Theresa Smith's Blog, page 151
November 13, 2017
The Bend in My Writing Road: From Novelist to Book Blogger
Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a guest for Writers in the Attic, a series by Louise Allan. Read on if you’d like to know more about my writing journey from novelist to book blogger.
A very big thank you to Louise for having me on her blog!
I have a very special guest today, one well known to almost every female writer in this country through her work as Historical Fiction Editor with the Australian Women Writers Challenge. You couldn’t find a bigger advocate or a more generous supporter of Australian women writers. Normally, Theresa is the host of guest posts by other…
via Theresa Smith: The Bend in My Writing Road — LOUISE ALLAN
Series in the Spotlight: The Saga of Emmaline Gildley-King by Lori T. Hurst
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Emmaline Gidley-King’s privileged lifestyle in the Yarra Valley seems assured. However, a shocking incident sets in motion a chain of events that will change the path of her life. At just fourteen, Emmaline is cast into the company of distant relatives travelling to the Palmer River Gold Fields in far north Queensland. Tragedy strikes the travellers and Emmaline is left alone to survive in the wilderness.
Generations on, Ellie Jamieson’s fight for survival is internal. With a vain, self-interested and spiteful mother, her childhood has been more like a battle field. Throw in a cheating boyfriend, and Ellie’s self-esteem is at an all-time low.
Born more than a century apart, these two women are connected by kinship and the affliction of living with a callous mother.
About Book 2: The Journey of Emmaline…
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Set to inherit the thriving Yarra Valley Vineyard, Chateau Fontenay, Emmaline’s world is shattered by her malevolent mother. By chance she survives a nightmare massacre on the Palmer River Track. Through sheer perseverance she endures months alone in the unforgiving north Queensland wilderness, finally making her home with an aboriginal tribe in Princess Charlotte Bay. It is four years before she returns to Cooktown. Content with her new life, she is devastated when she realises the extent of her mother’s betrayal.
Generations on, when Ellie Jamieson learns of her grandmother Ruthie’s hidden family background, she goes in search of her heritage and is bequeathed Emmaline’s journals. Ellie harbours a warped self-image, a legacy from her own vain and spiteful mother. Through her journal entries, Emmaline weaves her way into Ellie’s life and the story of Emmaline is told.
About the Author:
Lori T. Hurst lives in an amazing octagonal house set in bushland south of Townsville in North Queensland. Her husband Peter is also a writer and Lori’s most astute critic.
A Hint of Darkness and The Journey of Emmaline are the result of years of research and travelling from one end of Australia to the other.
Lori has published numerous short stories and articles.
Lori T. Hurst blogs at Writing in the Tropics
[image error]A Hint of Darkness and The Journey of Emmaline are books 68 and 69 in my 2017 Australian Women Writers Challenge.
Thanks is extended to the author for gifting me a copy of each of these books for review.
Rich in historical detail and well researched, these two novels will suit fans of early Australian history and those who enjoy an involved family saga.
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November 12, 2017
Origin of the Writer: Kate Murdoch
Writing was something I always had in me, from the time I was a small child. Yet, for many years I didn’t write because everything I wrote felt ham-fisted due to my lack of life experience. I needed to go through enough pain, platonic and romantic breakups and other complicated situations to have the material to draw from.
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I spent fourteen years exhibiting as a painter, a career I loved. The desire to write again came seven years ago when I wrote what I now view as my practice attempt at a novel—a gory supernatural thriller with a character who was basically me. I’ve since learnt that autobiographical elements are the hallmark of a first novel.
There was interest from a publisher who asked me to write a redraft. After around eighteen months of waiting, redrafting, waiting again and phoning, the manuscript was declined. It was disheartening, but I knew I needed to push ahead.
I then wrote my novel ‘Stone Circle’ —the story of a boy endowed with psychic powers who is apprenticed to a seer in 16th century Italy. I became so absorbed in the setting and fond of my characters that it was disorienting when I finished two years later. I set about trying to find an agent and started reviewing on the Harper Collins website, now defunct, Authonomy. It was a place where aspiring writers put up sections of their manuscripts for critique by other writers. It had a ranking system—the most reviewed and highest rated manuscripts rose to the top and were reviewed by Harper Collins editors. After eighteen months, ‘Stone Circle’ rose to number 15 out of approximately 6000 manuscripts, just before the site closed down. It was featured as ‘One to Watch’ by the editors and received a ‘People’s Choice’ award.
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I learnt a huge amount on that site—detailed aspects of the craft, how to handle criticism and editing skills. I made some lovely friends who I’m still in touch with today. Around the same time I spent a year and a quarter studying Professional Writing and Editing at university and started a blog, ‘Arcanum.’ The blog was a way to share my short stories and flash fiction. I was thrilled when these pieces started to be published by a number of online journals and magazines both in Australia and internationally.
Then I landed an agent. At that point I felt a little more validated about the path I was taking. It was an exciting time. Yet, due to my story being cross-genre and suitable for a wide readership, finding a publisher proved to be a challenge.
The book found a home with a small press in the US, who have a historical fantasy imprint. It was a surreal moment, after seven years of slogging away. I remember feeling a massive sense of relief and satisfaction, along with the obvious excitement. The biggest lesson for me was just how many people contributed to this outcome—most importantly the writing friends who endlessly critiqued and encouraged, along with industry professionals. I’m thankful to everyone who was involved and who believed in my project.
Writing is an attempt to make an emotional connection with strangers—if I’m able to do that moving forward, then I will have accomplished what I set out to do.
To keep in touch with Kate and follow all of her news, catch up with her here:
https://katemurdochauthor.com/
www.facebook.com/katemurdochauthor/
https://twitter.com/KateMurdoch3
November 11, 2017
Quick Shots Book Review: Chasing Windmills by Catherine Ryan Hyde
About:
A modern-day rendering of West Side Story born on a New York City subway car and nurtured under the windmills of the Mojave Desert.
Both Sebastian and Maria live in a world ruled by fear. Sebastian, a lonely seventeen-year-old, is suffocating under his dominant father’s control. In the ten years since his mother passed away, his father has kept him “safe” by barely allowing him out of their apartment. Sebastian’s secret late-night subway rides are rare acts of rebellion. Another, is a concealed friendship with his neighbor Delilah, who encourages him to question his father’s version of reality. Soon it becomes unclear whether even his mother’s death was a lie.
Maria, a young mother of two, is trying to keep peace at home despite her boyfriend’s abuse. When she loses her job, she avoids telling him by riding the subways during her usual late-night shift. She knows her sister, Stella, is right: She needs to “live in the truth” and let the chips fall where they may. But she still hasn’t been able to bring herself to do it. And soon he will expect her paycheck to arrive.
When Sebastian and Maria wind up on the same train, their eyes meet across the subway car, and these two strangers find a connection that neither can explain or ignore. Together they dream of a new future, agreeing to run away and find Sebastian’s grandmother in the Mojave Desert. But Maria doesn’t know Sebastian is only seventeen. And Sebastian doesn’t know Maria has children until the moment they leave. Ultimately, Maria brings one child, her daughter. Can she really leave her little boy behind? And, if not, what will it cost her to face her furious jilted abuser?
In this tremendously moving novel, Catherine Ryan Hyde shows us how two people trapped by life’s circumstances can break free and find a place in the world where love is genuine and selfless.
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My Thoughts:
Chasing Windmills is a deeply moving story about love and life, and the difficulties associated with removing yourself from an abusive home life. It’s a novel that grabs you tight and refuses to let go until the very end – indeed, I read it all entirely in one night!
Both of the main characters, Maria and Sebastian, were likeable and engaging, their individual situations stirring my highly empathic nature and I reveled in their ’emerging against the odds’ lovestory. The use of West Side Story as a metaphoric backdrop for Maria and Sebastian was very cleverly interwoven throughout the story; not only was it Maria’s favourite ‘go-to’ movie, it was also effectively used as a comparative technique when establishing the relationship between Maria and Sebastian.
Highly emotional and delicately understated, Chasing Windmills reveals much of the inner thoughts of a repressed individual with honesty and a rawness I have come to expect and appreciate from Catherine Ryan Hyde.
The Author:
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Catherine Ryan Hyde is an American novelist and short story writer, with more recent forays and notable success in transitioning from traditional publication towards the world of eBook publication. Her novels have enjoyed bestseller status in both the U.S. and U.K., and her short stories have won many awards and honors. Her book Pay It Forward was adapted into a movie and her novel Electric God is currently in development.
November 10, 2017
Guest Post: Writing War – Truth to Power by Ben Marshall
I have a friend – an ex-cop. He’s out of the Force due to injury and PTSD, and we have more in common than I expected.
I’ve worn another kind of uniform – critical care and remote area nursing. These jobs are also on a front-line of sorts.
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My friend finally shared stories he’s barely told anyone. Without a hint of self-pity, my friend served to the best of his ability, and saw the worst sides of human nature. In those moments of extremis, training kicks in to complement ones’ personality – combative or compassionate. Either way, you need to focus and deal with the situation. Afterwards, you cope or you don’t. The funny stuff, you share with lovers and friends. The bad stuff, you don’t talk about. Not ever. You keep it inside because why would you share stories that will cause distress to others? Even I have a swag of stories I’ll never tell anyone, and in this one tiny way, like my cop friend, I have something in common with war veterans.
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Now, when I find myself unexpectedly writing three stories of war, I agonise over whether I have the right to talk of an era in living memory, of battle and struggle far beyond anything I’ve had to face. I’m familiar with death, and in the worst of circumstances, but I’ve never held a gun in order to kill or be killed. I’ve never volunteered to fight, and serve, and offer my life for my country.
So, what right do I have to tell the story of a Sparrow?
The short answer is ‘none’.
My current WIP is the second in a trilogy set during the Pacific War; this one about a member of the Sparrow Force, Australia’s first commandos. These men were perpetually behind enemy lines in Timor – a few hundred Sparrows versus a rising tide of many thousands of Japanese.
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That’s the simple version. Brave Aussies versus overwhelming odds, supported in secret by the Timorese people. Good guys versus bad guys – how hard can it be to write that?
It’s not as simple as it looks. First off, there’s the question of moral rights in telling someone else’s story. I have no rights, so I’m telling the story of a fictional Sparrow caught up in a rolling disaster to the side of the Australian retreat. By staying outside the true narratives written by those who were there, I hope to avoid objections about accuracy.
There’s probably still plenty for Sparrows, their families, and other readers to object to in my storytelling, but, hopefully, no fundamental ethical issues – no Sparrows will be maligned or unduly praised; history will not be twisted into polemic. My lies will take another path to that of all published accounts from that era.
What about the other lies – the real lies? The lies that cause and sustain war?
Hemingway said ‘Never think that war, no matter how necessary or justified, is not a crime.’
He was right. All wars, I find, are based on the lies that fuel racism, crime and corruption.
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My novel brings three young men together – the Sparrow, a Japanese defector, and a criado, a young Timorese helper who pledges undying loyalty to the Sparrow, and undying hatred of the Japanese defector.
Each young man has their own reasons for finding themselves where they are – rationales constructed from a sea of lies and truths told by their governments, churches, friends and families.
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I use the lies of war to drive my characters, and therefore the courses of action they take, but many of these lies still have resonance. In a world where some wrap themselves in flags to justify injustice, where denial of history is sanctioned and even mandated by the State, where sacrifice for kin and country is stolen and co-opted by unscrupulous politicians, the lies of war still have the ability to generate argument.
Will my narrative expose lies some would rather not face?
Why not just do a YA boys-own adventure of bravery and derring-do, populated by exemplars of those traits we most highly value?
That path I won’t tread, because when I hear soldiers, often reluctantly, talking about war, they don’t have time for bullshit.
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Writing three YA novels set around the Pacific during World War Two is as much an investigation of bullshit as indulging in the joys of historical fiction. If war is every bit as bad and unwarranted as old soldiers tell us, why do we keep doing it?
Tim O’Brien says ‘in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true.’ He also said ‘a true war story is never about war… It’s about love and memory’.
I’m writing a story about three young men caught up in war, and the women they’ve left behind.
It’s a love story.
I’ll leave you with Tim O’Brien.
“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behaviour, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story, you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil.”
― Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
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Ben Marshall is a scriptwriter and ‘emerging writer’ who lives in a tiny house near a big lake with his lovely wife and two enormous dogs. All day, every day, he writes, pats the dogs, drinks coffee, pats the dogs, listens to music, kisses his wife, pats the dogs, and writes. Aside from scripts, he writes historical YA, Gothic horror, MG adventure, and speculative fiction.
November 9, 2017
My Reading Life: The Morganville Vampires Series
Like many readers, I went through a vampire phase. I’m happy to admit it and some of these books, if truth be told, remain as firm favourites. I was originally going to frame this article as a look at my top three favourite vampire series, but then I kept remembering another one and another one, and there was just no way I could narrow it down to three, because while in the grips of this supernatural yearning that seemed to have taken hold of me eight years ago, I burned through a lot of series, both YA and adult. I figure it’s probably better to just revisit them all individually over time, but spaced apart, because you know – vampire overload!
My absolute favourite, top of the lot, is the Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a little intro along with the list of fifteen titles:
An isolated West Texas town. An unsuspecting young transfer student. And a town full of creatures of the night …
When Claire Danvers, brilliant young freshman, arrives in Morganville, she expects her toughest adjustment to be the killer classes … but this town’s got more bite. It’s owned by vampires, and if you want to live, you’d better either cooperate with them or contribute to the blood bank, or have friends with excellent survival skills. Luckily, Claire’s come to the right off-campus housing: the Glass House, where Michael Glass, Eve Rosser and Shane Collins live in their own little screwed-up fraternity of rebellion against the status quo. With mean girls out to get her, vampires out to use her, and a whole town against her, she’s going to need all the help she can get.
Glass House (October 2006)
The Dead Girls’ Dance (April 2007)
Midnight Alley (October 2007)
Feast of Fools (June 2008)
Lord of Misrule (January 2009)
Carpe Corpus (June 2009)
Fade Out (November 2009)
Kiss of Death (April 27, 2010)
Ghost Town (October 26, 2010)
Bite Club (May 3, 2011)
Last Breath (November 1, 2011)
Black Dawn (May 1, 2012)
Bitter Blood (November 6, 2012)
Fall Of Night (May 7, 2013)
Daylighters (November 5, 2013)
What was it about this series that made it stand out in a market place crammed full of vampire books? Well, for a start, they’re scary. The vampires are mean and terrifying and there is definitely no sparkling or falling in love and overcoming evil as a team – so right up my alley! And then there’s Myrnin.
Myrnin is an ancient alchemist vampire searching for a cure to the vampire disease. He loves bunny slippers with fangs as well as flip-flops, silk vests, pirate boots, and old Victorian ensembles. Oh, and he’s bipolar. Yes, a bipolar vampire. The character creation with Myrnin is truly sensational and makes for some very entertaining as well as truly heartbreaking moments throughout the series.
Another reason for loving this series so much is for Claire, the main protagonist. Graduating from high school early and attending university at the age of 16, she is one of the youngest characters in the series, but is exceptionally intelligent for her age which causes many people (especially vampires) to take a special interest in her. She’s Myrnin’s assistant and they become close friends because of their similar intellectual interests; although their relationship is strained at times by Myrnin’s impulsive, uncontrolled conduct due to both his vampire nature and the effects his mental illness. From the beginning in Glass Houses (book 1), Claire is somewhat naïve, but as the series moves forward, she quickly shows herself to be tough and clever – sometimes slightly reckless – assimilating herself into Morganville’s vampire-ruled world better than most of the other human population. In short, she’s a fantastic role model, feisty and super smart, loyal to her friends and not willing to take any crap from anyone. For all fifteen books, I loved her and never once got sick of her – testament, I think, to Rachel Caine’s excellent characterisation.
There are a whole host of other characters, both friends and enemies, who all work to make this series so sensational. While I was sad to see it all come to an end, it really did so on a high, which was better than seeing it dwindle down into ‘there’s just been too many books’ territory. I stumbled upon this series quite by accident, but how glad I am that I did! If you like a bit of paranormal reading that doubles up as being a little bit scary and a fair bit thrilling, then check out Morganville. After you’ve finished the first, you’ll be so glad that there’s another fourteen thereafter!
November 8, 2017
Book Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
About:
Meet Eleanor Oliphant. She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully time-tabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
Then everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living–and it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
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My Thoughts:
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine might just have become one of my favourite novels of all time – upper top 5 at least. Loneliness and trauma converge in this truthful story about a 30 year old woman who has missed out on being loved.
Eleanor is not initially the most engaging character, nor is she very likeable, but it’s immediately apparent that she is alone, unhappy, and suffering from a deep unresolved pain, so deep, that she can’t even fully recall it. She had my empathy from the get go. Eleanor’s frank introspection and deadpan honesty make for many laugh out loud moments as well as a good share of heartbreaking ones. But it’s the extent of Eleanor’s self loathing and the way it manifests itself in a range of toxic and destructive behaviours – many that aren’t even evident until later in the book – that really broke me. She walks a very thin line between coping with daily life and falling into an abyss of self-destruction. Eleanor is entirely alone and completely without love. It’s terribly tragic.
For the most part, it’s like Eleanor is much older than 30, from a different generation or era inhabiting a young person’s body, today’s social norms and habits appearing completely foreign to her. But this is clever writing from Gail Honeyman, drawing attention, via Eleanor’s ignorance, to the more superficial and ridiculous things that we have come to accept as “normal”. I related to Eleanor’s shock and incredulity on more than one occasion with mirth, and as the novel progressed and I saw more of Eleanor’s indignation surface, I came to question what was more absurd: her ignorance or our acceptance.
Much to my surprise, I realized that I actually liked the idea of having lunch with Raymond, and was genuinely pleased to be asked. We had a Usual Place! I steeled myself as best I could, and, with teeth gritted, using only one finger I typed:
C U there E.
I sat back, feeling a bit queasy. Illiterate communication was quicker, that was true, but not by much. I’d saved myself the trouble of typing four whole characters. Still, it was part of my new credo, trying new things. I’d tried it, and I very definitely did not like it. LOL could go and take a running jump. I wasn’t made for illiteracy; it simply didn’t come naturally. Although it’s good to try new things and to keep an open mind, it’s also extremely important to stay true to who you really are. I read that in a magazine at the hairdressers.
Raymond, Eleanor’s un-hygenic illiterate chain-smoking co-worker, is utterly gorgeous. He’s so easy going while at the same time possessing an incredible depth and insight that more than made up for his “many shortcomings”. The way he enhances Eleanor’s life is just wonderful to bear witness to – for both of them. He sees Eleanor, past her social awkwardness and her scarred face and her inflamed from eczema hands; he sees her and considers her worthy.
‘I thought you were a right nutter.’
‘I am a right nutter,’ I said, surprised that he’d think otherwise. All my life, people had been telling me that.
‘No, you’re not,’ he said, smiling. ‘Aye, sure, you’re a bit bonkers – but in a good way. You make me laugh, Eleanor. You don’t give a fuck about any of the stupid stuff – I don’t know, being cool, office politics or any of the daft shite that people are supposed to care about. You just do your own thing, don’t you?’
I was crying now – there was no avoiding it. ‘Raymond, you swine,’ I said. ‘You’ve made my smoky eyes dissolve.’ I was quite annoyed when I said it, but then I started to giggle, and he laughed too. He passed me one of the café’s inferior paper napkins and I wiped off the dark remnants.
‘You look better without it,’ he said.
Above all, Eleanor’s journey from self-loathing to self-worth is both painful and uplifting. She may not always have been likeable, but I loved her throughout.
Sometimes, after counselling sessions, I desperately wanted to buy vodka, lots of it, take it home and drink it down, but in the end I never did. I couldn’t, for lots of reasons, one of which was that, if I wasn’t fit to, then who would feed Glen? She isn’t able to take care of herself. She needs me. It isn’t annoying, her need – it isn’t a burden. It’s a privilege. I’m responsible. I chose to put myself in a situation where I’m responsible. Wanting to look after her, a small, dependent, vulnerable creature, is innate, and I don’t even have to think about it. It’s like breathing.
For some people.
For my Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine reading experience, I combined the e-book with the audio book, and I have to say, the narration was highly entertaining and very atmospheric. If you are an audio book fan, I highly recommend it.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine gets 10/10 from me.
About the Author:
Gail Honeyman wrote her debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, while working a full-time job, and it was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize as a work in progress. She has also been awarded the Scottish Book Trust’s Next Chapter Award 2014, was longlisted for BBC Radio 4’s Opening Lines, and was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. She lives in Glasgow.
November 7, 2017
Behind the Pen with Darcy Delany
Today I am pleased to welcome Darcy Delany to Behind the Pen to share with us a few of her favourites.
What is your favourite…and why…
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Character from one of your books?
Blaise Lee from I Don’t Date in December. She’s a straight talker and a successful career woman but she’s an old-fashioned romantic at heart, and beneath her sassy exterior she’s just waiting for the man who can handle her combination of beauty and strength.
Scene from one of your books?
The first meeting between Blaise Lee and hero Jonty in I Don’t Date in December. It’s geeky, cute and glamorous all at once!
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At the ARRA 2017 conference with Wanda Wiltshire. I don’t quite know where to look!
Movie of all time?
Gone with the Wind. It’s the ultimate story of personal growth and true love. Scarlett goes from being a spoilt brat to realising what true love is all about. And despite her negative qualities, she is still beloved by other people, which goes to show that we don’t need to be perfect to be loved.
Book that you always keep a copy of and recommend to others?
The Science of Being Great by Wallace D Wattles. It was written in the early 1900’s and provides a rich understanding of metaphysics, which I use in my coaching.
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Having a giggle with Helen Konstan (any excuse to have a laugh!)
Fashion accessory that despite having plenty of, you still keep collecting?
Hoop earrings. I have so many different colours, sizes and patterns. All the interest of perfect coordination with my outfits, of course!
Drink that you enjoy everyday?
Soy cappuccino. Coffee is one of the simple joys in life. And it keeps you young!
Treat you indulge in?
Whittaker’s dark peppermint chocolate. Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants, so eating it is like taking vitamins, right?
Place to be?
Anywhere tropical. I love Cairns in the Far North of Australia- it has everything you need for a great holiday but is still small enough to feel cosy.
Person you admire?
Winston Churchill. He led Great Britain through World War II with great resilience, and despite his own personal battles with depression. He did what needed to be done for the greater good, a quality I hold in high esteem. Also, despite not naturally being a skilled orator, he worked at his speeches and ended up galvanizing a nation during a very dark time.
Season of the year?
Summer-hands down! I love the longer days, warmer nights and excuse to indulge in mojitos.
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And more giggling with Joanne Dannon (I’m a big believer in laughter keeping you young) Photo by Helen Konstan
Bio:
Darcy Delany is a transformational coach specialising in helping people find their voice in life and creativity. She is the author of stories with sassy heroines and heroes who love old-fashioned romance. Darcy makes a mean sangria and loves karaoke.
Her story I Don’t Date in December is set in her beloved Cairns, Australia and features the sassy, cherry-haired heroine Blaise Lee; Darcy’s favourite of all her heroines.
If you’d like to keep in touch, you can connect with Darcy on Twitter @storieswithsass, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest @StoriesWithSass, and Goodreads Darcy Delany or subscribe to her newsletter, Sassy Snippets. You can also find out more about Darcy and her writing at her website.
And if you’d like to find your voice in life or creativity, follow this link to make a booking for a free 20 minute coaching discovery call with Darcy. You can also sign up for her emails to help you get your novel written, or to find your creative voice.
November 6, 2017
Podcast in Review: Words and Nerds
Hosts: Dani Vee and Chris Buchanan
Series 1 – Episode 1: James Fahy
About:
The Phoebe Harkness Series, Hell’s Teeth, Crescent Moon & Pale Children.
International bestselling UK urban gothic author chats to us about the Phoebe Harkness series. I loved this series so much and we had a wonderfully interesting chat about literature, video games and inventing vampire clothing chain stores.
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My Thoughts:
I’m a bit of a latecomer to the podcast movement. My car is fairly old school, radio and cd player only, no Bluetooth – unless there’s an old tooth rattling around, fallen out of one of my children’s mouths many years ago, now wedged into a crevice somewhere deep. I don’t walk or run as a matter of habit, nor do I use a gym, so that avenue for listening is out as well. But I do regularly fold mountains of washing and iron crispy white school uniform shirts, so huzzah – listening time uncovered!
I was invited to listen to a new podcast by Words and Nerds, the first episode having aired on Tuesday 31st October. Hosts Dani Vee and Chris Buchanan were chatting to UK author James Fahy. The podcast ran for approximately 45 minutes and the sound quality was good; Dani told me beforehand that there had been a storm in Yorkshire while they were talking to James, but I didn’t find that this affected the sound quality in any significant way. I had never heard of James Fahy prior to this podcast, nor had I read any of his books, but this in no way altered my enjoyment of the podcast.
Dani and Chris were so obviously well prepared for their chat with James, their knowledge of his books, his blog, and his social media timelines apparent. James himself was very responsive, expanding on all questions with enthusiasm and detail that was at all times interesting and entertaining. What I loved most about this podcast was the cosy feel to it. I had the impression throughout that we all could have been sitting in a lounge room together chatting about books and movies and everything else in between. It was a lot of fun and there were plenty of laughs throughout. I didn’t need to have read James’s books to know what they were all talking about, but if you have read them, you will no doubt appreciate the many references and jokes specific to the characters and various situations they have found themselves in as a result of James’s vivid imagination. I was chuffed to hear about how much James loves Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and for the same reasons as me! Solidarity in literature – it gets me every time!
The entertainment value in this podcast was high, both for those who are new to James Fahy and for those who already love his books. By the end of the podcast I definitely wanted to read The Phoebe Harkness Series as well as listen to the next episode of Words and Nerds. Win-win, plus, my washing got folded without me even really noticing that I was doing it. Another win!
If you like bookish podcasts, check out Words and Nerds today!
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Words and Nerds – upcoming podcasts are on here. Podcasts released every Tuesday on Soundcloud and iTunes.
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November 5, 2017
Origin of the Writer: Ben Marshall
Origin of the Writer is a series of essays giving emerging writers the opportunity to share their writing journey so far.
I need another hobby.
I’m a full-time scriptwriter (soap opera and some kids’ television) and my ‘hobby’ is writing unpublished novels.
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There’s enough uncertainty in living on one’s wits as a scriptwriter, but the fears generated by working toward being published – investing years of hard graft for the greater uncertainties of authorship – are far greater.
But writing novels is like heroin.
At first, it’s just a bit of fun. I remember thinking, ‘on my next days off I’ll have a shot at writing a YA novel – it’ll just be a bit of page-turning fun’.
And it was fun. I loved it. I knew nothing about writing books, and my only rule was ‘everything should keep getting worse till the last page’. I found characters quickly, and they were strong enough to take over the decision-making for where the narrative should go. I fell in love with them. They were funny, sad, brave, foolish, terrifying and caring.
Before I knew it, I’d finished writing a manuscript – a whole book! I wrote a book!
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So I was hooked. Down the rabbit hole I went, one MS after another, meeting characters, exploring the worlds of the past, the present and the future, researching, and constantly thinking of the next emotional shift or plot-point.
Soon, writing was all I was doing. I still loved it, more than ever, despite working full-time, and the growing unease of wondering how the fun of writing novels might one day translate to actually being published.
Seminars, workshops and writers’ festivals. Writing groups, writers’ associations and mentors. One MS finished, editing the earlier one, writing the next, researching the one after that. Juggling worlds, herding ensembles of characters, and only ever really understanding what I was writing about after I’d done the first draft. All of it between television scripts that roll in and roll out, on deadlines tighter than a politician’s smile.
Then, a creeping unease about ‘doing more’ to get published, a sensible urge to begin making even a tiny revenue out of my work while battling the fear it’s not good enough. A growing guilt that all I really want is to write, not be an Author. But the bottom drawer is full, and those characters want out. What the hell am I doing?
There should be a Writers’ Anonymous.
‘Hi, my name is Ben Marshall, and I haven’t written for two days.’ [polite applause] ‘I guess it really began when I was a kid. My parents read and wrote, there were books lying around everywhere, and my mother even read to me – openly. I didn’t stand a chance…’
So, 3AM, you’re lying awake thinking, ‘it’s not too late – I can give up now and look back on this as youthful folly.’ But then you get second-prize in a competition. Then, a win. A short film-script wins awards in Australia and New York. Then you win mentorships. Then a shortlisting for Emerging Writer.
How can you give it up when people are beginning to say your writing is good.
So you let yourself sink into the ocean of story. But now you need more research than ever to maintain. More notes. More structures to hold it all together. You’re in deep.
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Swapping metaphors, you realise you’re now committed to the Mount Everest of writing – traditional publication. You cling to your real-world climbing experience, remembering that your focus isn’t the summit but on completing each stage. Base Camp. Camp One. Camp Two… Keep making the stages, and you’ll eventually find yourself on the summit, looking around, trying to enjoy the moment.
But all that is in some fuzzy, indefinite, implausible future. Now, as a potential ‘emerging writer’, you’re a stranger in a strange land, surrounded by published writers. They’re lovely, sweet and helpful people. You panic – you know you’re not like them. You’re a fake, and these good souls should call the Writing Police, and the police should kick in your door just before dawn, and demand you step away from the keyboard. Cuffed, hooded and dragged to the van on the curb, you’ll feel a strange relief that you’ve been caught before it could go any further, or get any worse.
Then, out of the blue, it all goes pear-shaped – you get an agent.
An actual agent who loves your latest project and is busting a gut to get it published. Now, it’s serious. Now there’s no going back. There’s the enormous risk of failure, yes – painful, protracted, mortifying failure – but there’s no possibility of retreat. Now you have to step up and pretend…no, believe in yourself. Believe in your work. What it means. What the strength of it is. The soul, the love, the passion, the anger, the bitter sadness, and the many small joys.
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You have to back yourself. You may be a hopeless addict, struggling to keep a paying job to support your habit, but now you’re a new creature, a chrysalis.
An emerging writer.
[image error] Ben Marshall is a scriptwriter and ‘emerging writer’ who lives in a tiny house near a big lake with his lovely wife and two enormous dogs. All day, every day, he writes, pats the dogs, drinks coffee, pats the dogs, listens to music, kisses his wife, pats the dogs, and writes. Aside from scripts, he writes historical YA, Gothic horror, MG adventure, and speculative fiction.
