Shows
SPA Girls PodcastSPA Girls Podcast – EP338 – Psychology Tools For Authors
Struggling to write compelling characters and compelling but realistic conflict in your stories? Well, have we got a show for you!
Darian Smith is a prize winning fiction writer with a degree in psychology, and is a member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors. He combines these two sides of his background to provide simple, easy to follow tools that make use of established psychological theory to help writers develop fully rounded, interesting, realistic characters and inject conflict into their stories.
We cover plot development AND character development and you’ll come away (hopefully!) wi...2022-04-0555 min
SPA Girls PodcastPsychology Tools For Authors with Darian SmithStruggling to write compelling characters and compelling but realistic conflict in your stories? Well, have we got a show for you! Darian Smith is a prize winning fiction writer with a degree in psychology, and is a member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors. He combines these two sides of his background to provide simple, easy to follow tools that make use of established psychological theory to help writers develop fully rounded, interesting, realistic characters and inject conflict into their stories. We cover plot development AND character development and you’ll come awa...2022-04-0555 min
Bloody Athenaeum (Stories from the dark archives)Speculative Fiction and Apple Cider Vinegar with Darian Smith # 87No speculation needed, this was a fun conversation. We meander all over the place, we actually do talk about books and writing, but also solve many of the world’s problems by debunking conspiracy theories and maybe making a few new ones.
Darian Smith writes mainly speculative fiction (fantasy) and lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife (who also writes) and their two black cats (who don't).
He holds two Koru Awards, is the winner of the SpecFicNZ/Steam Press manuscript competition, and a Sir Julius Vogel Award.
By day, he works wi...2021-03-2459 min
The SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 19 Sharon Hannaford on Urban Fantasy, marketing and moreIn this episode we got to chat with Dunedin author Sharon Hannaford, about Urban Fantasy, marketing, and the importance of character flaws.
You can find Sharon here at her website
As ever your co-hosts are:
Nix Whittaker
Kura Carpenter
Mat Danaher 2020-04-1900 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 18 with president of the New Zealand Society of Authors Mandy HagerIn this episode we talk about rights for writers and other creatives, fiction as a way of exploring what's happening to our world, and why New Zealand writers should join the NZSA.
Mandy's website can be found here
The New Zealand Society of Authors can be found here
And as ever your co-hosts can be found by clicking on the links below:
Kura Carpenter
Mat Danaher
Nix Whittaker
If you have any questions or feedback or would like to be interviewed please flick an email t...2020-04-0500 min
The SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 17 In Which Melanie Harding-Shaw talks about CoNZIn the episode Wellington writer Melanie Harding-Shaw talks about the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon which is coming from Wellington this year. She also talks about the new anthology she is helping to edit (Black Dogs, Black Tales), and why submitting a lot of short stories is the key to success.
You can find more Melanie's website here, the CoNZ website here and the Facebook Page here.
Just like last season your co-hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Nix Whittaker and,
Mathew Danaher
And as usual the Podcast is...2020-02-2500 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 16: Jean Gilbert on writing and breaking into HollywoodFor this episode we were joined by award winning Hamilton based author Jean Gilbert. She talked about teaching writing to young people, living with face blindness, and writing for film and TV.
You can find her here:
Web.
Facebook.
Twitter.
As always your co-hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Nix Whittaker
and Mathew Danaher, who is also to blame for any audio glitches or issues. 2019-11-0200 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 15 Jamie Sands on Romance, RPGs, and ResearchIn this episode we had a chat (and a laugh) with Jamie Sands. We talked about their YA book the Suburban Book of the Dead (buy it here), identity, role playing games, and romance, among other things.
You can find them at the following links:
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Patreon
You can buy their romance novels here
As ever you can join SpecFicNZ here
Your hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Nix Whittaker
Mathew Danaher (who amateurishly edited and produced thi...2019-10-2000 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 14: What I Wished I knew BeforeIn this episode your hosts talk about what they wished they had known before starting out down the self publishing, or traditional publishing routes.
Some of the things they talk about are:
Amazon Author Central.
Book Funnel.
New Zealand Society of Authors and their contract reading service.
And vanity publishing and why you should avoid it, You can read more about them on the Writer Beware website.
As every your hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Nix Whittaker
Mathew Danaher.
And this pod...2019-10-0200 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 13 with Trudie Jaye from the SPA Girls PodcastWe had a lot of fun recording this episode as you can probably tell. Apologies from Mat for being a bit mumbly, as he was sat in the room where the recording was happening, there's no excuse. He will try better next time!
Trudie Jaye
Trudie is one of the hosts of the wonderful and super useful if you are or want to get into self publishing SPA Girls Podcast. Available on all good apps. Subscribe to it already!
We talked a lot about:
20 Books to 50K
Craig Martell...2019-09-1400 min
The SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 12 Tim Jones and Climate Fiction and ActivismYou can find Tim Jones Online:
Blog
Twitter
NZ Book Council
You can buy his latest book - Where We Land.
And you can read a review here - SpecFicNZ
As ever your co-hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Nix Whittaker
Mathew Danaher 2019-08-3000 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 11 in which we talk about dragons, maps, and email marketing with multi award winner Eileen MuellerYou can find out more about Eileen at her website here - https://www.eileenmuellerauthor.com/
Ava Fairhall's map for Dragons Realm - http://www.geysercon.nz/updates/avafairhallsfantasymaps
50booksto20k
Book Funnel.
As ever your hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Nix Whittaker
Mathew Danaher2019-08-2400 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 10. Dan Rabarts talks about horror writing and those ideas that keep you up at night.In this episode we talked with award winning Wellington based horror writer Dan Rabarts.
You can find him online at:
http://dan.rabarts.com
https://twitter.com/rabarts
https://www.facebook.com/rabarts
He is a member of the Australasian Horror Writers Association, as well as FFANZ.
As usual your co-hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Nix Whittaker
Mathew Danaher2019-08-0400 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode Nine in which Aaron Compton talks about being a mentee editor and other thingsWe were really lucky to spend an evening talking with Aaron Compton co-editor of Te Korero Ahi Ka
As well as talking about his experience as a mentee editor, we also talked about being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, cryptozoological porn, and whether vikings were the first New Zealanders (hint - no they weren't!).
You can visit Aaron's website here - https://www.compton.ink/
And you can find him on Twitter and Instagram - aaron.compton
As ever your co-hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Nix Whittaker
...2019-07-2000 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode Eight: Hero's Journey or Fools Errand?In this episode your regular co-hosts talked about plot and structure...
They talked a lot about the hero's journey and their opinions of it, as well as saggy middles, sub plots, and more. Also Nix sets some homework.
You can read more here:
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
Why I seldom teach the hero's journey any more
The hero's journey is no longer serving us
Structure and Beats
Your co-hosts:
Nix Whittaker
Kura Carpenter
Mat Dan...2019-07-0600 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 07: Mark McCabe talks about Kindle Direct, getting that cover, fantasy maps, and more.In this episode your hosts were lucky enough to spend an enjoyable half an hour or so in the company of Australian born, Dunedin resident author Mark McCabe who talked about Kindle Direct Publishing, going wide, making sure you have the right cover, and creating fantasy maps.
If you want to do some further reading -
You can find Mark online here.
You find his artist Jeff Brown here.
Generate your own fantasy city maps here.
Other fantasy maps here.
As ever you can find your hosts onlin...2019-06-1900 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode Six Kevin Berry talks about Interactive Fiction and moreIn this episode Christchurch author Kevin Berry talks about writing interactive fiction for a middle grade audience, as well as speculative fiction, YA, and crime fiction.
You can find Kevin and his books here.2019-06-0500 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastThe SpecFicNZ Podcast Episode 05 In which Nix, Kura, and Mat ask do pantsers exist?In this episode our three hosts talk about different aspects of writing from the point of view of an indie novelist, a traditionally published novelist, and a short story writer. As always this is with a focus on New Zealand.
As always our hosts are:
Kura Carpenter
Mat Danaher
Nix Whittaker
If you have any comments or questions, or would like to get involved in our podcast, or be interviewed, flick us an email: podcast@specfic.nz 2019-05-2600 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode Four: In which we talk about the psychology of characters and other things with Darian SmithThis episode features an enjoyable chat with Darian Smith, author of the 'Agents of Kalanon Sequence', as well as the extremely useful 'Psychology Workbook for Writers'.
You can like Darian's Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/DarianSmithAuthor/
You can find his books on Goodreads here - https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/7370521.Darian_Smith and you can buy them at all good bookshops both online and off. 2019-05-1800 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode Three: Deb E HowellIn this episode we had a chat with Deb E Howell, Dunedin based author of Warrior's Touch, Healer's Touch and the soon to be published Magician's Touch among other works.
You can find her website here - https://deberelene.com/
And you can find her on Facebook here - https://facebook.com/deberelene
As you can tell we had a good laugh recording this one, and it was the second episode we actually recorded, so you can tell we were still getting used to the flow of the interview, and using the technology. 2019-05-0400 minThe SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode 2 in which we interview Dunedin based author Daniel StrideIn this episode we talked with Dunedin based author Daniel Stride. We talked about his work in the SpecFicNZ anthology which you can find out more about here. We also talked about Daniel's novel Wise Phuul which you can buy here.
We also talked about TV Tropes and the Society for Creative Anachronism.
You can find Daniel's website here. 2019-04-0100 min
The SpecFicNZ PodcastEpisode One: Lee Murray and Piper Mejia Talk about Geysercon and NZ Young Writers FestAward winning New Zealand Writers Lee Murray and Piper Mejia talk about New Zealand's premier event for science and fantasy creators - Geysercon, as well as the import work that New Zealand Young Writers, and their Young Writers Fest do.
You can find out more about Lee here, and more about Piper here.
Geysercon
Young NZ Writers
Podcast hosted by:
Kura Carpenter
Mathew Danaher
Nix Whittaker
2019-03-1200 min