Behind the Scenes

Competition Time – Name a Novel

March 16, 2018 By Rachel Stedman

Ever Wanted to Be In A Book?

I have a problem – I’m stuck on naming a book, so I’ve started a “Name A Novel” competition. The winner will have a character named after them. So, if you’ve ever wanted to be in a book, or wanted to name one, now’s your chance.

~ ENTER COMPETITION HERE ~

More Information

Background:
I’m writing a three-novel series. Each story follows one of three sisters. The first book is about Zoe, a singer. The second features Belinda, street artist, and the third is about fashion designer Chrissie. In each story, art becomes a bridge between the everyday and the magical, as well as obviously, having a link to The Dancing Princesses fairytale. They’re urban fantasy stories, and each is a romance. The tales are stand-alone, but will be connected through the three sisters. Each story will be PG (ish). You can read part of a prequel Novella, Alice, here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/w98njz463w

What I Need:
I need a title for each story. Ideally, the vibe of the titles will be similar so that a reader will realize they’re connected. Ideally, I’d also like a connection to fantasy in the title – for example, using words like ‘magic’, ‘enchantment’, ‘spells’. Titles need to be unique: I don’t want a title that’s the same as another book or TV program, and I can’t use proprietary terms, like trade names.

What You Can Do:
If you’d like to have a go at naming a book, now’s your chance. It’d be great if you try to name each title, but if you can only think of a title for one book, that’s fine.

What’s the Prize?
The winner of my Name a Novel Competition will have the opportunity to name a character in one of the books. Plus, they’ll get a free copy of the book(s) they’ve named!

~ ENTER COMPETITION HERE ~

5 Reasons Every Writer Should Visit Berlin

February 27, 2018 By Rachel Stedman

I last visited Berlin in 1992. The Berlin Wall had come down in 1989, but large parts of it still remained. In ’92, there were plenty of other reminders of the Communist regime. (Side note: If you ever want to see an argument against Communism, visit a country just emerging from its grip.)

Back then, West Berlin felt cosmopolitan but soulless and East Berlin was drab and bleak. The city was full of road works, because the tram tracks in the East didn’t match those in the West, and neither did the phone system. The apartment buildings and roads of East Berlin were in a sad state of disrepair and the place was full of soviet-style cars that poured exhaust fumes into the narrow streets.

Fast forward to 2017, when we returned.

A post shared by RL Stedman (@rlstedman) on Apr 25, 2017 at 12:58pm PDT

It’s hard to understate the changes over those 25 years. Berlin is now a vibrant metropolis. Its full of fascinating alleys and side streets, amazing restaurants, art galleries and best of all, the old East Berlin. The apartments that survived the War have been restored, and the place is clean and bright and exciting. And safe!

To my mind, every creative should visit Berlin once in his/her life. This is why:

The Wall. Seeing the remains of the Berlin Wall and its profoundly tangible consequence on memory and culture is a stark reminder of why artificial barriers always fail. Sectioning one element of a community from another weakens the entire community – but we never learn, do we? Every generation, another leader comes along and says “these people/this religion/this political system is bad, and we must separate ourselves from it, lest it overwhelm us”. Yet, the truth is, of course, that humans are more resilient than we realise and mixing of ideas and communities strengthens us all. But still, we delude ourselves that ideas can be quarantined.
Stumbling Stones (Stolperstein). The stolpersteine are cobblestone-sized plaques set into the sidewalks outside apartments in Berlin. They bear the name and life dates of victims of Nazi persecution. You can find them outside Berlin, too: many German cities have them, as do cities in the Netherlands, Austria and Italy. But Berlin seemed to have the most, especially in the old East Berlin, where many Jewish families lived. Its sad (and disconcerting) to daily step over those who once lived in the same building as you. Many people leave flowers and memorials. Why is this a good thing? Because its hard to forget the past once it wears a human face. And what is more human than a name?
The gardens and parks. Berliners appreciate their public spaces. That’s because many were almost destroyed in the War; much of the urban landscape of Berlin is relatively recent. There’s nothing like nearly losing something to make you realise its importance. The Wall has left its mark, too – and the corridor marked by the Wall became a haven for wildlife. Some parts of Berlin are greener and more beautiful as a consequence of the Wall.
Culture – according to Time Out, you can’t fling a currywurst without hitting an art gallery in Berlin. From traditional to contemporary to street art, Berlin is full of the galleries and sculpture. Plus, the architecture is amazing: from Prussian-establishment to Sovietstyle, the cityscape is extraordinarily diverse.
What price art? Berlin is known for its reflective, regretful installations. The most moving is Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a 19,000 sq metre site of grey concrete coffin-shaped stelae. It’s eerily reminiscent of a cemetery, as it slopes downward, so the stelae grow deeper and the space grows darker as you move through. However, for me the most thought-provoking place was the Kunsthaus Dahlem, former atelier of popular Third Reich sculptor, Arno Breker. This small-but-monumental space was commissioned by the Fuhrer, for Breker. After WW2, Breker maintained he had never been a supporter of the Nazis, merely an acceptor of their patronage. Now, looking back I wonder: was Breker’s art good, or bad?

Berlin’s vibe of restoration, regret and rebirth is a heady mix. It’s perfect for a writer, because in every tragedy there’s a possibility of redemption, and in every tragedy there’s a tale to be told. If you get a chance, do visit.

To end this rather reflective blog post, here’s a poem. I wrote it after watching a girl, dressed all in pink (including her hair), stepped into my subway car.

Princess in Pink – Berlin, 2017

A princess in pink rides the subway

Traveling the rails alone

Her hair and her nails and her clothes are all pink

And she carries a silver iPhone.

Her cheeks glitter softly, like star-dust.

She wears a silver-gilt crown

A violin case over one shoulder

A heart-stopping hint of a frown

Above, the city is freezing

But down in the tunnels below

Where the princess is riding the subways

There’s never a hint of the snow.

She’s been inside these tunnels forever,

Just her and her silver gilt crown

She was here when the world was younger

Before the tracks were laid down.

If ever you meet the pink princess

Don’t stare. Never ask her to play –

One touch of that bow to the violin’s strings

Her music will draw you away.

For she plays of a time long-forgotten

When stars could be seen in the sky

When the rivers and ocean were clean, clear and blue

Before buildings and people and lies.

Sometimes she sings to her music

In a voice made of starlight and pearls

And her words, inexplicably haunting,

Set heart, mind and soul in a whirl.

When the song ends the princess has vanished

Leaving you trapped on the train

But her memory stays with you forever –

Along with a silver iPhone.

From the Desk – New Year’s Update

January 19, 2018 By Rachel Stedman

New Year’s Update

2018 already! Amazing, right?

I normally save updates for my newsletters, on the theory that those who signed up for my emails may at least be interested in what I’m up to. However, this one is kind of special, being the first month of a new year … So here’s a Letter to My Readers, set out a one-of-a-kind blog post.

(Note: This update is personal. I’ve totally ignored politics and any major world-impacting news. So if you’re after a political rant, move on. Ain’t nothing to see here…)

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my review of 2017, the Year-That-Was and 2018; The-Year-That-Is-To-Come…

Highlights for 2017

1. Finishing A Memory of Fire.

Writing A Memory of Fire was hard. The final in a trilogy has to feel like a conclusion, so I wanted to amp up the action, both the rise to the climax and the fall to the ending. I wanted the ending to be satisfying, yet I didn’t want to walk away from the story with all loose ends neatly tied, because real life isn’t neat.

To quote Frodo, in Lord of the Rings: “The great tales never end. But the people in them come, and go when their part is ended.”

So, in A Memory of Fire, while I wanted the ending to feel like an ending, I also wanted to leave the potential for a beginning. (That’s partly selfish, of course, because who knows, I might want to explore the SoulNecklace world again.)

Writing Memory was an amazing experience. Being so familiar with the characters, I could slip easily into their heads and so Dana, Will and N’tombe took control of their own stories; I just had to type. At times, I truly felt as though I was channelling. This was both awe-inspiring and terrifying, because I had no idea where the story was going. I had to just trust the process and go with it.

Have you ever ridden a horse at full gallop, and have a foot slide from the stirrup, and then all you can do is hang on and hope? That was how I felt, on writing some of the scenes in A Memory of Fire. You’ll know the scenes when you read them. They’re the ones with the pell-mell, hell-or-nothing vibe, the ones where the language totally changes. That’s because they’re not my words – they’re Dana’s or Will’s. They don’t talk like me, and they sure as hell don’t write like me, either.

You can find A Memory of Fire here

2. Adding bonus extras – A Long, Long Life and a Gratuitous Epilogue.

I had hoped to have an extra novella to give away to early purchasers of Memory, but editing Memory took longer than I’d planned. However, I did write a Gratuitous Epilogue called A Bed-Time Story. It has a shocking cover (I didn’t have time to get a proper cover made) but its content is a pretty fun little addition to the more epic-style of Memory.

If you’d like to read this epilogue, get in touch through the “Contact Me” field below.

I also finished a novella! A Long, Long Life is for die-hard fans of the SoulNecklace Stories (all two of them!), because I think, like me, they’re keen to find out a bit more of the backstory. Like, who is Rinpoche? Where did Greg and Reg come from? And how does that weird catch on the necklace actually work? Exploring the background of the world was a lot of fun.

You can find A Long, Long Life here

3. Planning a new series

I find planning really, really hard. When I wrote A Necklace of Souls, I just winged it. Writers call this ‘pantsing’ as in: writing by the seat of your pants. Fiction writers tend to be either natural planners or natural pantsers. Unfortunately, I’m a pantser. This makes the writing process fun, but I’ve darted down too many stupid writing plot holes with this approach, so now I’m trying to get a bit more organised and actually PLAN.

My plan consists of scribbles on two A3 sheets of paper, along with a roughly drawn map. Sadly, it took me a year to achieve this!

Plans for 2018

1. The Dancing Princesses

Without giving too much away, this new series will be a (very loose) fairytale adaptation of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

I’ve written a prequel novella, Alice, and I’m currently about one-quarter through the first draft of the first in series, Zoe. I’m aiming for three books, one about each ‘Princess’ (there are only three, not twelve, otherwise I would lose my mind). I hope to have completed Zoe by mid 2018 and the first draft of Belinda ready by year’s end.

Alice is being served in instalments to my newsletter list, so if you want to check it out, and you’re not yet on my list, you can join up here.

2. Non-fiction

I’ve been flirting with the idea of writing a guide to self-publishing for teens. Ideally, for use in schools. In 2017 I put a pitch to the local University, in combo with Creative NZ. They were interested, but needed more information. If I’ve got time, I’ll follow this up. (I have some cynicism about how schools may use it, as I have found folk from New Zealand are slow to support their own). I need to explore whether there is truly a desire for such a resource. I do think there’s a need for it, but a need isn’t the same as a want.

3. Other Stuff

I’d like to improve this website – I’m exploring a different theme, with a faster loading time. But redoing a website is HARD! I’d also like to have more sales available through this site, as it’s a lot easier if readers can reach me here, but I’ll need to work out how best to do this with the new theme.

4. Life

Of course, no writer works in a vacuum. Like everyone, life sometimes smacks me in the face, and all I can do is roll with the punches. Right now I’m in the weird position of my oldest leaving home, and my youngest coming to the end of his schooling, so 2018 will be a year of massive transitions.

My husband’s taken on a role that requires a whole lot of international travel, so maybe this year might also involve (if I’m lucky) a trip somewhere nice!

I have a day job, too. I’ve been doing contract work for the last 5 years, rolling from one year to another – but now, in 2018, I’ve finally got a permanent role, working with the same lovely team I’ve been with for the last few years. So at least in the work space I should have a little more continuity.

Ha! here’s hoping. I’ve got a feeling things might change…

Day Job and Avoiding Poverty — From Debbie Ridpath Ohi

And that, dear reader, is the update for 2017 and the plans for 2018, set out in one easy-to-follow blog post. I’ll have a look at this at the end of the year, and see how many of these goals were actually achieved!

All the best to you for the new year, and I hope wherever you are, it will be a happy one. And if not, here’s a joke to make you smile 🙂

Rachel xxx

Starting a Writing Podcast? 6 Reasons to Give It A Go.

November 24, 2017 By Rachel Stedman

Why Start A Podcast?

Podcasts are HUGE right now! Here’s a list of my faves. I’ve never dreamed of doing one myself, but I know a lot of writers who have thought of starting one. Which brings me to my good mate, Vanda Symon.

Local is Cool

Vanda’s a best-selling crime writer, host of Otago Access Radio’s (OAR) Write On radio show and podcast, a mum and to top it off – she’s finishing up her Ph.D. She’s a busy lady 🙂

OAR’s studio recently had a refit, so now it has acoustic sound baffles, professional microphones, and earphones. There’s a sound engineer in another booth so the sound quality is very good.

Vanda’s been running her radio show for ages – she’s even interviewed me a couple of times! (To me, as a newbie, all the technology felt quite intimidating – I was in awe at how Vanda handles the equipment).

Although Vanda began with a relatively small show, on a local radio station, podcasting has allowed her to branch into other radio activities. Part of this interview deals with where podcasting can take you.

If you’re thinking of starting a podcast, or keen to find out about a great podcast focussing on local content, this post is for you.

So enough of me – over to Vanda!

Lessons Learned from Podcasting

Tell me a little bit about yourself – what made you begin Write On?

I had absolutely no intention of producing or hosting a radio show! Someone else had pitched the idea of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors having a programme on the local Community Access Radio station, and we all thought it was a great idea, especially as she was prepared to do it… then, after securing a sponsor and all lights green for go… she had a position come up in another city. Arghhhh, someone had to be brave and step into the breach, and that someone was me. I was petrified.

What have you learned from the process?

Getting involved with Community Radio was one of the best things to happen to me. Hosting the radio show gave me the self-confidence to feel happy doing public speaking – very useful for an author. The skill of being able to interview people lead to opportunities chairing panels at festivals and interviewing some very cool international authors at public events, such as Kathy Reichs, Ian Rankin, and Greg Hurwitz. I had to learn the technical elements of producing your own show, which means that when I am live on air I am basically running the station…oh, the power! You learn how to think on your feet – what to do on live radio when your guest is a one-word answerer, or you guest likes to take the scenic route to tell a story. You learn to stay calm under pressure, especially when there are technical glitches and you are doing live radio. It is a wonderfully enriching experience, and best of all, it’s a lot of fun.

What other radio experience do you have?

As a result of the Write On Radio show, I was asked to do regular book reviews for National Radio, and even Dunedin Television! I often get asked to do the Morning Show on Otago Access Radio when their regular host is away. Doing the Write On Radio show has opened some interesting doors.

What would you say to anyone thinking of starting a podcast?

Do it! It may seem rather terrifying, but it is great for your confidence, broadens your horizons, you get to research some cool topics and meet fascinating people. Prepare your material well and embrace the opportunities. What’s not to love?

What’s been the most random experience to date?

The strangest thing is having people come up to you in the street or at the supermarket and say they were listening to you on radio – I still find that odd, gratifying, but odd.

Do you have any other “top tips”?

One of the best, best things about hosting the radio show has been the fantastic people I’ve been able to meet. From authors to booksellers to publishers to illustrators, to book lovers. These individuals are passionate about their writing or their industry and it has been a blessing to be able to talk to them about it. I always read the books of people I am interviewing, and it has been fascinating learning new things about topics I would never normally have read about. It has forced me out of my comfort zone and opened up new worlds of knowledge and opportunities. Hosting the radio show has been brilliant!

Want to find out more?

You can find out more about Vanda on her website: www.vandasymon.com

And you can listen to her podcast here

Love Books? Try a Literary Tour in Dunedin, a City of Literature

October 28, 2017 By Rachel Stedman

Literary Tours

Love travel and books? Here’s a chance to combine your passions – take a Literary Tour!

Let me introduce Beverly Martens. Beverly is a communications expert who moved to Dunedin several years ago. A lover of books and writing, last year Beverly decided to set up a small business, taking visitors to Dunedin on tours of our vibrant literary scene.

Beverly’s story is an interesting insight into the varied places writing can take you, and her tours offer visitors a chance to explore a city famed for its literary history – away from the normal tourist trails.

Beverley Marten of Dunedin Walking Tours — Beverly Martens

I’ve asked Beverly to tell her story in her own words. Here it is below:

Literary Walking Tours, Dunedin

Hi, I’m Beverly Martens, owner/guide of Literary Walking Tours in Dunedin.

I was looking for fulfilling part-time work, but as I ‘d been focussed on writing these past few years, my previous business contacts had gone stale, and I was over qualified for many of the part-time jobs available.

However, with Dunedin now an official UNESCO City of Literature, I saw a unique opportunity to merge my new literary life with my previous marketing and pr skills and start this new small business.

Also, I’d had recent experience running a monthly Wine Club, so I knew how to host people and give them a great time!

– Why did you decide to base your tour here in Dunedin? Did you look at similar tours that are done elsewhere?

My tours would have no context if Dunedin wasn’t a UNESCO City of Literature (only one of twenty world-wide). Once we got that designation it kind of all made sense.

And yes, I researched walking tours in other cities, including Paris and Dublin etc, but I doubt I’m ever going to dress up in period costume and start spouting Shakespeare. What I offer is in-depth knowledge about Dunedin’s writing scene from both a historical and current perspective.

– Where do you go on your tour? What do people like to see?

I offer two separate walks: one through the historic part of the University of Otago campus, and a shorter (1½ hour walk) around the centre of Dunedin that showcases both some historic buildings and the key figures that have shaped Dunedin as a place where writers live thrive.

Guests enjoy both the historic buildings and the anecdotes I tell.

– What is it about the writers you feature on your tour that people love hearing about?

The human-ness of our key NZ literary figures. Being a full-time writer has never been an easy choice for anyone, and those choices have consequences (mostly good) that still resonate in the city today.

– What do people most say they enjoy?

‘Dunedinites’ love being a tourist in their own city; discovering out-of-the-way places that they didn’t even know existed!

Overseas visitors are charmed by our historical buildings, and how I weave through the continuing influence of some of the province’s founders into the opportunities (such as writing fellowships and writing competitions) available to writers living here now. Also, some of the quirky projects Dunedin has are interesting. For example, our ‘mini libraries’ Lilliput Libraries, poems on the back of our parking meter tickets, and so on.

– Where can people find you?

My website is www.literarytours.nz or you can email me at: info@literarytours.nz

The Perils and Pitfalls of Writing a Trilogy

October 17, 2017 By Rachel Stedman

Writing a Trilogy? Here’s What to Do (And What Not To Do)

SoulNecklace Stories (Box Set)

I’ve just published the final book in The SoulNecklace Stories.

This feels like a momentous occasion; it certainly has felt like a lot of work! This series has been nearly eight years in the making, with a fair number of fits and starts along the way.

So this blog post is like a message to my former self – as well as to anyone embarking on a trilogy. Here’s the things I wish I’d done, plus the (few) things I did do that worked well.

Top learnings:

Do

Write them! Series are great! They are actually a heck of a lot easier than writing stand-alone novels, because you don’t have to reinvent another world or another set of characters. Writing A Memory of Fire, the last book in my SoulNecklace Stories, felt a little like slipping on a comfy pair of slippers. Once I’d settled on the plot, I could just go.
Build your world-rules carefully. When writing fantasy, or indeed any fiction, you create a fictional world. This world has rules: things that are allowed, or not allowed. Readers are (generally) content to go with these rules, but they do become upset when they spot an inconsistency.

Typically, a writer will have rules that are based around location or appearance (you can’t have a black-haired character suddenly becoming blonde without a reason) but in fantasy the rules are way more extensive and can include magic, technology, religion, geography: in fact, any part of life. This makes writing fantasy fun, but full of pitfalls.

As a writer, it can be hard to remember all your rules, especially once you’re 300,000 words in!

Draw maps and pictures. This helps to navigate around castles, houses, villages, countries, whatever. Once I figured this trick out I could get a feeling for distance (how long would it take to travel 40 leagues – and how long is a league anyway?)
Plan a little bit, but not too much. I found it helpful to have an idea of the stories ultimate destination (and no, not going to give that spoiler away), but by not being too settled on what would happen too early, interesting characters emerged. Like the Kamaye, the Wayhouses, TeSin and Ma Evans. They all spontaneously arose from my subconscious. I’d not planned for them at all, but weaving their stories into the main narrative added a lot to the overall depth.
Write faster! I really wish I’d just knuckled down and put the words on the page. Instead, I became distracted by other projects. This was partly fear – what if the conclusion was awful, what if no-one liked it. So, all in all, it took nearly 8 years to complete the series, but if I’d gotten over my fear issues I could have finished it a lot sooner.

Don’t

Don’t bother too much with the marketing until you’ve finished the series. I really wish I’d figured this out earlier. No point on worrying about Facebook ads or Goodreads giveaways until the series is completed. On a plus side, once a series is completed suddenly readers are very happy, because they can binge-read.
Don’t overpromise. I found that I needed breaks from my imaginary worlds to retain the joy of the process, and this meant I had slow periods. Plus, because writing a series just takes so darn long, life gets in the way. This is part of the writing challenge, but it’s hard to explain to an impatient publisher or reader.
Don’t be daunted by the amount of work. Writing a novel is a huge amount of work. Writing a trilogy … oh man! It’s way more! You have to be totally committed before starting, because this world and these characters will be part of your life for a couple of years. It’s a big deal, taking on a two-year project, and not being certain of the outcome. All the time, through your head, a little voice murmurs: What if it’s no good. What if no-one likes it? What if no-one buys it? What if, what if…

And Finally

The most important lesson to anyone embarking on series: ditch the fear. Just do it anyway. You’ll be glad you did.

And, as a bonus, the third book might be so much fun to write that you might be tempted to write another book, or even just a novella, in the same universe.

A Long, Long Life

But that’s another story…

You can find The SoulNecklace Stories online or, in hard copy as individual titles on this website, or at your local library.