About this episode

Shen Tao discusses her journey as a debut author, the challenges of writing nine manuscripts, and her unique blend of Chinese and Western storytelling in 'The Poet Empress'.

Shen Tao has always wanted to be a writer. For as long as she can remember, she's had ideas, developed characters, and written stories. It took her 9 attempts, 9 manuscripts, to finally get it done. Her debut is 'The Poet Empress'. It's a Chinese historical fantasy, blended with a love story and a murder mystery. It tells the story of a young woman, who enters the Imperial Court as a concubine, and learns poetry-magic to try and kill the heir to the tale. We talk about how she pushed on, through the failed manuscripts, and had an idea she knew would be a winner. A winner it was, eventually being bought in a 6-way auction. You can hear why she's prepared to chuck words away, why she writes a '0th draft', and how her routine has changed since going full-time. We chat about the pressure of getting it right, her unique inspiration blending both Chinese and Western myths and stories, and Shen shares her strong font opinions. Get a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine Read the newsletter - writersroutine.substack.com Support the show - patreon.com/writersroutine ko-fi.com/writersroutine @writerspod writersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…

People in this episode

Host: Dan Simpson

Guest: Shen Tao

Topics covered

• writing process
• debut authors
• Chinese historical fantasy
• manuscript challenges
• poetry-magic
• inspiration
• writing routines

Keywords

• Shen Tao
• The Poet Empress
• writing routine
• failed manuscripts
• Chinese fantasy
• poetry-magic
• debut author

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Acast, Substack, Patreon, Ko-fi, uk.bookshop.org, writersroutine.com

Books & works: The Poet Empress

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