Today, I am super happy to present another BookTuber interview with none other than becklebooks! I’ve been watching her for a while and we even met in person a few years ago, and I love her fantasy-based book content on her BookTube channel. I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I do ~ without further ado…
Hi Bec! Thank you so much for joining me on Truffle’s Literary Wonders. How have you been and what are you currently reading?
Hi! I’ve been all right, keeping busy and trying to accomplish my reading goal. I’m currently reading The Passage by Justin Cronin. It’s a 900+ page book which is fairly ambitious… Plus, it’s a slow burning, expansive world building, vampire apocalypse story. Yep, apocalyptic read during a pandemic? I’m a masochist, apparently.
On a lighter note, I have some volumes of Heartstopper coming in the mail, so they’ll definitely be a sweet and fluffy alternative.
For readers who may not know you, please introduce yourself and your channel!
I’m Bec, my channel and social media are both under ‘becklebooks’! I’m from Melbourne and I love the genres fantasy, science fiction and dystopian. (Mostly in the adult category but in YA as well.) 🙂
I make booktube (bookish youtube) videos which I post on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
What inspired you to start filming BookTube videos?
Fear.
Haha, I kid! Mostly. Essentially what inspired me were other Aussie booktubers like Caz and Piera, they had a tonne of fun making content and I’d always wanted to try youtube as well.
This is where the fear comes in, cos at high school I learned Auslan and for our exam, we had to film ourselves. Obviously, as it’s Australian Sign Language, you can’t really… do a written exam. I was TERRIFIED of being on camera and froze up.
So, years later, I was still scared but determined. Both to create and to conquer my fear. My partner (who works in film/TV) convinced me to start: set up all the equipment, pressed record for me, and left the room. It was surprisingly a lot easier with him BEHIND the camera, so it felt like I was talking to an actual human being to start off. And now, years later, here we are!
Talking to a camera feels very self-conscious and unnatural, but I’m happy I had a push to start as well as someone to teach me video editing. It’s only scary if you never start chipping away at it. Once you start, you can always grow.
Since your channel is very much around the fantasy genre (and we love it), what different things do you enjoy from YA fantasy and Adult fantasy? If you had to choose one to read for the rest of your life, which would it be?
I’d choose adult fantasy, for sure. But I don’t want that to seem like I’m crapping on YA in any sense! I really like both but I tend to relate to someone who is in their 20s, rather than their teens, now.
Just give me a rogue character with a heart of gold, or a magical school, or a unique magic system and I’m yours.
I can’t choose just ONE fantasy book to read for the rest of my life. /crying/
Being a content creator means having a pretty hectic schedule (especially when you put work and study in the mix), what are your tips for time management and what does a typical content creator day or week look like for you?
I like planning ahead and bulk filming (so working Mon-Fri, I’d often film in a morning on a Sat or Sun for example). Listing the dates I post videos and then filling in what I’ll post that day as well as what state the video is in (if it’s scripted, needing to be edited, or has been exported) always helps me plan content around my life.
Filming always seemed intimidating when I saw other people doing it, and it can be complicated and time-consuming. But if you love it, you make time for it. You squish it in around everything else. You think about it, scribble about it, get excited about it.
Time management really depends on personality. The key that’s helped me is realising when I’m procrastinating to avoid something, or when I’m procrastinating because I need a genuine break. Knowing when my brain focuses best has made a world of difference.
Also, reading is supposed to be fun and that’s why I make videos, so if I’m not enjoying a book I will happily put it down (never to pick up again, or maybe at a later date when my mood changes).
What are your top 5 favourite books of the year so far?
Oooo, that’s so hard! Okay, okay.
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V E Schwab: Addie, in 1700s France, just wants freedom and makes a deal after daylight; she’s blessed with eternal life to roam freely, wherever she wants, but nobody remembers her name and she can’t leave a mark on anything. Loneliness, art, wanting to be known were such strong themes and my heart… my heart!!
- Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales: A YA retelling of the musical Grease featuring positive queer representation, friendships and communication. It was wonderful, heartbreaking, funny and supportive.
- A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour by Hank Green: This is the sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing so read that first. It’s a first contact with aliens, science fiction story, about a girl named April who discovers something, posts to youtube, then accidentally becomes media famous overnight. It balances personalities, para-social relationships and sci-fi themes incredibly.
- The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal: An adult historical fiction sci-fi about a meteor that hits earth, set in the 60s, where our protagonist and her husband are deeply involved with NASA, calculations and astronauts. I can’t say the plot without spoilers but it had brilliant anxiety portrayal and female friendships too.
- The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher: The first book is Storm Front but I’ve fallen head-first into the series this year. A wizard detective who helps solve supernatural murders? Yes. He’s also a rogue with a heart of gold. They’re always fast paced, funny and each book only expands the characters and world. If you like audiobooks, James Marsters narrates them and is incredible.
From your videos, I know you’re a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson – I personally read my first book by him this year and loved it (Skyward); what’s a book you’d recommend for readers who haven’t read his books before? And what can they expect based on what you’ve enjoyed so much from them?
Ooh yes Skyward is such a fun one! It’s also an excellent place to start. If you want an alternative starting point though, The Final Empire is a good place too. It’s the first Mistborn book, which tends to get a lot of notice online, and it’s about Vin who has innate magical abilities but no control over them. She is found by Kelsier, who takes her under his wing, as he is putting a team together to overthrow the Lord Ruler. Think: heist, in fantasy world, to overthrow a dark lord. Pretty rad.
What are a couple of BookTubers you love and would recommend watching?
I really enjoy Regan (PeruseProject), Elliot Brooks, XCatherineReads, Daniel Greene, Merphy Napier and KatesBookDate.
What are you hoping to see more or less of in the BookTuber community?
Just more people talking about and loving fantasy! Share your reading vlogs, interact, retweet and enjoy the content. There are tonnes of booktubers that I probably haven’t realised exist yet, which is a crime.
What are you looking forward to for the rest of 2020?
For the rest of this year, in terms of reading, I’m PUMPED about the next Brandon Sanderson release (Rhythm of War) which is out on Nov 17. Apart from that, just trying to get close to finishing 100 books this year!
So many excellent books come out at the start of 2021 that I’m jumping up and down in anticipation for. The Mask Falling by Samantha Shannon, The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers, Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanin McGuire, and A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel, to name but a few!
Thank you so much for joining me! I hope more people will find your channel and enjoy your videos as much as I do <3
Happy reading and thank you for having me. 😊
BookTuber Bio: becklebooks
Hi, I’m Bec! I’m an Australian booktuber and I love reading fantasy and science fiction. I post videos three times a week and you can find me online @becklebooks.
A huge thank you to Bec for joining me on the blog and for providing such insightful and in-depth answers to my questions! I hope that fantasy book enthusiasts and others hoping to start their own channel got something good out of this interview. Let me know what you think and if you’ve checked out her channel before 🙂
Until next time,
