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Activated Authors
By Activated AuthorsArts
Activated Authors episodes
- #075: J Benjamin – Learning from your failures, writing authentic LQBTQ+ characters, and networking with authors.
J. Benjamin is a sci-fi writer with a passion for space opera and aliens. He’s been writing since the 7th grade. However, it wasn’t until 2019 that he published his first novel, A Spacetime Tale.
J.’s love for understanding the universe started as a kid, growing up in South Florida, watching the space shuttles take off from his backyard. He studied at the University of Arizona, which only deepened his curiosity for science.
J. loves to imagine what is possible. He looks at the Universe, the pictures from Hubble, and likes to believe there is something beyond them other than static photos of stars and nebulae. When not busy writing, J works in the tech industry. His passions include yoga, running, rowing and Worms multiplayer. Burritos and Middle Eastern are his go-to cuisines.
In this episode we go deep into:
- Why J loves the Worms video game
- How J’s author journey began
- J’s journey from fantasy to science fiction
- What it looks like to take writing seriously for the first time
- How to overcome failure and keep moving forward
- Following where the trails go, despite nothing seeming to go as planned
- They key to understanding your genre
- J’s influences in science-fiction
- How to project a possible future and place it in your fiction
- Paying attention to current political and technological advancements to inform your writing
- Why it’s important to include LGBTQ+ characters in your work where possible
- How to include LQBTQ+ characters in an authentic way
- How J has built his reader fanbase
- How to network with other authors
- Why J writes
J answers questions from Patrons:
David Hines: I have read that in Sci-fi, the science needs to be accurate/believable. Is this essential or can something just be made up, not fully explained and still work for the story?
Find out more about J:
https://www.jbenjamin.pub/
https://www.facebook.com/JBenjaminAuthor
Links from the show:
Space-time Tale https://www.amazon.com/Spacetime-Tale-J-Benjamin-ebook/dp/B081DYKD5W/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Get your Great Writers Share merchandise!
https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch/gws
GWS Press books:
Collaboration for Authors: https://books2read.com/u/3G2jLn
Special thanks to:
Intro vocals: Persephone Rose
Show theme: Karl Hughes
Become a Patron of the show! Get exclusive bonus content, find your tribe, and get early access to all episodes.
Thank you to my patrons:
David Hines
Harley Christensen
Jenn Mitchell
Innes Richens
Michael Anderle
Yanni Jade
Jo
Sacha Black
Laura K
Crys Cain
Samantha Frost
Victoria LK Williams
Brett Jackson
Faye Trask
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
52 min - #074: Michelle Raab – The psychology of writing and selling and redefining the world of work and family.
Michelle Raab is not the biggest fan of talking about herself unless you ask her about what her current passion project is, then she’ll talk your ear off. If she’s into something, she’s all in. She is currently working on a sci fi dystopian novel, has founded a group of indie creatives called the World Indie Warriors, is a branding and marketing consultant for indie creatives and freelancers, and is a middle-aged mom of a preschooler. So yeah. She’s tired. She holds a doctorate in psychology, does photography, and loves to play with graphic design. She loves fantasy and sci-fi and sappy love stories. Her favorite trope is friends to lovers, which is by no coincidence how she found the love of her life.
In this episode, we go deep into:
- Writing dystopian fiction - how people adhere to traditions or rules without questioning why
- Her background in psychology and how the principle of asking why people do what they do is common to psychologists and writers
- Inspiration from history
- Using her experience as a psychologist to get into the heads of her characters and drawing on her experience to make her characters relatable and realistic
- When an author’s poor grasp of basic psychology interferes with her enjoyment of a book as a reader
- How most writers have an intuitively good understanding of people
- The psychology of buying and selling and how this helps as a marketer
- Start with yourself as a reader in order to understand buying behaviour
- Appealing to readers in a niche, rather than the mainstream/bestsellers
- Embracing the quirky and unusual and appealing to them
- Why chasing the market isn’t necessarily a sustainable approach
- The founding of World Indie Warriors as a collective in the style of 1920s creative salons
- Crowdsourcing promotion and gathering a supportive network
- Her vision for the future of WIW as a non-profit
- Bringing authors and readers together and how art isn’t complete until someone sees it
- Her advice for work at home parents - winging it one day at a time
- Letting go of old ideas of what it is to be “professional” and the blending of work and life
- How sci-fi explores current events more than exploring ideas for the future
- Fiction’s ability to make us think about deeper issues
Connect with Michelle:
https://michelleraabwrites.com/
https://michelleraabmarketing.com/
https://worldindiewarriors.org/
Get more from Great Writers Share!
https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch/gws
https://www.facebook.com/groups/greatwritersshare/
GWS Press books:
Collaboration for Authors: https://books2read.com/u/3G2jLn
Special thanks to:
Intro vocals: Persephone Rose
Show theme: Karl Hughes
Thank you to patrons:
David Hines
Harley Christensen
Jon Cronshaw
Jenn Mitchell
Innes Richens
Ian J Middleton
Michael Anderle
Katie Forrest
Yanni Jade
Meg Cowley
Jo
Sacha Black
Laura K
Crys Cain
Samantha Frost
Victoria LK Williams
Brett Jackson
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
58 min - #073: JD Barker – On working with James Patterson, professional from the get-go, and grasping every opportunity.
J.D. Barker (Jonathan Dylan Barker) is an international bestselling American author whose work has been broadly described as suspense thrillers, often incorporating elements of horror, crime, mystery, science fiction, and the supernatural.
His work has been revered by the likes of Stephen King, Josh Malerman, Tosca Lee and many more, and his career has seen collaborations on a number of projects including writing the official sequel to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” with Stoker’s great-grandnephew, Dacre Stoker, and his most recent novel “Coast to Coast Murders” with none other than James Patterson.
In this episode we go deep into:
- What is J Thorn like to work with on the Writers Ink podcast
- What benefits JD has found in starting a weekly podcast
- Where JD’s journey started from
- Taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves
- What it means to be a book doctor
- Getting permission from Stephen King
- The importance of presenting yourself as a professional
- The fear that comes with taking the plunge
- All or nothing
- JD’s relationship with imposter syndrome
- Writing with James Patterson
- Pantsing versus Plotting
- Seizing every opportunity, despite the consequence
- Top tip for making a career with writing
- Changing landscape of self-publishing and traditional publishing
- Importance of editing each book before pitching to agents
- Your reputation and brand as an author
- Why does JD write
JD answers questions from Patrons:
Holly Lyne: For Dracul, did you visit Whitby, and did you walk the steps?
Faye Trask: What are your opinions on the tropes and cliches that have come from the Dracula stories?
Find out more about JD:
https://jdbarker.com/
Get your Great Writers Share merchandise!
https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch/gws
GWS Press books:
Collaboration for Authors: https://books2read.com/u/3G2jLn
Special thanks to:
Intro vocals: Persephone Rose
Show theme: Karl Hughes
Become a Patron of the show! Get exclusive bonus content, find your tribe, and get early access to all episodes.
Thank you to my patrons:
David Hines
Harley Christensen
Jenn Mitchell
Innes Richens
Michael Anderle
Yanni Jade
Jo
Sacha Black
Laura K
Crys Cain
Samantha Frost
Victoria LK Williams
Brett Jackson
Faye Trask
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
57 min - #072: Jenna Greene – Writing YA, the art of balance, and podcasting to complement your writing.
Jenna Greene is a YA fantasy author from Alberta, Canada. She is known for the award-winning novel, REBORN, as well as the IMAGINE series. When she isn’t writing (or teaching), she is co-hosting the podcast “Quill and Ink: A Podcast for Book Lovers” with Miranda Oh.
In this episode, we go deep into:
- How Jenna got her to start writing
- What a dragon boat coach is
- Finding balance between teaching and writing
- What makes a good YA novel
- How YA audiences have changed over the years
- What it’s like writing for a magazine
- How podcasting has helped her writing
- Why Jenna Greene writes
Find out more about Jenna:
https://www.jennagreene.ca/
https://twitter.com/jgreenewrites?lang=en
https://twitter.com/podcastquill?lang=en
https://www.amazon.com/Jenna-Greene/e/B07MFR13KY?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&qid=1611584307&sr=8-3
Get more from Great Writers Share!
https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch/gws
https://www.facebook.com/groups/greatwritersshare/
GWS Press books:
Collaboration for Authors: https://books2read.com/u/3G2jLn
Special thanks to:
Intro vocals: Persephone Rose
Show theme: Karl Hughes
Become a Patron of the show! Get exclusive bonus content, find your tribe, and get early access to all episodes.
Thank you to our patrons:
David Hines
Harley Christensen
Jenn Mitchell
Innes Richens
Michael Anderle
Yanni Jade
Jo
Sacha Black
Laura K
Crys Cain
Samantha Frost
Victoria LK Williams
Brett Jackson
Faye Trask
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
36 min - #071: Laura Kendrick – A Master's degree in Creative Writing, fan fiction, and being authentically you.
Laura Kendrick is a Manchester based multi genre author with a love of the strange and unusual.
After years of putting off publishing properly (and one slightly failed attempt in 2018), in 2021 she hopes to finally unleash her madness on the world.
This year will see the release of the swashbuckling fantasy adventure novels The Silverdeer Chronicles 1 & 2, plus a dystopian YA novel called Collarless.
She is in the process of getting her Masters in Creative Writing and starting a podcast with fellow author Samantha Frost.
Alongside writing she is the proud owner of a small menagerie and the complete collection of Diagnosis Murder Episodes and Diagnosis Murder Books.
In this episode we go deep into:
- Laura's writing journey so far…
- Studying Creative Writing (MA)
- First experiments in self-publishing
- Current projects
- What Laura learned writing her first novel
- Using movies as inspiration
- Fan fiction
- Handling criticism
- Being authentically you
- NaNoWriMo Bootcamp
- Writing communities
- The Ma’am Aight Queens podcast
Find out more about Laura:
https://www.laurakendrick.com/
https://www.instagram.com/betterlatethannovel/
Links from the show:
The Ma’am Aight Queens podcast - https://linktr.ee/themaamaightqueens
Get more from Great Writers Share!
https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch/gws
https://www.facebook.com/groups/greatwritersshare/
GWS Press books:
Collaboration for Authors: https://books2read.com/u/3G2jLn
Special thanks to:
Intro vocals: Persephone Rose
Show theme: Karl Hughes
Become a Patron of the show! Get exclusive bonus content, find your tribe, and get early access to all episodes.
Thank you to my patrons:
David Hines
Harley Christensen
Jon Cronshaw
Jenn Mitchell
Innes Richens
Ian J Middleton
Michael Anderle
Katie Forrest
Yanni Jade
Meg Cowley
H.B. Lyne
Jo
Sacha Black
Laura K
Crys Cain
Samantha Frost
Victoria LK Williams
Brett Jackson
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
1 hr 1 min - #070: Paul Michael Anderson – Writing moral murkiness, making short stories work, and prioritizing life.
Paul Michael Anderson is the author of the collection Bones Are Made to Be Broken, which Jack Ketchum called “a dark carnival of rigorous intelligence and compassion, the title novella alone of which is well worth the price of admission”, as well as the novellas I Can Give You Life, and How We Broke (with Bracken MacLeod), and dozens of short stories, articles, and reviews.
His new novella Standalone launches tomorrow (as of the time of recording), and Stephen Graham Jones describes it as “A metaphysical science fiction slasher that doesn’t scrimp on the gore and might just get you rooting for the guy with the machete, the ax, the knife, and that certain glint in his eye that lets you know it’s all over.”
In this episode we go deep into:
- Paul’s entry into blogging and building his website
- How Paul wrote his way out of a driving ticket
- Balance content and expectation with a knowledge of your privilege
- Why Paul writes fiction alongside his blogging
- Paul’s encounter with a fan that spurred on his writing
- Paul’s journey into horror writing
- How Paul got featured in collections with such heavy-hitters of the genre
- Building a reputation in the short story world
- What to look for when entering into an anthology
- Why writing short stories is a numbers game
- Why “Standalone” was the book that ’needed to be written.'
- The power of the anti-hero and moral murkiness
- How to approach people to blurb your book
- Why Paul writes
Find out more about Paul:
Twitter: @P_M_Anderson
https://thenothingspace.net/
Links from the show:
www.danielwillcocks.com
Stephen King’s "Pet Semetery" https://books2read.com/u/bw7kDy
Jack Ketchum https://www.jackketchum.net/
Joe R Lansdale http://www.joerlansdale.com/
Harlan Ellison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison
Get your Great Writers Share merchandise!
https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch/gws
GWS Press books:
Collaboration for Authors: https://books2read.com/u/3G2jLn
Special thanks to:
Intro vocals: Persephone Rose
Show theme: Karl Hughes
Become a Patron of the show! Get exclusive bonus content, find your tribe, and get early access to all episodes.
Thank you to my patrons:
David Hines
Harley Christensen
Jon Cronshaw
Jenn Mitchell
Innes Richens
Ian J Middleton
Michael Anderle
Katie Forrest
Yanni Jade
Meg Cowley
H.B. Lyne
Jo
Sacha Black
Laura K
Crys Cain
Samantha Frost
Victoria LK Williams
Brett Jackson
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
58 min - #069: Chris Allen – Games writing, storytelling through role-play & “Aren’t we all writing fanfic, anyway?”
Chris Allen has written, edited, and designed dozens of tabletop gaming products since 2005, including roleplaying games, board games, and miniatures games, and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. He has contributed to major game lines such as the World of Darkness and Trinity Continuum, and worked on licensed tie-ins for a broad spectrum of properties including Starship Troopers, Babylon 5, and 2000AD.
His design work extends to live action roleplaying, where he served on the plot team for the major UK fest LARP, Empire, for several years. Chris is also a published short fiction author and is currently writing a tie-in novella for Trinity Continuum: Æon.
Chris believes that tabletop games, albeit played increasingly via virtual tabletops, provide an important creative outlet for their participants and a different method of interacting with the resulting in-the-moment fiction to that traditionally provided by other forms of story media.
Chris was born in Thailand, but these days lives in Bristol with his wife and two children.
In this episode, we go deep into:
- How Chris got started with roleplaying and how that led to storytelling and writing
- Transitioning to writing and publishing in the games industry
- Chris's background as an editor
- Writing for licensed properties, such as Starship Troopers and Babylon 5
- Working in someone else's sandpit
- The limitations of using stills from TV as artwork for licensed games
- Skirting burnout and reduced enjoyment for certain intellectual properties – draining the magic
- Coping with fan reactions
- Creating products to enable other people to create fanfiction and the layers of storytelling from game designer, to games master, to players, to game fiction
- Collaboration at the production end of games design
- Setting or mechanics first and how this varies
- The effect of being a gamer and a games writer and the feedback loop created
- The bleed effect when people get very into their characters
- Gamers intentionally seek out dark themes as a form of catharsis and the importance of consent and safety tools
- Writing for live action roleplaying games
- Chris's writing process for his fiction
- Chris answers a question from patron, Jo about managing his workload
Connect with Chris:
On Twitter: @Acrozatarim
His Very Angry Dogs game is streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/paleo_gaming/videos/all
Get more from Great Writers Share!
https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch/gws
https://www.facebook.com/groups/greatwritersshare/
GWS Press books:
Collaboration for Authors: https://books2read.com/u/3G2jLn
Special thanks to:
Intro vocals: Persephone Rose
Show theme: Karl Hughes
Become a Patron of the show! Get exclusive bonus content, find your tribe, and get early access to all episodes.
Thank you to patrons:
David Hines
Harley Christensen
Jon Cronshaw
Jenn Mitchell
Innes Richens
Ian J Middleton
Michael Anderle
Katie Forrest
Yanni Jade
Meg Cowley
H.B. Lyne
Jo
Sacha Black
Laura K
Crys Cain
Samantha Frost
Victoria LK Williams
Brett Jackson
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
1 hr 22 min - #068: NEW YEAR SPECIAL – 2020 highlights, plans for 2021, and Patreon Q&A (ft. Daniel Willcocks, Holly Lyne, John Crinan, and Faye Trask)
In this weeks’ episode, Daniel Willcocks, Holly Lyne, John Crinan, and Faye Trask sit down as a group to discuss the things they’re thankful for in 2021, what they plan to achieve in 2021, and we answer questions from Patreon (with an extra special song worthy snippet thrown in).
From all of us at the Great Writers Share team, we hope you have a prosperous and productive 2021!
Find out more about your hosts:
https://danielwillcocks.com/
https://hblyne.com/
https://www.johncrinan.com/
https://www.instagram.com/writerfayetrask/
Links from the show:
https://danielwillcocks.com/bootcamp
https://unstoppableauthors.wordpress.com/
Next Level Authors podcast https://pod.link/1508555372
Get your Great Writers Share merchandise!
https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch/gws
GWS Press books:
Collaboration for Authors: https://books2read.com/u/3G2jLn
Special thanks to:
Intro vocals: Persephone Rose
Show theme: Karl Hughes
Become a Patron of the show! Get exclusive bonus content, find your tribe, and get early access to all episodes.
Thank you to my patrons:
David Hines
Harley Christensen
Jon Cronshaw
Jenn Mitchell
Innes Richens
Ian J Middleton
Michael Anderle
Katie Forrest
Yanni Jade
Meg Cowley
H.B. Lyne
Jo
Sacha Black
Laura K
Crys Cain
Samantha Frost
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
1 hr 21 min - BONUS: The "Writes and Wrongs" of Bad Behaviors for Authors, feat John L. Monk (A Great Writers Learn miniseries, ep 6 of 6)
In this episode of the Great Writers Learn miniseries, "Writes & Wrongs,” bestselling authors John L. Monk and Daniel Willcocks talk about their experiences with bad behaviors, highlighting bad author practices, suggesting alternatives, and holding each other to account on past mistakes.
Discussing personal stories from their collected decade of publishing experience, you’ll get the breakdown of their top tips to ensure you’re author journey is unmarred by the mistakes of the past.
Listen to the Great Writers Share podcast: https://pod.link/1473869415
Become a Patron over at https://patreon.com/greatwritersshare
Join the Facebook group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/great...
Find out more about Daniel Willcocks: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/
Find out more about John L Monk: https://john-l-monk.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/greatwritersshare
OFFICIAL Merchandise available! https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch...
BUY ‘Collaboration for Authors’:
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
28 min - BONUS: The "Writes and Wrongs" of Author Brand, feat John L. Monk (A Great Writers Learn miniseries, ep 5 of 6)
In this episode of the Great Writers Learn miniseries, "Writes & Wrongs,” bestselling authors John L. Monk and Daniel Willcocks talk about the intricacies of author brand, sharing the pros and cons, and how to develop an effective brand, should you wish to.
Discussing personal stories from their collected decade of publishing experience, you’ll get the breakdown of their top tips to ensure you’re building a solid author brand that’ll have you selling books for years to come.
Listen to the Great Writers Share podcast: https://pod.link/1473869415
Become a Patron over at https://patreon.com/greatwritersshare
Join the Facebook group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/great...
Find out more about Daniel Willcocks: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/
Find out more about John L Monk: https://john-l-monk.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/greatwritersshare
OFFICIAL Merchandise available! https://www.danielwillcocks.com/merch...
BUY ‘Collaboration for Authors’:
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
22 min
About Activated Authors
From the publisher's feed
Activated Authors is an online author community centered around principles of healthy productivity, community, and shared knowledge. Founded by international bestselling author, award-winning…
podcaster, and author coach, Daniel Willcocks, the group aims to help authors and creatives of all levels achieve their creative goals and thrive as part of a healthy, positive community.