 33:57sitting on the bus or train whatever it is I just love that yeah it's got a real poetry to it
- 34:05I think I would open my speed easy in Alice's Wonderland I mentioned this year in advance because
- 34:13I think that most of Alice happens during the daytime and everyone needs somewhere to go at night
- 34:20and I think how more those characters like the mad hatter he seems to fit right in at the bar
- 34:26he wouldn't leave he wouldn't go back to his tea party and the hair and the dormatique in fact they
- 34:33feel like customers already I'm in just so yeah and you can get the the duck chest or the red
- 34:41queen singing at the bigger diva yeah no I think that'd be great fun so my speak easy is in
- 34:47Alice in Wonderland well I'd love to see that now thank you so much Hayley and look forward to read
- 34:56well this ravenous fate is out now by the time this broad podcast goes out but also will we look
- 35:03forward to part two has that got a title what's the part two called it does but I don't think I'm
- 35:09going to allow to share it to be to be confirmed part two but it's written so we know you don't have
- 35:15to worry that it won't ever complete so it's it's on its way thank you very much and thank you
- 35:19for joining us on Mythmakers thank you for having me I had the best time and was lovely getting to talk
- 35:25to you and yeah I'm excited
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