Ask the Author: Rebecca Laffar-Smith
Answered Questions (7)
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
I've currently got my attention scattered on quite a few projects. It's exciting to see them all evolving through their various stages of development.
In Fantasy Fiction:
The Blood of the Nagaran series is well on it's way. Books two and three in the series are written but undergoing solid edits. Book one in the series is being revisited to age it down to Young Adult rather than the New Adult the existing edition has been. And books four and five in the series are planned with writing ready to begin later this year. There is also a half-written spin off in the story world that I'll be finishing.
In Romance Fiction:
I'm developing a detailed story world around a fictionalised representation of 1070's Normandy. In this story world I'm developing lands and their nobles and peons with rich potential for an expansive series of romance. There are already five stories in this world that are being planned and there is a LOT of room for quite an expansive series of stand-alone medieval romances coming from this story world. I'm very excited to see it evolve but at the moment it is deep in the research and planning stage. I'm getting to know my characters, my world, and the medieval tone of the stories that will come from it.
In Children's Fiction:
I'm looking for a publisher for One Last Goodbye which is a beautiful story ideal for an older children's picture book for 9-12yos offering insight into the beautiful and touching funeral traditions around the world.
My kids and I are also well under way planning book five of the P.I. Penguin series and bouncing around ideas for books 6 through 12. No set schedule on when those will be released but now that I'm no longer accepting submissions at Aulexic I have more time to spend on these books rather than on books by other authors.
In Non-Fiction:
I definitely want to get a print and digital edition of my Plot Storming book ready in time for the Write Along The Highway Writers Festival this year. I've had some great feedback where people asked that I include more examples from other books/movies and so I'll be adding those. I'm also trying to work out the best way to include the worksheets and it's possible give the increasing scope of the book that the worksheets will be an additional "workbook" set up to allow writers to purchase a workbook for each story they are developing. I'm very excited about this and it needs to be on a very tight deadline to make it for 2017 so I have to bump this one to the forefront of my schedule at the moment.
In Aulexic:
I still need to finalise my obligations to the writers currently signed to Aulexic. We are winding down the publishing house. It had grown bigger than I could manage and so instead I'll be reducing it's load to a small imprint that publishers mostly the work of Bec J. Smith. But before it's wound down completely I need to do layouts and design for two titles I signed before we started winding down. I'll then offer those to the authors along with their rights and show them how to set the books up so that they can publish and distribute them as indie authors. It's sad to wind down those beautiful opportunities but it has been important for me to return my focus to my own creations rather than taking on more than I can manage for myself. As you can see, I have plenty of my own writing to keep me very busy, not to mention coordinating a three month long writers festival that spans the entire state, so it has been important to make sacrifices and choose to let go of certain projects.
The exciting thing is, there is a LOT in the works. And I'm very excited about everything I'm working on. :-)
In Fantasy Fiction:
The Blood of the Nagaran series is well on it's way. Books two and three in the series are written but undergoing solid edits. Book one in the series is being revisited to age it down to Young Adult rather than the New Adult the existing edition has been. And books four and five in the series are planned with writing ready to begin later this year. There is also a half-written spin off in the story world that I'll be finishing.
In Romance Fiction:
I'm developing a detailed story world around a fictionalised representation of 1070's Normandy. In this story world I'm developing lands and their nobles and peons with rich potential for an expansive series of romance. There are already five stories in this world that are being planned and there is a LOT of room for quite an expansive series of stand-alone medieval romances coming from this story world. I'm very excited to see it evolve but at the moment it is deep in the research and planning stage. I'm getting to know my characters, my world, and the medieval tone of the stories that will come from it.
In Children's Fiction:
I'm looking for a publisher for One Last Goodbye which is a beautiful story ideal for an older children's picture book for 9-12yos offering insight into the beautiful and touching funeral traditions around the world.
My kids and I are also well under way planning book five of the P.I. Penguin series and bouncing around ideas for books 6 through 12. No set schedule on when those will be released but now that I'm no longer accepting submissions at Aulexic I have more time to spend on these books rather than on books by other authors.
In Non-Fiction:
I definitely want to get a print and digital edition of my Plot Storming book ready in time for the Write Along The Highway Writers Festival this year. I've had some great feedback where people asked that I include more examples from other books/movies and so I'll be adding those. I'm also trying to work out the best way to include the worksheets and it's possible give the increasing scope of the book that the worksheets will be an additional "workbook" set up to allow writers to purchase a workbook for each story they are developing. I'm very excited about this and it needs to be on a very tight deadline to make it for 2017 so I have to bump this one to the forefront of my schedule at the moment.
In Aulexic:
I still need to finalise my obligations to the writers currently signed to Aulexic. We are winding down the publishing house. It had grown bigger than I could manage and so instead I'll be reducing it's load to a small imprint that publishers mostly the work of Bec J. Smith. But before it's wound down completely I need to do layouts and design for two titles I signed before we started winding down. I'll then offer those to the authors along with their rights and show them how to set the books up so that they can publish and distribute them as indie authors. It's sad to wind down those beautiful opportunities but it has been important for me to return my focus to my own creations rather than taking on more than I can manage for myself. As you can see, I have plenty of my own writing to keep me very busy, not to mention coordinating a three month long writers festival that spans the entire state, so it has been important to make sacrifices and choose to let go of certain projects.
The exciting thing is, there is a LOT in the works. And I'm very excited about everything I'm working on. :-)
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
The best advice I have is to earn your stripes by writing, a LOT. The more you write and finish, even if the books are bad and you think they can't be salvaged, the more you'll learn through the process. In fact, writing complete manuscripts is a much more effective way to learn the craft than to labour over a single manuscript attempted to perfect it. So write a lot, fail often, and you'll be amazed how frequently you write well even if in the moment you feel like everything you write is terrible. So yes, my advice for aspiring writers is rather cliché but it is to write, and write a lot. Quantity over quality; because everything can be fixed in edits except a blank page.
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
It's hard to define "most recent" so I'm going to talk about the one that's recently finished, written, and ready to be published.
"One Last Goodbye" is what I fondly refer to as my "funeral book". It's the story of a young boy discovering the many and varied "why" of funeral traditions from cultures around the world in a very short, simple, sweet, picture book.
The story came to me when my then 11 year old son who is Autistic, couldn't understand why we needed to attend my grandmother's funeral. We had all been very close to Grandy and the funeral was an important way for our family to acknowledge her death, but being very literal and pragmatic, my son didn't understand what it was about and why it was necessary. "One Last Goodbye" was my answer to him, and to all children who are often facing the first funeral they attend at around the same age. It shows children that these traditions are important and are celebrated all around the world in many ways, for many reasons, but in all traditions, a funeral is a chance to say "One Last Goodbye" to a treasured loved one now lost.
"One Last Goodbye" is what I fondly refer to as my "funeral book". It's the story of a young boy discovering the many and varied "why" of funeral traditions from cultures around the world in a very short, simple, sweet, picture book.
The story came to me when my then 11 year old son who is Autistic, couldn't understand why we needed to attend my grandmother's funeral. We had all been very close to Grandy and the funeral was an important way for our family to acknowledge her death, but being very literal and pragmatic, my son didn't understand what it was about and why it was necessary. "One Last Goodbye" was my answer to him, and to all children who are often facing the first funeral they attend at around the same age. It shows children that these traditions are important and are celebrated all around the world in many ways, for many reasons, but in all traditions, a funeral is a chance to say "One Last Goodbye" to a treasured loved one now lost.
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
This year I'm spending a lot of time reading non-fiction, particularly about Dyslexia, Autism, and Business. But I also discovered that I haven't read everything Traci Harding has written so I'm also spending reading time this year finding and devouring the rest of her books. I'd love to know what's on YOUR reading list! Send me an email to admin@aulexic.com.au and let me know. :-)
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
I've found writer's block is usually a sign that I'm trying to force the story in a direction it or the characters don't want to go. Because I plot my stories before I begin writing them, I usually have a pretty good sense of where I want the story to go. The trouble is, stories change and evolve as you tell them. Characters can take on a life of their own and so the original plan is never what ends up being the final book. Whenever I hit the wall of writer's block is has been because I've been trying to stick to the plan when the plan no longer works. So, I stop, assess the story, retweak my outline, and let the story take me where it's supposed to go.
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
Discovering stories and characters. I love that from tiny fragments of ideas we can build who worlds and lifetimes. I love being able to explore those, delve deep into what makes my characters tick, draw on those experiences to create a rich life and explore the stories of those lives. It's an ultimate expression of creative curiosity.
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
I can't really say there's much "mystery" in my real life but I do think I'd really love to share the story of my brother, Gaelon, in a book at some point in the future. My brother was born with Xeroderma Pigmentosum; which basically means his skin didn't produce the pigments that protect it from sun damage and so all exposure to the sun was deadly. He was diagnosed at 18 months of age and my family was told he wouldn't live beyond his fifth birthday. He lived to see 27 birthdays. His story is inspirational and has played a large role in shaping the person I became. I'd love to share that in a book someday.
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