Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello authors.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: I'm Joanne Morell, 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 ww.
Let's crack on with the episode.
[00:00:42] Speaker C: 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 on creative storytelling as an experience with Lee Lenar, and we chat about her series Anithya and how she's created and explore experience with these books through creative storytelling. Lee's tips for authors looking to provide their readers with an experience extending beyond their book and so much more. So it's something to think about, this interview coming up with Lee, that it's not just the book and the way that we write something. It's thinking about the reader reading the book and the kind of experience you want them to have. How do you want them to feel? How do you want to connect with them? It's thinking about your book, beyond the book and more from like a physical perspective, perspective from an internal dialogue. And this is from the reader's perspective and just the experience you want them to have. From first finding your book to picking it up to purchasing to buying to read through and beyond. It's definitely something that we are embracing in the 20th century and probably maybe before, but the options to create beautiful products, you know, package them nicely with little surprises or just there's all sorts of things. What I was trying to do mid year with the immersive experience bundles, there's just so much extension that we can provide our products. And this is what I love about the interview with Lee is her experiences through creative storytelling. And it's just food for thought on what how you can be unique, be hybrid and what you want to put out into the world that is beyond the book.
So in my author adventure this week, I have watched a film called the Fall Guy. Now this is not a new film, it's with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. So you've got your male and your female eye candy. And yeah, the reason I'm bringing it up is because I just, I absolutely loved it completely and it just to me felt like such a hybrid storytelling at its best you know, it incorporated and actually is an action, romance, comedy and drama of rolled into one. So you know, Hybrid is all about mixing and matching different genres, different writing styles, just playing it up and putting things differently, you know, doing something different I guess. And I just haven't ever seen a movie like this before. I just felt like it ticked every box. It had all these different elements and so if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's our sighting from Wikipedia The Fall guy is a 2024American action comedy film directed by David Leitch Hope I'm saying that right. It's L E I T C H and written by Drew Pierce. Loosely Based on the 1980s TV series, the plot follows a stuntman who's Ryan Gosling, working on his ex girlfriend Emily Blunt's directorial debut action film, only to find himself involved in a conspiracy surrounding the film's lead actor, Aaron Taylor Johnson. The cast also features Hannah Wadingham, Theresa Palmer, Stephanie Hughes and Winston Duke. The Fall guy premiered on March 12, 2024 and was released in the United States on May 3 by Universal Pictures and the film featured and the film received generally positive reviews from critics but underperformed at the box office, grossing 181 million worldwide against 125 to 150 million production budget and losing the studio around 50 million. So it's funny, lost money but because it was such an epic film to build probably in such a high street like high star cast. But I just, I absolutely loved it. I really did. Just for the simple fact that it had, you know, it had the love story, it had the action there also had a mystery. It just had so much going on and it was all incorporated really really well. And I just love different it was from anything I've ever seen and it just to me incorporates what we're all about here on the Hybrid Author podcast. So I have also been busy with talks. I did my final talk for this year, Getting Published, which was last Friday 29th November at Lesser Halls Mills Park Library. It was on 32 4. So that was the final workshop in the Written Word workshops run by the City of Gosnells. And it was a wonderful bunch of workshops that were put together for, you know, National Novel Writing Month November and I had some lovely people attend. I probably overloaded them with information, but I really have a lot to share, especially in the Getting published Fear talked about traditional publishing, self publishing, hybrid publishing, and I also put in there AI Publishing because there is an article that's circulating. It's probably old now by a week or two. The, you know, the author sphere about a new publishing publishing company called SPINES that are launching in 2025 and they are launching as an AI publisher. So basically any authors that decide to go through SPINES will pay, like hybrid publishing. They will pay a fee quite substantial that they're asking for. I think it was around $5,000, which is a lot. But they said that they want to publish 8,000 books in one year, which is a hell of a lot of books. And I just have to say when I read that article, my stomach sort of churned a little bit because you know, it's sort of like, so if you go for that company, they're going to be using AI for editing, AI for design, AI to publish a book. So it's all robot technology, computer based publishing over say any kind of human element in there at all. So I don't know how I feel about that. I think that it's probably just going to be another option for publishing. If people want to go down that route, they absolutely can. It's up to them. It is a bit concerning about the amount that they can churn out. You sort of feel, well, how can I already get, how can I already get noticed in such a crowded market? And if this is the crowded market we can expect now, it's a bit scary. But then this is what this pay to play is, I suppose. These paid advertising where you're actually directly paying to reach a specific target audience is where, you know, where we're all at, I suppose. And the only other thing I can think of is thinking about your target audiences and in more of the human way, you know, in person rather than online. Although online you can generally reach masses rather than in person. Events are pretty small. But then, you know, you've got the power of word of mouth. And I would never discredit that way of selling. Like I was at the gym this morning and there was a lady there that I knew and she was chatting about a really bad meal she had at this place last night. And as soon as you know, she's, she's now told two other people about that, I'm now telling you about it and that's a bigger audience and so forth. So you just never know who's talking about you or in what light. And so yeah, I'd maybe think of who your target audience is. How can you reach them in a human capacity, you know, face to face and yeah, just starting to think about different ways of being seen in this heavy, crowded market. But in a way, I don't feel AI is going to replace the different aspects of publishing. It is just all going to be. It might be integrated. You know, our read that HarperCollins are signing a contract with these tools and it's. Everybody's going to be using them. Well, not everyone, but most people have adopted them into their workplace because they can see the benefits of faster, more smarter, productive working ways in various aspects. And I think that we'll all just kind of learn to live with them. I don't think print's going anywhere. I don't think any forums are going to be of storytelling and books and writing and stuff is going to be extinct by any means. You know, they said that about the digital stuff with the print book, but, you know, everybody still loves print and it's still really important. And in a way, a lot of people are reverting back to the traditional ways of doing things from the beginning. And that's what I love about Lee's interview that's coming up. She talks about the first sort of storytelling elements and imagination and things, which is great. Yeah. My advice, if you've seen that article, you've read it again, I would love to know your thoughts, but I think this is just another publishing option that people can have. Don't be judgy about it. If that's how someone wants to go down that route, that's up to them. It's their choice at the end of the day. But don't let you lose sight of your work and what you want to do. Like, for me personally, I'm at this stage of my, like, writing and career and author business. I'm switching off a lot of noise to do with intake that I'm. I put into myself because I'm getting overwhelmed by it and I just need to focus on my work, me, what I'm doing and be happy that way. And quiet. The noise is what I suggest. So don't. And don't be panicked. I don't think it's. If you. It's all about the story at the end of the day, it's not great for people's jobs. It feels that way, but then again I feel like they could maybe somehow incorporate that into their business and say this is the AI option, which can get it done quicker, faster, but you know, and maybe for a cheaper fee. But then there's the human option, which is obviously going to take longer, but you're getting a more human, detailed look at your editorial process or. Yeah, all sorts of stuff. I'VE got to say, for my cover design, I looked at a free cover through Canva for my women's fiction the Writer, the Hairdresser and the Nurse by Zara Ellen. And the COVID was what I saw. This cover, I just had a look and it actually sparked the idea for the whole series. So it was, it was important to me to keep that cover. But I went through a local artist who did put his own spin on it. So it wasn't, it was nowhere near the same as it at all. Same sort of premise, you know, one block color and one faceless person on there. But his version was so much better. It was absolutely better. So just keep that in mind and don't panic. Ride the waves, watch how it goes. But know that you don't have to, you don't have to get involved or anything. Stay true to who you are and what you want to do. And good stories will always be told and they will always be popular. So just focus on writing what is true to your heart. Must Apologize the Hybrid Author Website the podcasts, I think there's about four or five episodes that you can listen to and then the backlist is actually not it's to do with Spotify. I followed up with my web design lady and they have either changed their policies or something like that. So I've got to go through and update all the links. So you'll be able to listen to the backlist soon. You can obviously listen to the podcast where other platforms like Apple or Spotify itself and listen to the backlist, no problem while I'm updating the website. So I do apologize for that technical issue there if you're wondering what's going on. So in podcast news, you can expect some changes for the Hybrid Author podcast going forward in 2025 and now you can expect episodes to drop on Sundays going forward. I will announce more new changes in the coming weeks and I'll most likely do a big wrap up on how to thrive in 2025. And you know, which is all the expectations what you can expect from me. Other episodes that are coming up as the usual, you know, Christmas mashups as well as other wonderful guests and less lessons learned. So it is almost school holidays. My eldest daughter's finished up now and my other one finishes up for the next week and it's almost Christmas and you know we've, we've put our tree up, we have decorated about half of it so the puppy doesn't get all the bottom bits and almost the end of the year as you know thinking about the new year and all it's going to bring. I'm excited. I'm excited about the decisions I'm making. I'm excited about how I feel, where I want to take this business, and I am excited for 2025 how.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Thorn creative where beautiful websites for authors are brought to life no matter what stage you're at with your writing, your stories deserve a dedicated space to shine. Whether you're just starting out or have a bookshelf full of bestsellers, your website is the hub of your author business, binding everything you and your books offer together. Thorn Creative can nurture all aspects of redesigning your old site or start afresh. From the initial design, they can provide ongoing hosting and maintenance to marketing your books online, saving you time, money and stress trying to wrangle your site yourself. An author website built by Thorn Creative can easily direct readers to your favorite retailers, your publisher, or simply set you up to sell to them directly. The options are endless. Thorn Creative have worked with many authors across all genres and know what goes into good, functional working author websites to sell books. Head on over to thorncreative.com websitesfor authors to read author and publisher testimonials and to see what they offer and some of the sites they've created.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Lee Lenore is the author of fantasy series Anithia. Lee's storytelling draws attention to historic worlds, female mythology. Her love of the plant kingdom finished off with a sprinkle of magic. Today, Lee is a well regarded self published author in the writing and publishing community. Welcome to the Hybrid Author podcast, Lee.
[00:13:52] Speaker D: Thank you. It's lovely to be here.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: Oh, we're honored to have you. Thanks for joining us.
[00:13:57] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:13:57] Speaker C: Please tell us, how did you come.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: To be a writer?
[00:14:00] Speaker D: What a story.
[00:14:02] Speaker C: We can't wait to hear it.
[00:14:05] Speaker D: I began writing lyrics with my guitar in hand a long time ago, say 15, maybe even longer years ago. And I kept on having this repetitive theme come through all of my songs. Same female character. So I thought maybe, just maybe this story, this song has got more to it. So I got out a book and started writing, thinking I'd get, you know, a page or two in and think, no, I'll go back to the songwriting. But four years later I had myself a finished book.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:14:42] Speaker D: So, yes. So. So it began with the. I think the story would have come out of me in some way through creative means regardless. But yeah, the, the story, the songwriting sort of kick started my love for the storytelling. Yeah, yeah. And the writing. Yeah. Oh, I love especially that. I don't know Music behind things. I don't know. For me too, creativity and music, they sort of. Even when I'm writing, it helps me get in the mood or it's very.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Hybrid for this podcast. Like, we. We like to talk about doing things not just one way. And I love that sort of two means of creativity have kind of connected for you and then something's come out of that. So that's really special, I think.
[00:15:23] Speaker D: Yeah, definitely.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:24] Speaker D: And because I've always been a love music, my whole life I've loved. Yeah. So it was nice to. For Anithya to come through me, through that channel of music, to be inspired in that fashion.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: So, yeah, always music, not so much the writing, but writing music, not so much. Say pros.
[00:15:42] Speaker D: No, it would have been more. More music. Yeah. And I think I was fascinated always with lyrics my whole life. So. Yeah.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, fantastic. That's great. Well, yeah, please tell us, you know, tell us about the fantasy series Anethia. You know, today's topic is.
Today's topic is on creative storytelling as an experience. So you know how you've kind of created an experience with these books and through your storytelling.
[00:16:07] Speaker D: Yes. So look, Anithya is an enchanting female mythology about a young woman. She discovers her connection to a secret world, world of esoteric women, I guess you'd say, or esoteric beings that are called Anithians. But it starts off on a Florida pier in the 60s. So it's. Then it sort of goes on a journey through her mysterious past where she unlocks all of her creativity. So it's very heavily based on letting go of the education she had and the conformity of the 60s and, you know, previous to allowing her creativity to come out of her. So it's. It's really it for me, a lot of ways, it's a great big tug of war between your humanness and your education against your innate creativity and what you may bring to the world that's not educated in you. So it sparks a lot of rumination between the twos and throws of doing what you meant to do and from the out outside to following what you innately have within you to create in the world. It's a. It's a journey. It's a journey. There's four books in the series. I've written all of them. But editing, as we all know, editing is another ball game in itself. So, yeah, I fully edited three. And the experience side of things is. I guess it's not for everyone the way. How would I say this? The experience comes from like the premise or my style of writing writing. I don't plot or do acts or plot out characters. I know that's the way some people do, but not. That doesn't work for me and my creativity. I simply like hand myself over to my imagination and just let the story write itself. Yeah, yeah. And I think the more I do that, the better the story is. Like my intellectual can't come up with that. But when my imagination has the freedom, the story just flow. Like I couldn't have thought that out of that plot line or it just. Yeah. And I. I think my style goes back to. I feel the origins of storytelling wasn't about obviously making money or the top 10 bestsellers list for me. It was to free your imagination into a narrative to serve as knowledge for the world.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:18:31] Speaker D: So my. Yeah, my storytelling goes back to more the original side of storytelling because I think imaginations are far more intelligent. The other way of writing books for me anyway, not. Not for everyone, just for me. So the experience of the creativity enhances my stories, I feel.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: Does that take a.
[00:18:52] Speaker C: Take a while?
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Because some people feel like when you're in the writing and things to sit down to tune into your imagination, does it come to you sometimes and then other times not so much or it's always, go, go, go, you're just flooded.
[00:19:04] Speaker D: No, no, no. And I say that, that it's like simple and it just flows if as soon as I surrender. But surrendering to me and letting my IM Its freedom came from years of meditation. It came from years of letting go.
Years of, I guess, discovering who I am as a woman. So, yeah, so now it's easier to write and get in that creative zone. But yeah, I. I don't believe you could just drop your head of thoughts and your intellect and I'll let your imagination, you know, right away at the beginning. So, yeah, it's been a process, but yeah, that is. That is now what I've established. And so writing for me now, I can just simply just drop straight into that zone of, okay, what do you want me to write today?
[00:19:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's amazing. I love that sort of vision and that description that it is quite a meditative thing. Yeah, just sit down and write and tune into your imagination. That's really a good way to put it because a lot of people put it as a lot of writers can get a bit stressed and you know, there's that whole. The blank page and the writer's block and all those sort of things. If you approach it, how I Guess you do. Saying it's, you know, this special, special sort of unique gift that you can tune into and just. Oh, that's. That feels a lot more soothing and rather than all the internal, other crap people grapple with when they want to sit down and write.
[00:20:25] Speaker D: Yeah. And I. Look, I honestly believe that when you write from your imagination, your creativity and you're not controlling it, that's what people connect to. I think that's what people have connected to with Anithya. It's my. It's. It's as if my imagination speaks directly to their imagination. There's. It. I don't know, an energy about it that. That makes it like an experience rather than thought to how I want to hook my readers in. It's. There's a freedom to it. And I have a lot of women who say that my books are so calming. There's a flow.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Did you set for it to be that way? Like to. To give off that sort of atmosphere and tone. But that's just what's come out.
[00:21:07] Speaker D: It always had. Because aa, the main female character, always had a dreaminess to her thought processes. And so I've got to get in her head to write what she's thinking and feeling. And she was always different from her peers. It does have that wisp of, you know, dreaminess about it. So that was easier to get into.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: So when you.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: You do this and then you get to the end, obviously the editing, I suppose is a bit different. Is that when you go back and kind of review the story as a whole and then. And then see that it does all connect together.
[00:21:39] Speaker D: Yeah. It's different milestones. I feel the writing, the first bit, the first draft. Just write. Just. Just let it flow. Don't. I don't correct. I don't anything. I don't interrupt it. I just write. It comes that quickly to me. I don't have time to write. So sometimes I'll just have the worst spelling or the. It's just coming and I'm just letting it flow. Then I get to the next round where I go back through the. You know, the editing. I honestly not embarrassed to say I would have to edit my books 20, 30 times before they're ready to go out. And the editing process mindset does change because I have to take out all those filler words and I have to not repeat words and make sentences sound better. So it's a different. It's a different thought process. Definitely. It's not as.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: It's.
[00:22:33] Speaker D: It's the. Maybe the opposite to how it came about in the first place.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. And do you work with a team, obviously, self publishing and things like that? Do you have another. Do you have editorials and cover designers and things?
[00:22:44] Speaker D: Yeah, I have a cover design designer in America. I use. She was long process to find because I'm a little bit picky on my. Does my artwork be perfect? Yeah, it had to be really good. I don't know. For me. I mean, for me, for my. From my viewing, it had to look a certain way and. And I got her, so she's fantastic, Hannah. And I do have editors that I've used, but because I made. It's not a mistake because. Because the story is what it is. But I chose to write a book set in Florida. Therefore, I'm Australian, I don't speak American style. And so I have done so much research into finding out the words, the Americanisms, as they're called, and I do a fair chunk of that on that, you know, in. In those 20 rounds of edits. But the last, last. The last edit will go back to an editor in America. And she tells me, yes, it's not called your bathers. It's called, you know, this in America or all the things that I don't pick up. Yeah. She helps me fine tune those.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Did you. Was there a specific reason you've set it in Florida? Have you been there yourself? Or. It's just. It's.
[00:23:59] Speaker D: No, no, it was. Yeah, it was just what my. Again, what their story was telling me where it was going to be set. However, it's not just set. That's the. I guess you'd say the fantasy side of the book. Because Isola gets moved with her family to England and there she attends or she visits. It's like a library, book store, bookshop, and any book she picks off the. Off the shelf, she disappears into that lifetime and becomes the main female character in that life. Life.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: All right. Yeah.
[00:24:35] Speaker D: So that. That's the fantasies element of the story and the time slip and the historical. Because she picks up books, you know, from 1820s in America and all around the countryside, all around the world. So therefore I've had to. It's really tested me, this book, because then I've had to learn about Florida in 1820 and in Italy back when, you know, in the Kingdom of Naples. And so, yeah, it's been. It's been an education system.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, A good one as well. It's super interesting. So. And did you. Self publishing was always. That's what you were going to do. You didn't think about joining the traditional market.
[00:25:13] Speaker D: I did four or five seconds. I wanted to be a self publisher. I like that thought because I don't like to be told what to do.
[00:25:22] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I'm the same.
[00:25:25] Speaker D: I'm very strong minded in that sense. However, when I finished writing the first book I thought I'm going to send it off because it's ready now and see what if I can get. I think it was Penguin or Random House. I think they're the same now back then though. But I sent it in and I'm embarrassed of myself now to think I sent them the copy that I sent them because what I know now, that book was not up to scratch to be sent to any publishing house. But when it was obviously rejected it also just sent me off in the path of I'm just gonna, I'm gonna do this myself. I can do this myself. I want to keep my, keep my intellectual property. I don't want someone to tell me it needs be called this. I don't want anyone to change anything. I'm sticking true to my imagination and this is what it wants in the world. So this is what it's getting.
[00:26:17] Speaker A: Yeah, no good on you. That's great. And it sounds like it's, it's meant to be like, you know, I feel like we're gifted with these ideas and.
[00:26:23] Speaker C: Then, you know, I've been around quite.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: A long time in the industry and had loads of critiques over public with different publishers and things through specific stuff.
[00:26:32] Speaker C: And the penny dropped for me pretty early on that I had got a.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: Critique with for I think it was middle grade book. And one publisher, yes said, and again like yourself, the idea because there was cornfields and things was set in Iowa and I've never been to Iowa and sometimes that can be a bit of a problem for people. And why Iowa? And I thought well this is just what comes to mind with the cornfields. And it was magic realism as well. So it wasn't, that wasn't really where it was kind of all set. And she, you know, said oh, would you consider, you know, putting it in Australia?
[00:27:01] Speaker C: Australia?
[00:27:02] Speaker A: So I'd spent like the next sort of year rewriting this thing to be in Australia. Oh no, had another our critique with the publisher. This was on our street. I used to go and she said something completely different and I thought hang on. Well she said this. You say that someone else is going to say something else. I'm just going to keep changing my work to suit what you want.
Yeah, I think you See it one way, you keep it that way and you go for your life if you wholeheartedly know it's supposed to be that and believe that. But you know, it's different for everybody. Some people feel that they want the expertise of somebody else and a lot of people say that they're work for whatever reason. The finished result they're always pretty happy with I think when they go down the tread.
[00:27:41] Speaker C: Right.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: But yeah, no, I definitely what you're saying as well. I think it's fantastic and the book looks amazing and I love what you were saying when you started at the beginning of talking about it. It sounds very current. You know how we're. We kind of. Especially in some cultures you're ingrained to live your life a certain way. Especially the old school. You know, stay in school, go and get a uni degree, get a house, get. Get married, the two point whatever, children and find a secure job with a company. Idealistics to me are out the window now and I feel like. I don't think she's listening to the podcast but my mother.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: She always says.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: You know like nobody can to me authorship as well.
[00:28:20] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: They just don't. I feel like you fight constantly people. This is what I'm doing as a career. This is the job I want to take. But I don't really feel like I get met seriously with this industry with people in my life. Sometimes they don't see it as a viable career or that it's, you know, or it's a real job because you're.
[00:28:38] Speaker C: Not going out to every day 9.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: To 5 to work for somebody to earn no money that way. It's.
[00:28:43] Speaker C: You know, I don't.
[00:28:44] Speaker D: Yeah, I know it's. It's very tricky because if I had have been raised to. With the spotlight on my. What I was meant to bring to the world and not about money but just about happiness. My life would have been a completely different story. And I wouldn't be writing this book in my 30s, 40s. I'd be writing this book in my 20s because it would have stayed true. I would have stayed true to what I'm here to bring into the world.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:12] Speaker D: Not what the world wants me to bring into it.
[00:29:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:29:16] Speaker D: And that individual, that individualism of every. Like this is a bit my crazy woman thinking. But I, I feel that imaginations and creativity was once the be all and end all imaginations would have kept people alive. Not money.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:35] Speaker D: The, the initiative to think a certain. To let your brain create or your imagination Create something is what kept in things happening to keep us in survival, to survive.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:50] Speaker D: And that goes back to the origins of storytelling. Like you, you needed your imagination because things weren't once upon a time taught to you. There was no school. You had to use your imagination. And somehow through the history of time, our imaginations creativity were dumbed down and now it's like the non existent Ye. Or you go to a music school to learn how to play music. You would have taught yourself once upon a time, you go to school to learn how to write. You would have.
The people that wrote back then, they, they didn't, they wouldn't have had that. They would have. It would have been the free flow of their imagination and creativity doing what they do best.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:31] Speaker D: So I think that being reinstated into children creates unique individual stories and artwork and creativity because we're not being taught how better to imagine. Yeah. We're letting the, you know, the fundamental structure of our own creativity do the job.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Yeah, No, I absolutely agree. And my kids used to be super imaginative and you know, the day was just saying if you take away their, their games and their, their whatever, they're just sort of standing there saying, well, we don't know what to do. And it's like, well, yeah, make something up. Like we used to make up games all the time, but now they have everything's just at their hands when they want it. Yeah. A click of a button, they can get whatever they want. They don't have to think about anything. And it's, it's only going to get.
[00:31:14] Speaker C: Worse with all these tools and stuff.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: So. I know what you're saying. Yeah.
[00:31:18] Speaker D: Yes. I think it's as if they're doing it, my know, whether it's for a reason or what. But when stories I believe like mine come along, it makes the reader sit back and think again. Oh, I wonder what it was that I love to do that I find forgotten.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. No, that's really important as well. But you, you've shared so much already, Leigh. But do you have any tips that you'd like to share with authors who.
[00:31:43] Speaker C: You know, they want to maybe go.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: Beyond their book either in the beginning or during writing it and things like that. And think about the reader, think about the experience they want to provide them, either by storytelling or, you know, Anna Featherstone talks about like marketing beyond the book. And there's the Kickstarter campaign I'm running at the moment, which I'm trying to do these kind of book bundles which I say immersive experience because My women's fiction, they get together for these pinot and platter nights. And I thought, how cool would it be that people read the book and then they could have their own pinot and platter nights. So sort of like a gathering. So there's lots of different things I think that we can do. Do you have any tips for authors looking to. To think about that?
[00:32:19] Speaker D: I think one thing for writing tips that is very underrated and that's exercise. I don't know if it's for everyone, but I have done a lot of listening and I don't know what it is the scientific side of it, but exercise releases something in my brain that just starts me for writing.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:40] Speaker D: I don't know what it is. I have heard other people like on think tank and yeah, there's something that happens with chemicals, whatever, within your brain when you exercise. It's just gold for me. And I don't think many people speak on that. So maybe if you do have writer's block, going for a walk. Going, going, exercising and yeah, see what happens. See what happens. But I guess I've said it the whole way through this conversation. Surrender, surrender, surrender. You want to get that story out. You want it to be unique. The more you surrender, you'll be surprised. It's almost like a muscle.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:33:19] Speaker D: For me, yeah. Marketing. I'm not, I'm not the greatest marketer. I've had to learn that, so. And it's not a tip for writing, but writing isn't just writing anymore. Writing is the marketing as much maybe as the writing. When you don't, when you don't know how to do something, there is a world of information out there like where putting out now that help writers to learn what they don't know. So, yeah, get busy on YouTube. Learn how to market.
If you write the story that you long to hear that you can't find, that's a gateway in. I think if you, if you want to bring, you know, something new and different into the world, just writing that thing that you can't seem to find, I think that's a good tip. And, and never don't be scared to. With some of the things you want to write. Actually just really be open and honest and, and sometimes I write things I think, oh, you know, you're going to be too far down. No, no, just. Yeah, be honest. Let it out. Just let it out because, you know, who cares?
We're here for the experience. We're here to have fun. We're here to share things and, and Someone out there will love that. Yeah.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:37] Speaker D: And I know I never, I never write for the. For the masses. I write. My audience is me. To be honest, my. On my audience. If I love what I'm writing, surely there'll be somebody else out there like me that will love it. So.
[00:34:52] Speaker A: Makes sense though, doesn't it? It makes sense.
[00:34:54] Speaker C: If you're enjoying it, you like it.
[00:34:55] Speaker A: Someone else must like it. If you're not, then why do it?
Yeah, yeah, no, that's all that, that's really. No, really fantastic tips, Lee. Thank you so much. And what comes next after the Anithia series? Have you thought that far ahead or you've got. Is it book three coming up?
[00:35:10] Speaker D: Yep. I don't have enough time in this life to get done what I have to get done.
[00:35:15] Speaker C: Not being a mom yet.
[00:35:17] Speaker D: Oh yeah. So I'm. I'm off to America, to Hawaii and do a. Not a book launch but a book tour over there.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: Not Florida then.
[00:35:25] Speaker D: Oh look, I wish, I wish. No, not that far over that side. No, not this time. Down the track definitely though. So I, I have got books within the books that I could write offshoots easily.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:35:40] Speaker D: To the. To the point where I have to sometimes just get that book out of potential story ideas and just constantly jotting out, oh my God, this is another good avenue. I could go off with the book or. And then there's the ans as such. Natural, spiritual. Oh, I don't want. Yeah, there's so natural and original that I could almost write a sort of non fiction book out of their teachings.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: So amazing.
[00:36:10] Speaker D: That's another. That's another book I'll have to write. So I better not sleep for the next 20 years just to get all this paper sleep.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: So. Yeah, well we can't wait to see that one, Lee. And everything you do in the future. And it all sounds fantastic and I'm sure the listeners are dying to know where they can go and get Anithia and find out where they can find you and everything you do on and offline.
[00:36:30] Speaker D: Yes, yes, yes. You can go to my website, lena.com Purchase the book. However, it's also on all the other online stores, Amazon and all the rest of it audio. Haven't got there yet. I've been looking into it. It's a little bit expensive. So yeah, that's, that's not a. That's not happening just at this moment because I have to think that I've got four books, two or five books or even more to put into audio. So if I start off with one. It's going to be the, you know, the four that I have to consider sitter. So at the moment I'll finish writing the NF series and then look into audio. But yeah, but yeah, you can find me on Instagram, Facebook. I do all that stuff. Not that it's big on my agenda, but you have to be in the game. As my friend says, you can't sell a secret. So putting it out there to everyone, I like that.
[00:37:19] Speaker A: That is amazingly. Thanks again for your time and expertise.
[00:37:23] Speaker D: Oh, you're welcome. Thanks for having me on the show and good luck with all your creative journeys.
[00:37:27] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:37:35] Speaker C: So there you have it, folks. The truly whimsical and wonderful Lee Lenar. Lee is such a beautiful lady. If you are looking for an exceptional experience to give someone this Christmas or yourself, make it the Anithia series. You can head over to Lee's website, links in the show notes and check out her books there. But we do have next on the Hybrid Author podcast, science fiction author because it doesn't always have to be about Christmas things in December, Michael Bland on how government surveillance technology featured in Michael's trilogy is currently becoming a reality and where it could go in future. I wish you well in your author adventure this next week. That's it for me. Bye for now.
[00:38:08] Speaker B: That's the end for now, authors. I hope you're further forward in your author adventure after listening, and I hope.
[00:38:13] Speaker C: You'Ll listen next time.
[00:38:14] Speaker B: Remember to head on over to the Hybrid Author website at www.hybridauthor.com to get your free author pass.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: It's bye for now.
