Episode 63: Interview with CL Walters

Today we are thrilled to share our latest author interview! In this episode, Fable and the Verbivore have the chance to speak with author C.L. (Cami) Walters.

Cami is the author of five contemporary YA novels and is just starting to work on the world building process for a YA fantasy. During our conversation, we focus our conversation on her latest self-published YA contemporary romance The Stories Stars Tell which debuted on October 13th of this year. She has also writen the books The Letters She Left Behind and the Cantos Chronicles (Swimming Sideway, The Ugly Truth, The Bones of Who We Are) which take place in her home state of Hawaii.

In this episode, Cami discusses getting vulnerable and digging deep to help find the emotional core of a story. She walks us through the interviewing process that she uses in her character development to help her identify not just the character’s want, but the root of that want (the why). She also gives some great advice on reading widely and using that process to help open new frontiers within your own writing.

We also touch on the ways in which her current novel explores purity culture and important topics of consent, sexuality, and finding your voice to say what you do and do not want. Towards the end of our conversation, Cami gives a timely bit of advice that our work is best, and resonates most, when we are willing to bravely share our voice.  

Cami shared lot of wisdom on the topics of managing the self-publication process and how to approach running a book release marketing campaign on Instagram. We also highly recommend checking out her work and connecting with her on her Instagram account @cl.walters and on her website at  https://www.clwalters.net/.

We hope you enjoy this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Cami’s personal website is https://www.clwalters.net/ and her instagram account is @cl.walters. You can connect with her on social media and check out the posts she created for the marketing for the publication of “The Stories Stars Tell” which officially released on October 13th of this year.

Cami references an interview that she recently did with The Rainy Day Collective podcast, where they talked further about viewing John Hughes filmography with a new lens and unpacking some of the problematic messaging in his body of work. Here is a link to that episode:

  • The Stories Stars Tell and Purity Culture - https://rainydayinmay.com/collective/listen/

Cami’s idependently run impint is Mixed Plate Press, where she manages the start to finish process for all of her book releases. She utilizes IngramSpark as part of her self publishing process and worked with instagram artist Sara Oliver (@saraoliverdesign) to design the cover for “The Stories Stars Tell”.

The Verbivore made several allusions to John Hughes movie references found in “The Stories Stars Tell”. The Ducky conversation, is a section of dialogie that focuses on the character from “Pretty in Pink”. The Cameron car scene, is a reference to a conversation between the characters where they bring up the famous end sequence in “Feris Bueller’s Day Off”.

Cami paraphrases a quote by writer Beverly Cleary. Here is that full quote:

  • “If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.”

Cami, like Fable and the Verbivore, is taking part is NaNoWriMo. Here is a link to their website for more information: https://nanowrimo.org/what-is-nanowrimo

Books Mentioned:

Movies Mentioned:

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

interviewBethany Stedman