STORYBEAST

STORYBEAST
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A podcast for story lovers, Storybeast explores how we weave tales and why we love them. Co-hosts Ghabiba Weston and C. Shack chat with each other and legendary guests about different elements of various books, tv shows, plays, and other modalities to explore this fundamental aspect of humanity. Come for the story, stay for the snacks.

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    Episode #123: Living the story, with Legendary Zeyneb Holdridge

    Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Zeyneb Holdridge. Born in Vancouver, B.C., Zeyneb Holdridge was raised to embrace her Turkish Iraqi heritage, which has informed her passion for infusing her lifelong love of storytelling with elements of Turkic culture. Growing up in an immigrant family and always on the move, she often found her imagination running wild, and books became for her a home and getaway. Her experiences as a neurodivergent Muslim woman have further fueled the direction of her writing to include a variety of misunderstood characters with complex identities. ***Look out for the forthcoming A THOUSAND NIGHTS anthology, hitting shelves September 8th, 2026!*** In this episode: Zeyneb does the first ever Storybeast dance introZeyneb shares her advice on writing complex characters without overcomplicating the plotdiscover what Zeyneb needs to know before she starts a story and how her approach could inspire your ownZeyneb dives into the value of understanding character motivationZeyneb shares her 3 layer editing approachGhabiba exits the conversation when Zeyneb and Courtney bond over germshear the fruit knives story that will make you want to stay on Zeyneb's good sideZeyneb shares how writing from your own experience can help you fall in love with your identitythe trio discuss prejudices in the publishing industryget ready to laugh more than you ever have! For more storytelling content to your inbox,⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!

    1hr 22min

  2. 23 APR

    Episode #122: Brain hacks for writing productively: a taste of what's to come

    Welcome to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: the brain hack guide Ghabiba and Courtney are putting together for younaming your resistancechallenging your resistance!personalizing and framing your hack approachesour favourite hacks from the guidebeing in conversation with yourself And, of course, the snackdown trash talk starts early!! For more storytelling content to your inbox,⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!

    38 min

  3. 16 APR

    Episode #121: Writing series and falling in love with new worlds, with Legendary Pascale Lacelle

    Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Pascale Lacelle. Pascale Lacelle is the New York Times bestselling author of CURIOUS TIDES and STRANGER SKIES. A longtime devourer of books, she started writing her own at the age of thirteen and quickly became enthralled by the magic of words in both French and English. She lives in Ottawa, Canada with her loving dog and an ever-growing library of books waiting to be read. You can find her online at PascaleLacelle.com or on Instagram. In this episode, you'll hear about: how the Drowned Gods went from being a duet to a trilogythe change in copy edits that will save readers many tearsthe lesson Pascale learned from pantsing a seriesPascale's writing journeynavigating burnoutworldbuilding joys For more storytelling content to your inbox,⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!

    1 hr

  4. 9 APR

    Episode #120: Creating alongside mom guilt

    Welcome to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: the balance of ambition and mom guiltphases and emulation teaching you your boundaries how your creativity changes through different phasescelebrating and mourning at the same timewriting in the cracks of lifefeedback on our writer persona experimentjournaling through change For more storytelling content to your inbox,⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!

    44 min

  5. 2 APR

    Episode #119: Planting your story garden with Legendary Ruth McKell

    Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Ruth McKell. Ruth McKell writes haunting and hopeful tales she hopes will make your heart ache, just a little bit. Her debut, HONEY IN HER VEINS, has been described as "cottagecore with teeth." Steeped in Celtic folklore and set in the hills of Appalachia, this second-chance romance (releasing April 2026) stars a magical beekeeper with volatile magic and the death-touched man who broke her heart. When she's not channeling her passion for mental health awareness into magic-touched worlds on the page, you can find McKell in the mountains, thrifting second-hand treasures, or sipping on tea from her novice apothecary. *HONEY IN HER VEINS is out this April 7th* In this episode, you'll hear about: Celtic folk lore inspirationMcKell's debut, HONEY IN HER VEINSMcKell's research processwriting mental healthsecond chanceslove in all its formsgarden story analogiesFor more storytelling content to your inbox,⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!

    51 min

  6. 26 MAR

    Episode #118: Saying hello to Imposter Syndrome

    Welcome to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear about: coming back to your story truthsitting with your imposter syndromewhen critical feedback has its value (and when it doesn't)the devil you knowsetting up your emotional environmentunlocking your process by shifting mediums, and how this can relieve the weight of expectationCourtney's writer uniform writer mathGabi making a commitment she immediately regrets (but she's gonna lock in okay) For more storytelling content to your inbox,⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!

    43 min

  7. 19 MAR

    Episode #117: On avoiding the rabbit hole, winning rocks, and fitting your story car into its parking space, with Legendary Premee Mohamed

    Welcome to another LEGENDARY episode of Storybeast! Our Legendaries are special guests who are an expert within their area of storytelling. In this episode, Ghabiba Weston and Courtney Shack have the pleasure of interviewing legendary Premee Mohamed. Premee Mohamed is a Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, Ignyte, and Aurora award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She has also been a finalist for the Hugo, Ursula K. Le Guin, British Fantasy, British Science Fiction, and Crawford awards. In 2024, she was the Edmonton Public Library writer-in-residence. She is the author of the ‘Beneath the Rising’ series of novels as well as several novellas. Her short fiction has appeared in many venues and she can be found on her website at www.premeemohamed.com. In this episode, you'll hear: about the unity of impressionhow Premee determines if a story idea has legsPremee's way of setting up emotional arcs using an "end-feeling" with short form fiction and how this differs from her approach to novel length storiesabout inspiration and the trick to avoid falling down the rabbit holePremee's approach to writing interiorityPremee's advice on how to hone your writing craftabout Premee's latest book, THE FIRST THOUSAND TREESabout the cool winning of a rockthe easy yet addictive recipe for secret popcorn sauce For more storytelling content to your inbox,⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!

    1hr 10min

  8. 12 MAR

    Episode #116: Reverse outline your way forward

    Welcome to another episode of Storybeast where Courtney Shack and Ghabiba Weston discuss the transformative power of story. In this episode, you'll hear: Courtney's process of following Chelsea Abdullah's reverse outlineconsiderations on how to frame a revision approach to suit your needsbuilding your path to guide your next steps (esp. when life challenges your usual writing routine)the shiny outlinehow renaming can help with reframing For more storytelling content to your inbox,⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our newsletter. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk story or snacks! A warm thank you to Deore for our musical number. You can find more of her creative work on Spotify. As ever, thank you for listening, Beasties! Please consider leaving a review to support this podcast. Be brave, stay beastly!

    39 min
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About

A podcast for story lovers, Storybeast explores how we weave tales and why we love them. Co-hosts Ghabiba Weston and C. Shack chat with each other and legendary guests about different elements of various books, tv shows, plays, and other modalities to explore this fundamental aspect of humanity. Come for the story, stay for the snacks.

Information

  • Creator
    STORYBEAST
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    124
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © STORYBEAST
  • Show Website
    STORYBEAST

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