An interview by Jess Gately Elizabeth Kuiper grew up in Zimbabwe before emigrating to Perth with her mother. In 2016 she graduated from the University of Melbourne with a degree in politics and philosophy and she is now a writer and law student living in Melbourne. Her debut novel Little Stones was released 1 June…
Review: My Father’s Shadow by Jannali Jones, by Jess Gately
Title: My Father’s Shadow Author: Jannali Jones Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller Favourite Part: Just when you think you’ve figured it out, Jones throws a curve ball at you! The Black&Write! Fellowship has produced some cracking reads so of course I couldn’t wait to dig into Jannali Jones’s debut. The blurb for My Father’s Shadow doesn’t give…
Interview: Nova Weetman, middle-grade and YA author
An interview by Shelley Carter Nova Weetman has been writing since she was a preteen and has not stopped since! True to the Underground Writers’ aesthetic, her writing career began with an old, black typewriter. I spoke to Nova about her writing career and what it’s like to write for a middle grade and young…
Freelance Writing Series Part 11: A word from the professionals
Article by Jess Gately Image from Canva Free Stock Images The last few posts have been a whirlwind of information! While it may feel daunting and overwhelming, our resident professional freelancers Ruth Dawkins, Lindy Alexander and Abby Alexander are here to help you break it all down. So, what do they have to say about portfolios, pitching, and…
Writing Opportunities July 2019
Overland speculative alternatives issue ‘Overland is seeking fiction submissions for a special online edition themed around the future(s) you would manifest, to be guest edited by Eda Gunaydin.’ Maximum length is 4,000 words. Closing 15th July KSP Little Black Dress Spooky Story Competition Free to enter, youth (8-18) short stories should be no longer than…
Writing Advice from 7 Contemporary Australian Authors, by Jess Gately
Image from Canva Free Stock Images We’ve all seen those lists of lovely quotes from classic writers telling us all we need to know about writing. But what about writing in the modern world? What about the dangers of submitting too quickly and dealing with instant feedback? What about marketing yourself and building an author platform? What…
Writing a Story Cycle, by Kate Lomas Glendenning
As an admirer and writer of short stories, I decided to challenge myself by writing a different genre. After a bit of research, I discovered I did not have to stray far from my beloved short stories! Enter: the short-story cycle (also called short-story sequence, short-story composite, composite novel and novel of interlinked stories). A…
Freelance Writing Series Part 10: Pitching
Article by Jess Gately Image from Canva Free Stock Images In our last post we discussed finding your first clients and getting your first paid gig. If you’re looking to write for magazines, blogs or newspapers, a large portion of your career is going to be spent pitching. So, what is pitching? Pitching is when you put…
Kate & Jess Rae on Aussie Women Authors
Kate Lomas Glendenning and Jess Rae recently appeared on Six Minutes For Me’s #ReadingWomenMonth Camera Flip series to help viewers fill in the ‘Aussie Author’ section of their bingo cards. You can watch the full video below. The bingo board (pictured below) was provided by the Reading Women Podcast. You can play along on your…
Interview: Poppy Nwosu, YA author
Poppy Nwosu is an Adelaide-based, young adult author. Growing up in central North Queensland, she enjoyed a thoroughly wild childhood surrounded by rainforest and cane fields. Her debut novel, Making Friends with Alice Dyson, was published in March this year and has just been shortlisted for the prestigious Readings Young Adult Book Prize 2019. Editor…
Review: The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone by Felicity McLean, by Shelley Carter
Title: The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone Author: Felicity McLean Genre: Fiction Thriller/Mystery Favourite Part: When a young Tikka re-enacts (unsuccessfully) the Lindy Chamberlain saga as her talent show act — it was a great juxtaposition to the seriousness that was happening regarding the Van Apfel sisters during the climax of the story, and also…
Freelance Writing series part 9: Getting your first paid gigs
Article by Jess Gately Image from Canva Free Stock Images In the last post we discussed ways that you can start a portfolio of your writing by incorporating articles you may have written for university, for your personal blog or things you’ve written for former employers, or by listing previous ‘clients’ you’ve worked with for free. In this…
Writing Opportunities for June 2019
Image from Canva free stock images BREW: Bush Retreats for Eco-Writers residencies The Bush Retreats for Eco-Writers (BREW) network offers free 10-day residencies for writers, poets, students and artists exploring ecological themes. There are five properties across NSW, Victoria and Queensland. More information at their website. Wombat Books accepting unsolicited children’s book manuscripts ‘We are looking for…
Review: Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte, by Jess Gately
Title: Four Dead Queens Author: Astrid Scholte Publisher: Allen & Unwin (2019) Genre: YA Fantasy Every so often a book comes along where the pacing is so perfect—the tension rises steadily and the plot races forward—that you find yourself turning the last pages at two o’clock in the morning wondering how ‘just one more chapter’…
Writing Your Author Bio, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Image from Canva Free Stock Images Whether you enjoy or loathe writing them, an appropriate author bio is essential when presenting yourself to your audience as it orients you within the writing canon, and educates others on your particulars. Some authors use their bio to denote what genre or format they work in (e.g. poetry, essays, etc….
Perth Independent Book Tour, by Jess Rae
When you don’t drink alcohol or coffee, what could possibly be your vice? Bookstores—duh! At least in my case that’s exactly what it is. It’s true, loyal Underground readers: I took one for the team, went on a bookstore tour and spent a lot of money, but shhh. Don’t tell anyone. It’s for research, I…
Freelance writing series part 8: Building a Portfolio
Article by Jess Gately Image from Canva Free Stock Images Your business is now pretty much set up and ready to go, but there’s one last thing you’ll normally need to attract clients—a portfolio. Just like in any business, people want to know that you can actually do what they’re asking you to do and the best…
Issue 26: Ashes
Cover by Ari Moore Issue 26: Ashes is here for your reading pleasure. This month we bring you a tasting plate of short fiction, flash fiction and poetry by writers from around Australia, including Sophie Roberts, Elaine Mead, Nadia Kim, W.D. Farnsworth and Ash Leonard. Editor Shelley Carter gives us a run-down of Gus Henderson’s…
Review: The Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale, by Jess Rae
Trigger warning: this review discusses a book that contains themes of abusive relationships, drug-abuse, and sexual assault. WARNING: This is the kind of book that requires a comfy couch, a good hot beverage and maybe some snacks too because once this book gets going you’re not going to want to stop. I saw this book…
Interview: Lorna Hendry, author
An interview by Shelley Carter Lorna Hendry is a writer, editor, graphic designer and teacher, and studied a Bachelor of Science at university before writing children’s non-fiction. She currently writes for Wild Dog Books and in her current published work How to Win a Nobel Prize, she teams up with Nobel Prize winner Barry Marshall…
8 Aussie Podcasts for Writers, by Jess Gately
Image from Canva free stock images Writing is something you can learn in many different ways and while many will tell you to learn by reading, we can also learn by listening! The rise of the podcast means that speciality shows catering to all your passions, learning and entertainment needs, are just a click away. So, of…
Stella Prize 2019 Overview: what was shortlisted this year? By Shelley Carter
Picture credit to 2ser Tuesday Book Club Since its inception in 2013, the Stella Prize has aimed to “recognise and celebrate Australian women writers’ contribution to literature.” It celebrates those who courageously and authentically share their stories, subvert genres, and experiment with form. This year was no different, and both the longlist and shortlist offering…
Freelance writing series part 7: A word from the professionals
Article by Jess Gately Image from Canva Free Stock Images We’re welcoming back Ruth Dawkins, Lindy Alexander and Abby Alexander, our resident freelancers who are discussing some of the things we’ve been talking about so far and giving us an insight into the working world of freelance writing. What was the hardest thing you had to learn…
Interview: Dee White, author & playwright for children & young adults
An interview by Shelley Carter Dee White is a published author of 18 books and two plays for children and young adults, with two new books due out this year. She has had extensive experience in the publishing industry, including conducting writing workshops and online classes about writing. She has presented at a number of…
Writing Opportunities April 2019
Image from Canva free stock images Red Room Poetry: School Poetry Object 2019 “Victorian primary schools are invited to register – FOR FREE – in the first-in-the-nation primary school poetry slam competition, in 2019, with OutLoud primary finalists to appear at the Melbourne Writers Festival. Registration would usually be $275 per primary school team but the free…
Interview: Kerri Turner, author of The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers and Underground Writers Alumni
Interview with Kerri Turner, author of The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers and Underground Writers Alumni In 2017, Kerri Turner submitted her short story The Cause and an Effect to Underground Issue 17: Hitchhiker. Now her debut novel, The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers, has just been released and the second is on…
Planning a Novel, by Jess Gately
Image from Canva Free Stock Images Take what you will from this process and build upon it in a way that best suits you. You may wish to use all of the steps, or you may wish to use only some, but the key is to work in a way that is best suited to you and…
Review: Driving Into the Sun by Marcella Polain, by Dylan Dartnell
Title: Driving Into the Sun Author: Marcella Polain Genre: Literary fiction Publisher: Fremantle Press (2019) The novel that took some ten years to write, Marcella Polain is back with her breath-taking work, Driving into the Sun (Fremantle Press, 2019). The story revolves around an eleven-year-old girl named Orla on the precipice of womanhood. She, like most…
8 BookTubers to Spice up Your Reading, by Shelley Carter
I discovered Booktube back in 2016. It was like a whole new world of literature had opened up to me. Books I had no idea even existed made their way onto my TBR list, and I even discovered Goodreads because of the people I was watching. I had found a community of people that were…
Freelance Writing series part 6: Tax & Superannuation
Image from Canva Free Stock Images Article by Jess Gately Those dreaded words. The ones that fill our heads with question marks and swear words. For many people tax is frustrating, confounding and unintelligible. Having a tax agent is a really good idea when you’re freelancing, but there are still lots of things you can do to…
Review: Alex and the Alpacas Save the World by Kathryn Lefroy, by Kate Lomas Glendenning
Title: Alex and the Alpacas Save the World Author: Kathryn Lefroy Genre: Australian children’s fiction Favourite Part: When Alex discovers she can understand the alpacas Alex and the Alpacas Save the World, by Kathryn Lefroy, follows Alex who is visiting her grandfather’s farm in Tasmania for the summer. Lefroy quickly throws her heroine into shenanigans…
Writing Opportunities March 2019
Image from Canva free stock images Yirra Yaakin Writers’ Group “Yirra Yaakin invites established and aspiring Aboriginal playwrights to participate in an intensive playwriting program that guides writers through craft and writing sessions aimed at turning ideas into scripts. At the culmination of the workshop program, six writers are selected for one-on-one assistance to help them prepare…
Interview: Hadley Wickham, author of ‘My Bed is a Blackhole’
Interview with Hadley Wickham, emerging author of My Bed is a Blackhole, by Shelley Carter When I was first introduced to emerging Perth author Hadley Wickham, I was more than intrigued. A Google search gleaned nothing more than a sample of her debut novel, and a single interview. I was put into contact with her through…
Freelance Writing series part 5: Setting Rates, Quoting and Invoicing
Image from Canva Free Stock Images Article by Jess Gately Here we are at part 5, and we still haven’t even started writing yet! And sadly, there’s still lots to do before you do start writing. In this post we look at the finance side of things like quoting and pricing structures. For some of you keeping…
Illustrated Books aren’t just for Children, by Kate Lomas Glendenning
I find books memorable for different reasons. These reasons range from characters, to plot, or to setting; however, one endearing reason a book can be memorable to me is because of its illustrations. Illustrations are not just for children’s books. Drawings can not only aid imagery but also create a deeper meaning. Which books are…
Review: Wraith by Shane and Alex Smithers, by Jemimah Halbert Brewster
Title: Wraith Author: Shane & Alex Smithers Genre: YA Sci-fi Favourite Part: When they’re sneaking around a ship Wraith, by Shane and Alex Smithers, is the story of James Locke, a sixteen your old boy living with his parents in rural New South Wales. Who can fly. His best friend Darren is training him to…
Is Your Idea Worth It? By Jess Rae
How to tell what story is worth writing. I know as a writer I always have so many ideas but I never have any clue which idea to run with; I don’t know about you but I’m not usually confident in myself enough to make that decision. Well I’m here to tell you there are…
Issue 25 is here!
It’s a new year and we’re happy to be presenting issue #25 of the Underground Writers zine, featuring more fantastic work by a selection of creative writers from around Australia. Our work this issue includes poetry from Ion Corcos, Jasmin Seabrook-Benson, Scott-Patrick Mitchell, and Wendy Lichtenberg. Our short stories comes from Christos Sevastidis and Paul…
Freelance Writing series part 4: Business Set-up
Image from Canva Free Stock Images As you’ve seen in the previous posts, there’s a lot more to freelance writing than just writing. Setting up your business correctly is the first and possibly most important step to ensuring your success as you step out into the freelance world. In this post we’ll cover the set-up of some…
How to Create Fully Developed Fictional Characters, by Kate Lomas Glendenning
Image from Canva free stock images As a reader, it is incredibly frustrating to immerse yourself within a book with underdeveloped characters; as a writer, this flop is devastating. It is with frustration I must confess that there is no exact formula to create developed characters. Advice on the subject is varied and often contradicts itself, so…