Kangaroos by the Coral Sea

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coral sea, inspiration, kangaroo, kangaroo family, Queensland coast

In the aftermath of Cyclone Marcia roaring down the Queensland coast, we’ve had some delightful visits from kangaroos, and I had to share a clip of this family crossing the road near my place. The joey on the road with his paws up to stop a car (which did stop) is particularly cute:

(Apologies for the dirty window and unsteady camera. I’m learning!) You wouldn’t think wild life would inspire love stories, but trust me, this does!

Fantasy inspired by an imperfect childhood

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alice in wonderland, alone, books, childhood, creative writing, fantasy, inspiration, loner, Shadow through time, writing, writing process

I was asked at a weekend workshop I was teaching, “What one thing has inspired your creative writing the most?” and it really made me think. There have been many formative books and movies: Alice in Wonderland, Edgar Rice Burroughs Princess of Mars, Frank Herbert’s Dune, but when I get right down to it, the thing that really inspired me to create fantasy worlds was wanting to escape my own. Not because my childhood was terrible, but simply because I was alone a lot, and had so much time to think about how life could be more exciting.

A rare pic of me playing with someone else – telling my cousin stories

I did read books, but instead of constantly losing myself in someone else’s created world, I fantasized about my own, inventing bizarre landscapes, allies and enemies, and most importantly, a reason to be in that world – a well motivated goal. My first fantasy (which became my Shadow Through Time trilogy) was about a girl called Catherine leaving our world behind in a quest to find her missing twin brother. That goal drove her actions for most of the story which was about love – the love of a brother, of a family, and ultimately of a kingdom.

I’m not sure if I craved love as a child, but I certainly fantasized about it, created stories about it, and later turned those fantasies into best-selling novels. Being alone so much when I was in a family of four children didn’t feel strange at the time, but I think I was considered a loner or at least a child who was happiest playing alone.

To a lot of adults, that would appear to be an imperfect childhood, and I can imagine helicopter parents wanting to ‘socialize’ a loner child, to fill their day with activities that involve other people. But now that I’m so much further along in life, I can see how unhelpful that would have been for me. The childhood I experienced, perfectly shaped my creativity. I couldn’t have asked for better.

Just wanted to share that insight, for what it’s worth! If you’re curious about that first fantasy series I wrote, the opening book Destiny of the Light is currently FREE as an ebook, courtesy of my publishers Pan Macmillan. Enjoy! And let me know in the comments below whether you’ve had insights into your childhood, especially if you’ve experienced something “‘seemingly bad” that’s turned out to be perfect for you as an adult.

Thanks for reading!

Inspiration from magical places

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beauty and the beast, creativity, fairy tale, fairytale, fantasy, fantasy romance, inspiration, inspire, music as inspiration, romance, the voice, the voice australia, writing

It’s no secret that fairytales inspire me. They have for all of my reading life, but it never ceases to amaze me how an old fairytale that I’ve adored as a child can come back to me in a different format and engulf me in magic all over again.

Beauty and the Beast is probably my favorite fairytale, because of its darkness, its inherent romance, and the transformational quality of the character development. I was fortunate to have the latest Disney version come out when my children were young, and I can remember watching it again and again, not just because the animated character were cute and endearing, or because I couldn’t help putting myself in Belle’s shoes and wanting to tame the beast, but because the song, Beauty and the Beast made me cry, every time I heard it. Embedded within it is everything I love about that story – the prince trapped inside the body of a beast, confronted with the delicate beauty of Belle, imagining she’d never even want to look at him, let alone fall in love with him. It inspired me to imagine my own stories with tortured heroes and clever, resourceful heroines who must work with magic – dark and light – to find their happily ever after.

That one song inspired more fantasy plotlines and characterization out of me than probably any other I’ve heard.

So you can imagine how overwhelmed I felt when I was watching The Voice Australia and completely out of left field, two of my favorite competitors lined up in a battle to sing Beauty and the Beast together. It was an inspired move by their coach Ricky Martin (who I adore) and the result is stunning:

I’ve had the song in my mind ever since, playing on a loop, happily inspiring more story ideas, and who would have imagined I’d find inspiration to write fantasy novels while watching a singing competition!

If you’ve ever had inspiration delivered unexpectedly please do share in the comments below. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

 

Her beauty and her terror, the wide brown land for me

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Australia, Australian writing, Cyclone Ita, Dorothea Mackellar, environment, inspiration, maelstrom, My Country, writing process

I’ve grabbed a line out of one of Australia’s most popular poems. My Country by Dorothea Mackellar, and here’s the context:

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

I’ll post the complete poem at the end of this blog if you’re interested to read it, but the gist is that young Dorothea is being dragged around Europe by her father and is desperately homesick for Australia. Her English friends don’t understand, so she writes the poem as a form of explanation. I’ve always adored it, and it’s no coincidence that I’ve ended up living near one of our ‘jewel seas’, the Coral Sea. But it’s the beauty and the terror of our country that’s always inspired me as a writer, and when I met an agent in New York years ago who said, “I love Australian authors, their writing has such zest” I understood why. When the snake in your backyard or the spider in your boot might kill you, your life – and your writing – take on a different quality.

Earlier this year bushfires raged across the southern states of Australia, destroying property, taking lives, and decimating wildlife populations.

Only a few months ago, so much of our country was scorched. Where I live has seen two devastating floods in the past five years, and today Cyclone Ita, a Category Five cyclone (the highest rating) is crossing the Coral Sea, driving a wall of water in front of its 80km core. It will ride roughshod over the Great Barrier Reef and cross the coast at beautiful Cooktown, 1600 kilometers (approx 1000 miles) north of where I live. It’s estimated to reach landfall at 5pm local time. That’s 5 hours from now.

Cooktown

Great Barrier Reef

Cyclone Ita will undoubtedly create irreparable damage to land, property, wildlife and possibly human life, although authorities are taking every precaution, evacuating residents into reinforced shelters before the winds reach 100km an hour. At its height, winds are predicted to be over 300km an hour. Even for someone who’s grown up in Queensland with the expectation of at least one good cyclone a year, this is beyond my imagination.

Cyclone Ita 11 April 2014

And yet, I know it’s happened before and will happen again. Living in Australia is a lottery. Every region has its unique dangers and its incomparable beauties, and if you grow up here you learn to appreciate one and have respect for the other. Is it any wonder that Australian authors bring some of that “edge” to their writing? I look back now at my fantasy series Shadow Through Time and the maelstrom I envisaged raging across four worlds, and can easily see where I’d found my inspiration!

That thought got me wondering about other parts of the world, and how those landscapes and climates affected the writing done there? I’d love to hear about how your environment affects your writing in the comments below. And simply because I adore this poem, here is My Country in its entirety (first published in 1908):

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die –
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold –
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land –
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand –
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea Mackellar

The Cruising Author

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at sea, cruise, cruising, food, infotainment, inspiration, luxury, Special Interest Speaker, vegetarian, writer, writers

I recently went on my first cruise. It’s been a long time coming, but I was scared of the ocean (love to look at it, just don’t want to be on it) so the time had never been right, until I was offered the gig of being a Special Interest Speaker on a cruise, and I thought This is a year of firsts (see Game for a Change), why not!

Why indeed…

I won’t bore you with my two-day-terror as we crossed a known rough patch of ocean (known to everyone but me, thankfully, or I may not have had the wherewithal to go) but would rather share the sparkly parts of the journey. Firstly:

Food

Anyone who has ever been on a cruise will know what I mean. Cruise companies do food very, very well. There are multiple restaurants (bistro, a la carte, poolside, intimate cafe, gelateria, you name it) and most serve multiple styles of food. All whims catered to: Indian curries, wood-fired pizzas, sushi, tropical salads, roasts, the list goes on. Most are open all day, some half the night, and if that wasn’t good enough, there’s 24hr room service. As a vegetarian, I occasionally have to work hard to source a nutritious meal, but not on a cruise. Everyone is catered to. No one misses out, and gluttony is the order of the day. Then there was:

Pampering

Beds turned down every evening with chocolates, afternoon hors d’oeuvres served to the stateroom, waiters everywhere looking to serve you, and on your weary way back on board after an exhausting excursion day, hot chocolate and warm towels to welcome you ‘home’.

Entertainment

Everywhere. Honestly. Everything from classical strings to reggae to soft rock spread out across the ship during the day, and at night, spectacular stage shows with world-class performances – either Broadway style shows, piano or violin recitals, big-name US comedians. You name it, they had it. Plus all the fun stuff people are apparently used to on cruises: bingo, bocce, ballroom dance classes, gambling, shopping.

My talks were part of the entertainment program, so instead of being ‘teaching workshops/talks’ as I’m used to presenting, they were to be infotainment. This meant fun and laughs sprinkled amid the info, which was a delight to plan and prepare, and even more fun to deliver. I presented 5 one-hour sessions over the course of the cruise on various topics related to writing, unlocking creativity, research and development of ideas, the power of story, using your own life to create stories and writing in different genres. My audience built over time and basically fell into two categories: Those who wanted some intellectual stimulation and were curious about how writers work. And those who wanted to write and were keen for tips. Of the latter group, many came up to me afterwards and said things like “Now that I’m retired I’ve finally got time to pursue my dream of writing a book, and thank you for inspiring me to get started!” So it was lovely to have been able to do that. Part of my career mission statement involves helping others achieve their dreams, so I was thrilled to have achieved that.

Larnach Castle – perfect research for a fantasy author

Was it a fabulous experience? Absolutely! I am so glad I went. Was it what I’d expected? No, not at all. It was way more glamorous, exciting and exhausting than I could ever have imagined. I took books with me to read and got none of that done. When I wasn’t on a ‘working’ day either presenting a session or chatting to people and socializing (also part of the job for Special Interest Speakers) I was on a shore excursion. The shore excursions were free time, and I got to do some amazing exploring, but all of that required energy and focus as well, so to be honest, there was very little downtime and by the end of the 12 days I was exhausted! Knowing what I know now, I’d probably pace myself better and have at least one day out of five relaxing on the ship (ignoring the port we’d docked at) and maybe having spa treatments or lying by the pool with a book. Napping. Napping would be good.

The extroverts among us would fare better, I think. I’m great at presenting, but being an introvert at heart, I need to crawl into my shell regularly to recoup, and I think that element of the trip was lacking. Next time I cruise, I’ll be more organized with pacing, and also checking out the route to make sure it’s smooth sailing all the way!

So that’s my story, now I’m curious about you. Have you cruised? What did you love about it? What would you do differently next time? I’d love to hear.

Redlitzer Awards 2013: Encouraging grass roots writing

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Angela Sunde, anthology, inspiration, Jann Webb, Karen Williams, literature, local council, Marianne de Pierres, motivation, Peter Matheson, Redland City Council, Redlands, Redlitzer, Redlitzer Award 2013, Rowena Cory Daniells, short story, writing

Last Saturday I traveled to Redlands, just south of Brisbane to attend the Redlitzer Awards where local writers were presented with trophies and certificates by the Mayor, and saw their winning short stories published into anthologies. I was involved as a judge, selecting the winning stories, along with authors Rowena Cory Daniells, Marianne de Pierres, Angela Sunde and Peter Matheson. Two anthologies of winning short stories were launched (ten adult and ten teen stories in one anthology, and ten Junior in a larger ‘picture book’ style anthology), and that night thirty first-time published authors did a mass book signing!

Teen signing table at the Redlitzer Awards 2013

I have to say I was really impressed with the way Redland City Council and their libraries handled the evening. Unlike other awards ceremonies where children are involved, there were no lollies on the tables, and no patronising cuteness. The Junior Redlands writers (now published authors) were treated to a very adult function with beautiful floral arrangements, lots of bling in the silver, black and white color scheme, and formal attire for the evening. I could see their parents were impressed, as were the parents of the teen writers, and I couldn’t help thinking that the formal celebration of their success would make these children’s aspirations seem more real, more professional, and more achievable.

Redlands Mayor (far right), councilor, judges and Junior Redlitzer winners

I remember distinctly what it was like as a child and then a teen who knew she wanted to be a writer but wasn’t sure how to go about it. I wanted to be taken seriously, and for those around me to understand that this was a passion and a calling, and that there was money to be made despite all the ‘starving in a garret’ stereotypes. I didn’t want to be ridiculed or have my dreams diminished. Instead I wanted writing and reading to be celebrated, to be encouraged, and to be valued. At the Redlitzer Awards last Saturday night I saw that in spades. The detail and expense in preparing the venue (Victoria Point Library) was impressive, and the fact that the Mayor and two of her councilors attended, and stayed all night, spoke volumes about their commitment to the arts. You won’t believe the number of functions I go to where politicians turn up for photos and then leave. I was also impressed with the respect and encouragement the young (and not so young) writers received at the presentations and at the signing tables. I’m betting that for the first time in their lives, those thirty writers felt like authors, and that’s such a motivating factor.

Me getting my copy signed at the Junior signing table

Writing is a mostly solitary profession, and it’s often difficult to be objective about your writing and to value your own talent. Yet somehow we’re expected to be our own cheer squad, to pick ourselves up when we get rejected, dust ourselves off, remind ourselves that we can do this writing thing, and get back at the keyboard. A little inspiration can go a long way towards motivating us to keep at it, and I’m thrilled that at least one local council in Australia takes literary endeavor seriously and puts time and dollars into encouraging local writers.

Big thank you to Jann Webb at Redlands Libraries who I’ve worked with for the last five years helping tailor their writing program to meet the needs of local writers. Her vision of what can be is inspiring, and her ability to create miracles within a limited budget continues to astound me. In the time she’s been at the helm, three local writers who’ve attended Redlitzer writing workshops have become published novelists:

 

Rowena, Jann Webb, Marianne, Anne Reid and myself.

We all know it’s a long haul from ideas, to drafting a whole novel, editing it and then having the wherewithal to submit, be rejected and submit again. I can’t thank Redlands, and Jann, enough for sticking with their local writers, encouraging, teaching, inspiring and then celebrating their successes. To say there should be more of it is an understatement. Other local councils please take note! If you want your unique culture and your stories to be remembered and shared, this is how you do it. And for anyone who wants to encourage Redlands to keep on with their writing program, feel free to email the Mayor here (her email details are on this page) with some well deserved praise for Jann and her team. Cheers!

Of ANZAC Day and Fathers

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ANZAC, ANZAC Day, characters, Father, Fathers, forgiveness, inspiration, Thank you, writing

My dad died twenty-five years ago, and although from the age of ten I never got on with him, he was probably a normal sort of guy.  He grew up in Brisbane through the depression, and with a no-good alcoholic father, he was hungry a lot.  Not surprisingly, he put his age up to serve in the war in New Guinea, at Milne Bay in fact.  He was a bit of a tearaway according to his war record, and was disciplined a number of times before he was sent north to fight.  Unfortunately five weeks into his active service a grenade went off near him and shrapnel lodged in his back.  He was operated on (none too successfully) in Townsville and repatriated to the Military Convalescent Camp at Tallebudgera on the Gold Coast.

When his wounds were healed he became a driver at the camp and spent the rest of the war there. Some time later while roaring around on a motorcycle wearing a leather jacket (and no doubt thinking he looked cool) he met an innocent young farm girl from west of Rockhampton whose family had just moved to Brisbane. They got married and had four children (I was the third). Dad’s trade was carpentry, but unfortunately his back was never right and there were stretches while I was growing up when he was in Greenslopes Repatriation Hospital. He lived long enough to see me get married, but died of renal cancer before my children were born.

As I said, we never got on.  Nothing melodramatic.  We were just two people who seemed destined to argue over everything.  Then he got sick a couple of years after I got married, and when he died I didn’t cry.  I was too busy organising the funeral and thereafter being busy.  It was several years before it caught up with me (perhaps some denial there, I’ll allow).  I was attending the Brisbane Writers Festival.  I remember it was Father’s Day, which meant nothing to me as there were no fathers left in our families and my husband and I hadn’t had children yet.  But the panel I remember attending that day was called “Fathers, Absent and Present”.  John Birmingham and Gary Crew were speakers, and I remember Stephen Cummings was another.  I’m sorry now that I can’t remember the fourth, but what I do remember is their honesty.  Instead of talking about their books, they each spoke quite emotionally about their relationships with their fathers.  Some had fabulous memories, and their dads were in the audience.  One had a tragic childhood of neglect and emotional torment, but as a whole the panel was painful and poignant and perfectly fitting for Fathers Day.

I thought all this on an intellectual level while I walked to the festival coffee shop, paid for coffee and cake and settled myself into a table overlooking the beautiful Brisbane River.  The next thing I remember is sobbing, quite loudly and uncontrollably.  Big wrenching, painful sobs that pulled my lungs up into my throat and burned them there.  On one level I was aware of embarrassing myself, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.  So I turned away from everyone else and let it run it’s course.  By the time it was over and I had my breathing back under control the tables around me were empty, either out of sympathy or perhaps more likely because another session had started.

I don’t know what that was.  Still.  But from that moment on, my annual tradition of attending the ANZAC Day Dawn Service changed (pic on left is of me at the Canberra War Memorial, having snuck out of Conjure with Jason Nahrung and a few mates to attend).  Instead of it being only about respecting those who gave their lives to ensure I grew up in a free country, somehow ANZAC Day became the one day I could freely ‘chat’ with my dad.  At first it was just “So I hope there are lots of people in heaven to criticise.  Wouldn’t want you to get rusty,” but I have to admit that over time the bitterness started to shift.

During that period my inner life was obviously being projected onto my writing.  Fathers were either absent, ineffectual or downright obstructive in my stories.  I couldn’t seem to write about a father who was helpful!  In any way.  But as time went by and I attended ANZAC services in so many different places, surrounded by so many different people – seeing men who had been shaped by an experience I could never understand – my conversations with dad started to shift.  Instead of bitching I’d remember times when I was little and he’d carried me into the surf and kept me safe in his arms above the waves, or sitting on his lap reciting nursery rhymes and feeling very clever, dancing to ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ while my mum played the piano.  All memories from when I was small, when I was too young to realise I didn’t agree with him, and to say so.  But somehow those memories cracked a kernel of tenderness that I hadn’t imagined could ever exist between my father and I.

It was just once a year, just on that one day, but it must have done something because this year, amazingly (and I didn’t realise I was doing it until I was finished) I wrote a father who was terrible to his daughter, but on his deathbed he explained that everything he’d done was out of love, to create a ruse that had protected her from danger and strengthened her to step into his shoes and rule the kingdom in her own right.

To say I was taken completely by surprise would be an understatement.  I’d hated that king from the moment he’d stepped onto the page, and I thought his daughter deserved so much better, but when I looked at the story I’d written I realised that he’d been right.  Everything he’d done had made her stronger, smarter, safer, and he had the perfect motivation to keep his love from her, for her own good.

Amazingly, she forgave him.  I tried to make her bitter, but characters have a life of their own and she wouldn’t do it.  She was so much braver than me, and though these people I’ve created in my stories aren’t real, their honesty and their acceptance inspires me to be better than I am.

So now it’s ANZAC Day 2012 and my dad has been gone more years than he was with me growing up.  I’ve attended the Dawn Service at a submarine lookout on the Coral Sea, with the waves crashing onto volcanic rocks below, and for the very first time I’ve found it within myself to say “Thank you,“ to my father, and to mean it, and I know it’s changed me profoundly.

Even more amazing, this year, for the first time, my dad answered back.  One word.  Clear as a bell inside my mind. 

Live

I don’t know exactly what he means by that, but I know what I plan to do with it.  My kingdom is in front of me.  It’s my show now.  I plan to be brave.

I wonder, what did your father teach you…?

Q & A session on Patrick O’Duffy’s blog

Tags

alice in wonderland, da vinci, destiny of the light, dune, eBooks, fantasy, influences, inspiration, john carter, Left Hand of Darkness, romance, romantic fantasy, Shadow through time, trilogy, writing

Patrick O’Duffy has interviewed me on his blog today, about ebooks, fantastic romance, my influences and inspirations, and John Carter of Mars. Pop over and say Hi!

Edgar Rice Burroughs has a lot to answer for

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barsoom, books, dune, edgar rice burroughs, fantasy, inspiration, john carter, literature, paul atreides, romance, warrior, writing

When I was thirteen and my girlfriends were reading Stephen King, Jacqueline Susann or Tolkien, I was deep into Edgar Rice Burroughs, unashamedly devouring book after book about the ‘clean-limbed fighting man from Virginia’, John Carter who was somehow on Mars (Barsoom) saving the princess and fighting alien creatures.

Not for the first time in my life, the ‘stranger in a strange land’ theme had captured my imagination and let it soar.  To me these novels were the equivalent of Mills & Boon.  I gorged on them, dreaming of hunky heroes who could leap amazingly into the air (low gravity) and of feisty, beautiful princesses who needed rescuing.  My romantic fantasies have always thrived in an otherworld setting, and it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that, particularly as the new John Carter movie appears set to rekindle all those thrilling, goosebump moments.  For those who haven’t seen the trailer yet, please indulge:

Writer are often unable to articulate where their inspiration comes from, but I can trace mine back through a thread of ‘stranger in a strange land’ stories that have enthralled me at critical moments in my life.  John Carter’s experience of being thrust into Barsoom was pivotal, and it transported me into a visceral world of action, adventure and romance.

A few years later when the subtleties of characterisation became more important to me, I discovered Paul Atreides who had also been uprooted from all that was familiar and transplanted onto the barren planet Dune, immortalised in Frank Herbert’s Hugo and Nebula award winning series of novels.  Paul Atreides was younger than John Carter, barely into adulthood, but as the son of the Duke Atreides, Paul’s young life had been consumed by training – in combat, leadership and strategy.  He could fight, but he could also think, and when I first met Paul between the pages of a crisp new paperback, I was of an age where I’d realised that smart was most definitely sexy.  So I fell in love all over again, and when Paul’s beloved Chani needed no rescuing and fought alongside him to overcome the evil Harkonnen threat, I was mesmerised as much by the world they were saving as the blossoming romance between them.

It should be no surprise then that Talis, the hero of my first published novel, would be a champion to the princess, a trained and talented fighter and a clever, insightful asset to the throne he served, not to mention a sensitive and honorable man.  I adored him (and still do), but as an author, it’s such a thrill to discover that readers of Destiny of the Light have loved Talis as much as I do, if not more!  And the re-release of my trilogy as eBooks has come at a time when warrior heroes are finding an appreciative audience in the movies, as well as among readers!

I’d love to hear what your favourite ‘otherworlds’ are (Pandora? Narnia? Alice’s Wonderland? Barsoom?) and what enchanted you most about them.

Do tell!

Destiny: the journey of a trilogy

Tags

alice in wonderland, books, characters, daughter of the dark, destiny of the light, diana gabaldon, fantasy, Gabaldon, glimmer in the maelstrom, inspiration, international readership, love story, otherworld, outlander, outlander series, pan macmillan, process, romance, Shadow through time, writing

On 15th February, (in two short weeks) my “Shadow Through Time” trilogy will be released as eBooks by Momentum Books, a division of Pan Macmillan, a full decade after the first book was released in print form by Simon & Schuster Australia.  It’s taken time and patience, but I never gave up hope that these characters and their stories would one day find an International readership.

I’ve written a lot in the last decade, fallen in love with new characters and new settings, but my first love will always be the sepia kingdom of Ennae with its Forest of Desire where every fantasy is fulfilled, the royal Volcastle that sits atop an active volcano and the misty plains where the enigmatic plainsmen navigate using dolphin-like sonar.

As a writer who doesn’t plot, my process for creating these books was an act of faith, each day sitting in front of the computer ‘transcribing’ what the characters shared with me, seeing the world through their eyes, learning about it as they walked through it, meeting new characters as they did.  I’ve never forgotten the thrill of discovering that world, of waking up at 4am each day and rolling out of bed, excited by the idea of what would happen next.

Alice in Wonderland had always been my favourite book (my dog-eared copy looks like this), and to me the Shadow Through Time series recreated the dark thrill of stepping into an otherworld, a very strange world as it turned out.  I was greatly influenced by Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series and the epic love story she’d created that transcended time.  I wanted to create a love story that would not only transcend time but place, taking my heroine Catherine/Khatrene into another world and thrusting responsibility, and then destiny onto her young shoulders.  I’m thrilled with the characters who stepped forward to inhabit the story, and more in love with her champion Talis than I can say!

I hope you enjoy these books, and when you read them I’d like you to imagine the hopelessly romantic four year old girl who first dreamed she was a princess cut off from her royal family and trapped in suburban Australia.  That little girl ached to go home, and her longing for excitement and adventure was the catalyst that set this story on its path to publication…