The Stories of Ourselves, with Barbara Linn Probst

After interviewing almost two hundred authors on Uncorking a Story I’ve come to believe that the real superpower authors wield isn’t their ability to string words together, but to find stories simply by paying attention to everyday occurrences and being very curious about them. I was reminded of this while interviewing the celestial Barbara Linn Probst.

Meet Barbara Linn Probst:

Barbara Linn Probst is an award-winning author of contemporary women’s fiction living. Her acclaimed novels Queen of the Owls (2020) and The Sound Between the Notes (2021) were gold and silver medalists for prestigious national awards, including the Sarton and Nautilus Book Awards. The Sound Between the Notes was also selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Indie Books of 2021. She joined me on Uncorking a Story to discuss her careers and latest novel, The Color of Ice.

The important role the subconscious mind plays in sparking all of Barbara’s story ideas. Barbara’s technique of imagining having a conversation with her protagonists as a way of getting to know them (and fueling her creativity). Barbara’s seemingly contradictory advice to forget everything you know about writing and to trust that you’ve learned some things about what makes a clean sentence when making the leap from writing non-fiction to writing fiction. Her belief that it will all work out in the end.