Hazel Edwards

Australia

Profile Information:

Hometown:
Melbourne, Australia
About Me:
Strange how some years you write away quietly and not much happens, except in your imagination. Then backlisted projects are publicised or published and things happen quickly. 'Authorpreneurship;The Business of Creativity' (Keesing Press) is being launched by Australian Society of Authors in Sydney on August 10 at Better Read Than Dead bookstore.Great name for an occasional crime writer.Links and more information on my web site.

I'm a children's author of books such as 'There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake' but also have cross genre Antarctic publications as a result of an Australian Antarctic Division expedition as writer on ice. Motivations intrigue me which is why writing short , satirical crime appeals.Some of my works are translated or adapted into other mediums.

'Difficult Personalities' came out in a USA edition with The Experiment, a NY publisher. Fascinating to research the motivations and very relevant for crime writers.

Our co-written f2m;the boy within (www.fordstreetpublishing.com ) is a first for YA fiction where Ryan Kennedy, the co-author has actually experienced transitioning from female to male. The challenges of collaborating across two countries (he's in New Zealand and I'm in Australia) with the plotting online has been very satisfying. I've also learnt about book trailers and a new language for writing gender and punk music.Documentary in progress.

Currently I'm working on a gambling script 'Making a Killing at the Pokies'
I like reading cleverly plotted short crime with realistic settings.

I belong to Sisters in Crime and have discovered some fascinating crime writers via their publications.
I Am A:
Reader, Writer
Website:
http://www.hazeledwards.com
Books And Authors I Like:
Kerry Greenwood, Ruth Rendell, Robert Harris, PD James, Garry Disher, Goldie Alexander. I like character centred mysteries with realistic settings

Comment Wall:

  • L. A. Starks

    Welcome! Sisters in Crime is a good organization, I agree.
    LAS

    Dec 26, 2007

  • David L. Hoof

    Welcome to
    the land down under
    where women glow and men chunder
    with apologies to Men at Work
    Sisters in Crime were very kind in blurbs to my most recent novel, Little Gods. Good group they.
    in your 'About me'
    interest in motivations is essential, but dramatic tensions really rise when motivations are pitted against equal innhibitions, giving interior struggles like... well, Hamlet.
    After Sydney 2000, I was in Melbourne for just two days, but it seemed to fascination place. Next trip to Australia set for next summer, to Perth, which is -- coincidentally -- nearly exactly opposite to my home town if one draws a line connecting it with the center of the earth.
    More later.
    All Best,

    David

    Dec 28, 2007

  • David L. Hoof

    For you and the record, I've done the numbers on books and have come, thereby, to belileve that in major respects we do this thing, writing, as needful expression and, a distant second, for profit. I'm not recommending the Emily Dickson approach where you plunk everything into your drawer, but I'm convinced that if you don't love your own characters, their worlds, their predicaments and even peculiarities, then no matter how much money you make at this, you won't be fulfilled. At a Washington Independent Writers Conference in 2005, keynote speaker Sara Nelson, editor in chief of Publishers Weekly, gave a seemingly encouraging speech predicting that books were not dead, nor would be for 'at least eight years or more.' More encouraging to her were the greater than 50,000 books appearing (US) annually and the nealy 2,000 presses publishing. But there's another way to look at this, if you're not just looking for the distinction of being a published writer, and that is this: the greater is the number of books printed, the lower is the chance that random reader will pick yours up. Even with blazing hot blurbs -- only my latest, Little Gods, I was blurbed by the last Democratic candiate for the President of the United States, and have yet to see my swift boat of profits dock. And so we beat on against the current...

    Dec 30, 2007

  • David L. Hoof

    I have an idea for an Antartic novel that may come alive through your experience. So I'll offer it up to you if you're interested. It is grounded in several scientific verities related to Antartica. It also has legs in genre, as it is the Antarctic version of the closed room mystery murder. You won't guess until the end who the kriller, oopps, killer, is. Or maybe there's another, a hot Antartic love story where the lovers felt the ice move.

    Dec 30, 2007

  • David L. Hoof

    I half expected a cold response. Pun intended of course.

    Dec 30, 2007

  • MysteryDawg

    Beautiful story, that Jail Birds....Thanks for the submission.

    Jan 6, 2008

  • Kim Smith

    Hey Hazel! Good to meet you here on CS. I simply adore the title to your book. It sounds like a kid's book that I would buy.

    Jan 7, 2008

  • Hazel Edwards

    I write for children and adults, and writing for kids is harder as they are more honest, give it the 'yawn test' but will become devoted fans of subsequent books, if they like your characters. You also get unique fan mail! Or your character might. I often get 'Dear Hippo, will you come and sit on my roof and be my friend because I haven;t got a friend?' poignant e- fan mail...My website www.hazeledwards.com has a few articles on the background writing of some of my children's titles which include picture books, YA and junior fiction and faction.Children's books have longer lives than adult which are read once, but a generation is six years, and then you have a new group of child readers. Also tend to be translated and adapted more. And then there's the educational market for fact and fiction. But some adults will also ask 'When are you going to write a 'real' (meaning adult )book.? because they make the mistake of assuming that the IQ of the writer is commensurate with the age of the reader. You have to write shorter and simplify, but still have a sub-text , so writing for children is harder, but very satisfying. It's also said that food is the sex of children's books. PS I also co-wrote 'The Business of Writing for Young People' with Goldie Alexander, another Australian crime writer on Crimespace.


    I

    Jan 7, 2008

  • Hazel Edwards

    I'm in the process of adding a Crime section to my website and will put links to the crime organisations. But I'm also conscious of the 'brand' name dilemma mentioned in the Crimespace forum on children's books and may go with my earlier collaborative crime pseudonym of A.K.Aye
    It's a fine line between adult psychological but non violent short crime and mysteries for YA.Delete Comment

    Jan 7, 2008

  • Jackie Tritt

    Hi Hazel

    I've been to a couple of your talks and been really inspired by the energy and professionalism you put into your writing career. Hope to see more of you on Crimespace.

    Jackie

    Jan 7, 2008

  • Hazel Edwards

    I'm intrigued by the number of Australian crimespace writers as I imagined most would be from the USA or UK
    50 Km east Does that mean the Dandenongs since you mentioned the bushfires? Maybe our paths will cross this year? Gigs on my website indicate where I'll be running workshops and the confernces at which I'll be speaking.Thanks for the invitation and the info abotu short story anthology publishers on your site.

    Jan 7, 2008

  • Darren Laws

    Hi Hazel, You raise an interest point about copyright infringment. It is the risk we run the moment any work is published be it on the net on any other medium. Like all things, tracing and tracking the infringment is the issue. Protecting the work is nigh on impossible. I only ever allow one chapter of my novels to be posted, though I have run an experiment with googlebooks to see if this causes problems or generates any sales, this experiment comes to an end in April 08. I think one chapter gives a tast of the book and is enough to whet the apetite. Best wishes for 2008. Darren

    Jan 7, 2008

  • Rick Mofina

    Hazel welcome to the community I am sure it will be fun for you.

    Jan 11, 2008

  • Hazel Edwards

    The 'Short & Twisted' anthology is just out and it has my short crime story 'Making a KIlling at the Pokies' .What is interesting in terms of wider media coverage of stories is that having it out in print form, then makes it eligible for consideration to be read on national radio. I have soem audio novels, but getting a short story in audio form tends to mean having it read on radio, which can also mena it becomes a possible podcast. Any others with this situation in other countries?

    May 18, 2008

  • Jean Henry Mead

    Hello! I'm trying my wings as a children's author after nine published adult books. All of mine are satirical to some extent. :) Your books sound like such fun to read.

    Jun 6, 2008