I was never a large fan of fantasy, I preferred physiological horror over anything else. The only fantasy I enjoyed was the works of my favourite author Stephanie Garber, I didn’t even enjoy watching or writing this genre until recently. Which may come as a surprise since I am currently writing a fantasy audio series titled The Tear Stained Throne; let’s talk about that.
The Tear Stained Throne is a fictional audio series about a young woman who married the king of a large kingdom under unfortunate circumstances. Featuring dozens of talented actors from across Canada!
The series contains dark subjects, two of which being domestic violence and sexual assault. Not what you were expecting in a fantasy series? Me neither at the time of writing it.
During Covid-19 I discovered the series The Two Princes on Spotify and fell in love, and I decided it was easy enough to make my own audio series. So I did. I had an idea for a plot already; a bunch of teenagers/young adults wake up in an endless forest and they must work together to face their fears and attempt to survive. At this point I hadn’t made any short films yet, I had no directing experience and had no connections. I didn’t even know what a casting call was! But I was very active in writing communities online and managed to gain some friends from it, so I asked them if they were willing to do some voice acting for me. I let them completely create their own characters and I wrote them into the script. And so Forest In The Deep was born.
I did extensive research on voice acting and created a list of important bullet points to remember and shared this with my actors as they had absolutely no experience either. I was very excited for this project and I had high hopes! Unfortunately I was the only one who took the series seriously and the actors had higher priorities at the time. So sadly, the series died and the episode drafts will stay buried deep in the lost files of my computer. For now…
I have been asked by a couple different individuals what inspired me to write The Tear Stained Throne and I do wish I could give them all a straight answer. I didn’t have an idea when I started writing the series, I simply sat at my computer, found a fantasy music playlist online and started jotting down words. Eventually an idea sparked; a queen who must go on a grave adventure to save her crown. But now I needed to ask myself the hardest question an author could ask themselves; why? What could be so serious that would cause a queen to lose her title after being married into royalty? Well, there has to be an heir to continue on the Skien legacy, yes? Then it’s decided, she cannot conceive. And so Simone’s best friend Kimber sends her on a wild journey to find a healer who can cure her infertility so she can keep her role as queen. But now we need conflict, because every interesting story has conflict. So she falls in love with the sailor taking her across the high west sea. Why is this considered conflict? Simone is married to someone who abuses her, making her fear her new found emotions. And the story evolved from there, taking on a life of it’s own.
Most of you probably do not know this but I am a very strong women’s rights activist. I feel very strongly and have bold opinions when it comes to womens AND peoples rights, especially when it comes to what is currently happening in the United-States. I know as I am writing this only the first season of The Tear Stained Throne has been released, but I do find it to be convenient timing as the characters in the next season become politically motivated.
So now pondering on the plot of this series, yes it is fictional but it introduces real life issues involving abuse, domestic violence, manipulation, a corrupt government and the loss of human rights. But at least this story will have a happy ending, because unlike the rest of the world right now, it’s fictional.
If you haven’t already, listen to The Tear Stained Throne on;
Spotify
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Youtube
The End
Podchaser
Podbean
Overcast
Cast Box