Dark Fairytale Author Bria Rose talks new book "Her Dark Promise"

What's up. Your artist is Doug E. Frush and you're watching and we talk weekly. You're listening right here? All right, why don't you give it to me early? Tell us who we have today? Who do we have to date today? We have Rose with us. She went from Disney to dark fairy tale retelling, flipping classic stories into wicked, twisted tales. She's an author, a coach, and a creative powerhouse. Y'all already know what to do. Let's give a warm we talk weekly. Welcome to Bria Rose. Yeah, and gone there and go what's going on? What's going on? How are you? How are you? Hi? Are you doing fantastic? Fantastic? How are you? I am doing so well. I got a lot of work done today, a lot of writing, so I'm ready in the zone. Fantastic fans, fantastic. Now, before we get into anything, And I asked you about the book, because that's would you consider your book a novel? Correct? I'm gonna be honest. It's a lot of pa she has a lot of pages. It's it's a journey. Yeah, uh yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely yeah. So what did you what you have? Spart You had a few questions for why don't you jump onto it. All right, Brian, tell us, how did you wait? You did a transition? Now you did it from Disney to Dark fairy Tale retailers. Let us know about your Disney experience because we know that there's a lot of you know, child stars now that are Disney stars that you know, Disney has a lot of backstory with them. So tell us how that how it all began? Well, it all began and my mom's tummy really truly though she was the first Disney lover. Actually, my grandma was, and that's kind of started the tradition. When I was three months old, They're like, Okay, I guess it's time to go. And we went when I was three months and I think we once I hit a certain age, we just never stopped going. That was just ended up being our vacation spot every year. But the stories as I grew older just became more ingrained into my identity. And so when people would say, oh, what is your what's your dream what is your dream job? I'm like, oh, well, work in a Disney's that is the dream job. And I did it. I succeeded. I got before this is in college program twice at Disneyland in California, and it was a beautiful experience. I got to be part of different food and beverage type of events and the different restaurants in California Adventure and then transitioned my way over to photo paths for the last remainder of my time at Disneyland. Nice, nice, really quick. For Disneyland and disney World. One is in Disneyland is in Cali, disney World is in Florida. I heard that Disney has like their their what their target is customer service, like making you feel at home? Is that a truth to that? Yeah, So we have a thing called like the four Keys, and I can't remember what was the four or the five keys, but number one is just like making magic. The number one goal of every single cast member is to make sure that every single person, every single guest that comes in, whether they are you know, zero to over one hundred years old, every single person feels as though they are immersed in the culture that is Disney, whether you know, so all different characters, all the movies, every every cast member you need, you know, we are just definitely upholding the show. That is our first key. So yeah, it's really quite magical. Awesome, awesome, So tell us about now there's a book that I you know, I didn't read it at all, but tell us about this excellent book that you have the name of the book, and how did you create. This bell It is her Dark Promise and it is a Beauty in the Beach retelling where Belle is the beast beast and guest on our brothers to get trapped in her castle. And it is definitely a little different because it is a gender bent. And the way that it all came about was I was actually in the shower, had just finished reading A Beauty in the Beach retelling, and as I'm in the shower, inspiration hits for the ballroom scene and I ended up calling my friend while I was still in the shower. I'm like, I have an idea. I think it's gonna be really cool, and I wrote it, ended up getting an editor and we kind of not scrapped everything, but we very much changed a lot of it and it just turned into Her Dark Promise. And that's kind of how it all came about, was I read a book that kind of inspired me to create This book inspired me to want to do one is like take on writing because I'm not a writer. Before, before writing my first book, it was never at the forefront of my mind. And I don't know really what happened, but I feel like I got bit by the writing book and now it's all I really do. That's that's interesting that you said that, because I, well, I'm I'm of course a journalist and I write, but I don't I'm not like a nonfiction writer. And I recently started researching like how to write like novels and things like that. So what is like your creative process for like writing, like with your how do you develop characters and things like that? What gets you like motivated into writing, because you know how like you have like some writers where like Stephen King has his process he is he like he has to, like you know, he has to do his his his thing to be able to develop his characters and all that. Like what gets you into writing your characters and what gets you going? That's an excellent question because everyone is so different. So for me personally, I don't do outlines. Outlines kind of emerge as I write, so I write in my Google docs and when I have a big scene. So let's just say, for example, her dark promise, like, Okay, so the story's going to follow loosely the Beauty and the Beast story. So I definitely want to have a ballroom scene, so I'll put that and big like nutellics, well, make it big, and then on the side it'll have I don't know what it's called, but it'll my little outline will be on the side, and so I'm like, okay, ballroom scene. Okay, then I think what's before? What's after? Okay, Well, something crazy happens. So that's just kind of how the outline develops. But the way that I write in general is whatever inspires me. So normally it's the really big scenes first, and I call them the boring bits, the transition scenes, and so those are last. Everything whatever is in my brain will come first, and that's normally the spicier scenes or the bigger, more chaotic scenes, things like that. Okay, so you're pretty much like writing your big scenes first and then. The puzzle writer. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. So how how I guess do you write for like a certain way you want your audience to feel, or like, is there like a or you know, is there a way that you just you know write for the inspiration that like you have personally on inside. So I do believe that they're no matter who the writer is, there's always going to be an audience someone's going to enjoy it. So in my opinion, I have to write a book that I'm most excited about. And while I do have a specific audience in mind, I always remind everyone, hey, this is not for everybody. If you're into young adult and you don't like Spice, then please don't read my book because there is you know. So, yeah, I do have is there an audience in mind when I do write? And yeah, I try to just warn people. So would you call this an adult novel kind of the man's the relationship wise? How dark it is? What would you actually if you had to put this in a category, what would you say? This? Dark romanticy? Dark romantis that's crazy. I love it, dark romanticy. I love it, love it, love it. So starting the book though, because you mentioned, you know, the Walt Disney worlds and those characters and beauties and the beasts, is that the inspiration behind the way that you think, uh, you know, creatively just you know, fictional fictional characters with you know, love stories. Is that kind of like your genre, your lane that you love to stand and creating. You know, when my editor and I had got together and after we finished her Dark Promise, I'm like, okay, girl, what is next? And she's like, listen, there's a few different ways you can go. Because I did write a book in school with an ex friend of mine, and I recently got the rights full rights to that book too, so it is an original and I am eventually, hopefully the next year or two, going to put that push up for But she's like, listen, you really like Disney and I that is a really good Niche like, what else would you want to do? I'd want to do. I mean there's fantasy, there's ooh, sorry my light went out for a minute. You're like, what do you want to do? I'm like, honestly, I'm kind of known as the Disney girl in my social circle, and I think I want to continue on this retelling kind of journey. But I also enjoy fan fiction. But you can't publish fan fiction. That's a completely different thing than like re imagine retelling. But I want to use fan fiction as like inspired. So, for example, Harry Potter, because everyone knows Harry Potter. A lot of people wish that Hermione and Draca would have got together. I think there's the miss opportunity. So maybe in a future book, I would like to have an inspired or a book inspired by Hermione and Draco, like an academic rivals situation with magic things like that. So I like retellings in general, it just doesn't have to specifically be fairy tales. Can you tell us about your most favorite character that you created. Well, I think it's probably Kallathia. Kaalathia is my Bell character, and I want to say it's because she I kind of based her a little bit off of me. I mean, being in the Beast is my all time favorite character. And it's kind of not taboo, but it's kind of weird, like why are you gonna put yourself as your main character. I'm like, no, it's just I see myself as Belle. She's intelligent, you know, She's everything I aspired to be when I was little. She was my role model, and I'm really excited that I got to be able to write Bell, but more complex, with more depth, with more feeling and emotion, like she had a lot of really crazy bad things happened to her, and she kind of lost her way for a little bit and became the morally gray character in my book because not in Disney, we have heroes and villains black and white character you know, like heroes are the heroes, they can do no wrong. Then you have the villains. They have zero backstory until Disney put out Maleficent, where people are like, oh, this is what happened to her. That's actually I understand why speacome a villain. I would too, So, you know, I really appreciate Disney exploring what makes her own Wennox a villain, and so in my book, definitely, Kalathia is just this beautiful, complex character who really the main purpose of this story was for Kalathia to lose her way and then with the help of her friends and the brothers who ended up coming and kind of shaking things up, she finds her way with their help, not because of them, but you know, she just like finds herself. So it's a self love journey back to herself. And that's the thing. That's why I love Kalyathia so much, because I think a lot of people can relate to her. Yeah, the complexity of the characters, right, I didn't get through the whole book, but the complexity the characters stood out for me, all of them was so complex. It was a curse mentioned via Kalethia. Can you explain that a little bit more because I thought that was interesting? Yeah. Can I ask how far you got because I don't want to do any spoilers for you. Yeah, too far? Quarter. I didn't realize how as it was. That's why I was questioning, is it a novel I would love to see, right, And I'll let you answer the question, but I would love to see some graphics stuff in it. I think this was so great. It was so great what I was reading. It kept me kind of like in the book, wanting to read more, wanting to read more, but also explore the character's more. And that could be because I didn't get all the way through the book that it would, you know, peel back the layers of how dynamic the characters was. But the curse aspect of it stood out for me, so I was really interested in it. But I would love for you to talk a little bit more about that without the spoilers. But I guess you can't tell me the curse without the spoiler, right, I guess I'm talking. Bit let's go. So, actually, what just came up into my head right now was that in the movie, Disney's movie, we get the curse from that. That's the first thing we see is how we got cursed. What the curse is, it's the rules behind the curve, because the book is about breaking the curve, and of the book, the movie is about breaking the curse. But it's just about a person's finding their way, right, a person loving somebody else for not what they look like, but who they are. Right. So the curse is there, but it's not there. It's not the main purpose. But for my story, you learn it towards the end about exactly why she was cursed. Even Claythia doesn't really understand why she was cursed until the very last few chapters of the book. Now, with the curse, we slowly get the rules and what is around them. So Claythie was cursed at eighteen years old, she is currently I want to say three hundred and seventy. I chose that specific number because there was three hundred and when I did my research, there were three hundred and seventy people who worked on the film, so I really wanted to integrate a lot of beating in the these backs. But so, the rules behind the curse are, she's not she's not allowed to leave her premises, so she lives in a castle in middle of the woods. She cannot leave the border of her lands at all. So she's been isolated for over three hundred years, which I think anyone would go ahead and go crazy. She can't die, so she's I don't know what I can say, what I can't say, So she has tried to. She's trying to underlie herself a couple of times. Essentially, yeah, essentially kind of vampires. She does not drink blood, but you know, she definitely does not aid. She's kind of frozen in time, and I think that's probably the best way to explain it. You know, she cannot have children, she cannot birth life. She is just stuck and frozen in time, and so she has nothing else to do. She's sitting there and the only thing, you know, she just gets more bitter and bitter and bitter, just sting in her anger and regret and betrayal everything in all she has to do every single day is just sit and wonder, like why does this happen to me all of the people that I you know, everything whether grows and then dies, and I'm just I say the same, and I do. I do want to say that I do appreciate that you do include trigger warnings and discuss mental health awareness on your site. And I think that's extremely important. And how important do you think because there's a lot of authors who don't have that disclosure and they don't you know, mention that. So how important is it for you as an author to balance artistic freedom, you know, with emotional safety for a generation that that prioritize transparency as well as as as well being because now it's you know, years and years and years ago, there wasn't a trigger, you know, trigger warnings there, there wasn't mental health awareness. Yeah, honestly, I would rather people go into my books without knowing anything because I do feel as those some trigger warnings they ruin something. You know, it's true. So I have been really thinking about like adding a trigger warning and saying, hey, there are trigger warnings, but if you want to see them, go to the back of the book. You know, I've been turning to give different ways that I'm like, hey, there's these things I don't want to give I don't want to give it away. If you want to see it, please go to the back of the book, please go to my website. Of course, in this book there are a list of trigger warnings because I do take mental health seriously. And that's actually surprising. When I went into writing these types of books, I never thought that mental health, like I would be really researching. Okay, if somebody has PTSD, how would they react in this type of environment, How would they react to somebody doing this to them? You know, would would physical tales to be okay for a person who has gone through this type of trauma. So because I can't imagine someone, so let's just say was abused in some kind of way. Let's say physical abuse of child abuse with sugar warning for people. But let's just say child abuse and it was by a parent, and maybe like hands were thrown a lot. Maybe for I would assume they would that this character, this person would have a really hard time with physical touch. I don't think they would want to be touched a lot. And so that even in a intimate way, any kind of way, just someone randomly touching them, I'm sure that would in order for that to happen, they would have to have a lot of trust in that person. And so in a book where I have that, I would need to show the growth between those two characters, you know, So I yeah, so that's what I mean. Kind of my research is how a lot more to it that I really want to do these stories and these people because sure there is not real in my book. Yeah, that it happens in real life, and I need to do it justice because people will put themselves in the roles of these characters. Yeah. I think everyone does that. When they see a character that they can identify with, then they kind of. Put them within themselves. But you know, it's interesting that you talk about physical touch because I think love language is when you say physical touch, right, But it can also express itself in a hyper kind of you know, position of wanting to be touched all the time, right, and so it can be the opposite of not wanting to be touched. So I think of you know, even you just being able to do your creativity without saying anything, that's that's your creativity, however you feel that it should be put out there, that's what you should be able to do, because that's what you is yours, right, So whatever you feel you wanted to express it, however you feel that you wanted to express it, I believe that's how you should go about expressing it right, because that's part of the creativity of it all. You make a really good point with the whole feeling thing because kind of going back to my writing process is I don't really know how to tell people how to write because until something feels good, I don't stop fixing it, Like I'll go back and like this doesn't feel right, this transition doesn't feel right, or the way that this. When you create characters, they end up writing themselves. And so, like where you were just saying, do it feels right? Because there are some situations where we have they're called like black romances, where it's super dark. A lot of people aren't going to agree with someone who was intimately abused. They go more towards being more promiscuous, more of this. A lot of people are like, well, that's not howp You know, everyone's journey is different, and you know, so when you create these characters as authors, we need to be as authentic as possible to the character that we wrote. That's why it's great to have diversity because not every you know, it's not everyone's going to react the same, be the same. But for me in general, when it feels right, I'm like, Okay, this is the right course of action. Amazing, amazing, it's remember it's your creativity, and uh, just do with it the way you see it, because ultimately, listen to someone else can change. That's kind of like the position of where you felt like the character was going because you're listening to all the noomis that's coming to you, right, and it always changes the process. But it also sounds like it could be hold on, go ahead. Well, I did not mean interrupt you at all. No, go ahead, go ahead, brea. I was just going to add the beta reader process, because after you write books, we like to send them not to beata readers, to make sure some people like sensitivity readers or you know, African American readers can read. Or so if I'm writing a book on Pocahontas, I might want some Native American beta readers to be like, hey, who are like and actually immersed in the culture, because I'm also Native American, but I'm not immersed in the culture. Maybe something that I wrote was offensive or you know, like wrongfully though to where it's going to be really problematic. You know, I said something happened so Beta readers. While yes, we need to take their advice like seriously, we also need to stay true as an author to if they have saying like no, this doesn't belong and like no, that's actually integral to the story, you know, so we have to kind of nitpick on what is appropriate for us to change faith on their advice. I totally agree. I also think that when you all were talking about how, you know, how certain things are black and white, black meaning darkness light, you know, white meaning the light, it seems like the darkness sometimes is more of a truth teller. And it seems like when Charles just meant about staying creative. Although and I think it's great that you give like a trigger warning, but it's sometimes a relief for people to be like, you know, they are recognizing something that they didn't really want to have as a reality for them, and it's almost like it's helping them instead of the opposite, you know, almost as if they're saying, hey, I see myself in this character and I didn't even know that I was suppressing what you know, all this time and then it brings it to life. So I think that I think that's awesome. Yeah. Also, now, Bria, are you also like coaching new writers or what kind of advice do you give to people who are, you know, trying to find their identity or trying to find their niche in you know, in writing. Sure, so I am. I don't I have to stop saying I'm a newbie author because I've been an author for a couple of years now and I did everything myself. I am a self published author, so I did all the research, I published it myself, I found my own editor. Everything is done by me, except outsourcing like the cover art or some like fan art that I had commissioned, so certain things were outsourced, but all in all, all research, everything was done by me. And so I feel as though I have a lot of advice I can give. So that is in the early stages of me. Really, I would love to take on some coaching clients and kind of help them specifically on the journey that I did of self publishing and also how to get your book and books subscription boxes, and because I did do that. Actually, if you I don't know if can you guys. See, so this is my special edition copy that I thought was probably smut. Yeah, beautiful. She's shea baddie for sure. So tell us about the the art. I love it. Yeah, so this actually is the original. This is the original. My friend actually handstamped the edges of this. Yeah, so this was done. I got this commissioned, and I had a certain vision once I had in my mind because of course, when you see this and once you know this is a beauty and the beast, you're telling like for beauty is found within that is great beauty and the beast, and it's the beast portrait. So that was a vision for this book or this cover. And then I had nothing to do with this cover because the company probably st was like, hey, we I actually have an idea and you kind of let us go with this or can you let it? I'm like, you know, what, do your thing. I trust the process. And she turned out so pretty destroy me. I love that. You know. That is a quote in the book, and and that's just kind of Kallathia and love is going to destroy her. It's going to turn her entire world upside down. And this is probably my favorite quote is I'm not afraid of the beast. I am the beast she is. You know, That's how she sees herself. And it's so funny. Is nobody else sees her that way? But sorry, I'm I'll got all the time. But yeah, no, this is the cover. Probably smut did that and it turned out beautiful. Eight hundred copies we're printed to that. So I really want to help people find cover artists find the box. You know, I did the work, I did all the lake work. I have all the emails and all the you know everything, So I would love to help people on the journey. You know. I actually also signed with one more chapter who is part of the HarperCollins family, but it's a they're under the umbrella of HarperCollins, and so I am writing a book for them. Hopefully it'll be out in a few months. I'm so excited. But so now I have a little bit of insight into this, like online publishing things, so I have some insights. I would love to help some authors and just even if it's one session, just listen to people. Where I was a couple of years ago and now being able to be in a position to help them is going to be really nice. So what advice would you give to like a gen Z or millennial writer that just hasn't gotten started and they're just afreed and don't know where to start. What's some advice that you would give to them. I think number one is people get too caught up on perfection, because I know I am one of those. Well, I'm like, no, this doesn't you know they people they'll write something and they'll delete it. No, no, no. What you just need to start doing is have a stream of consciousness. So you just need to write. You just type, type, don't think about it, go back in later add your details, don't because you're not going to get everything out on the first draft, the first rough draft, for example, I am writing a Pinocchio pretelling next and yeah, it's really fun, but there is magic in this world, and this first rough draft does not have a lot of magic in it because I'm solely focused on the story, the plot itself. And then the second run through is when I'm going to add in all like the finer details. It's just like a painting. You have to start with the bass layer, the base coat, and then once thing's dry and you kind of leave it alone for a minute, then you kind of come back and then you add in all the details. And I think that's what people need to realize is you can't edit a blank page. You can't publish a blank book. You can't. You have to write it. So you have to write it. It's gonna be craft, it's gonna stuck. That's okay with it. You have to be okay with your rough draft sucking. Does everyone Harry Potter, Twilight, all of the great Stephen King, every single I'm sure every single person, every single author, big or small, will tell you every rough draft sucks and you'll be okay with that. I'm stealing it, okay. When you think of what's next for Brier Rules? Right, what's next for Brian Rules? What's the first thing that comes tomorrow? I'm going to have two books published this year, working on my third and my fourth, which is going to be a start as a trilogy and ended up being the bigger Universe I have. You know, this year is a big year for my writing career, as I'm going to my first book convention in San Diego in September. I'm really excited for that. More marketing, more presence on social media and just kind of getting my name out there. Not I'm kind of feel like I'm underdog or not underdog, but underground where certain people know about me, only certain and I'm ready to mainstream. So that's that's kind of what's next is just keep writing. The more books you have, the more opportunities you're going to have. You can only do you so much for one book. Yeah, well you want to be talked weekly, so a lot of people going hear you now, right. So welcome, welcome, welcome. Uh, what does you don't see foresee some type of movie or anything for this book? That's what I was going to ask. I gotta get this on scream please, miss Broad. I'll just know. I'll just visualize it in my head. I want to see a movie or something like. Oh, we're talking big big dream. Sorry, I was just talking twenty twenty six. No, a movie is gonna happen. Movie is going to happen. I don't care how it happens, but it's going to happen for sure. I actually already have an audiobook out of it. When that came out about probably about six months ago now, back in it was de Tember October, and yeah, no, it's there's a lot of really amazing things. I just want to be an appointment career where this I can travel the world, write books and then make that red carpet premiere. You know, I really do A movie really is one of I also would love to do a graphic novel of my books, so maybe a sequel, maybe a prequel of the Parents. There's so many different avenues that I can do with Her Dark Promise and all of the other books that I have planned. And yeah, so movie is the main. Once I have a movie, I'm like, whoay. You know what I see? Can I give you? Can I throw a little nugget out there? I see a podcast that you're talking about these characters, right, expounding on the layers of who they are, and doing that on with every book that you create. That's what I see, Because this isn't a book that you can just read once and just be like it's done. You start to think of the characters and the complexity of the characters, and the layers of the characters and the relationships of the characters, right, So you don't have to talk about the book per se, but definitely the characters and what was going through the mind and how these characters. I see a podcast, are you doing this? So think about it? And I believe it will be very successful. This is it's a niche. It's a group of people that love this stuff. You know. I was kind of a nerve back then, you know, I was see I was a Dungeons and Dragons person back in the day, you know, And so yeah, right, and so uh it's a group of people that you know, they out there and they love this stuff, and I think you doing something like that, it'd be amazing. So they think, think. I will. I actually have thought about it, and I just wasn't sure. You know, we're not going to say you're not sure, we're gonna do it right. We're gonna do what you just said it yourself, right, just do it, just do it. Not perfect looking for perfection, but were looking for the creativity and you doing something that you know that you can do. I love that, you know what, facts. Gila, so uh dag this time went so quick. So before I let you go. You know, one thing that we say on the show is once you come to the show, you're a friend to the show, So you're always welcome to come back. But I want you to leave us with uh. Before you tell us how everyone can get in contact with you and all that stuff. You kind of mentioned it as it relates to this question that I'm going to ask, But I want you to give one last word of advice for a young lady that may be looking at you and you and you know, maybe a little nervous or scared to write something or start something, and she's listening to you and she's. Like, gosh, I love her. What would you say to that little girl? I would say to be kind to yourself and your Your words matter, literally, the words that you write, they matter, They matter to somebody. And I've had people come up to me at you know, book signings that I've done saying like thank you, this was life changing. So in your hands, your computer, your your talent is life changing for people. And you don't know who it's going to touch until you put it out there and write it. So, like we said, just do it, because someone has to be famous, so or even if that's famous, isn't your you know, the point that you want to get to, just writing the book and publishing. Someone has to do it, so why not you? Someone has to do it? Someone has to have a movie made of their book? Why not you? Someone has to, you know, why not? Fantastic grounds applause for brilliant roles, ladies and gentlemen. Why don't you let everyone know how to get in contact with you and find your book in contact you if they need to talk. How would they do that? Well? I have branded myself really well and everything is under Authorbourria ros Is dot com. That is at Gmail, that's TikTok Instagram handles. So definitely send me an email or a DM. Fantastic, fantastic. Well, I'm gonna give you random Claus and Bria Rolls right now. You deserve your flowers, So I'm gonna give you some flowers right now. You keep doing your amazing work. Keep writing. Uh, I'm going to finish this book. I'm going to finish this on a hard copy though, with pictures and everything on it. You know, that's just what I But you have to autograph it for me, you know, and I can say that. I got it from directly from Bria Rolls. Right and so, without further ado, I just like to thank you for coming on the show again. Once we always say once you come to the show, you a friend to the show, so you're always welcome to come back. But one more again, let everyone know how to get get in contact with you. One more time. That is author Burria ros I a Rose dot com at gmail, Instagram, TikTok and send me a DM and say hi. There you go. Slider in her inbox, y'all. Slidering her inbox? All right, Well, it's nice talking to you when we see you one the other side. Hey, this is my seeing you. Take If we cannot be complete unless. You listen to or watch we talk We believe, Please believe in bail