Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello authors. I'm Joanne Morrell, children's and young adult fiction writer and author of short nonfiction for Authors. Thanks for joining me for the Hybrid Author Podcast, sharing interviews from industry professionals to help you forge a career as a hybrid author both independently and traditionally publishing your books.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: You can get the show notes for.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Each episode and sign up for your free Author pass over at the Hybrid Author website to discover your writing process, get tips on how to publish productively, and get comfortable promoting your books at www.
Let's crack on with the episode.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Hello authors. I hope you're all keeping well in whatever part of the world you reside and listen to the podcast. Today's topic and interview is with author a.m. jackson on balancing Romance and Suspense, Zeesha's story, the Love Connection series, and we chat on the romance suspense genre, balancing high stakes action and deep emotional connection. Techniques used to maintain a fast paced, gripping narrative, writing a trilogy, pacing to keep readers engaged, and much more so in my author adventure this week I went to see the Sleeping Beauty Electric Ballet at the University of Western Australia, uwa. It was a present I got my sister for her birthday last year in December. We had to change the tickets because she got gastro and then my babysitter went down ill the same night. So luckily I managed to change the dates and managed to add my children onto the event. Also because I kind of regretted not getting them a ticket as well. It's always been on my bucket list to see a ballet so happily ticked it off. What made this one a bit different was that they were all wearing electric lights on their costumes and it went for about 55 minutes and it was pretty mesmerizing watching their feet slow, stand on point. Loved the music, loved the performance. I can't say I'll be a frequent goer of the ballet, but it made me feel inspired to get out and do something like that. Something culturally different than what I normally do and the things that I normally go and see. I would also like to experience an opera. I've yet to do that and I'm not sure if anyone will come with me. I don't know if I'll like that, but I've always wanted to see one so again, I can sort of tick that off my list. My list is it's not super long, but there is things I think that you start to think about as you get older and what you want do and what you want to experience. I am turning 40 this year so starting to consider how I want to celebrate that. It's not going to be heading off to the snowy peaks of Canada like I have wanted to for ages due to my personal situation at present. But that will definitely keep for another year. So there's a reason I'm not there yet.
Something from my bucket list I've always wanted to do is clay shooting one of these ranges. So perhaps that's what I'll do. Who knows. Definitely a special dinner with family and friends and I'll do something I won't just about my normal day, but it won't be anything that's absolutely spectacular bucket list like what Canada would have been so I mentioned in Dana de Silva's episode 153 about WA author Holden Shepherd's book Invisible Boys being turned into a television series, which I had binged on Stan a couple weeks ago and I saw a post on social media. Since then, Holden has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Minderoo foundation to undertake developing the sequel. So there is another image of Holden holding up a script that said yeah, the boys. So definitely a seque to this engaging and important story. And I'm really stoked that and excited to see which direction they'll take the storyline in as it has so many possibilities with such an open ending. Congratulations Holden. And again, fantastic to see Western Australian stories making such, you know, big, big debuts out in the stream streaming services. I also started streaming that 10 pound Pom if anyone's watched that with Michelle Keegan and that's about, you know, the British English coming across to Australia on the boats for £10 like after the war. It's great storylines. I love it. It's all intertwined. Those are the type of stories that I love, you know, all the different characters and each one's got quite a dramatic storyline which I love. So definitely recommend that. Now I've binged Olstan. I was going to get rid of it but caught up on my Handmaid's Tale as well. Margaret Atwood again, I just blows your mind how they can make up. These storylines are just fantastic. Great television. I just love it. And that's going to get another season as well. So the 10 pound poms I've just heard on the radio today that there's another season dropping or has dropped, so I'm going to have to watch that before I get rid of it. But no doubt I'll find something else.
It has been a very podcast focused week for me as last week was the first in almost four years. I have released two episodes of the Hybrid Author podcast and I'm feeling like this is a great pathway for me. The new days are Tuesday and Thursday for episodes and what you'll also notice new on the podcast this week is video. I am now utilizing the video content from the podcast interviews. You could say I should have been doing this for the last four years. And I keep saying four years because coming up in May is four years since I started the Hybrid Author Podcast. So I'm not going to let that anniversary slide. I usually don't make a big fuss or I haven't done like this is the second year, this is the third year of the podcast, but I am very aware it's four years coming up and I'm not sure why that number feels significant. It feels bloody long, I tell you that. It definitely deserves celebrating and I will put together a real cool show, I reckon. But anyways, yeah, video. It's all been a learning curve since the start of the podcast. You know, podcast to me is audio. Initially I had nerves about starting doing interviews with someone. I'm not even doing it face to face, just through the computer. So you have to sort of get through that and get used to your own voice and all these other aspects of podcasting. Just audio. Now I feel like I'm back to the beginning with video, having to get comfortable looking at myself, my mannerisms, the way I do things, staring at my own face and sharing that with the world. So I'm back to cringing and hopefully I can get over that and myself soon. There are still more podcast news and updates to continue, one of the main ones being the exciting news. The Hybrid Author Podcast is currently open for guests, so if you are an author or industry professional in the publishing writing world, reach out and pitch me joannebredauthor.com make sure you're familiar with the podcast content. Episodes are topic based and proactive in encouraging writers to have hybrid author career. I look forward to hearing from you soon and sharing further information about how the podcast works. If you are successful. Best of luck.
This week's episode sponsor is Sanguine Press, my imprint of Feel Good, fast paced, emotionally charged women's contemporary fiction. The Writer, the Hairdresser and the Nurse, by my pseudonym Zara Ellen, intertwines the struggles and dynamic free women's working family and romantic relationships, leaning on their longtime friendship to help get them through, and my short nonfiction books for authors. Author Fears and How to Overcome Them how many times have you said your writing's crap or shied away from calling yourself an author? Take comfort in knowing your author fears are valid. Other writers feel the same way you do, but are not letting fear stop them from putting themselves out there. We're all feeling the fear, but doing what we love anyway, and you can too. And Freelance Writing Quick Tips for Fast Success Starting a freelance writing business Place yourself in the pro position before you've met with your first client. Invest one hour gaining 60 plus quick tips to save yourself time, time, money and stress discovering the little but important factors previously unconsidered. Having never worked directly with clients before, these books come in ebook, print and some audio and range from 10 to 15 to $28 each. Now on with the episode.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: A.m. jackson is a romantic suspense writer who grew from tropical Queensland, small town with wild child to become a pharmacist in Brisbane before attaining a PhD in business from the University of Western Australia. Her passion for women's hockey led her to coaching internationally in Barcelona, Rotterdam and the UK, and also on Australia's Gold coast and Perth. In 2014, Alison decided to leave her pharmacy career and has written six novels since with her husband and Wiley Westy Terrier in Perth, Western Australia. Welcome to the Hybrid Author podcast, Alison.
[00:08:39] Speaker D: Thank you very much for having me.
[00:08:41] Speaker C: Joanne, we're so excited to speak to you. So your bio kind of speaks for itself. You've written six novels, which is amazing, but living there. Oh, what can you tell us? You know what, what made the leap from being, you know, pharmacy to. To author?
[00:08:56] Speaker D: Yeah, I think it's always been there. I've always liked to write little bits of stuff and things and I think I basically went to, you know what? It's time to let that creative side out rather than just be more logical. So yeah, I did the PhD. I got sick of just being sort of like the same cookie cutter stuff each year with project management. So I went, you know what? I'm going to try and do this. And it's actually been quite freeing. I've let that side of the right side sort of take over. I like the creativity. There's a bit of both in hockey as well. As a coach, you've got all these different personalities, which are great. When I look at books that I love to read, I'm kind of at that point where I go, you know what? I'm going to try and do that and hockey. And I've got all these characters I can kind of get bits from and blend in. And so here I am, still going. I enjoyed reading complex plots and that's expanded as I try and write. I enjoy the movies of Guy Ritchie. There's always something. It's quirky. So I try and put that in. And I love true crime. My youngest daughter was like, oh, you're watching murder again. So then I, I just try and blend that in and yeah, it's become part of me now and I love it and that's what makes me happy. So I'm writing.
[00:10:11] Speaker C: Oh, fantastic. That's great. And it sounds like, you know, with the hockey and the physical sports and then like the pharmacy, the kind of medical and now the creative. But I like how you say hockey's creative and coaching and there's a logical.
[00:10:23] Speaker D: Part about it and then there's a creative bit with, you know what, I'm just going to try this now. And the ladies I coach kind of like that, you know, freedom in themselves to do the same thing. And that's probably why I've got this in the sun a lot for effect.
It's that quite a difference. I had to do something now.
[00:10:42] Speaker C: That's amazing. Well, today's topic is on balancing romance and suspense. And I can imagine this requires quite a balance between high stakes action and deep emotional connection. So how do you ensure one or the other doesn't over?
[00:10:55] Speaker D: Well, I have my famous plot mirror which is developed so three big mirrors which I've written on in whiteboard, marker, pen. I found that couldn't keep track of it in my head after a while. When I first started I was just doing little bits and then joining them all together. Now I put it on these mirrors and can track the twist of the complexity of the characters. So I look at it now as I've got like three main storylines. So does maybe three or four? Does the story move ahead for the main protagonist, the woman? Does it move ahead for the main guy? That's sort of their story. There's the plot line and I like to have one main plot line happening and then something weaving in underneath. So there's about four things and that gives me continuity, hopefully keeps the reader engaged, that they'll want to turn the next page. But it's balancing that with giving the reader a breath. You know, it's like in a movie, if you want action, that's great, but you need to kind of sit back. And so the real softer parts, which I love putting in, the romantic parts, give the reader a bit of a breather. But hopefully they still want to turn the page and get engaged. Yeah.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: Oh, no, it sounds like you've nailed it there.
[00:12:10] Speaker D: And that's the challenging thing is like, oh, I have to go back and rewrite this. It's not quite. Right. Yeah. So smart dialogue also will do that.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: No, I was just going to say, I suppose, like. And the more you implement it, the more you know what you're doing with each novel.
[00:12:23] Speaker D: Structurally, I haven't fully nailed that. Like, I'm still going there with an idea of the plot, but I don't. I mean, I've got. What I like to think of is the plot mirror is like the skeleton. And if you look at us, we all have a skeleton, but we're all completely different. So my books have the main skeleton. And then I can't keep that creative edge out, which I don't want to because I love that freedom. Often that takes me somewhere different that's better. I'll sit there and I'll go, oh, okay, that's better. And it's like us, you know, we've got this basic skeleton, but we all turn out differently. And so the plots all tend to be a little bit different. Yes. And they surprise me as well, so I hope they don't confuse the reader. But at the moment, I'm writing what I like to read.
[00:13:09] Speaker C: I think that's the key because I've heard a lot of information from doing the podcast and from going out and writing self, and a lot of people think of the reader when you're writing. But if you don't love what you're doing as well, I just think if you're gonna push something, it's eas.
[00:13:24] Speaker D: I've done the other stuff where you're pushing stuff that you don't really believe in for normal day work. And this I can get excited about. It's kind of for me. But you always have to have the reader on your shoulder and say, hey, is this getting a bit too complex?
[00:13:40] Speaker C: Yeah, but again, balancing both.
[00:13:42] Speaker D: Hey, which is like life, you know, we like to go too far sometimes, which I can do that on the pay, which some of my hockey teams go. Are you. Have you been riding all day and now you're taking it out on us?
[00:13:53] Speaker C: You mentioned got your three mirrored technique and things like that. Do you apply any other kind of structural or stylistic techniques for your plotting?
[00:14:01] Speaker D: Pace is quite important, and so I'll try and do that within the voice that I have. One of those things is bringing in good characters so your character can develop through their smart dialogue or you get the story shown to you through the character characters. I have that thing, you know, the show and the tell. And I think that's a balance as well, because if you show too much, you will lose the reader. But if you tell too much, you also lose them. So it's knowing for me. I'm hoping this is the right way. I think about it is, okay, is this an important scene? And then we want people to get the most out of it. So I will put more show in that. And then others, you just need to have the information there.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: Yeah, but again, a character from A to B, like traveling and stuff, they don't need to know the ins and outs and how many.
[00:14:50] Speaker D: Yeah, into the toilet and yeah, there is stuff where I see it in other books and I go, I don't know whether I really needed to know that, but okay, you know, for shock factor sometimes. But yeah, it's interesting. Or you can get something, a nice quip out of it. Like, I, I the one I've just written recently, the protagonist had been drugged and her family were worried that something bad may have happened to her while she was with this guy. And it's hard to talk about that. So she says, look, it was that time of the month. And her sister goes. And you know, he wouldn't have come. And that's why her sister then goes, well, yeah, a guy like him wouldn't have come near your entertainment area if it was closed for redecorating. That just came to my head and I thought, I hope that gets it across without having to blow by blow kind of thing. So anyway, it's things like that. The dialogue can really help you out.
[00:15:47] Speaker C: No, that's amazing. And yeah, I mean, tell us about your body of work. You've got like, you know, Trilogies.
[00:15:53] Speaker D: Yes. So the first trilogy is a bit raw and a bit like, I didn't have the plot as set as I have in others. Saoirse's, the current one. That was really interesting. While I was writing the trilogy, I wanted to kind of expand my writing and make it better. So I thought, I can't have all my characters sounding the same. So I wanted to stretch myself and have them. I love strong women, but you can't have everyone a strong woman. As I had 10 short stories at the end with 10 different characters, male, female. And then I thought, oh, I'll put them in to a book. But that was boring. The creative side of me said, why don't you connect them through one or two main characters? So that's how Search she came about. I was writing the trilogy, wanted some different characters, wanted to keep the creation and dulling and creative process.
And then I went, oh, so she actually is the main character, but she was probably written last And I connected the other stories through her. That helps. So she develops. She starts off at a 17 year old and at the end of her story she's 27. Then there's still about three or four other characters in the story that was sitting there.
So that's when the second book, the sequel, Josh comes along. And then of course the last bit is when they meet up again. Sort of spoiler alert. But yes. So that's how I've kind of then started structuring them and getting them more organized. But next to are more that plot mirror. I've got two main characters. It's a lot easier. Here we go.
[00:17:27] Speaker C: So, Alison, what are your top tips for aspiring romantic suspense authors?
[00:17:32] Speaker D: I'd say a lot of, you know, everyone sort of says write about what you know. And I think that is very important because then you'll feel confident in that. But also write about what you feel, even if it's action. That is what really grabs a reader. Like they can then have so much more in common with your characters because yeah, I feel that or I'd be that. So I think write about what you feel and then you have to. And it's everyone will find their way and they'll find their own voice. So whether they want to, they might find that they're better not to plot and just let it flow. I find I just need that little bit of structure and then the freedom within it. And that's just how I work. So not everyone is the same. And no matter what happens, try and learn from your experiences, whether they're good or bad, there's always something to learn from.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: Don't let everyday life stop you from putting. Go for it.
[00:18:26] Speaker D: Exactly. This is balls and all, as I say.
[00:18:29] Speaker C: And you don't have to be perfect. It's something that I've thought of this year in terms of social media. You wait for.
I'm always thinking, oh, I have to look at it a certain way or be whatever. And then eventually that time never comes. And don't put it out there. And it's a case of you should just say what you're going to say. Don't worry about the race because it's you.
[00:18:50] Speaker D: Right. It's the human part of us, which I think most people would get to. And we don't get on with everyone and.
[00:18:57] Speaker C: But it's like what you're saying with your books as well. It's that connection if you connect with somebody.
[00:19:02] Speaker D: And not every book and not every experience is always good and that's life. So that's what you try and bring to the page, I think comes out then. Yeah.
[00:19:11] Speaker C: And how's your publishing journey been?
[00:19:12] Speaker D: Oh, that's been long and torturous. I think most people who write say that. So, yeah, look wonderful. Jess at Hanbury Books kind of found me, which is nice. So I've had the ups and downs, lots of rejections. Even if you get a response, you know too much of this and you think, okay, I'll change it next time. It's something different. Then I had one publishing group that went. Went bankrupt, so then I was left in limbo, but luckily they hadn't done anything with the books yet. Move on. And here I am with Jess and I'm suddenly getting all this positive feedback and thinking, wow, this is great. I think that's part of it. And obviously, if you've got groups that you feel confident with, then you'll get that. I'm there now. I've experienced positivity, so that's a great thing.
[00:19:56] Speaker C: And that sort of spurs you on, doesn't it? You know, because a lot of push and pull in this industry. I think so, yeah.
[00:20:03] Speaker D: And it changes what they look for, the big guys, and they are far more restricted with what they need because they've got a big profit margin or a profit to make. So. Not saying others don't, but, yeah, if you can. A hybrid is great because you have a bit of both worlds. You have the best. I think.
[00:20:21] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a juggle and a balance and things. So your plans are keep going in this genre, keep writing books. Works.
[00:20:29] Speaker D: Yeah. At the moment, yes. It still grabbed me. I've got one more to finish off for a trilogy that'll be based in Far North Queensland, where I grew up. Never thought I'd go back there, but I went and visited there. I was up on a hockey trip in Cairns and so then I went, oh, wow. And I could feel that that's what I'll continue to do. The books always have a bit of music in them, so I think I'll continue with that. Because of Spotify, I don't use any lyrics, but I can say, hey, this would be a playlist that you can choose for. You can look at the book and see if you like it. Yeah. And just keep going and seeing what turns out.
[00:21:07] Speaker C: Amazing. Well, that's great. And it's been lovely to talk to you, Alison. You shared some really nice tips and how you've discovered writing and what it means to yourself and, yeah, not so fantastic. Can you share with our listeners? You know where can they discover you, your books and everything?
[00:21:20] Speaker D: All the normal places, the usual suspects. As I say, I'm on Instagram and all the socials, Facebook X. But I'm at my website's amjackson.com and you can go there and get Searcher, which is the new one, but it's Jackson with an X, J, A, X, O, N. That's mainly where you'll find me. And I post sporadically. I'm trying to get better at posting and find time to post on Instagram and Facebook are the main ones I use and I have to discover a bit more. But it's a learning process, isn't it just?
[00:21:52] Speaker C: Well, thanks so much, Allison. That was fantastic.
[00:21:54] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:22:01] Speaker B: So there you have it, folks, the sensational Alison a.m. jackson on balancing romance and suspense and Sea Shah's story, the Love Connection series. Next time on the Hybrid Author Podcast we have a very special guest, Suzy Samuel. The topic is Revising a Bestseller and the Dark at the Threshold. Susie Samuel is the author of the Unintentional Medium and the soon to be published An Unintentional Journey. This is her first foray into fiction and draws largely on her knowledge of France and her personal experience of the spirit world. Born in England, Susie spent a large part of her life in Wimbledon, where she worked as a French tutor and translator. After the death of her beloved grandmother, her first husband, and an old clairvoyant lady, Mrs. Butterfield started to get a very bizarre but accurate Messages from the Other side and thus commenced her psychic work, which spans almost 40 years. In 1997, she married her Australian husband, David, and they later moved to Sydney where she still practices her work as a medium and clairvoyant. It's an amazing chat with Susie. I wish you well in your author adventure this next week. That's it from me. Bye for now.
[00:23:02] Speaker A: That's the end for now. Authors, I hope you are further forward in your author adventure after listening, and I hope you'll listen next time. Remember to head on over to the Hybrid Author website at www.hybridauthor.com to get your free Author pass. It's Bye for now.
