About Me
- Satima Flavell
- Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.
The Dagger of Dresnia
The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.
Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon.
Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance. 
My Blog List
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A Hidden Reason Why Readers Read - When asked why stories are read, fiction writers offer high-minded reasons: - Fiction is the tale around the campfire: a celebration of our heroes. - Fic...1 hour ago
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Sweet Obsession by Katee Robert - CW: Quoted verbatim from the book itself: “Sweet Obsession is an occasionally dark and very spicy book that contains parental abuse (historical, non-graphi...4 hours ago
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A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025, Mysteries: B Is For Benjamin January - If you have been following this blog for a while, you will certainly have read my posts about the Benjamin January series by Barbara Hambly. But the ...
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The Big Idea: Mary G. Thompson - If you could abandon this world and live in your most perfect world, would you? What about the people that are stuck in your perfect world? Author Mary G. ...19 hours ago
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Gifted #3 Stitch Up Series… - This is the Goodreads blurb of ‘Gifted’ Book #3 in the Stitch Up Series. Gifted: Book Three in the Stitch Up Series by Stevie Carter It takes more than it ...22 hours ago
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The Long March to Freedom 1944–1945 - Our records provide accounts of the forced prisoner of war marches that took place during the final stages of the Second World War. The post The Long Mar...1 day ago
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Spring in the Middle Ages - How did medieval people perceive the arrival of Spring? How was Spring depicted in medieval calendars and literary texts? And, was Spring the “mating seaso...1 day ago
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Doug Corleone - Douglas Corleone is the international bestselling author of Gone Cold, Payoff, and Robert Ludlum’s The Janson Equation, as well as the acclaimed Kevin Corv...
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Yes, Obviously You Can Kill Your Female Characters (Just Not Like THIS!) - NEWSFLASH: Don’t Use The ‘Fridged Woman’ Trope I predominantly write crime fiction and thriller, which means I kill a LOT of characters. Some of them, in...2 days ago
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Slow down your writing - [image: Close up of flat wooden blocks with letters that spell out PAUSE BREATHE RESUME] Slow down your writing Sentences that are clear in our heads may ...2 days ago
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The Rule of Three and How it Helps Our Writing - *By Janice Hardy * *Three is a magic number in writing, and can help you craft stronger stories.* There was a joke in my house growing up, that things al...
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Writing update: Staerstone novel stuff - Despite things being hectic, with cyclone Alfred and all, I’ve been putting in a fair amount of time to writing! I wanted to write some short stories for u...4 days ago
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The Fake Gestapo Cell in London in WW2 - by Deborah Swift During WW2 the government did its best to suppress the British Union of Fascists (BUF), but MI5’s effort to prevent fascist activities was ...
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Publication update-Amber Rose - Oh the excitement! Amber Rose is all laid out and off for a proof read. It’s a milestone and I’m pleased with it. A bit more admin to do before I can put p...1 week ago
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Publication update-Amber Rose - Oh the excitement! Amber Rose is all laid out and off for a proof read. It’s a milestone and I’m pleased with it. A bit more admin to do before I can put p...1 week ago
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Old King Coal still has a job to do in Australia (sort-of) - So here’s the idea right up front: Retro-fit Old Power Stations as INERTIA-WHEEL Rapid-Response Grid-Stabilisation (and Storage). Huzzah! We are finally sh...2 weeks ago
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The Great Discworld Retrospective No. 41: The Shepherd’s Crown - Sir Terry Pratchett passed away on March 12, 2015. An advocate of Assisted Dying, he nevertheless succumbed to the conditions of his Alzheimer’s Disease an...3 weeks ago
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RECALL is out now! - Hi friends! I’m excited to share with you that RECALL is out now! Originally published as three novellas – Manifest Recall, Recall Night and Ghost Recall...5 weeks ago
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Teaching Schedule in 2025 - Please click the Travel and Teaching Page for Bhante Rahul's teaching schedule in 20251 month ago
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This feed has moved and will be deleted soon. Please update your subscription now. - The publisher is using a new address for their RSS feed. Please update your feed reader to use this new URL: *https://problogger.com/feed/*2 months ago
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A Little Piece of Alternative History - Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk, is a good height for a woman, but not tall – only her headdress make her seem so. As a recent widow, she is clad entir...2 months ago
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Breaking the Silence - Over the past many months, I have watched the stories circulating the internet about me with horror and dismay. I’ve stayed quiet until now, both out of ...2 months ago
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Books Read 2024 - *A Spindle Splintered *by Alix E. Harrow (novella) *All the Light We Cannot See *by Anthony Doerr *A Special Providence *by Richard Yates *The Slap *by ...
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Photo Parade 2024 - I’ve decided to participate in the annual Photo Parade (Fotoparade) on Michael’s blog Erkunde die Welt (Discover the World) again. My post from last year’s...
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Happy Public Domain Day 2025, the end of copyright for 1929 works - This is my annual reminder that January 1st is Public Domain Day, and this year copyright has ended for books, movies, and music first published in the U.S...3 months ago
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Titles - This is a bit of a technical post, provoked by reading a certain novel. In England, pre-Tudors, there was only ever one Prince. The Prince of Wales, when...3 months ago
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About Holly - There is no way to soften the blow of this and Mom never liked euphemisms, so I’m just going to speak plainly. Mom died due to complications from cancer on...4 months ago
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WRAP UP OF HORRORFEST POST, OCTOBER. - Hi all! Thank you so much for posting to WEP's Horrorfest in October. I'm sure everyone enjoyed reading the entries. So good to see so many of the 'oldi...
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Introducing Maneyacts Media - At Maneyacts Media, we specialize in professional video recording for events, seminars, and competitions. With a diverse selection of standard and PTZ (pan...5 months ago
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PhD Milestone 3 at Curtin University - Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing my Milestone 3 presentation for my PhD at Curtin, which is in its final stages before it goes off to be examined. App...6 months ago
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A personal thought on the passing of publishing legend Tom McCormack - The passing of publishing giant Tom McCormack makes me recall the interaction he had with my father, Leonard Shatzkin, from the very beginning of Tom’s p...9 months ago
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Henry of Lancaster and His Children - The close bonds which Edward II's cousin Henry of Lancaster, earl of Lancaster and Leicester, forged with his children have fascinated me for a long time...1 year ago
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Questions from year 9 students - Recently – actually, not very recently but I somehow forgot to write this sooner – I did what has become an annual online Q&A with the Year 9 girls at Bedf...1 year ago
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Flogometer 1180 for Christian—will you be moved to turn the page? - Submissions sought. Get fresh eyes on your opening page. Submission directions below. The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me ...1 year ago
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Storny Weather - I've just been out fixing up the damage from last night's storm. This is pretty much the first time I've been able to spend much time outside and do any...1 year ago
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another review for the Christmas Maze - *The Christmas Maze by Danny Fahey – a Review by David Collis* Why do we seek to be good, to make the world a better place? Why do we seek to be ethi...2 years ago
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Publishing Contracts 101: Beware Internal Contradications - It should probably go without saying that you don't want your publishing contract to include clauses that contradict one another. Beyond any potential l...
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Non-Binary Authors To Read: July 2021 - Non-Binary Authors To Read is a regular column from A.C. Wise highlighting non-binary authors of speculative fiction and recommending a starting place fo...3 years ago
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Grants for Writers Masterclass Online - Grants For Writers Masterclass Online Winner of 6 grants, author Karen Tyrrell shares her secrets to Grant Writing for Australian writers and authors. ...5 years ago
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#332 - Question: I wrote LOST IN LA as a retelling of Pretty Woman with “modern” social issues, but I don’t know whether to focus on the characters, the fake rel...5 years ago
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Day 1: Harlequin Presentation - Sue Brockton – Publishing director Jo Mackay – head of local fiction, HQ, Mira, Escape Kita Kemp – Publisher Mills and Boon (ANZ) Nicola Caws – Editor...5 years ago
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The Girl from the Sea launches: 31 July 2019 - Some of you will already know that my new novella, The Girl from the Sea, is launching on July 31. This book is the prequel to Children of the Shaman an...
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Want Booksellers to Stock Your Books? - Booksellers in your community will help you sell your books if you approach them with good sense and a professional approach.5 years ago
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The Scarred King by Rose Foreman - "From the moment he could walk, Bowmark has trained for a fight to the death. The Disc awaits him: a giant bronze platform suspended over a river of l...
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Children learning English as a second language with dyslexia. Lese-rechtschreibeschwache Schüler/innen und Englisch in der Schule. - *"Legasthenie/LRS und Englisch als Fremdsprache* Lese-rechtschreibschwache Schülerinnen und Schüler bekommen in der Regel auch Schwierigkeiten in Englis...9 years ago
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Prompts, Anyone? - I'm a great fan of writing to triggers or prompts so when I was delighted came across something useful on poet Katy Evans-Bush's blog, *Baroque in Hackney....10 years ago
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Cherries In The Snow - This recipe is delicious and can also be made as a diet dessert by using fat and/or sugar free ingredients. It’s delicious and guests will think it took ...12 years ago
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Al Milgrom’s connection to “Iron Man” - Via the Ann Arbor online newspaper - I felt it was worth repeating as a great example of Marvel doing the right thing by a former employee and without the ...
14 years ago
Places I've lived: Manchester, UK
Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia
Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia
Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW
Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school
Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ
Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake
Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park
Places I've lived: High View, WV
Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK
Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland
Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
From Kings Park
Inner Peace Blog
Awarded by Joanna Fay. Click on the image to visit her lovely website!
Versatile Blogger Award
Awarded by Kim Falconer. Click on the pic to check out her Quantum Astrology blog!
Fabulous Blog Award
Awarded by Kathryn Warner. Click on the pic to check out her Edward II blog!
Sunday, 14 June 2015
Teaching and Chocolate!
Sunday, June 14, 2015 | 
Posted by
Satima Flavell
I spent a lovely morning today in the company of members of the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre's Speculative Fiction Group, chatting about one of my pet topics: the six inevitable mistakes of beginning writers. It went over well, I think, and they presented me with a box of excellent chocolates at the end, so all's well in my world!
As I've given this talk so often, I think it's about time I gave the information its own web page. If this material might be useful to you, go to the page by clicking here or on the link above to Write it Right: notes for apprentice authors.
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7 comments:
No that I am one, but will check it out anyway.
I'm curious about those mistakes. I've read so many mistakes the beginners (and some advanced) writers do! Those chats must be really entertaining. I would just pass on the chocolate. I can't stand it. :)
Ok, Al - if you ever have a surplus of chocolate, you know where to send it! BTW, I called you 'Andrew' in my last comment on Father Dragon - got you mixed up with another friend who is into dragons, too. A thousand apologies.
Nuts to that, I am Father Dragon's honorary grandmother so that any chocolate will be sent to me Satima, not you. Just had to make sure you understood that.
Hmph. Late to the table, as usual. Oh well, if there's any left over ...
I might share if I am in a good mood.
You are kinder than I am. I hoard chocolate like one of Al's dragons hoards gold. And when no one is looking I eat the lot!