Category: on writing

This year I entered the Pikihuia short story awards jointly run by Huia Publishers and the Māori Literature Trust. I got long listed and included in the above book which is my first foray into traditional publishing. If you’d like more details, including a list of other authors, go here.

“Here I am, the early hours of the morning in a strange apartment with a girl I barely know and I can’t sleep. When you factor in all the big unknowns; Sophie, Fred, New York, the state of my life, I suppose it’s not surprising that I can’t sleep.”

I’m pleased to announce my next project; The State of My Life. It’s currently in draft, I’m planning to publish in September.

You might have picked up that it’s set in America, at least part of it, but the main character is a kiwi. Austen influences this time are Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Once I have a confirmed release date I’ll let you know.

Remember how I published a book last year?

 Yeah that one.

If you liked it (and I hope you did) you can now nominate it for a Sir Julius Vogel Award.

Alternately if you like the cover (it is so fucking pretty) you can nominate my cover artist Kate Strawbridge. (You can read my post about creating the cover.)

You can nominate here

Nomination details:

Title of Work or Name of Person: Beautiful Abomination

Author/Artist: Frances Duncan (or Kate Strawbridge)

Category: Best Novella (or best Artwork)

Publisher: Independent

Contact information for nominee: frances@francesduncanwrites.com

Other information: http://www.francesduncanwrites.com (or https://www.dwelldesignpress.com/)

There’s an old maxim to not judge a book by its cover. But let’s be honest, we do.

My cover designer, Kate, talked about my latest cover at Lexicon. She used it to illustrate the journey from original cover (left – her design) to final cover (right – a collaborative effort).

The original is gorgeous but not really my style. I wanted something a little dark, a vampire that looked human, and an element to represent the earthquake.

You’ll notice the text remains, in fact the formatting for my name is the same as on my previous book giving a nice continuity (despite the very different genres).

The image on the left is one I took of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament when I was in Christchurch for Word Christchurch last year. The cathedral appears in the book as a sanctuary so I wanted to include an image of its ruins.

The image on the right is one Kate found. It looks much more human than a similar image I found, especially when we removed the red eyes. I loved it so much I rewrote a couple of scenes to make reference to the pouty lips of the model/character.

This cover is perfect for my book and a great example of what you can create when you work together. (If you like the original, contact Kate, she intends to sell it as a pre-made.)

It would have been great to write about Word Christchurch while it was still fresh in my mind but I had a busy week. After a full weekend away I had a lot to catch up on, plus I had a bit of a cold, then I met someone wonderful, and I had work, and other work, and life in general. So here is my post on Word Christchurch a week later.

My motivator for attending Word Christchurch was to see Caitlin Doughty who, through her web series Ask a Mortician, changed the way I view death. I made an idiot of myself when I met her (as you do when you meet someone you admire) but she was great about it. The sold out Ask a Mortician could have been better if they’d just given Caitlin the floor. The speakers at the Embracing Death session shared a pro choice (if I can borrow the abortion term) stance on the option of assisted dying. I had expected some debate but was pleasantly surprised.

I have a no book buying policy but I accidently bought this before my first session @WORDChCh @TheGoodDeath pic.twitter.com/5Q1H5UCrHL

— Frances Duncan (@Frances_Duncan) August 26, 2016

The finalists for the  Ngaio Marsh crime writing awards gave us little glimpses into their works. It’s an experience to hear a story from the mouth of the writer. The Great Divide (between intellectualism and pop culture) didn’t impress but I went into it with the mindset that it would be about pretentious writers – one did actually use that word to identify himself. My favourite session was The Nerd Degree. Two ladies (one of them Caitlin) faced off against two men and completely trounced them. The men sadly embodied the socially awkward nerds whereas the women were articulate. I won’t spoil it any further as the pod cast is coming out soon. Several people came away from the festival with a crush on Ivan Coyote; I wish I had attended one of their talks.

The great divide or are all writers pretentious arseholes

— Frances Duncan (@Frances_Duncan) August 28, 2016

Sunday morning I interviewed former National Librarian Penny Carnaby (completely unrelated to the festival). She is an amazing individual. The topics ranged from politics, her work at the National Library and life advice (apparently I should go towards the things I’m afraid of – I have been doing a lot of that lately).

I get to meet @pennycarnaby at @WORDChCh which is equivalent to meeting a celebrity in my eyes

— Frances Duncan (@Frances_Duncan) August 24, 2016

Christchurch is a beautiful city I am so grateful to have visited. There was beauty in the ruins. If I had a job, friends, or family there I’d move. I went for wander to get a feel for the city and do research for my current book. It’s given me a lot of ideas so I can get back to writing.

Overheard: I need to go home and put the introvert hat on.
(Probably how most writers are feeling after #wordchch )

— Frances Duncan (@Frances_Duncan) August 28, 2016

My own darling child* has been out in the world for a month now. I thought it would be difficult to let Alison go as she lived in my head for year. But once she/it was published she was gone. I think there may even come a time when I read Alison and am surprised at what I find. I’ve been letting go of a lot of things this year. It’s difficult but it’s making me a better writer and a better person.