Contemplating Other Worlds - Guest Post by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Sean asked: “If you had your way, what pop culture show would you like
to write for or what fictional world would you like to bring to the
big or little screen...”

Which is an awesome question, though admittedly I looked at it and
mostly heard ‘lalalalalala would you write for Doctor Who if they
asked, lalalala. So let’s get the Doctor Who part out of the way
first!

This is actually something I have thought about quite a bit. Because
Doctor Who is the show I have loved most my whole life, and because
there are a lot of properties swirling around it that provide work for
working writers and I am, after all, a working writer. But on the
other hand, I love being a fan of Doctor Who, and it’s just about the
only deep interest in my life that is not also work of some kind -
from quilting to gaming, every hobby I have somehow has turned into an
enormous to do list of WORK. Doctor Who is delicious fun times, with
no responsibility.

Having said that, if someone asked me to do anything in the Doctor Who
universe, I can’t actually imagine myself turning it down. I love it
so much!

Other creative properties I would love to get my hands on, one way or
another, include Wonder Woman (and just about any superheroine of the
DC Universe), Blake’s 7, The Avengers (Steed and Peel, not Marvel) and
Xena. When it comes to turning existing literature into TV or film,
I’d love to see some Diana Wynne Jones works on the screen, as well as
Sarah Monette’s gorgeously gothic Melusine series, Sarah Rees
Brennan’s Demon series, and Diana Peterfreund’s unicorns...

Having said all that, I’m not a scriptwriter, and while getting to
play with any of those properties would be a lovely incentive to learn
new skills, the thought of starting from scratch with a whole new kind
of writing is incredibly daunting - I’d much rather see those books
adapted by someone who is qualified to do the job! I don’t have any
particular ambition to make it as a screenwriter, largely because I
would be beginning again with a whole different career, and I’m
already kept quite busy by the one I have. I’ve been listening to a
brainload of audio plays lately and that format intrigues me a lot
more than film scripts, but even then it would be quite a learning
curve - though one I’d be quite interested in attempting. I am a
complete dialogue junkie, after all.

Prose, prose, prose. I would certainly happily play in other people’s
universes if we were talking about short stories or novels (depending
on the universe, of course). Even if it was Doctor Who. Who am I
kidding? ESPECIALLY if it was Doctor Who.

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Tansy Rayner Roberts is the author of Power and Majesty (Creature Court Book One) and The Shattered City (Creature Court Book Two, April 2011) with Reign of Beasts (Creature Court Book Three, coming in November 2011) hot on its tail.

Her short story collection Love and Romanpunk will be published as part of the Twelfth Planet Press “Twelve Planets” series in May.

This post comes to you as part of Tansy’s Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour,and comes with a cookie fragment of new release The Shattered City:

In chimaera shape, Velody was invincible. Power coursed through
her muscles, bolder and brighter than anything she felt when she was
in human form, no matter who she was kissing. Chimaera was strength
and spirit and there was nothing the sky could do against her when she
wore that skin.

She could not move. Slowly, invisible hands lifted her high in the
air, above the thing that wore her friend like a cheap suit.

“One king down,” the creature said with a friendly smile. “Only you left.”

 

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Note this is a reposting, from my now borked wordpress blog.

New Interview Series - Aussie SpecFic authors on Social Media

Focus Sean-san
It’s always good to have a focus for your blogging and my focus this year was to read more Australian speculative fiction, promote Australian small presses and to get my inner journalist working and carryout some interviews.
Announcing!
So without further ado I am proud to announce that I have managed to secure interviews with some of Australia’s most acclaimed speculative fiction authors. 
Yes, you dear readers, will benefit from my hard slog, the endless hours where my fingers tapped tentatively over the keyboard… actually no, not really.  All the hard work was done by the fabulous authors that were kind enough to take time out of their precious writing day to answer my questions.
The series focuses on  an author's use and opinion of Social Media.  I will be posting an interview each Friday, for your reading enjoyment.
Who’s up first?
First up will be Rowena Cory Daniels author of The King Rolen's Kin Trilogy, and founding member of the ROR writing cadre.  Not enough to sate your curiosity?
There’s a very extensive bio to be found here.

Rowena Cory Daniells on Authors and Social Media

Welcome to the first of my interviews with some of Australia's most acclaimed speculative fiction authors.  Today we have Rowena Cory Daniells answering 5 questions on Authors and Social Media.

Sean:

How important do you view social media to selling your books or interacting with fans?

Rowena:

I really don't know if social media sells books. In fact, I don't know if any kind of advertising sells anything. I do think that people reading your books, then blogging that they've enjoyed them is going to recommend your books to their friends. I am much more likely to read a book that one of my friends has recommended, than a random book that I come across. So social media is great for fighting the writers worst enemy - Obscurity!

As for interaction with readers, I've found it wonderful. When my first trilogy came out the social medias were in their infancy. We had email lists and that was about it. Now I get people dropping by my blog to comment how much they've enjoyed King Rolen's Kin and ask where book four is. That is such a buzz for a writer. (We're needy things. LOL)

Sean:

Do you or would you want to receive any guidance from your publisher/agent on interacting via social media, both in a technical sense or in a 'professional presentation' sense?

Rowena:

I don't expect this. I've had a web page since 1999 and I had a book trailer in 2002, when my publisher didn't know what to do with it!

My current publisher did advise me strongly to join Twitter, which I thought would be a waste of time because I didn't see how you could say anything useful in 140 characters, but I'm ready to eat my words. I've met some amazing people through twitter and I keep up with what's happening. I find the divide between personal life and professional life, and between professional contact and friend an interestingly grey area. It's a fine line between making a fun comment about some weird thing my kids have done and over-stepping the boundary of their privacy. Also, when working with an editor or agent, you want to be professional - always hand in the books on time, get stuck into edits and return them ASAP. Meanwhile, you're chatting and bantering on Twitter. So it is challenging.

Sean:

There have been some recent examples of inexperienced authors reacting badly on the Internet in response to blog reviews e.t.c., what are your thoughts on being social media savvy? What advice would you give to new authors?

Rowena:

I take the attitude that not everyone is going to like my books and that is their right. If I agonised over every quibble people have  - (one reviewer said the prose was simplistic, but for some reason they couldn't stop reading. LOL. I can live with that) - I'd go crazy. Rule one, don't take yourself too seriously. Rule two, don't take anything a reviewer says too seriously. Rule three - never respond to a bad review. Rob Will Review named my trilogy one of his top reads for 2010. So I emailed him to thank him.

Sean:

In my experience Social media breaks down normal communication conventions.  People can be more familiar and 'take liberties'.

Have you experienced problems where this ease of communication has lead to followers/fans 'crossing the line' or has your experience been entirely positive?

Rowena:

I'm lucky, my experience has been entirely positive, but I do try to maintain a little distance between my private life and my public life. And I also try to maintain some professional distance with my editors and agent.

Sean:

How vital is social media to the genre in which you write and how do you think social media will effect the way you write and interact in the future?

Rowena:

I am SO grateful to social media for putting me in touch with the readers and other writers. Everyday it makes me smile and reminds me I'm not alone in the crazy business! I can see social media growing the contact between writers and readers. The more the better!

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I’d like to thank Rowena once again for spending the time to answer my questions.  You can find Rowena at her King Rolen’s Kin site, or at the Ripping Ozzie Reads blog.

The King Rolen’s Kin trilogy can be found in good bookstores and on Amazon in paperback .

If you can’t bare to miss out on my adventures you can subscribe to the blog through a reader or Follow me on twitter.