...No waffle, rambling introduction, or debate on the impact of dinosaur pajamas on a good night’s sleep. That’s what Waffle-Free Storytelling is all about…The story and nothing but.
The tales are 3 to 17 minutes long and, except for a few traditional stories or ones delivered by one of my amazing guests, are written and told by yours truly (Tina Konstant).
The tales are all fable’ish, myth’ish, fairytale’ish, and entirely human (zero AI).
Welcome to the place where coffee breaks become mini adventures and headphones become front-row seats.
For the stories sorted into playlists, scroll down...
Tina
There's life between the covers! Where the podcast is packed with stories and nothing but, the books have random recipes, campfire story games, weird facts, quotes, and all sorts of other stuff and nonsense.
See below for the stories divided into playlists. Enjoy!
Life, Death, & Afterlife
Life Lessons
Origin Stories
Find Your Way and Why
Our World
Seasonal Tales
Friends & Family
Guests & Conversation
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
~ Neil Gaiman
- WAFFLE-FREE STORY COLLECTION -
Bedtime, Fireside & Roadtrip Stories
The Violet Collection
16 Stories | 3 Fireside Recipes | 2 Storytelling Games
The Ochre Collection
20 Stories | 2 Storytelling Games | 4 Fireside Recipes
The Vermilion Collection
24 Book | 6 Fireside Recipes | 5 Storytelling Games
The Teal Collection
17 Stories | 3 Storytelling Games | 5 Fireside Recipes
The Fandango Collection
21 Stories | 5 Fireside Recipes | 4 Storytelling Games
The Phthalo Collection
21 Stories | 2 Storytelling Games | 6 Fireside Recipes
“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.”
~ Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal
Questions People Ask
Why Waffle-Free?! What have you got against waffles?!
In the summer of 2019, I was looking for a storytelling podcast that got straight to the story, but all I could find were shows that started with 10 minutes of jibber-jabber, chat, and natter (i.e., waffle) before the story.I got so annoyed, I waved my arms in the air (not sure why), knocked my tea over (unfortunate), and exclaimed, “Enough with the waffle!!!”At that moment, “Waffle-Free Storytelling” was born.
How long are the stories and where are they?
How long? Each story is between 3 and 18 minutes long. Guest interviews are 45-60 minutes long.
When? New episodes are published most Saturdays. If I get distracted, or things get a little crazy, then I will have written a story for a week, but not got around to recording it. I’ll catch up, though.
Where? Find “Waffle-Free Storytelling” on YouTube and all the podcast players including iTunes, RadioPublic, Spotify…
What’s the difference between the podcast and the books?
The podcast is 100% waffle-free. We get straight to the story of the week. But because life happens between the stories, the books also contain campfire recipes, a haiku or two, weird and random facts, and storytelling games that’ll help you keep friends, family, and kids entertained, no matter how wild the weather or random the audience!
What kind of stories are in Waffle-Free?
Fables are stories that say something about life, the world, what’s happening around us… Traditionally, they often have talking animals (that doesn’t often happen in Waffle-Free for some reason). An example of a famous fable is Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Origin Stories are what they say on the tin: stories that explain the beginning of things. You’ll find A LOT of these in Waffle-Free. They’re one of my favourite kind of tales to create and tell.
Fairytales are packed with goblins, faeries, witches and unimaginable fantasy. Snow White and Hansel and Gretel are famous fairytales.
Myths often have roots in history and use metaphors to explain how things came to be or illustrate what might have happened. Pandora’s Box and Theseus and the Minotaur, for example.
Legends are stories about people in long-ago history. They’re popularly regarded as historical but they’re not authenticated. Loch Ness Monster, Ali Baba, and Big Foot are examples!
Waffle-Free stories are mostly fables and origin tales. But I dabble in all sorts!
Where do the stories come from?
Except for the first six stories and the occassional guest story, all the tales on this site are written and told by yours trutly (Tina Konstant). They're inspired by the events of the day, the world, people, and other stuff and nonsense. Sometimes, the stories are created to solve a problem. That's part of the StoryWrangling magic: stories bypass the logic brain and reach into the soul, tapping into solutions you might not know you have.
What happened to the kids' show?
Waffle-Free Stories for Kids is on pause. Oh my goodness... it took a mammoth amount of time and energy. It was great as a Covid project, but got a bit much as life got back to normal. I loved doing it, so it will be back :-)
There are all sorts of genres on this site. Why?!
For a long time I tried to find my niche. That one tiny topic I could focus on and specialise in. The trouble is, I'm interested and curious about many things. From wildlife to growing spinach, to the origins of drangon fruit to the making of mountains, to human nature to weird-ass politics. The only common factor I could find was the story. And that's how storytelling became my thing.
Do you have a book club?
I don't yet, but what I REALLY want to build is a storytelling club. A place where we can get together and make up tales, share stories, and StoryWrangle together.
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