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Speaker 1: Hello, and good morning, Claire Belle. How are you doing today?

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Speaker 2: Good morning, I'm good. How are you?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely fantastic and excited to share a conversation with you

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because I love the way that you write. I just

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wish I would have had you in my library at

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Ponderosa Elementary School back in the early part of the

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nineteen seventies because this is exactly the way I like

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to read.

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Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: I mean the way that you go in and you

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give our imaginations that opportunity to play. I mean it's

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almost like you're saying, hey, look, in a very creative way,

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I'm going to invite you the reader to explore your

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own assumptions, and you're giving me permission to do so

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many things as a reader.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's you know, thank you for noticing that. On

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It's a very intentional thing that I like to do.

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For me. My books are really about saying something. I

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want to be able to give a message things that

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are important to me, and especially with the relationship with

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Seven and Bali, who is Vali Seven's goalie at the

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beginning of the series, I wanted to show that, you know,

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sometimes our first impressions aren't always correct. And their convenience

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understandings when we meet someone new. So yeah, that's such

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an important thing for me in the series overall as well.

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Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question about the way that

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you write and you also host a podcast. The different

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is it a different personality because I mean, even on

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your podcast, I mean you're a story sharer. I don't

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want to say storyteller. I liked because you share adventures.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I was a reader first before I

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was ever an author. Reading has always been a huge

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part of my life, and it's one of the reasons

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why I decided to become an author in the first place.

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So reading books and talking about sort of how other

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authors navigate storytelling is really fun for me. I love

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to do it. I love to sort of investigate how

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other people work on their books and also to see

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how I would have done something differently so it wasn't

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working in those books, which often they're not on Bad

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Author book Club is the intentionally pick sort of the

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wackiest books of fiction books by celebrities that we can find.

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Speaker 1: Now, listeners need to know that your podcast is called

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Bad Author's Book Club. I love that, and I love

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the fact that you're talking about books and authors and things.

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Because I even have a podcast called View from the

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Writing Instrument. There's not enough coming from the authors in

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the way of us getting to know who they are

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as people. And I love the fact that, like today,

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you being here is a gift because we get to

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share your experiences as an author with those that are

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reading as well as listening.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I've sort of a staple of

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my career. I started building my social media platform before

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I even had a literary agent or have finished my

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first book. I sort of started sharing my journey on

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Tumblr first forever ago and talking about my writing journey

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and then my needs to get an agent and then published.

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So a lot of people who follow me today has

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been following me since the very very very beginning. It's

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really nice to sort of see that same group of

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people who still supporting me. I feel like my own

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little onto your section on the internet. It's really great,

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and I do think it's important for authors to show

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that we're not just book writing machines. Right of writing

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to me is about human connection and so showing who

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I am as a person. I think it has been

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really crucial to my career and it's something that I

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like to do as well.

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Speaker 1: Please do not move. We'll be right back with Clara

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Belle or Taga. Hey, thanks for coming back to my

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conversation with Clara Belle or Taga. Well, one of the

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things that you put focus on, we're trying to find

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that one witch who can help them out. That is

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the mission, that one that's like the needle in the haystack.

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And here we go, Clara Belle, take us away.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so a fort Sumpter of Memories that the fourth

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book in the Witch th series, the Witchlans are leaving

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the Pearl Towns for the very first time to find

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the same Sceptor of Memories in order to save their home,

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and along the way, Simon's also hoping to find a

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witch named Selfinium Larkspear, who's actually the first switch to

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have the same sorts of powers that Seven has. Without

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giving away too much, she's hoping that they can find

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her so that she can help her control her magic

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because it has been a little bit chaotic, they believe,

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and hopefully with the help of this switch, Seven can

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help harness her powers and then finally defeat the big bad.

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Speaker 1: At least that's the hope Without spoiling the story, can

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you let us on the inside, because I know that

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there's unnatural and dangerous magic involved here, and the Witchlings

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they're accused and charged for it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so the Witchlings very existent, seems illegal in the

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fourth book, which is why they have to escape the

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twelve Pounds and go rust towards the Enchanted Grim, which

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is where all the monstros the monsters of this world

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originate from. And so because of seventeen powers, they're actually

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able to walk through this expanse that not every witch

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can get through. And it was really fun for me. Actually,

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a fun fact about writing book for is it only

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took me thirty eight days on which is a record

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for me. And part of the reason was because I

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was so used to this world and these characters, and

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it was the first time I got to explore like

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a whole new part of the world and kind of

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separate them from their support system on a side, from

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the three of them, and sort of isolate the characters

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and really focus on them and their journey. So it

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was really fun for me to do. But absolutely there

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is there's a lot of new exciting things in this

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book for fans of.

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Speaker 1: The series, for sure, let's talk about those thirty eight

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days only because we have listeners, and we have we

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have secret writers that check in with your books as

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well as the podcast, and they're afraid of that one

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thing called editing. How are you able to put a

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book together in thirty eight days because most people would

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run away or they would hide it underneath their bed

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or up up in the attic. How did you get

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something like this in thirty eight days? Done well?

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Speaker 2: So the first draft was done in thirty eight days.

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It took me about I would say two months after

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that to revise it. So the thirty eight days, which

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was just for the first draft that it was, actually,

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according to my editor, who is very tough on me,

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the cleanest first draft that I have written. And part

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of the reason why I was able to do that

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is because I stopped focusing as much on word count

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and started to focus on chapters. So I outlined very intensely.

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My outlines are usually about twenty to twenty five pages.

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I have a paragraph to a page for each chapter,

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sometimes including a little bit of dialogue. But I detail

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every single thing that happens in the chapter. And so

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my goal when writing now, as opposed to before, is

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to finish one chapter a day, including weekends. Usually the

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word count is out the window, and I just focus

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on getting from point A to point B for the plot.

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And that has been a game changer for me in

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terms of speed.

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Speaker 1: That's what my editor told me. Just get the book out,

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Just give me the story. We'll figure it out. Do

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not think about how many pages you're doing. That's my job.

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Then i'll give it back to you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you can. You can revise and ad later.

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And I understand when you're first starting out and you're

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trying to find an agent, there's so much emphasis put

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on word count, and I understand that, but I think

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sometimes we focus so much on word count that we

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forget about actually getting to the plot points that we

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need to hit. That's what was happening to me. I

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would say, Okay, I hit my word count for the book,

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but the book I'm not done. And I was putting

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too much emphasis on that word count. So this new

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method for me has been just every since.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about the book cover. And I know we're

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not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but

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how can we not. I mean, the colors in this

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are absolutely phenomenal. The fact that it says which Lean's

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the font is just brilliant. I think it touches the imagination.

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But yet the characters are very anime and I have

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to ask you, are you going to put this on

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Hulu or even on any other channel, because I mean,

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there's a series here. I know there's a series here

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because I feel it when I read it.

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Speaker 2: Well, I can't give away too much, but I can

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say that there are things happening behind the scenes that

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would probably make my readers very excited. The cover artist's

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name is Lucy Marlin and she has been absolutely incredible

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for each book cover. The Witch things just they do

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come to life. I really really agree. And I'm hoping

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after book five, which is the last Famess arc, that

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I will get to a graphic novel spin off as well,

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and I think that would be wonderful. But in terms

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of adaptations, I would just say stay tuned.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Where can people go to find out more information

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and stay tuned? As you say, They.

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Speaker 2: Can find me on my website, which is Claraville Orteta

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dot com and I'm on threads, Instagram and TikTok at,

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Carbal Underscore or Tega I love it.

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Speaker 1: Please come back to the show anytime in the future.

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The door is always going to be open for you.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much, I would love to.

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Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?

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Speaker 2: Okay, thank you. Have a great day.