FULL TRANSCRIPT

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Carole: When you become passionate about something all sorts of things change.

Intro

Hello and welcome to the Finding Elara Podcast building worlds with words and sharing those words with the world. A podcast for writers, worldbuilders and Artists that would like to take a mindful look inside their creations. Join me as I dive into the depths of mindfulness and explore worldbuilding in all its diversity ever searching for Elara.

Music

Hi Guys welcome back to the show. This is episode 15 airing on the 2nd of January 2019 and I hope that you enjoyed your transition into the new year however you chose to celebrate it. I went to Perth to spend some time with family and to be honest I really struggled to stay awake to meet midnight. If it wasn’t for the kids who are now tweens and teens, I would have happily gone to bed at my usual time. But I did make it to the countdown and then I was in bed about 2 minutes passed midnight and I was out like a light.

I am you host Dianna and today I have an interview with Carole Weave Lane a writer whom I met through the Australian fairy tale society. Carole is the Perth ring leader for the group and we talk about how she came to have such a love for these enchanting tales. 

Before I get started thought I have a new competition running through rafflecopter. This one is for Carole’s two books The hidden parchment and enter the fey. To enter the competition I have the link on the show notes which you will find a t dlnix.com/015 on my author page which is DL Nix on Facebook and in the finding Elara community on Facebook. To enter there are a few options you need to follow the link and choose which you would prefer. simply visit my author page, visit the Facebook community, like my twitter handle which is @findingelara or visit Carole’s Facebook page. You can enter as many times as you like and entries will close before I record the next episode on  the 9th of January. I had one of my friends suggest that I do a live feed on Facebook when I do the draw but I am undecided if I will go ahead with that. I love giving things away for free so I look forward to seeing all the entries.

Talking about giving things away am registered with Ko-fi that is k o – f I .com/findingelara. Kofi is a place where you can buy creatives like me a cuppa. This is not an ongoing commitment, just whenever you feel like it. For me it is $3 to buy a cuppa and I put all my funds toward keeping this show ticking over. If you like what I am doing on the show then please feel free to check out my Kofi page and have a look at some of the other cuppas that have been bought for me. You get to leave a note every time which I think is really cute. You may wonder what that has to do with giving, when I am talking about getting cuppas from my listeners but stay with me there is a point.

Garry, A friend of mine, recommended that I read the Molly Harper nice girl series and review them for the Buffy night segment of the show so I did read the first book and thought it was pretty good but told him I would have to wait until I get a few more cuppa’s before I fork out on more books. So next thing that I know I received the second and third gook as a gift on audible from my friend. I am amazed at how kind it was for him to give me not one but two books for me to read and review. So although I have already sent him my thanks I am happy to say it to the world. Thank you Garry. I will listen to at least one of them before the next show so that I can review it on the Buffy night segment.

Now it is time for the interview part of the show.

Music

Interview

Today we have Carol on the line. Carole is from from Melbourne she's traveled a lot and lived overseas for several years she was a lecturer from RMIT and a few other institutions. she tought in WA and ran a small school for 7 years for ESL and elementary studies. SHe took a different path and became a past life therapist, Hypnotherapist, reiki master was head teacher at two spiritual centres in perth for many years became a writer and finally she is coordinating the Australian fairy tale association here in Perth. She's very passionate about Fary tales, mythology, folklore and altered fairy tales.

D: Hello Carole, How are you today?

D: Hi How are you?

C: Not to bad.

D: Can you please tell me a little but about yourself and how you because so enamoured with Fairy tales?

C: Oh well it goes back a long way. Are you prepared for that?

D: I am yes go for it.

C: Okay, well as I was thinking about it I think my first memory was the little green road to fairy land which was written by Annie and IDA Renshaw Uthwaite and that was back in 1920. I wasn't alive then though but the book was kind of written in those days and I think I've always remembered that picture in the book of this little girl she was looking at a wall a brick wall that was all mossy and in the brick wall was a door and it lead to fairy land. and tat has always stayed with me. That little picture and although I don't have the book sadly. It would cost about $500 it's very rare. I could still remember that. I think that I started from there. When I look back on there and I think about it she was also born in Melbourne and went to a similar kind of school that I did. So I was kind of a little bit attached to it. So that was my commitment to the role of fairies and from there I think as we went to school a lot of our books were to do with fairy land and such like. I just found a little reader that I had in grade three which had a lot of Grimm fairy tales in it which is quite sweet, I put it down so that was kind of the starting point and from there oh here we are. here's a little, I can't show it to you but there is a little picture there of a child and as we progressed along the track I think we went to Enid Blighton. Now Enid Blighton wrote many stories for smaller children as well like Mr pink whistle and such like which was all to do with fairies, pixies and elves and that kind of thing. And there was another little Mrs Waggle wall one wall about a special little clock. So I think that I went through all of the Enid Blighton books. In those days you used to be able to listen to them on the radio at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the book would be read. and another one would be read and another one. So I grew up in the world where we played and did a lot og things with fairies and such like. and wore the kind of dresses that were worn in the books not realising where it would have gone of course and from there we had Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. They were written by Australian writers and there were things that came into being. The magic pudding and that kind of thing So that was the kind of little world that we grew up in. Which allowed us to create and to sink and to leave this kind of way. I think that Enid Blighton really opened the door to all things kind of magical. I have to also thank the ABC because they you know opened that door for young people then that didn't have television. Opened the mind to imagination and such like. Blinky bill was another, the series of the little koala. And I certainly had that book. Molly the Bunyip was another one. I s'pose by the time I had gotten through all the Enid Blighton books which she wrote so many of I was hitting the age of about 12. Though I went to a school which was boarding school my father wouldn't allow me to board not even for a term and I wanted to you know indulge in the special tea parties and things at midnight. So that was a bit of a shame but never mind. We had a lovely little library at school I think my mother very much encouraged us to read and to imagine. I think that probably one of my favourite subjects in school was writing. and I was quite good at imagining all manner of things. So I just lead from there. From an early age upwards. Later in my teens I think I started in the kind of world Daphne Dumorie and Victoria Holt. and there was Charles Dickens and of course we had the Beatrix Potter and those books opened up doors for people of my age and we went from there. I traveled a lot in my late teens and early twenties and lived over seas for a few years. By the time I returned I was starting to write little things. I was always interested in folk lore and history and visiting places and always imagining little things and how it would be for example Francis Drake in Dorsett a little kind of hilltop that over looked the sea and he was supposed to have played bowls there when the Spanish armada came in. It was those kinds of things that made one think and dream a little bit. so I s'pose that it wasn't until my age group now that is a few years hence that I. and I was back home in Melbourne for about 10 years and I met up with Louisa and John Crowe and she was performing songs and she did a beautiful one called the witch in the woods. that i used to love and she sent me some copy little cds of the She Cat so that was the story that I wanted to write. and a few other things. so there I was actively involved in the Fairy Tale association I was a part of it for quite a while until I came back to Perth and then became a member and became more involved in it. I s'pose when I started writing more in earnest I wrote a lot to do with Fairies but not necessarily with the Fairy Tales which I am starting to do now. Particularly the altered Fairy Tales. I think there's a big area for that now. So many writers are out there doing it whom I follow like Theodora Goss and Terry Windling and Jane Lolan. She wrote a lot of books and then there's Patricia Macillop and the list goes on and the more I read, the more I want to do so I guess that's the point where I'm at now. 

D: Fantastic so you really like to read the Fairy tales and you've only really just gotten into the writing yourself?

C: I started writing in earnest about 2003 but I wrote 5 books then. But with shifting and coming back to Perth and many things and etc and etc I've let a lot of things slip. Now I'm coming back into it again. I have two books that have been published. But I am working on my third now. I am doing a little altered fairy tale story for an anthology which I think is coming out next year and I have named it the turnip princess. Which I think was kind of cute. I've altered that quite considerably. I did another one for a Fairy tale magazine called Things just get curiouser and curiouser in wonderland. That was a couple of pages. So bringing in the Fairy Tales specifically has become some what new. I wrote the story which I've got to finish called when the She Cat Beckonned. and that has to do with Bab Yaga. and Baba Yaga had a sister and the sister came out here in Bassendeen so the story is set on the banks of the river. So in terms of that that's sort of reasonably new I would guess.

D: So what are your two books called?

C: I've got enter the Fey and the first book is call the hidden parchment and the second is Enter the Fey. I can't show you a picture here, I'm trying to show you a picture.

D: I can put a picture on the web page.

C: Oh okay. Which was my old home in Melbourne. I wanted to do justice to the lovely old home. and to the Fairies as well too. So the third book I did for Nano That I think will be called the witches playground. I'm not to sure yet but it's moving into another realm completely. This one will be imaginative. The other two were structured by pas a little bit more. When I was living in the UK and dragons feature in it of course too. 

D: I Love Dragons.

C: Yeah well, I brought that in on the first page and they come more in the I think 5th book will be very much their focus in that. SO they're very imaginative and I actually wrote these books online. I did a writing course with a lovely company in Sydney and I loved the way that they wrote because they very much wrote with feelings and tapping into the body more rather than it coming very much from the left side of the brain. SO I did a three year course there and wrote the books online and then it was up to me to move more in to the editing and edit and suchlike. So that was my starting point and then we had them all corrected as we went a long and had them all under a structure. I guess now that I will likely use that structure because it works. But that's sort of where I'm at.

D: Brilliant. I understand that you teach reiki and such so how so you find mindfulness in your days to find a balance between your work and your fun.

C: Well, it's interesting that you should say that because a year ago I had an accident, a car ran over me, so I've been home for a year.

D: OUCH!

C: Yes it has taken me a year to get back to. A year and two months to be precise. at about the eleventh month my mind was starting to focus again and i started to get back into writing. So now I am sort of more in tune with what I am doing and i find the bars. Now the bars is that I take my dog for a walk early then an hour of Kundalini Yoga then do the things that I need to do around the house and then I settle down for about two or three hours. I don't sit for the whole three hours because i still am unable to stay for long periods but it will total up to about three hours. I have another walk in the evening and i do some reading in the evening and attending to other things to I have a day which is fairly planned and organised.

D: It's good to have some structure it keeps things on track.

C: Oh yes. Well at one point I was able to sit the whole day and write but I cannot do that now. But I find now that this suits me. I've relaxed myself. I've done my Yoga I've been for a nice walk and I've communed with nature for a period of time and that helps me to because nature is where I get a lot of my ideas from. And I come back and then I settle myself down and then I can work. I'm quite happy about it. I'm quite okay with it. so that's my new plan.

D: I'm sure it's fluid. You can change it when you feel like it.

C: Oh you can. One can. Sometimes you have to do in the mornings. particularly physio because I have to do a bit of physio. I rearrange myself to it. This year I've had my son living with me. He was here to give me some help and guidance or inspiration but he's not here now. So, I've rearranged the house and my times so that I can do more for myself here. So that's good and that's how it is.

D: So as the Ring leader for the Australian Fairytale Society.

C: Yes.

D: What is it that you actually do?

C: What do I do? For quite a while as I said I was a member and participant and just sat in the back ground and read the information that was sent out to us from the Australian Fairytale Society and I found that absolutely fascinating. and the reason I did that was because I would read the various books that they suggested that we do. We would become acquainted with all manner of things. But I found the study part interesting. That was one of the reasons that I became involved in it too. My role now is to coordinate and bring people together who are interested in the particular subject. It's been a little laid back for a while particularly because I haven't had a very good year but I think it's coming together a little bit more now. The meetings used to be that a coordinator would take the information which was sent to her from the association and she would ask questions about the books and we would talk. About it. about view points etc. Then we would delve into all manner of other subjects. Because you just don't, you don't stereotype things. just because something was written the 16s the 17s or the 18th century doesn't necessarily apply today. There is a strong move in the east to bring in some of the aspects of Australian writers and the Australian bush. Which I think is a good idea. That came through with snugglepot and cuddlepie. Blinky bill and such like I think that's excellent too. Because we too have our fairy structure's here an though it may be more bush scenes we certainly have it as well too. So that's one of the aspects that we work with. I am happy to expand it more and take it more to the various country centres because I believe a lot of people live in the country and they would like to have an activity that would interest them. And be able to meet up with like minded people in their own settings. Rather than having to come up to Perth. I would like to add on to this and make it more so active in the sense that sometimes people can write little scenes and create little plays. Sometimes people can do needle work or they may sing. Ss I want to see it becoming more acitve. Taking the theme so to speak and enlarging it. making it exciting for people to become involved in it and that would be good too. there are a lot of interesting people who are members and one lady who recently I had communed with came from Israel and she's very interested in coming forth with the Russian side of Fairy tales too. I think that people can bring not just the answers to questions they're reading in a particular topic but their own experiences along that line too so that they're continually growing and developing as well.

D: You Definitely sound very passionate. Do you have a favourite Fairy Tale and why?

C:  Oh My Goodness! Well I have a lot of favourite fairy tales and I sat back and thought about it the other day and particularly a lot that I read when I was younger. You've go the Cinderella's. You know you've got the Cinderella, Snow white and there's a whole list of those. Red Hat. You've got beauty and the beast, the little match girl and the mermaid the little soldier. I mean I grew up with those Arabian nights but now as I said with each topic that I get we will engage in a new area. Just recently we tapped in to Japanese folk tales witch I found absolutely exciting. The little story of the Bamboo Princess was really interesting. and opened me up to other writers and the fact that it actually was a Japanese writer who wrote the first novel. I didn't really realise that and that was in the 12th century. That was an interesting find. I've read the turnip princess recently and last night I did the two brothers which is to do with our latest topic which is Spanish folk lore. In actual fact it is very similar to that particular one by the grim brothers. So I read that one again. It was an interesting story of two brothers one who was very wealthy and given to evil practices and the other who was very poor and very pias as a contrast. and the story of that that was very long and very interesting as well too. again there was one Baba yaga that was very interesting as well too. I try to change and I change because sometimes of the fairy tales that are sent across to us interest me and I run with that at the time. So I can't honestly say to you that I do have a favourite because of that.

D: Well, it's probably a good thing that you can keep your mind open so that you can experience more. 

C: Yes, that's what I like to do. Very much

D: So what are your plans going forward. You said that you've got another book in the works...

C: I've got three coming. Yes, I want to finish the little Fairy Tale that's to be done before February. I want to finish off when the she cat beckoned. I've only got two more chapters in that. and i want to do the next one which if book number three so year 19 I plan to do a lot of writing. I also plan to do a lot more with the Fairy Tale association as well. I do a lot of, as I said to you I run a class now once a week so there's a bit of work involved in that. But that's quite interesting too. and i am working more with my Yoga. That all balances out to what I am going to work with. If I didn't have all these other things if I didn't have nature because I can sit out here and do a little story which I did last year. It's about the Daisy family that decided to pack up an leave home due to intruders coming through the garden. They packed up and went something else. I've got a lot of little stories that I want to pursue that's very interesting. So my year is to be productive. That's my Motto. 

D: As good an aim as any. Would you like to read an excerpt from one of your stories?

C: Would you like to hear the little one about Alice then?

D: Sure thing.

C: Things just get Curiouser and Curiouser. This is one that I sent to the Fairy magazine in England and it was published there.

 

Alice faintly heard the words oh my ears and whiskers I shall be late dissipate as they faded into nothingness. She stood arms crossed mouth set in a thin line daintily tapping one foot and then the other at the edge of the divided path housed by huge trees. THe path wound in different directions and she was beset with indecision.

"Bother. which path did the white rabbit take" she mused. I only took my eyes off for two or three blinks and then poof he has disappeared. what shall I do she addressed herself and with a flick of her long sun coloured hair that danced with sunbeams. The narrowed her blue eyes to help her concentrate naturally a frown appeared on her elfin shaped face and she was unable t o decide what to do. She turned this way and that scrunching up her fingers in the pocket of her not so white apron. When suddenly she heard her name being called from the direction of a willow tree overhanging the path to the right of her. 

"Alice, if you guess my riddle the true path will be revealed."

"Who is speaking to me" she bluthered as she stepped closer to the tree where the voice had spoken to her. 

Upon a low lying branch she observed a striped orange cat swishing its tale back and forth as it stood upon the branch. He had a large mouth and many teeth and it was smiling at her.

"Do I know you sir", she inquired in such an impolite manner. 

"Oh" said he ignoring her rudeness. "I have the honour of owning the title of the Cheshire cat. Emmisary of the great white queen."

"Oh, indeed sir. What is the riddle." she replied taking back.

"What is not quite of air, but it is?" he replied acidly swishing his bushy tale back and forth.

"That is not fair. How can I answer such and absurdity?" She said stamping one poor black shoe encased with a white stocking. 

"Fair" said he. "There is no fair here."

"Pray, that does not make sense." 

"Sense could be seen as dense and dense people do not make sense because they are dense."

"Oh I cannot riddle with you Mr Cheshire cat for you do not make sense." She spluttered.

​

D: That was really good. I really enjoyed that. I love Alice in wonderland stories.

C: Well we had to sort of get back in touch with what they were like and she was very proper with her speech and everything. But it's only a short one. Two pages in length but you know. 

D: Yeah it's good.

C: Thank you.

D: So you said that you are traditionally published and self published. 

C: Yes.

D: Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

C: Well Palmer and Company published it in Melbourne some years ago. Unfortunately he had a seizure and the business did not flourish after that point. So a very small book was brought out. After that I decided to self published it and now I've sent it off again to the UK. They're interested in having a look at it aswell.

D: Which story are you talking about?

C: The hidden parchment.

D: Oh Okay. That sounds exciting.

C: Well yes, it's a very big book unfortunately. it was well over 200 thousand words. so, I just kept on going with that one. It's set basically in the UK and Ireland and a little part of Cornwall and at the end of that my character pops on a plane to Melbourne. That's where the second one is. enter the Fey. 

D: Oh, okay.

C: And that's set there.

D: Do you have any advice.

C: If it is your bent to create and to create worlds whether they be this world past worlds to not stop and to go with your passions. and to keep going and to continue with them.

D: That's really good advice to just continue with the story.

C: Yes to be interested in them and not be thinking yes I am going to be published etc etc because you may not. But at the same time enjoy the ride and go with it and when you become passionate about something all sorts of things change. That's my advice and just don't stop.

D: Fantastic. Well thank you so much for coming on to the show today. I think that the listeners will get some good value from what you've said.

C: Thank you so much. 

D: No problems

Music

I know it may sound a little bit like we were cut short but Carole had a great time on the interview and she was very thankful it's just that she said her thanks after the buffy night segment which we lost. so now we lead on to buffy night.

Buffy Music.

Buffy night is the segment where I review where my inspiration has come from recently, anything from books, movies, tv shows, art and music. I hope that by sharing what has inspired me that you too will find inspiration. This week I am going to talk about the 4 books in the Kings dark tiding series and the first book in the ‘nice girl’ series by Molly Harper. Nice girls don’t have fangs.

The kings dark tidings series by Kel Kade now includes 4 books but I am sure that there will be more to come. I really hope there will be more to come. I reviewed the first book in the series last week and I have since finished listening to the audio version of all four. I have done a lot of travelling lately.

As I said last weeks episode, these books are ones that I had trouble putting down. Kel Kade has a way of drawing you into the story and keeping you there. This is the perfect book for when you want to escape into another world and remain happy that you live in this one. Due to the main characters predisposition to the rules you can understand why he makes some of the choices that he does and his stupid smart unemotional intelligence made me want to pull my hair out at times.

The alternating character perspectives highlight the real differences in the in the main character and the others throughout the novel. Some I liked more than others.

Each book has an individual ark that allows you to feel contentment at the end but keeps you hooked in a way that you need to read the next book. They have to my knowledge been released yearly thus far and I hope that there is another one coming out in 2019.

As we were travelling to much over the last fortnight we have been listening together in the car and it has given us a chance to talk about the different choices that are made in the story and try and guess what is going to happen next. We are yet to get the latter correct because there are so many factors always involved and the main character is so astute and talented and competent that there are an unlimited amount of options. I stick to my solid 4.5 stakes for the book and I really hope that Kel Kade is busy working on the next one

The next book I would like to review if the first book in the nice girls series by Molly harper.

This is a light paranormal read and it is right up my Alley. In the opening scene of the book we meet a librarian that has just lost her job and getting drunk at the local. I liked the girl to start with, she was a little unfairly treated by her boss but she handled herself as well as any girl that had just been fired from her dream job and now has no prospects. Enter the vampire. Now this is similar to the Sookie Stackhouse series in the fact that Vampires are out of the coffin but that is pretty much where the similarity ends. so people know that they exist but there are no particularly defining features to a vampire going about their daily or nightly lives they are normal people that are a little prettier. There is bottled blood that you can buy and you can ask for special drinks from behind the bar.

Our little librarian didn’t notice that she was sitting next to one of the children of the night and was winging a way to anyone that would listen. You know that she gets turned, but I won’t tell you how because you would have to read the book to find that out it is quite creative and then the rest of the book takes you through how she adapts to her new lifestyle. There is quite a bit of action in the story and we are introduced to many characters that I have a feeling will be returning the next books in the series.

I really liked the way that Molly Harper included a guide book for the newly undead inside a gift basket. There was also a welcoming committee which is a different twist. There are people that dislike the undead obviousely we are still human but mostly people have continues from the perspective of this character anyway to do about their lives as they would have before. I give it 4 stakes out of 5. It was a really good read that I may if go back through again.

And as always at the end of every buffy night … grr argh.

Close

That’s all I have for you today, the music is by bensound.com

If you have any question about the show then you can contact me via email dianna@dlnix.com that is Dianna with 2 n’s. Or look for me on facebook as DL Nix and twitter @ finding elara. The show notes are at dlnix.com/015. If you would like to support the show then check out my Ko-fi page. That is K O – F I.com / finding elara. You can buy me a cuppa for 3 dollars any time you like I practically live off black tea so I appreciate any boost to my supply.

I am getting used to working with Hallie (my new rig that I got for Christmas) so I need to reassess my goals for 2019. If you have listened to the show before you would know that I was saving for a new computer and now I don’t need to buy one I need to reassess. So Next we I am going to talk to you about some resolutions on 2019. If you listened episode 13 with Derek  Doepker then you would he heard that he has a POWER system that he uses so I am going to use that for the 19 goals. And also in episode 9 when I interviewed Pauline Wiles she spoke about a year in pixels so I am thinking of trying that.

I hope that you have a wonderful week and keep up the search.