via The Washer Woman’s Favourite by Maureen Flynn (SNEAK PEEK)

The anthology title is A Hand of Knaves and the book comes out late September/early October. My short story is called ‘Gardening through the Danse Macabre’ and is a very strange story indeed.

I’m so excited for CSFG to introduce this anthology to the world! You can read more about the anthology and the great short story line-up here. I will keep readers of this blog posted about publication date, book launches and how to purchase. Promise!

The Hestia

My hips wedge against the boat rim. I can taste the roughness of knotted rope at my mouth. Thick braids constrict my hands, feet, waist. With the movement of the boat, I roll into cracked and peeling painted edges.

The Hestia.

I had defined myself by him and me: Paul and grey stone pylons, pebbled sand underfoot, waves crashing, shoreline to shoreline. Back then, I imagined that our love would run free, our feet taking wing. Like Jesus we’d walk on water into sunset, coming out the other side, unscathed…

“Hestia, Hestia,” he said early in.

“Not Hestia. Ruthie, remember?”

Too dark. Too reticent to be flaming Hestia.

He stroked my cheek.“My island worshipping Hestia, darling.” His eyes burn smoke rings on my retinas as he flings liquid all over.“Sacred heart, sacred flame, burn bright for me.”

The boat lulls gentle on cresting tips. He hasn’t shared salt spray or the scaly damp of silver fishies. Rainbows reflect in slick oil.

He drops the match, leaps ashore and pushes the crackling boat into deeper sea.

Blistering skin. Obscured by smoke and flame.

Behind me, the pylons and Paul’s mad shadow. Ahead, the promise of blurry sunset.

What’s your writing process like?

The short answer is that my writing process is still evolving as I am new to this game and it often looks a mess to an outsider looking in. I find that I start writing without much planning and then get stuck between 10-20 000 words on first draft and need to stop and take stock and start a planning process of what my plot looks like. I only worry about plot in first draft, then worry about world building and research details and consistent characters in second draft.

How do you come up with characters?

I often start a story with a couple of burning scenes in my mind and characters just happen. For my first fantasy novel, I had four protagonists, which was too many. I did a course with author, Kate Forsyth, and she got me to stick with one, my favourite, who is now the Claire character. In my second fantasy novel, which is half written in first draft now, I started with a revisionist take on Snow White and Rose Red and the two Princes they marry so in a sense had some vague character traits already laid out for me. I then scratched the idea and went with telling the story of Prince Charming’s brother without the framework of the fairy story. It gave me more freedom. In my crime novel, about fame and fandom, I based the two main actress characters off actual actors on the screen, but obviously as I write, I imbue them with what I need for the story so that now, they aren’t anything like those two actresses at all. On the whole, I often write the characters to match the plots in my head, so even when my characters start out as being one thing, they morph to meet the needs of the story.

Do you use character sheets, like with characteristics and backstories and quirks and friends and looks and favorite things and family stuff? Do you write backstory things, and little stories about everyday things and stuff they get up to, just to get to know them better?

No, I don’t. I should. It would save me so much time in second draft on getting characterizations and motivations right. I do plan the basics in my story notebook eg character motivations and desires and fears.

How are you inspired; do you use music, do you go for walks, do you watch movies/shows/read?

I am inspired by the entire world. Sometimes it’s the lyrics to a song, sometimes it’s to history, sometimes it’s to minor characters in books and movies, or to the way actors portray some form of human emotion. Stories always start from the place of, ‘what if?’ ‘What if Prince Charming was horrid?’ ‘What if the murderer in Wire in the Blood hadn’t given himself away to Tony and Carol had been strangled?’ ‘What if a character could travel back in time?’ I never have a shortage of ideas.

Do you have someplace where you like to go to write/think?

I like to write at night in bed in my notebook. Otherwise I set time aside and just type away at the computer. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t any good. That’s the main thing. Just keep typing. Especially on first draft. You can fix inconsistencies and bad writing later. The main thing is to start. A writer writes. That’s it.

Have you read books on writing?

Yes, and I really recommend doing it. The best one I’ve read is ‘On Writing’ by Stephan King. Go read it. Now. I’ve also got some books on english grammar and puncutation because I’m rubbish at it, a thesaurus handy and a great little book by Australian author, John Marsden, with writing exercises for students. I should read more. I hear Carmel Bird is good.

How do you work out plots and subplots and twists; and do you do something to keep track of everything, like a mind map or diagrams or have a book full of scribblings of things?

I have a notebook now for each story I tell. It is too hard to keep track otherwise. I am getting better at planning. I used to just smash out word and worry about logic later, which was incredibly time consuming and impractical. For my current fantasy ms, Thashidion, I have been plotting and planning in an A4 notebook late at night. The best tool for figuring out plot/sub plot and twists has been advice from Joanne Anderton. Particularly in genre fiction, start with the ‘what if?’ and follow up with the ‘so what?’ question. So if the what if part is ‘what if Prince Charming was emotionally abusive?’ the ‘so what?’ might be ‘and that makes Snow White have to learn her step mother’s magic to free herself. Too bad she let the step mother die.’A twist might be that the step mother was never actually all that evil and now Snow White must deal with that emotional realisation.

You can read The Kelnarium Prophecy here and a mentor’s critique here. You can purchase my book of poetry on Amazon and Smashwords

Who are your favourite authors?

I really, really hate questions of this sort. I usually find, and I say this with all due respect because I am friends with a lot of wonderful writers, that authors let me down. Sooner or later. They let me down. Even the best ones. I much prefer listing favourite books for this reason. Having said that, I go crazy for Agatha Christie. I love what she says about the human condition and I even love her Mary Westmacott novels. Absent in the Spring may be one of the best unexpected reads of 2013. I love Juliet Marillier for her writing style. She really personifies her ‘I.’ I also love the imagination in most Isobelle Carmody novels. I love everything by Lemony Snicket and can’t understand why everyone else doesn’t love him alongside me. I love most things by Philip Pullman and I even have a postcard from him(!) but I wasn’t a fan of The Goodman Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ and he hasn’t written anything of note in some time. I really want more of those Sally Lockhart mysteries. Surely I’m not the only one!

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I love working with children. I tutor in high school English and I also work for an NGO with children and adults with a disability. I am so lucky that I love both my jobs! I love listening to weird music like symphonic metal. I also have a shameless obsession with all things Doctor Who. The latest thing in my CD player is Big Finish’s Dark Eyes 2 with Paul McGann. Great stuff!

How did you come up with the title for your book?

My Heart’s Choir Sings is a metaphor. My debut book is a verse novella about a relationship gone wrong, with the 25 poem sequence serving as a eulogy. The main character, Stewart, who is penning the poetry, is ‘singing’ in poetry form of his heart’s loss. That’s how I see it, anyway.

Does your main hero/heroine have an interesting quirk?

What I really like about having Stewart as the narrator of the poetry pieces, is that we learn just as much about him as we do about the object of his eulogy. Each poem reveals something about his partner, yes, but also something about Stewart’s own muddied and lost soul. The quirk is that Stewart doesn’t see this.

What message do you have for your fans?

Thanks so much for supporting me, thanks so much for your constructive criticisms and lovely words. Thanks so much for putting up with my bad days and my good days. Thanks so much for sticking around! Here’s to many more and to one day, the next J K Rowling

xx

InkAshlings

PS: You can buy My Heart’s Choir Sings on Amazon and Smashwords If you’d like a copy for review on your blog, goodreads, or website, or if you are interested in ‘paying with a tweet,’ please email me at inkashlings@gmail.com

Maureen Flynn on Freshly Booked

Books

The open, sterilized jaws of
your flat beckoned, quiet

Like the yellowed pages of books
That were your long time companions.

Their old, musty scent,
Those dog eared, well worn tomes

See me bow headed, slumped.
Closer now to your essence

Than ever before.

Like it? You can pre-order the ebook on Smashwords by following this Link

A eulogy and a verse novella. Grief, guilt, redemption. How do you go on in a world without your other half?

Think Ted Hughes Birthday Letters meets Dorothy Porter verse and you’d have My Heart’s Choir Sings. This is the story of Stewart Hinchcliffe, a writer and an artist who loses his lover and fellow creative in tragic circumstances. As he cleans out their old apartment, each new object brings back bittersweet memories. Throughout the 25 poem sequence, grief, guilt and anger color his memories. Who is to blame for what happened? Where did everything go wrong? And how on earth does Stuart move on from his past?

(Click the image for the full size!)

Interested? You can pre-order from Smashwords Here for the 1st Feb release date. Or if you’d rather wait for the release date, or to get the latest news on the virtual book tour, like the facebook page Here.