Writing Roots

S24E7 – The Creation of Monster Fiction

Monster fiction as we know it came into being in the early 1800s. A large volcano erupted in 1816, causing what has become known as the year without a summer. It was during this time that we got some of the best monster fiction creations. It was during that summer that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein as part of a writing contest.
Most of the modern monster fiction we enjoy, whether in books or in film, can trace their roots back to the creations that summer in a writing contest held by Lord Byron. Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein, which was monumental in paving the way for later creations such as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Todays monsters include zombies, vampires, werewolves, mummies, and more. It’s even opened the way for exploring the idea of a good monster.
No matter the genre within the monster fiction category, there are common themes that have become important elements of storytelling. At the core, these stories explore human psychology, the complexities of humanity, and the battle of good versus evil. Listen to this episode for more on what you can learn from studying the creation of monster fiction.
First aired September 23, 2021.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S24E7 – The Creation of Monster Fiction appeared first on Writing Roots.

S24E6 – Fairy Tales and Bedtime Stories

Fairy tales have been one of the go-to ways to teach children about the world for centuries. Though the stories have changed greatly since their origination, we can recognize titles such as Snow White, Thumbelina, and The Little Red Riding Hood.
When it comes to the history of storytelling, fairy tales and bedtime stories cannot go ignored. While they had a surge of popularity in the 1700s to 1800s, parents had already been reciting these tales for centuries. Most have some kind of moral or warning, teaching children to avoid very real dangers even if the objects in the story were fairies and witches.
Most importantly, though, are the impacts these types of stories had in developing fiction as we know it today. Many fantastical works have some kind of basis in the extraordinary fairy tales told centuries ago to children falling asleep for the night. The magic and mystical elements of these tales helped spawn the fantasy genre.
For more about how fairy tales helped shape fiction, listen to this episode below.
First aired September 20, 2021.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S24E6 – Fairy Tales and Bedtime Stories appeared first on Writing Roots.

S23E5 – Shakespeare and the Printing Press

Both William Shakespeare and the invention of the printing press had a major impact on storytelling across the world. This is when stories for entertainment alone became popular – and accessible – for the masses. Books were no longer for the elite and plays were written for the common man as well as royalty. This was also brought in a time where common folk could be writers. Education was becoming more widespread and access to printing was much easier.
After the printing press and especially after the Protestant Reformation, he most popular stories to be told and shared no longer held a moral lesson – or at least, it was not the sole point of the story. At the same time, literature started to explore deeper themes that did not tie to religion, using more metaphors and satire.
Shakespeare helped bring in stories meant for the “everyman” – tales that would appeal to the rich as well as the poor. He was well-known for puns, wit, and even making up words to help tell his tales. His impact on history is incalculable, and his works are still studied in-depth today.
Learn more about this time in the history of storytelling in this episode.
First aired September 16, 2021.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S23E5 – Shakespeare and the Printing Press appeared first on Writing Roots.

S24E4 – Educational Storytelling and the Use of Theater

There came a time in the history of storytelling, especially around the rise of Christianity in Europe, where story became a way to educate the general populace. However, it started long before Christianity was even established.
Back in the times of the Greeks and then Romans, theater was used to teach the common people about the gods and their workings. It was one of the main ways outside of direct worship, to tell people how the gods operated. This same trend continued into Christianity, when nunneries and other religious establishments would hold plays to teach bible stories.
One of the biggest changes this era brought to storytelling was the use of writing to not only preserve story, but to distribute it in a collaborative effort. Scripts would be written and sent out to be performed. This is also the time where tropes and character stereotypes became solidified beyond the idea of a “hero” working for unseen forces.
Ley and Leigh discuss this development in storytelling and what it can teach us today for our own writing and goals.
First aired September 13, 2021.
The post S24E4 – Educational Storytelling and the Use of Theater appeared first on Writing Roots.

S24E3 – Introduction of Man vs. Man and Character Arcs

There was a point in the history of storytelling where the tales began to include a character arc. They also became more about man versus man, rather than man versus monsters. The stories became about overcoming the external foe as well as becoming something better. About starting as the underdog and becoming the hero.
One such example is the biblical story of David and Goliath. Not only did the David overcome the giant of the enemy forces, but doing so changed him from a simple shepherd boy to king. The phrase David and Goliath has become commonplace even outside religious contexts to represent the tale of the underdog rising up to the challenge.
This era also saw the introduction of the Hero’s Journey in storytelling. That structure is still used in modern fiction, acting as a guide for how to develop a character arc from start to finish.
Listen to this episode for more about how stories about man versus man and the introduction of character arcs changed the storytelling world for good.
First aired September 9, 2021.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S24E3 – Introduction of Man vs. Man and Character Arcs appeared first on Writing Roots.

S24E2 – Stories of Gods and Fate

Some of the earliest stories we know from the time around the beginning of written language were stories about gods and fate. This is where stories started to transform from being primarily for survival to conveying ideas beyond the individual.
This was a pivotal time, not only because of the introduction of written language, but for the concept of believing there is something else out there – a something else that might be in control. This is when we got stories such as Gilgamesh, the Hebrew Bible, and even early Greek and Roman stories. There were great heroes who fought for and against the gods themselves.
In this episode, we discuss what came out of this time of gods and fate within storytelling and how it can still help our writing in modern times.
First aired September 6, 2021.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S24E2 – Stories of Gods and Fate appeared first on Writing Roots.

S24E1 – Storytelling in Prehistoric Times

Story has been imbedded in human culture since the beginning, even since those prehistoric times before written language. Though we may not have those written records of what stories they told, we do know they were telling them. Prehistoric people showed story in their art on cave walls, in the traditions they passed down from generation to generation, in the warnings they gave to survive.
In those early days, story was all about survival. Before gods and heroes and invented monsters, there were stories about how to avoid predators. Even today, those themes are still relevant.
Listen to this episode to find out what we can learn and apply in our writing today from the traditions of prehistoric storytelling.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S24E1 – Storytelling in Prehistoric Times appeared first on Writing Roots.

S23E9 – Choose Your Adventure

Choose Your Adventure books are a unique way to involve the reader in the storytelling process. Many of you may remember the old Goosebumps “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories, but it’s not a structure reserved for middle grade books anymore.
Writing a Choose Your Adventure, or interactive, structure is difficult. For you pantsers out there, it’s even more difficult. This structure takes plotting out not just one ending, but several. Branching from those endings and beginnings is a complicated weave of different choices, allowing the reader to take control of how the story progresses.
Don’t let that discourage you, though. This is a structure that allows your creativity to flow. Have you ever written a story and thought of the multiple ways it could end? Choose Your Adventure lets you explore all of those options, then present them to the reader to discover. It also connects you with the reader in ways that other narrative plots don’t allow.
For more on how to use this style, listen n
First aired August 30, 2021.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S23E9 – Choose Your Adventure appeared first on Writing Roots.

S23 Bonus – Episodic and Serial Stories

Serial stories have started to make a comeback in the writing format recently. While it’s always been there in the form of comic books and fiction magazines, the internet has helped this unique structure gain popularity and strength.
Many authors have created episodic and serial stories over the centuries. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published the Sherlock Holmes detective stories as serials originally, creating a massive following that has continued to today. Television was a natural adaptation for this type of story. Comic books and other graphic novels also benefit greatly from being able to publish small pieces of a larger story over time. Fanfiction authors embraced the serial style as they crafted new tales for known characters and worlds. Websites such as Royal Road and Wattpad helped open this structure to authors original fiction. That interest is only growing stronger with Amazon’s recently released Vella, their own platform for serial stories.
Writing a good story in this format, though, takes more than just breaking up a story into chapters. There are a few tips and tricks that can help you stand out in the crowd. Leigh and Ley discuss framing devices, the difference between episodic and serial, and break down Vella and it’s uses in this episode.
First aired August 28, 2021.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S23 Bonus – Episodic and Serial Stories appeared first on Writing Roots.

S23E8 – Reverse, Reverse! Telling a Story Backwards

If you’re looking for a unique way to tell a slow burn suspense, consider the reverse story structure. This is all about going backwards in time.
The reverse structure isn’t just hitting rewind and watching the whole thing from front to back, but by taking pieces of the story and telling them out of order. Most often it’s happening to the main character. Maybe they’re suffering from amnesia and remembering how they got where they are in reverse order, like in Momento. Maybe it’s a detective following the trail of a crime to its source.
No matter what the plot of the story is, using the reverse story structure takes time and planning. It’s a focus on the how of a story, the what. We know how it ends – that’s where we started – but we need to find out why.
Listen to the episode below to get a closer look at this structure and the best practices when you decide to use it.
First aired August 26, 2021.
We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.
The post S23E8 – Reverse, Reverse! Telling a Story Backwards appeared first on Writing Roots.