Waffle-Free Storytelling…
Books & Podcast
Scroll down for the Waffle-Free Scrapbook
The Violet Collection
16 Stories | 3 Fireside Recipes | 2 Storytelling Games
The Ochre Collection
20 Stories | 2 Storytelling Games | 4 Fireside Recipes
The Fandango Collection
21 Stories | 5 Fireside Recipes | 4 Storytelling Games
The Vermilion Collection
24 Book | 6 Fireside Recipes | 5 Storytelling Games
The Teal Collection
17 Stories | 3 Storytelling Games | 5 Fireside Recipes
The Phthalo Collection
Due out on 29th April 2024
Waffle-Free Storytelling Scrapbook.
Sometimes you just want a STORY…
…No waffle, rambling introduction, or debate on the impact of dinosaur pyjamas on a good night’s sleep. That’s what the Waffle-Free Storytelling Podcast is all about…the story and nothing but.
The stories are 3 to 17 minutes long and, unless delivered by one of my amazing guests, are written and told by yours truly (Tina Konstant).
Welcome to the place where headphones become front-row seats and coffee breaks become mini adventures.
The audiobooks are on the way. In the meantime, enjoy the books and the podcast!
Tina
“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
FAQs
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…
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”
~ Mason Cooley
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!
Waffle-Free Storytelling cover art…
One of my favourite things to do is play in Canva. Creating cover art for Waffle-Free is a rabbit hole I frequenty find myself in!! Here’s the art for the shows so far…
Join the Fireside.
Waffle-Free Stories and book updates.
Here’s the latest Waffle-Free Story
Story Stuff…
More than Fun and Games
We are born mighty storytellers and world-builders. As kids, the stories we hear wrap around us like armour and fill our hearts with defiance! From dawn to dusk, we fight dragons, we slay armies, we scale mountains on pluto!
Then we grow up, and because life happens, we put aside the fairy tales and fables that powered our imaginations and get on with the grown-up things. The trouble is, we continue to meet dragons. The greater trouble is we forget to turn to stories to fight them, beat them, and defeat them. We rely on bare-knuckle battles to get through our challenges, pushing that story part of ourselves into the safety of a dark room.
The fact is, our nerve-jangled adult selves aren’t equipped to handle so much of what comes our way. It’s our fairy-tale fit, fable-strong, imagination-fuel story part of us who is built for this.
Here’s the link to the blog about how to get your power back.
Be Heard – Find and Tell Your Story
Storytelling has never been just for the fun of it. Whether it’s a wild bedtime story, Disney, or a fable drawn down through the ages, there are messages hidden in the symbols and structures of every story that matters.
It’s how you can be heard.
A friend sent me this video. Watch it. Listen to the heartbeat of the message…
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
Einstein
The Global Story Phenomenon
There’s a global phenomenon where similar folktales and fairy stories emerged independently in different parts of the world, despite there being little to no direct communication between cultures. At first, it seems like there’s some universal whispering at play, but actually, it’s just because we’re human and this planet is pretty tiny. Here are some reasons why cultures have such similar stories…
- Universal Human Experience: Many stories (especially fables and fairytales) reflect universal human experiences and emotions like love, fear, triumph, tragedy… These themes are fundamental to the human condition and are found in all cultures. As a result, we create similar stories.
- Archetypal Characters and Plots: Psychologist Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious suggests that humans have a set of primal stories or archetypes embedded in our collective unconscious. These archetypes (hero, the trickster, or the journey) come from the human collective (tell the Borgs it was our idea first).
- Migration and Oral Traditions: In ancient times, stories were primarily passed orally. As people migrated, they took their stories with them, which then got adapted and integrated into the local culture, potentially leading to similar stories in different places.
- Response to Common Environments: Many stories are a response to the natural environment and common human situations. Flood myths, for instance, are common in many cultures (story of Noah or the story of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh). These likely arose as a response to the experience of catastrophic floods at the time.
- Psychological and Sociological Needs: Stories fulfill psychological and sociological needs. They can enforce social norms, provide moral lessons, or offer a way to understand and explain the world. We all have common psychological and social needs. The result is the creation of similar stories in different societies.
- Diffusion Theory: While some stories came about independently, others may have spread from one culture to another through trade, conquest, or other forms of contact and then adapted to local cultures.
These are just some of the reasons why similar stories are found across cultures and continents. Despite all our differences, our common human condition (fear, hopes, values, love, need…), means we all connect and resonate with the same stories.