Jason Fischer returns for part 2 to tell Harry and Jack all about Spectrum Writing and the programs and services available for writers who have various intellectual disabilities or challenges (such as ASD spectrum and acquired brain injury). As CEO of Spectrum Writing, Jason and his team of highly dedicated professionals have designed a program to help them achieve their writing goals. You'll be inspired by this episode.

In this episode (part 1), Jack Roney and Harry Colfer chat with author Jason Fischer about his love of all things speculative fiction and his publication journey.

'Jason Fischer is a writer from South Australia. He has received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, won an Aurealis Award and the Writers of the Future Contest, and received the Colin Thiele Literature Scholarship. In Jason’s jack-of-all-trades writing career he has written for television and the stage, as well as a variety of prose projects such as novels, roleplaying games and more. Jason also facilitates writing workshops, is an enthusiastic mentor, and loves anything to do with the written or spoken word. Jason is also the founder and CEO of Spectrum Writing, a service that teaches professional writing skills to people on the Autism Spectrum.'

In this episode, authors Jack Roney and Harry Colfer chat with award winning author T.M.Clark about the CYA Writers Conference and Writers at Sea writing retreat. Aspiring writers at all levels should check these out.

Find out more at:

www.cyaconference.com

www.writersatsea.com.au/events/WAS2024

Part 3 of 3.

In the third and final instalment of the Ben Hobson series of interviews, Ben chats with Harry and Jack about specific elements of the writing craft including:

• writing from instinct and how this can aid a novel
• writing in a state of flow and improvising
• planning and pantsing at the same time
• the George Saunders iterative process and how it can help

Some great tips and advice for emerging authors.

Part 2 of 3

The interview with Ben Hobson continues. In this episode, Ben chats with Jack and Harry about his other projects including his online book club, his side gig of interviewing high profile authors, and his podcast Burgers, Beers and Books. Ben also shares insights into the highs and lows of his publishing journey, his setbacks and his successes and what inspires his writing.

Part 1 of 3 - interview with author Ben Hobson

Ben Hobson is a Brisbane based author. To Become a Whale, his debut novel, was released in 2017. It was longlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Debut Fiction award and shortlisted for the Courier-Mail's People's Choice Award. His second novel, Snake Island, a literary thriller, was released in 2019. The Death of John Lacey, an Australian Western, was released in 2023, and is his third novel. He also runs Ben's Book Club, a monthly online book club, and does in-person interviews with authors (some big names). Ben was recently featured as a panellist at the Qld Writer Centre’s Genrecon. He has also hosted the Burgers, Beers and Books podcast.

In part 1 of this series Jack Roney and Harry Colfer chat with Ben about his books and his publishing journey.

In part 2 of our chat with Khaiah Thompson, we discuss blurring the lines between heroes and villains, how conflict drive stories and develops characters, and what it is about the morally grey that readers love.

Our special guest for this episode is Khaiah Thompson from Perth, Western Australia.

Khaiah is the author of the Welcome to Blackwood (Young Adult, Paranormal Fiction) series. The first book in the series, titled Welcome to Blackwood, won the Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize in 2020. Khaiah was a finalist in the Qld Writers Centre ADAPTABLE competition. Book 2 in her series Leaving Blackwood has been released with book 3, Redeeming Blackwood currently in production.

Khaiah runs workshops about the importance of conflict in driving the plot of a story. The workshops explore character development of the protagonist (hero/anti-hero) and antagonist (villain/anti-villain) and the progressive change in writing/reading trends from your typical hero vs villain story, to different shades of morally grey.

In part 1 we deep dive into what makes compelling anti-heroes and anti-villains and the morally grey that will keep your readers guessing.