Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello authors.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: 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. You can get the show notes for 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.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: Hello authors.
I hope you're all keeping well in whatever part of the world you reside and listen to the podcast in today's interview is a loner sword from me on behind the Book why I wrote my latest fast paced, emotionally charged women's contemporary fiction book, the Writer, the Hairdresser and the Nurse written under my pseudonym Zara. Ellen and I chat where it all began, why these women, and why this story, Writing fast paced fiction with emotional depth, a hybrid heart project, what I want readers to feel, and much more so in my author adventure this week I'm very excited to say that I have plotted out my romance book which is set in Swan Valley in Western Australia and that is a local suburb which is wine country. They have vineyards there. Since I think it's about 1884 or 1889, I need to check that. So yeah, the story is set in a vineyard which is really exciting me. And yeah, so I plotted this out draft. I've started writing and for many of you listening the last couple of weeks, you know, I've sort of been jumping around from different projects. Actually not the last few weeks, probably the last couple of months. I've got a few projects on the go and being quite hybrid and jumping between them all and not really settling on. But this one, although it wasn't one to begin with, maybe that's why I'm excited about it. It's new and I'm looking for traditional publication with this through Harlequin imprint, which is an imprint from HarperCollins I think. And it's all romance, different, different tropes. So this one at the moment I think is probably a special edition Harlequin romance or a Desire book. I'm currently reading those types of books in the series just to get a feel for how they're done. And I guess I don't. I guess this is a little bit like writing to market, which is not something I've ever done before. But it's not really where I'm looking at the actual market of what's selling and deciding to write that way. It's me having an idea, sticking to the romance genre and yeah, just, just, I just, I'm really, really enjoying getting back to writing. You've been listening the last couple of weeks of. I'm in a habit with my working routine where I've sort of sit down to work and I end up doing podcast stuff or admin stuff first. And I think for me, the writing. I'm not in a regular writing routine, but I have started doing the writing first. And the thing is now though, I don't want to stop doing the writing. I just want to keep writing and I don't want to do all the other stuff. I want to just keep, keep writing and stay in my story. I don't want to have to come out and do all the other business things. But. And I don't mind the other business site stuff for like authorship that, that we all have to do. Even if you have and you're, you're traditionally published and it's getting sold for you, you still have to put a tax return in for the money you're making. You still have might have outputs for marketing or for author events, fuel things like that. You know, it's, it is a business if you're earning some money from it. It's not a hobby if you're just writing. That's if you're just writing for fun. But what we talk about mostly on this podcast is having a, you know, hybrid author career. So looking to write books but earn money from them. And so yeah, there is obviously other aspects which come with that that we have to do. And I don't mind doing them. In fact, I obviously don't mind doing them because I've been so bogged down in doing them that I have let the, the creative side, the whole point of the business and the reason that all of this is happening kind of fall by the wayside. So I'm really happy to report I'm in my happy place with writing and the story's going very well. Loving the characters and just paying attention again to not how I tackle a book. Usually I start with characters first and I sit and do a backstory and I do all that sort of stuff. But because I've plotted this out, I've got a sort of beige idea of who the characters are.
A man and a woman told from each perspective throughout the chapters. And yeah, I'm kind of focusing on the story first and then I'm writing. I'm trying not to do what I used to do in the past, which is reread over my work and edit as I go along. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but I find I procrastinate and I then find that other bits of the story are well, more edited than other parts. And I think it just really halts going forward. So I'm allowing myself a little bit to reread over some of the work and then moving on. But for the most, I'm just making notes in the side because you can see what needs to be done or said in editing. And I think that's just another process. So first everybody always says you have your own way of doing it. Get the story down first and then you can go back and mold and play and do all these sorts of things. I'm not letting sort of emotion go into it or anything. That just proves how much I've grown as a writer in terms of. I mean, not emotion from the characters, but emotion in the sense of overthinking anything. I just am enjoying it helps to be honest, for me personally, it's helped having the plot out. It's just little points following a structure of what's to happen, especially in the romance structure genre because people expect a certain way for a story to be told. And I'm looking to develop this craft because this is what today's episode's about my women's contemporary fiction. But this is solely a romance book. This is different and I read a lot of this, but I haven't actually written a straight romance before. So I'm learning here and following a structure and eventually the more I do this, the more I want to play around with this sort of stuff. Like structure to me is super important, as it should be in good storytelling. So yeah, and it's, you know, there's structure with the key points of what's to happen. But when it comes to the writing, I'm just free flowing and it's just flowing from me, the dialogue, what's happening in the scene, all of it. And I'm not paying too much attention to all the little bits and things. That's what the notes margin's for, for when I go back and edit. So I know the characters need to be more developed. I know the setting needs to be more developed. Right now I'm just focusing on the interactions and what's actually happening in the scenes over the decoration of it, I suppose. So I attended a wine tasting event at the Cellars I work in last week. And yeah, it was an event that was about cellared wines. And so we got to try a bunch of.
Across a variety of regions in Australia.
And there was some reds and there were some whites, and then she had a mystery wine at the end. Now, it was good for me to go along, A, for wine knowledge, B, because I'm going to be running events like this, and C, to see who comes along, the local community.
And, yeah, I mean, it was. The cellar is very small, so it only holds between 10 and 12 people. It's like a long table. So there was only about that. Me and my partner went along and they had cheese boards and they had printouts as well of the wines you were going to taste, with notes that you were able to take as well, which was to make comments about the flavors of the wine and the aromas and things like that, the colours. So I just. It was such a fun event. I'm actually doing Dry July. So for me, it was a little cheat night, I'm happy to say. Like, I haven't had any alcohol at all. When I've been tasting wines at work, we spit them out. But if you've been listening again to past episodes, you'll hear my horror because I've never actually done this before. But it's something that I'm going to learn again. So I'm really. You can tell I'm very excited about this. Everything feels like it's falling into place for what I want to achieve later in life. And it was just a really fun event. And, I mean, I'm not a wine connoisseur. I'm just really at the beginning of this adventure. But some people that were there, they were really on the mark and really nice people. Some people like stuff. I seem to have a different palate from everybody else, but what was interesting was we tasted a Riesling and a Chardonnay. And for me, I used to drink a lot of Riesling. Riesling is usually associated with being a sweet wine, but after I had children, I just couldn't drink sweet stuff anymore. It was really strange. I used to drink a lot of sweet cider and just nothing sweet. It was all. Had to be quite bland. And so this. She was saying that this Riesling was. People associate Rieslings with being sweet, but this one was actually. It was so light and just honestly lovely going down. And it was only like $20 a bottle. It was really decent price. So we ended up buying a bottle of that. And then the other white that I tasted was a Chardonnay. And I have always Just smelt Chardonnays that just stink. To be honest, I just don't like them at all. You know, I've always thought Chardonnay is quite vinegary, but this one, maybe we were having like really crappy bottles or something like that, but this one, again, not very expensive. And tasting it there was like. It was almost like vanilla notes and it just went down so easily. So again, bought that bottle. Two wines that I would probably never, ever buy just for going for the tasting and stuff. And I really feel like I've been missing out on so much. And so the mystery wine, it was a Penfolds, which is a brand of wine, and they sell our other people's wines as well. They've got one of these biggest sellers. And while I was there, I just want to say that I am. I had an idea for an article to pitch to a magazine, so I'm going to be doing that as well.
So me working in the cellars ties in with me writing romance placed in vineyards, learning about wines to. With the hope of one day owning a vineyard of our own.
And yeah, just getting a wine education as well and writing freelance writing for this sort of topics too. So anyway, everybody was sort of thinking that she was filling them with a wine that was just a cheap bottle or something like that. One guy got it really off the mark. I think he said Penfolds and he said the region and whatnot. But the vintage, which is the year you know, that the. The wine is made and I'm learning about aging and fermenting and my head is just exploding with so many cool ideas. But, yeah, that was probably the most expensive wine of the night. It wasn't. I don't have that much of an expensive taste. So it was a really, really good night. And I've had an IDR for running an event there. So I'm gonna be pitching that to my boss when I go back on shift. So it's good to have other interests outside of, say, writing and reading that can all contribute to together.
And, you know, I just think that I love spending my time utilizing it, that it all sort of multitasks into one another, if that makes sense. And so, yeah, I've been feeling a bit lackluster, I think, at the beginning of the year about direction. And now that I feel like I've got a clear direction of where I'm going, I'm just extremely excited.
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[00:12:53] Speaker A: They'Ve created behind the Book why I Wrote my latest fast paced, emotionally charged women's contemporary fiction book, the Writer, the Hairdresser and the Nurse, written under my pseudonym Zara Ellen. So welcome to the Hybrid Author Podcast. I'm your host, Joanne Zara Ellen Morrell, hybrid author, podcaster and creative career advocate. If you're new here, I write emotionally charged, fast paced women's fiction under the pen name Zara Ellen and I also write young adult fiction under the name Jay Z. Morrell and short nonfiction for authors under Joanne Morrell. I've got one foot in traditional publishing and the other firmly rooted in self publishing. Today's episode is another little loner sword from me, taking you behind the book of my latest women's fiction novel, the Writer, the Hairdresser and the Nurse. This story is a big part of my heart and creative identity and I thought it was the perfect time to open up about the why behind the book, why these three Women, why now, and what I hope you'll feel if you read it. So where it all began I started out writing in the children's fiction sphere. For many years, about seven years. I was a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. I was part of their community. I was part of the Children's Book Council of Australia. I really immersed myself in that world of children's literature and it wasn't a loss. I still aspire and write young adult fiction and I look at this period of time. I wrote three or four manuscripts. I self published one. I had a lot of rejections from traditional publishers. For others, I've had my work critiqued by peers and publishers. I attended many Festivals, conferences.
I really, really was a part of this world and I've met a lot of people and that's been fantastic. And I have also learned a lot about writing during this time. Each manuscript has taught me discipline.
It has taught me that I can finish a work. It's taught me about the way that I process a work. It's taught me that I have an older voice and I don't want to change it. I have lots of ideas, but mainly I've come to settle on that my voice is for an older audience. So this really became clear last year after I attended a Rottenness Writers retreat, which is a local writing retreat here run by Squibi. And I realized that I really just wanted to step away from the children's fiction and focus on writing for adults. Now, this came about at a time in my life where I felt like I needed to express my feelings on what I was going through. 39 at the time, I'm now 40, juggling family, writing, life, mental health, all life's curveballs for the last 10 years, striving to have a successful writing career. And to me, that was finding what I wanted to write, making money from what I wanted to write.
And there's been lots of ups and downs. I've been worked as a freelance writer, I've worked as a commercial technical scriptwriter. I have written web copy, social media.
But books has always been what I've gone back to and what I prefer. And I've realized that having a day job as a writer is not in terms of writing for another company or writing really just other stuff is not how I want to earn a living. I want to earn a living from writing books, screenplays, stories, my ideas. And for me, I will make up the extra income until this earns what I need it to from other jobs, casual work, relief work. I did some office work the other day as a relief, anything that helps pay the bills. So the writing is my writing is for me, really. And I've definitely seen that. I use it as a way of catharsis. It's a way that I express my feelings on things I've been going through. I had been thinking about the hidden emotional loads that women carry. You know, the quiet or loud exhaustion, the fierce love, the resentment, the moments of joy that slipped through the cracks. I wanted to write about women who were in the middle of life, not at the start. Women who had been doing the right thing for everyone else for years and were starting to unravel or wake up or both. It was always Going to be three women. And I thought of their professions working as a catalyst to drive their stories forward. Each of them, the title actually came first, the writer, the hairdresser and the nurse. And I am blessed actually with titles as sparks of inspiration first for a lot of stories. So each of the women has their own story, her own pain, her own internal and external struggles, both mentally, emotionally, physically, socially. And I wanted them to collide in the most honest, raw, and at times funny ways. Why these women? Why this story? So Agnes is a romance writer with declining book sales and a husband who may or may not be cheating. She's an absentee mother, not by choice to two boys who are off at university.
Donna is a hairdresser with infertility impacting her life. Her marriage is a fairy tale, one her tyrant boss and unbearable mother in law try to destroy. Often she is pushed to her limit and by both of these women in her life and must decide whether to go into business for herself and break free to save her spirit. Christy is a nurse who spent years pouring herself into others and is finally reaching emotional burnout. She's also a mother of five.
So there, you know, there's that too with the deadbeat husband and a sister out on parole. These three women are not perfect. They're messy, they're real, they're familiar. And that's exactly why I wrote them, because I know women like them. I am a little like each of them. And I wanted to reflect the kind of female friendship that doesn't get a lot of spotlight. The kind where women hold each other up without always having it together. And it's about the chaos and the care.
So the main inspiration behind the story was my friendship with two best mates that I have in Scotland, Shout Out Debbie and Steph. I've known Debbie since I was in primary school growing up in Scotland and we met Steph in high school. The three of us had a long time friendship and we've had many moments and memories. And I am a writer by profession. Steph is a hairdresser and Debbie is a nurse. That's as far as the characters go for us. The rest is fictionalized, of course. I actually think a lot of the other traits in the characters I can identify with on most level. But I have been living back in Australia. I was born here, but brought up in Scotland. I've been living back here for about nearly 15 years. Is it longer? Could be longer, but I've not been back to Scotland in about 12 and a half years. And so 12 and a half years is insane. They both came out for my wedding and they were in the wedding. But we keep our long term friendship up by phone calls. And they're not all the time. It's not regular because of the time difference in our lives. Even women know for their friendships close by how hard it is to try and get a bunch of women together to have dinner or a night out. It's really difficult with everybody's conflicting schedules and things like that. So trying to keep our friendship vibrant halfway across the world. There is, there can be constraints, but what is special about our friendship, and I have to say, friendship with other people I know is that no matter how much time has passed, we can pick up the phone and just talk like no time at all has passed. And to me that is what a long term friendship is. We still lean on each other halfway around the world by sharing our emotions and what we're going through. And it helps and we miss each other dearly. And I'm sure you know, we'll certainly be seeing each other again.
Writing fast paced fiction with emotional depth. If you've read this work, you'll know it is fast paced, emotionally driven fiction. I like my stories to move, no fluff, no filler. But I also want them to hit hard emotionally. So how do I do both? Honestly, it's all about writing in scenes. I write cinematically, focusing on dialogue, internal emotion, action and character chemistry. Every moment has to matter. I don't let the story stall and I don't overwrite introspection, flowery descriptions or play of place. I start with character and write inward out. I most likely need to think of the external world a bit more in my writing as I'm so focused on in the internal. Sometimes you know what they're going through emotionally because that was the purpose of the book, was really portraying the emotions and the struggles of what it means to be a woman. Working, raising a family, you know, having a partner, running a household. Just everything that women in the past didn't really have to have. And then just trying to.
Trying not to drown in amongst it all or lose your sense of self because it's really. As mothers and women, I certainly would be the last person to go. I would give my last food. If I only had enough food for say, my kids, then I would go without. You put yourself last in these situations and sometimes that can be really difficult. The pace stays high, but the stakes are always personal. With the writer, the hairdresser and the nurse. This meant weaving three perspectives, three emotional arcs and one overarching theme of connection, how these women come to lean on one another despite how different they are. It's heartbreak, hope and humour wrapped in a page turner. A Hybrid Heart Project this book is very much a hybrid heart project. I chose to self publish it under Zara Ellen because I wanted full control over how and when it came into the world. It didn't need permission, it didn't need to be told. That's the power of being a hybrid author.
I get to choose where a story fits best.
Some of my work goes to agents, publishers, the traditional route. But this book, this one was mined to shape, design and release on my timeline, in my voice and with my audience front and center. Self publishing let me move fast and true. It's a gift that hybrid authorship gives you the freedom to honour a story when it's ready. What I hope you feel I want this book to feel like recognition, connection. I want women to read it and think, oh, that's me. I felt that way. I thought I was the only one. I want you to laugh, to cry, to sigh with relief when a character finally says the things you've been holding in. I want you to see that even when things feel like they're falling apart, there's always space for reinvention, for friendship, for honesty, for the next right step. Because sometimes the women we lean on, whether for a cut and a colour or an emergency cup of tea or reading our messy manuscript, are the ones who quietly save us. So if the Writer, the Hairdresser and the Nurse sounds like a story that might speak to you or someone you know, you can grab a copy now from hybridauthor.com books or from Amazon as an ebook. I am currently getting the print book up around the place, but I'll talk about that on another episode. And if you've already read it, thank you. Truly. I'd love to hear what character or moment stuck with you the most. You can contact me joannybridauthor.com or via Instagram, JZ Morrell or Facebook or any of the social media platforms. Until next time, keep writing, keep reading and keep owning your hybrid path.
So there you have it folks. The Writer, the Hairdresser and the Nurse by Zara Ellen A little bit of behind the Book, the why and what. I hope that readers will get out from it. And, you know, mostly mums from school who've read it and they've. They've loved it and they've said that they they really connected with it and couldn't put it down. I've had some really good feedback. So the book to me is doing what it's meant to be doing, which is connect with women across the world. There's more to come in the series. I have started plotting and drafting the second book, the Lawyer, the Singer and the Server Again following suit, the lives of three women told from three women's perspectives, intertwined. There is crossover characters from the first book and celebrating new friendships and how they impact your Life in your 40s. Of course, this is book will probably come second to the Harlequin one, which might not be a good business move, but for me it's what feels right. Next time on the Hyperdultor podcast we have fiction with purpose Toby Hammerschlag on Apartheid, Resilience and Writing for Change Toby Hammerschlag grew up in South Africa, immigrating to Australia with her husband and two daughters in 1986.
She was a special education teacher for many years, specialising in literacy. While teaching, she would write passages and stories for her students when she couldn't find an appropriate text for them. After retiring from teaching, she did an oral history course with the Chief Oral History Librarian at the State Library of New South Wales.
She then interviewed people in order to preserve their family stories. Some of the characters in her recent novel have been inspired by these interviews. Her first book, the Rooftop, was published in 2015. It is a story of friendship between four young students from diverse cultural and social backgrounds. The book celebrates freedom and diversity. That book has been widely used in schools.
Looking out and beyond is her second novel. The research and writing of her novel has taken five years.
Toby and her husband live on the Upper North Shore of Sydney and is now a grandmother of five.
Fabulous interview coming up with Toby. I wish you well in your author adventure this week. That's it from me. Bye for now.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: That's the end for now.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: Authors, I hope you are further forward.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: 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 au to get your free author pass. It's Bye for now.
