Zena Shapter's Blog, page 5

Cover Reveal of ‘When Dark Roots Hunt’!

I am so excited to reveal the cover of my upcoming YA science fantasy novel ‘When Dark Roots Hunt’ – out this May thanks to my incredible publishers, MidnightSun Publishing. The cover was designed by the talented Abby Stout:

It’s so gorgeous that it deserves a You Tube short in celebration! Make sure you have the sound on to listen!

More details over here!

Ikigai for Happiness

Wow, what better way to get into 2023 than with some heart-warming praise! In my last post, I talked about the importance of praise as a professional love language, to inspire buoyancy, hope and motivation (read that post over here). So imagine my joy when I then received this amazing testimonial from a client, who I’ve been working with for the last few years:

“Several years ago, I attended a Self-Publishing course, run by Zena Shapter. She impressed me with her knowledge and teaching style. Not long after, I committed to her year-long course ‘The Year your Book gets Written’.

For someone who has loved writing since childhood, this was an eye-opener. Who knew that writing had become so formalised and structured since my school days? Did Hemmingway have to contend with this? Having a desperate need to chronicle my grandmother’s life, I embarked on the twelve-month course under Zena’s tutelage and mentorship. Her credentials as a published author, speaker, and active participant in community writing groups gave me confidence to begin my work of creative historical non-fiction.

Zena has a achieved the delicate balance of generosity and efficiency in her mentorship. She encouraged me to keep going when I frequently ‘ran aground’, or I had become overly caught up in my research. The one year turned into a three-and-a-half-year project, and fortunately Zena was there to support and assist when needed. At the end of the process, she was again available to use her amazingly sensitive and competent skills as an editor, spending many hours on my precious manuscript, turning it into a more polished version of itself. I cannot thank her enough for her time, dedication, and encouragement. She is worth her weight in gold!”

Gosh, thank you Rosalie! It’s been a pleasure assisting you, especially since ‘helping others’ forms a part of my Ikigai, or ‘reason for being’.

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that I consider essential in my personal journey towards happiness, fulfillment and contentment, because cultivating my inner potential feels very satisfying to me.

Henry David Thoreau

It has been since I watched ‘Dead Poet’s Society’ as a teenager and heard its famous Henry David Thoreau quote, which I then proceeded to memorise:

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

That, to me, seemed the greatest failure: to die without first living as deliberately as possible. Thus I dedicated myself to loving and living passionately, I changed careers and continents multiple times, and constantly sought to achieve my full potential.

When I later discovered the concept of Ikigai, it also resonated deeply.

Here’s a venn-diagram representing Ikigai:

You can have more than one Ikigai, and your Ikigai can change as you grow. There’s so much to know about the concept, but here’s how I interpret the basics:

‘What you love’

I love my family and friends beyond words. I also love words. Anything with words. I wish I’d appreciated this earlier on in my career, when I tried to be anything other than a writer, but once I accepted that words is ‘what I love’, life got a lot simpler. If I’m not creating with words, I feel unhappy.

What do you love? When it comes to Ikigai, ‘what you love’ doesn’t have to be something that forms the basis of a career – it can be about living by your values and finding meaning and purpose in daily living. It can be a hobby or activity. Simply acknowledging what you love is enough.

‘What you’re good at’

I’m good at being creative, meticulous and conscientious. I’m a problem-solver who’s good with details. This helps in many aspects of life, but when combined with ‘what I love’, my passion thus materialises accurately into writing novels and short stories, for which you need to be creative (to imagine them), meticulous (to give attention to story detail) and conscientious (to actually finish projects, especially lengthy ones).

What are you good at? It doesn’t have to be something you’re proficient at already, just something you have potential to improve. Combined with ‘what you love’, this might express or reveal your passion.

‘What you can be paid for’

People pay me for everything listed under the ‘Creative Support‘ tab on my website, including editing, mentoring, book layouts, publishing assistance, and teaching. This has changed over the years, reflecting my expertise at any given time – constant diversification and re-assessment is key when you’re self-employed. Combined with ‘what I’m good at’ (being creative, meticulous and conscientious), my profession thus materialises accurately as a full-time literary artist.

What do people pay you for, and what else might they pay you to do? In what areas do people consider you an expert or proficient? This aspect of Ikigai can include success or an accumulation of wealth as a by-product of your Ikigai, rather than its focus.

‘What the world needs’

As a distinctly empathic and optimistic person, the world needs me to care for others, spreading positivity where I can. This involves sharing my experience and skills as a creative with others, to benefit their lives, thus benefitting the societies in which they live by populating them with happier and more fulfilled people. Combined with ‘what I can be paid for’, my vocation thus materilaises as mentoring and teaching; whereas combined with ‘what I love’, my mission expresses itself as steering the world towards more inclusive creativity. Among other things, this has lead me to establishing writing groups – first at school in 1991, then the Northern Beaches Writers’ Group in 2009, which I still lead. It’s also lead me to work with local councils and create projects to inspire creativity as a personal mission. Where I can also be paid for doing such work, it supports my vocation.

What does the world need from you? This can simply be about connecting with and helping the people who give meaning to your life, including family, friends, co-workers and community.

Ikigai

Once you are aware of your Ikigai, it not only helps to evoke feelings of contentment and life satisfaction, but it creates drive. Knowing I am on the right path motivates me to continue, to accept the sacrifices involved, to appreciate the journey and all its different aspects – including helping others, like I help my clients. It enables me to presevere and be determined, which some might say is something I’m ‘good at’. But I don’t see motivation as an innate skill, more as a muscle that needs training, and Ikigai is a great training tool for that. Try applying the concept of Ikigai to yourself, and let me know how you go!

Not Today! Short Fiction Release @DarkRecesses

Invading aliens with advanced technology may make us obsolete, but not all of us want to be, and not all of us will succumb as easily to hopelessness as others…

My short story ‘Not Today’ is kicking off my 2023 publications with this horrifying short story of control and despair. It’s out now in Dark Recesses Press Vol 7 – Issue 18, with this equally horrifying cover!

Here are the opening lines:

“We’re kept in what used to be a zoo. The larger enclosures are filled with transportation cages; medium pens are divided with taut wire fencing soldered into cells. Metal panel roofs shut out the daylight, and shut in the sweat-seeped stench of unwashed bodies.“

Dark Recesses Press is a magazine of horror & dark fiction, non-fiction and art. In this issue, the editors offer up a fine array of works to tweak your mind, break your heart, and leave a shiver down your spine. Non-fiction offerings include book and movie reviews, plus interviews with Dacre Stoker (the great-grandnephew of ‘Dracula’ author Bram Stoker) and bestselling author John Urbancik. Plus, this issue comes with an optional free digital copy! Read my story and more over here!

It Isn’t Over Until It’s Over #2022

2022 was so much better than I thought it would be, both professionally and personally.

Professionally, I’m of course ecstatic that my science fantasy YA adventure ‘When Dark Roots Hunt’ was signed by MidnightSun Publishing. It’s scheduled for release in May 2023 and I can’t wait! Woo hoo!

I don’t write too much horror or dark fantasy, yet those genres seemed to top my short fiction releases in 2022. ‘Ocean Wolf’ was published in Etherea Magazine, then selected by Tor.com as one of the ‘must-read speculative short fiction’ stories in the world for October 2022, which is very impressive! ‘Made’ was selected for ‘the best’ of the Zodiac Series and published in the Deadset Press anthology ‘Wandering Stars’. Finally, I sold ‘Not Today’ to Dark Recesses Press – coming in January 2023! All deliciously unsettling stories.

This year I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with libraries, bookshops, councils and schools, both as patrons of my art and as vehicles to share my imagination and creative experience with others. I love sharing my knowledge and creativity!

That said, it’s perhaps my inner life that has benefitted most from 2022. Validation is so important for all of us. While internally driven self-worth can keep us motivated, feeling buoyant and hopeful, we do also need external validation to prove we’re on track and living an authentic life. Without it, we risk self-depreciating and losing our all-important sense of direction, even sense of self.

Around mid-year, I was feeling this way a little bit. The pandemic had seen so many deals not go through and connections dissipate, and though I had continued to strive for greatness throughout it all, 2022 looked like it would be another year of struggle. I really needed to feel ‘the love’!

Indeed, external validation is a lot like love, since we can receive it through any of the five love languages. For a self-employed writer, this might include:

words of affirmation –> reviews, meeting or hearing from readers and fans, book endorsementsquality time –> readers reading stories, interacting or connecting on social mediaacts of service –> a publishing contract!receiving gifts –> publishing royalties, payments for storiesphysical touch –> cherishing a physical copy of a new release

In the end, 2022 gave me all these different types of validation, and the buoyancy, hope and motivation that I experienced with them was so noticeable I came to truly appreciate their necessity.

This year, I also set myself some self-obtainable goals that I managed to reach, namely learning how to make Instagram reels and YouTube shorts, and beating my best time jogging around my local bush track. There were setbacks with both of those achievements too of course: the trial and error of learning can take up unaccountable time, and I fractured a toe on a tree root on that bush track! But bones heal, and new skills are always worth it!

So, moving into 2023, my goal is to stay mindful of the fact that each year isn’t over until it’s over. All we can do each day, each week or month, is to take a small step towards where we want to go, whether that’s jogging through the bush, or walking about the house to film a festive message for everyone who’s read my words this year, gifting me the validation only readers can give…

#Shorts & #Reels Warning: addictive fun alert!

For those of you who follow me on social media (as @ZenaShapter), you may have noticed a few videos happening lately! It all started at a recent writing retreat, after I photographed some beautiful Australian flowers during my morning walk. I posted them online, then thought they might have made for better viewing as a short video clip. It was time to teach myself something new!

After all, every professional author runs a small business, and every small business needs to continually try new ways to present its core message and values to consumers.

The first video I created was an ‘Instagram reel’. It was relatively easy to upload and edit the short clips I had recorded, then set the montage to music. I had a lot of fun selecting the music! However, I wasn’t always able to then download or share the result on other platforms without affecting the sound or format in some way. So I also started using iMovie, a software program I’ve used before to create horizontal videos. It took a while to figure out how to create vertical videos, which could then be viewed more easily on a smartphone, though I eventually figured that out too, as well as how to then upload my videos to YouTube as ‘shorts’.

My YouTube channel is over here if you’d like to subscribe, whether it’s to watch how I develop my film technique or just for fun. To view my creative ‘shorts’, just click on the heading ‘shorts’.

My brother is a successful film producer in England, so I suppose I could ask him for pointers about film technique and production – but then who wants their brother telling them what to do! He he. I’m sure he’ll tell me anyway of course.

The main difference between an ‘Instagram reel’ and ‘YouTube short’ is the ideal video length, being approximately 15-30 seconds or 60 seconds respectively. I try to keep my videos short either way – I know how busy we all are, and the less time we all spend online, the more time we can spend reading books!

Now I use a combination of Instagram and iMovie to create my videos, some of which I’ve included below – I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them! Make sure you turn on the sound! Which is your favourite, and why?

The following video is different to the one above – click it and see!

#Halloween Chocolate & @EthereaMagazine

This Halloween has been a lot of fun! Not only did I enjoy my favourite chocolates while watching ‘House of the Dragon’ with my gorgeous family, but my horror flash fiction ‘Ocean Wolf’ was published in the glorious Etherea Magazine. Just check out this horrific cover!

Plus, it’s only $5 to purchase a copy! Authors make their money through selling stories, so every time you purchase a copy of their work it helps them to write more. If you’d like to buy this collection of wonderful speculative stories, the link is over here.

Ocean Wolf

by Zena Shapter

“Dusk and dawn are always the most dangerous times to surf – the ocean’s cold wolves are most active then, slinking along isolated shore breaks, hunting for a slippery meal; they’ll take anyone they can find. Still, there are surfers who can’t resist. All the mighty waves surging in and sliding out, tempting them, tempting me, like a baptism so casual even an atheist could concede…”

This edition of Etherea Magazine also includes these fabulous stories:

‘Epitaph, Incorporated’ by Matthew Ross‘A Haggling’ by Rick Danforth‘The Long People’ by Nick Petrou‘December’s Daughter’ by Austin P. Sheehan‘Moonlight Run’ by Salvatore Pesaturo‘As the Gentle Rain’ by Kiera Lesley‘Callis Praedictionem’ by Renan Bernardo‘Furnace Dreams’ by Jasmine Arch‘A Skulk of Ghosts’ by Avra Margariti‘Little Tom’s Reality’ by Rebecca E. Treasure

Now, back to those favourite Halloween chocolates of mine… Watch the reel, then ask yourself the question! He he…

What’s your order?

The Best Arctic Circle Philosophical Suspense Books #TowardsWhite

What do the following books have in common?

‘Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus’ by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley‘Deception Point’ by Dan Brown‘Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow’ by Peter Høeg‘Burial Rites’ by Hannah Kent‘Into the Wild’ by Jon Krakauer‘Towards White’ by me!

The answer is: they’re the best Arctic Circle philosophical suspense books!

Shepherd is a new book discovery platform for readers and authors, designed to make discovering a new book a magical experience where the search is part of the fun. By creating ‘Best Book’ lists, readers can stumble upon books similar to others they’ve enjoyed, opening them up to new experiences, all the while promoting authors. This particular ‘Best Book’ list encapsulates the following elements:

An Arctic Circle setting

ie. ‘Towards White’ is set in Iceland.

A philosophical offering

ie. here are some things readers have said of ‘Towards White’:

“an interrogation of the mystery of life wrapped in a Nordic sci-fi noir story… a delibrate unfolding of the layers of truth.” Leife Shallcross, author of ‘The Beast’s Heart’

“‘Towards White’ expands the mind, and the mind’s eye… Suspense that takes you to the brink, then pushes you over.” Kim Falconer, author of ‘The Blood in the Beginning’, an Ava Sykes Novel

“If you like your science fiction intelligent, pacy and thought-provoking, ‘Towards White’ is for you. Great philosophical science fiction in a noir thriller package. Crime and a challenging new technology with profound implications for humanity – I thoroughly enjoyed this SF thriller.” Pamela Freeman, author of ‘The Castings Trilogy’

“Shapter blurs the line between technology and spirituality… a novel that delves deep into the nature of justice, religion and death.” Joanne Anderton, award-winning author of ‘Debris’ and ‘The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories’

“‘Towards White’ shows the conflict and chaos of a meeting between the unstoppable force of scientific progress and the immovable object that is human nature—and what happens to those caught in the middle.” David McDonald, author of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Castaways’ and ‘Captain America: Sub Rosa’

Full of suspense

ie. here’s the blurb for ‘Towards White’:

They know what’s going to happen to you… after you die.

Scientists in Iceland think they’ve figured out one of our greatest mysteries – where the electrical energy in our brains goes after we die. According to the laws of physics, one form of energy must always become another form. So the electrical energy in our brains and nervous system can’t simply disappear…

When ex-lawyer Becky Dales travels to Iceland to track down her missing brother, she doesn’t care about the groundbreaking discoveries, or the positive-thinking practiced by the Icelanders – she just wants her brother back. Having stumbled on something she thinks the Icelandic government wants covered up, Becky must piece together the answers fast… before she becomes a victim herself.

If you’ve already read ‘Towards White‘ (thank you!), then this ‘Best Book’ list invites you to consider reading other similar books you might enjoy.

If you haven’t read ‘Towards White‘ yet, but you have read one or more of the others on the list – what are you waiting for? Get reading ‘Towards White’!

If you haven’t read any on the list… you sure have some exciting and thought-provoking reads ahead of you!!

Thank you Shepherd for including this incredible ‘Best Book’ list, and of course for promoting authors – including me! Read more over here: Best Arctic Circle Philosophical Suspense Books.

Book Contract! #WhenDarkRootsHunt signed by @MidnightSunPublishing

I’m absolutely delighted to announce my YA novel ‘When Dark Roots Hunt’ has been signed by publishing rockstars MidnightSun Publishing.

Here’s a rough idea of what you can expect…

“Giant water-ants hunt anything that moves on the lake. Immense wyann trees search the shallows to spear passing prey with their roots. Sala’s village survives hidden behind a wall of poisonous ivy, because everyone agrees: don’t go onto the lake.But when her village refuses to stop squeezing beautiful pond-bred ‘keeiling’ fish to death for their precious saliva oils, Sala will risk it all to prove herself one last time, else leave everything behind for the dark shaded swamps beneath the towering hillfarms of Palude. At least that’s the plan before an unusual comet crosses the night sky, throwing her and her pet pointer into a race through carnivorous swampland, where Sala will unearth long-hidden truths, discover a stranger with unusual powers, and stir rivalries into a terrifying conflict set to change the world of Palude forever. Sala must do whatever it takes to face the truth of who she is: to save her village, to save her loved ones, to save herself.”

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Woo hoo! I love my main character, Sala. She’s relentless in pursuing a life-long commitment to staying true to herself, and I can’t wait for you to meet her!

Big thanks to publishing director Anna Solding for signing this novel, you rock!

 

What Matters In A Writing Competition

What does it take for a short story to win a writing competition?

A lot. Not only does a story have to be incredibly well written, but the judge has to connect with it, and it has to be so memorable that they feel unable to turn away and award first place to any other story.

Having now judged literary competitions since 2015 – including the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature for six years, the Northern Beaches Writers’ Competition and the Australasian Horror Writers’ Association Award for Short Fiction – I’m even more amazed than ever that I’ve won over a dozen national writing awards myself, because it’s just so hard to achieve.

For that reason, usually this time of year I offer writers my ‘top tips’ for writing a winning story, based on that year’s worth of entries, and I list what writers can do and avoid doing to increase their chances of success (just search for the word ‘competition’ on my blog). But there’s also a certain feeling I get when reading a winning story, when I mutter to myself ‘that’s it!’, and that feeling is perhaps more important than any other insight I can offer.

A ‘that’s it!’ story may not open with a ‘sizzling start’ like they teach in creative writing classes. It needn’t even orientate me with a setting or character, using a flurry of excellently applied literary techniques as classes also often recommend. I may not even know exactly what’s going on…

I was in fourth grade, nine years old at the time. It was around this time that boys and girls started to show interest in one another, beyond just being friends. There was lots of giggling, and whispering, and secrets.

2020 Winner of the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature, Senior Prose: ‘Invisible’ by Leilani Nyman

Wake.

Where am I? Not home. New place. Is it home? Four white, padded walls. White floor. Everything white. The only colour is coming from my orange jumpsuit. I’m lying down. A dull, throbbing pain appears in the back of my head. Why am I here? What do I remember? Nothing. Who am I? Nothing.

2019 Winner of the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature, Senior Prose: ‘The 4784 Incident’ by Isaiah Woods

But I will know one important thing: there is a character who is worried about something that’s important to them, and that will be enough to pull me through to the next line, and the next, until the story is ending and I’ve discovered all the rest without even realising.

A story like this will demand my attention, even after a long day of editing other stories or helping writers create words, even when my family are moving around the house getting ready for school, or sport, or dinner, or bed, even when my mind is full of the thousand and one things I still have to do with my own writing. Everything else will disappear other than that story, because its character is worried about something important to them.

You know that comfortable silence? Like, the hush before a movie starts in the cinema. Or, when you run out of conversation, but the quiet says more than words could. I first felt it lying on my bed that day. I was staring up at the ceiling, tracing the lines of shadows cast across my room, feeling mad at you and him for everything you’ve done.

2021 Winner of the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature, Senior Prose: ‘Dear Friend’ by Matilda Meikle

The subject of the story in question won’t matter. It may even be cliché – after all, there are few stories that haven’t already been told. This year’s entries to the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature, for example, covered all the standard topics and more: relationships, family, abuse, death, grief, ageing, poverty, sexuality, politics, suicide, immigration, refugees, indigenous issues, war, theft, fishing, blindness, HIV, Nazis & the holocaust, school, segregation, and social media. Sometimes, of course, the subject can be very unique…

The arrival of the 1st of March grows more horrific as I get older. Last year’s Annual Genocide of the Weak (or the AGW) was the worst to date. My father and my sister. My mother went the year before. It’s a televised event. I watched my family die on the entertainment channel.

2018 Winner of the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature, Senior Prose: ‘What Happens at the Everton Pier’ by Sophie Sheppard

But whatever the subject, when explored in a winning story, it will clearly and decisively matter to the writer. Or seem to matter. Indeed, whether or not it does actually matter to the writer, I may never know! But when I’m reading this type of story, I am utterly convinced that it does matter. The writer cares, the character cares, and therefore I care.

When I’m writing stories myself, I do this by putting myself completely in the head of a character before I start to write: I imagine myself as that character and, in that moment, everything they believe: I believe. It’s the most fun I have when creating stories, and the best way to ensure that what matters to my character goes on the page.

Otherwise, readers may not grasp what, if anything, matters; and if nothing matters, why write, why create, and why submit what you create for a competition, an anthology or magazine? Perhaps what you wrote was just a writing exercise instead, well executed but not truly felt? Perhaps someone else suggested the story’s subject and, though the writer though it a good idea, they didn’t truly feel it?

Either way, I can tell when something does or doesn’t matter, and that makes all the difference to me as a judge, and a reader. Fellow readers, doesn’t it make a difference to you?

Dreaming With Eyes Open @CBCA #BookWeek

This year, the CBCA’s Book Week theme was ‘Dreaming With Eyes Open’, celebrated with the rich illustrations of Jasmine Seymour. When asked about her engagement with the theme, Jasmine said it was based on how dreaming can be “now, then, and always”. This resonated with me, so when a local high school, Mater Maria, kindly invited me to give an author talk about my writing journey – how I have developed my creative career to date – I was excited to be given the opportunity to talk about creativity in my life ‘now, then, and always’.

When I was sixteen, I started my school’s first writers’ society, and one activity involved watching the film ‘Dead Poet’s Society’. I still know the Henry David Thoreau quote mentioned in the film off-by-heart:

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I had came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Henry David Thoreau, as quoted in ‘Dead Poet’s Society’

My talk explained to the students how I came to live by these words, travelling the world and living in different continents, but also how I failed them when I was an intellectual property solicitor working in London and Sydney, because my eyes were closed to my true dreams; how the words ultimately inspired me to become a writer one day and overcome the many obstacles in my way; and how I now interpret these words in my everyday life as a full-time creative, as well as the advice I continually give myself to drive my creative practice and allow me to dream into the future.

I wasn’t sure how the speech would be received, so tested it in advance on my own 15-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. They gave me the thumbs-up, so off I went to present it to a library-full of students ranging from Year 7 to Year 12.

A fabulous Book Week display of authors local to Sydney’s Northern Beaches – including six of my books! Me admitting I used to write poetry during class at school.

I was thrilled to get a thunderous round of applause at the end, then once more after some Q&As. I don’t remember how many bookmarks I signed when surrounded by students seeking a memento of my visit, but I do remember the blossoming warmth of their appreciation and how it made me feel.

Every year since 1945, the Children’s Book Council of Australia has organised Book Week to encourage reading, and to bring children and books together. However, it’s also an opportunity for authors to emerge from their writing nooks, step tentatively out into the realm of readers, and experience the joy our imaginative worlds can bring.

So a big thank you to CBCA for this year’s amazing Book Week theme, and for Mater Maria for letting me talk to their students about how writing is for me as necessary a thing as breathing; how a theft-from-my-person one night in Birmingham and a close-call one day in Java taught me to listen to my heart; how Steve Jobs was right about connecting the dots between past, present, and future; and how my drive-to-write almost had me giving birth at home.

I have many more stories to share about creativity, since I’ve been a creative all my life – whether my eyes were open to it or not. There can be much hidden inside an author than what readers initially see, and it was both scary and exhilarating to reveal some of that.

In fact, the next time I have the opportunity to talk about my writing journey, I might be tempted to reveal even more!

My Writing Suitcase – packed full with ‘show & tell’ items from my creative life!