S02E17-055 Building in Layers with Selina Shapland

Guest Bio Selina Shapland is a certified fiction book coach who uses her developmental editing knowledge and skills to guide aspiring authors through the shadows of storytelling. She has studied fiction since 2008, and she writes paranormal mysteries, romance and horror too.  Angels, demons, ghosts, psychics, spirits, vampires, witches, werewolves and monsters populate her stories. Gods and Goddesses grace her fiction pages and she loves sprinkling magic throughout her fictional worlds. The worlds Selina creates often intersect with our world, but there's always something lurking on the other side of the veil to be discovered by her lead characters.  In Selina's writing world, the paranormal is normal, mysteries plague her latest work in progress, and sweet to medium heat romance connects enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, and old crushes with new levels of love with a dash of spice.  She lives in Holbrook NSW with her leading man. She's a poodle mumma, a cat servant and an art dabbler.   Links Contact Selina Website: https://empoweredwords.com.au Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/selinashapland_dev_editor Substack: https://empoweredwordsfictioncoach.substack.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/selina.shapland.empowered.words    Things you can enter WHATS IN THE CHEST From Selina: Tarot reading for character development on zoom. From Angela: 2x Ebooks for 2 winners (both books each) Elanor and the Song of the Bard and The golden dragon awakens. From Jessie: Access to her Book Blurb Magic Course. From BCP:2 x $25 Voucher Treasure chest Give-away 2: (open 17/06/2025 closes 19/07/2025)  https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/treasure-chest   Otherworldly emergence Novella: (Open 05/07/2025 Closes 27/07/2025) https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence   Contact the Team Finding Elara Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FindingElara Discord : https://discord.gg/Ap8EWpPn BCP Website: www.bcpcreative.com.au BCP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bcp.creative/ BCP Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bcpcreative   Contact Dianna Website: www.dlnix.com Facebook: (DL Nix) https://www.facebook.com/Faepatriantales Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findingelara/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@findingelarapodcast   Sponsor Info Book Reality https://bookreality.com/ Shadow Lair: https://ko-fi.com/findingelara   Show Notes World Building: What is the universe the character is in. Starts with the character first and their history. Writing contemporary – still need to worldbuild. Worldbuilding is layered Play: Sookie entering her office Talked about the trauma you need to give your characters. Has a soft spot for parallel world stories. Pre-Plots her stories Explores different genres depending on her mood. Likes to have pictures of settings for inspiration.   Quotes By Selina Every Character I write starts out with a little bit of me The world needs to serve the story   Fast Fire Questions What is your favourite Colour? Red What is your favourite thing to draw Sun or Moon? Moon Would you prefer to live near a Beach or River? Beach What is your dream Holiday destination? Scotland What is your favourite Fairytale? The ugly Duckling Linking to Elara Garry: Can a zombie and a ghost come from the same person? Yes, she thinks they could. Because if the person at the time of passing the soul separated from their physical form, so you would be able to have the ghost and then body is reanimated then it could definitely be a zombie. Ari : What's you're go to advice when people are stuck in the shadows? Depends on the scenario. Recommends reaching out to a coach and having that conversation. Check you haven't written yourself into a corner by writing a tangent. Tangents are often where you end up in the shadows. Ari: What's your favourite monster and Why? Vampires. Because they are romantic and dangerous. Complex characters. Joel: How much of your storyline is dictated by the lore of the creatures? Depends on the character position in the story. If it is a main character it is super important. DL:  What is your favourite otherworldly emergence storyline? Fan of Harry Potter. Loving the Dark Gothic at the moment, but enjoys a mix of different Genres.