Author: MarkStayWrites

Author, screenwriter, and award-winning podcaster.

Rowan Coleman: “I Was a Bit Grumpy…”

Special guest Rowan Coleman, bestselling author of Never Tear Us Apart, reveals how a research trip to Malta started with her being ‘a bit grumpy’ but resulted with her making a magical connection with the island…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: You went to Malta to research this. So what’s your process when you go to a place to research? Do you have like a shopping list of things to do, or do you just step out the hotel and go, right, where do I go now?

ROWAN: I was a bit grumpy about it, actually. Because, believe it or not, because the island itself is… but it’s sort of tied up with my own feelings about my relationship with my father. And so I was like, well, I expect I’m just gonna hate it and it’s going to be rubbish and I won’t like it. But when I turned up, it was the opposite. I did actually feel weirdly, immediately connected to it. And my shopping list is… I don’t really have a specific set of things for this book, because I first visited before I started writing it, really. If I’ve written a book already, like with The Summer of Impossible Things, I knew that I wanted to get to various locations in Brooklyn. But for this book, I was just getting a sense of the island for the first time, and so I just let it lead me. And it’s very small. It’s about the size of the Isle of Wight. And so the first thing that drew me were the ancient temples, and there are many Mesolithic temples on the island that are absolutely magical and fascinating. And that kind of was like my my first step on a very organic journey into putting all the components of the book together.

LISTEN TO THE WHOLE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

Rowan Coleman: “I Forgive Myself…”

Special guest Rowan Coleman, bestselling author of Never Tear Us Apart, reveals how forgiveness has become part of her creative process…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: What small thing has made a big difference to your creative process?

ROWAN: I think the thing that’s made the biggest difference to my creative process is forgiving myself. For not… Sometimes going quite slowly to sometimes just doing small bits at a time. I am a late diagnosed, unmedicated ADHD woman, and I used to think… I was convinced that I had a very strict writing regime and sat at my desk from 9 to 5, and wrote every day, and I didn’t realise that this was, in fact, not true until I took my kids with me to a book event when they were quite young. And I was saying this and I heard this laughter from the back of the hall, I was like, what? Why are you laughing, darling? “You don’t do that. All you do faff around all day on the internet.” (laughs) I thought, that is true. That is all I do. So now I sort of just think, well, if it’s not… if you can’t… you know, sometimes you have to write when you have to write because we all have multiple things that we’re juggling, you know, proper jobs and, teaching courses and all that stuff. And sometimes you just have to go, right. Well, this is my time to write, and I have to write, but if it’s… if I can’t be that disciplined, I just say, all right, well, it’s not happening today, but it will happen tomorrow. And you only write ten words. That’s fine, because that’s ten more words and you’ll add to it tomorrow. And I sort of just let myself off the hook and I don’t let myself feel shame about it anymore, which is a big part of growing up with neurodiversity. Undiagnosed neurodiversity particularly is kind of constantly feeling that you’re not trying hard enough. So I try to tell myself now that I am, in fact, trying hard enough, and it does somehow work out in the end. I don’t know how, but it does.

MARK: Yeah, I think the moral of the story is be kind to yourself and don’t invite your kids to book events.

ROWAN: I mean, I don’t know what’s worse: that one, or when they came when they were a little bit older and were sitting in the front row on Switches.

LISTEN TO THE WHOLE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

Rowan Coleman: What Would Charlotte Brontë Do? | Mark Stay’s Creative Differences Episode 12

Bestselling and award-winning author Rowan Coleman joined me to discuss her new book Never Tear Us Apart, revealing how a family photo inspired her to research in Malta, why she wrote her next book, The Good Boy, under a pen name, then there was something about quantum physics, and ultimately she asks the question we all want an answer to in any situation: What would Charlotte Brontë do? This was a really fun chat with tons of great advice for writers.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

LINKS

ROWAN’S WEBSITE 

ROWAN’S SUBSTACK ON QUANTUM PHYSICS 

ROWAN’S CURTIS BROWN COURSE 

MURDERBOT

SINNERS

INVINCIBLE

HOW TO WRITE A FANTASY BATTLE BY SUZANNAH ROWNTREE

CMAT

Join the Green Room

Fancy Some Magical Mischief?

I’ve got a (sort of) short story in this excellent new collection of short stories from the listeners of the Bestseller Experiment podcast (click on the image to get your hands on a copy)…

Why only sort of? Here’s my authors’ note from the collection…

Author’s Note (and excuse)

What you’re about to read is not exactly a short story. I did start one — honest, guv! — and it was a belter, all set in the world of my Witches of Woodville series. It started in the 1920s and ended in the 1970s*… which is where the problems started. As I began jotting down ideas for the story it soon became clear that I wasn’t about to squeeze it all into the allotted five thousand words. No, it soon became clear that this was going to be a whopper, perhaps even a novel all of its own. And things happen in the story that, at first, I thought I didn’t want to rush. Then it occurred to me that the real reason that I didn’t want to rush it was that, actually, I might not be ready to write them yet, as it meant saying a final farewell to certain characters. So I’ve popped that story back into a drawer at the back of my mind and will wait till the time is right to go back and see if I’m ready to finally [REDACTED] to poor old [REDACTED].

And if that wasn’t enough of a tease, then what you’re about to read is the first chapter of a thing that might never happen. It’s a new story, set in the world of the Witches of Woodville, and I’m still wondering where it might go, if anywhere. But I had great fun writing this opening chapter and I think it almost works as its own little standalone moment. So, in the spirit of mischief, I offer you The Canary Girls…

Happy reading, and please send all complaints to Miss Araminta Cranberry at the Woodville Village Library,

Mark Stay

*If you’ve ever wondered why the Woodville Village motto is ‘Witch-free since 1973’ this story was going to reveal all

So there you have it… and don’t forget, the anthology is packed with terrific stories from amazing authors, including (deep breath) W. J. Grupe, Jr, Rosie Stirling, Phil Oddy, Jeevani Charika, Jan Carr, Eva St. John, Dylan Blake, Anne Woodward, Angela C Nurse, Andrea Corzatt, BR Dexter, ZA Gowland, WA Leggatt, Trey Montague, Tommy Wills, Morgan Delaney, Kate Baker, Karen Storey, Julian Barr, Jocelyn Sordoni, GM White, GB Ralph, Gareth Lewis, Emmanuella Dekonor, Andrew Guile, Andrew Chapman, Alex Weight, SC Gowland.

Treat yourself…

Get your copy here

Bookmarked Interview

There are some fun questions (and answers!) in this Q&A that I did for that most-excellent thriller writer Max Elwood on his blog. To find out what book I think should be adapted as a movie, how I organise my bookshelves, and why I think Amazon is both the best and worst thing to happen to publishing, click on the image below…

I’m at the Canterbury Gaming Convention 9-10th August

I’m going to be a special guest (my mum always said I was special!) at the Canterbury Gaming Convention this weekend Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th August. If you’re a fan of tabletop games then this is basically your Disneyland, and if you’re a fan of books then there are other bookish guests like the author Willow Woods, Books and Brews and little ol’ me! It’s in two — count ’em! — of the big sports halls at the University of Kent. Click on the image below to check out the amazing exhibitors and guests and for tickets… See you there!

Me and Ben Aaronovitch: 23rd August, Staines Library

One for the Staines Massive! I’ll be chatting with the wonderful Mr Ben Aaronovitch about his new novel Stone and Sky and all sorts of other stuff besides. Surrey Libraries always run a fun event and this will be a lively chat with books for sale afterwards. These events can sell out pretty quickly, so click on the image below for tickets…

Oh, and if you can’t make it and there’s a burning question that you’ve always wanted to ask Ben, just pop it in the comments below and I’ll report back…

Rowan Coleman (take 2!) on the Creative Differences Livestream

Let’s try again, shall we? After the Starlink failure this week, we’re going to have another go at a livestream with the magnificent ROWAN COLEMAN on MONDAY 28th JULY, 8pm BST!

Join us on FACEBOOK

Or on Youtube…

Rowan Coleman is the internationally bestselling and award winning author and screenwriter of many novels including THE MEMORY BOOK, THE SUMMER OF IMPOSSIBLE THINGS and THE GIRL AT THE WINDOW. Her latest novel NEVER TEAR US APART is out now, and under the name Stella Hayward she’ll be publishing THE GOOD BOY in September (about a dog who turns into a man)… Rowan and I have also been working together on a few collaborations, so we might chat about that too. Who knows? You will if you show up!
Do please join us live as you’ll have the opportunity to ask Rowan questions on the night. It’s going to be so much fun. Monday 28th July 8pm BST.

The Things People Say to Authors at Comic Cons… Round 2

Who’s up for another round of Things People say to Authors at Comic Cons…?!

For my future comic con appearances pop over to https://markstaywrites.com/diary-and-appearances/

Rowan Coleman on the Creative Differences Livestream, Thursday 24th July 8pm BST

Rowan Coleman is the internationally bestselling and award winning author and screenwriter of many novels including THE MEMORY BOOK, THE SUMMER OF IMPOSSIBLE THINGS and THE GIRL AT THE WINDOW.

Her latest novel NEVER TEAR US APART is out now, and under the name Stella Hayward she’ll be publishing THE GOOD BOY in September (about a dog who turns into a man)…

Do please join us live as you’ll have the opportunity to ask Rowan questions on the night (we’ve also written on a number of projects together, and we’ll definitely be chatting about that!). It’s going to be so much fun. Thursday 24th July 8pm BST.

A reminder: the live show is just that, live and raw and things can go wrong including stuff that gets edited out of the final podcast, but… it’s also your opportunity to ask questions of the guests. So if you have a question for Rowan, join us and get involved.

Join us on Youtube…

Or join us on facebook