Hey Wordies!
Welcome to the third instalment of Five Questions, One Author, a series that shines a spotlight on incredible new, indie, and underrepresented authors. This week, I’m thrilled to introduce you to Australian author Samantha L. Valentine!
I’ve had the pleasure of reading two of Samantha’s novels and a short story, and her work never fails to amaze me. She has a remarkable ability to weave the messy, beautiful complexities of life into her stories, capturing how they shape and challenge romantic connections. Her characters stay with you long after you’ve closed the book, and her commitment to diverse representation makes her a standout voice in contemporary and romantic fiction.
Each post in this series features the same five questions, giving these writers the space to share their stories, inspirations, and lessons learned. A massive thank you to all the authors who are taking part.
Now that’s been said, grab a cuppa and a sweet treat Wordies, let’s begin!
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- What inspired you to start writing, and what led you to choose self-publishing or working with an independent/small publisher?
Like most writers, I’ve been a book lover forever and immersed myself in fictional stories from a very young age. I always wanted to turn that love into writing, but it took a long time before I was able to do that. It was probably around 20 years ago when I started thinking about it more seriously and enrolled in an English linguistics degree because I was fascinated by the science of language, but I also thought it would help me unlock my writing ability. I finished that degree, starting writing a bit for myself, but couldn’t seem to get past that. A few years later, I enrolled in a master’s degree, which included some fiction courses and I was in a position where I had to write a piece of fiction if I wanted to pass the course. I wrote a short story set in 1989 about an 18 year old surfer in Western Australia grieving the loss of his best friend. (I wrote this in 2015, but entered it into a competition a couple of years ago and it was long listed for the Minds Shine Bright competition.)
Going through the process of having to write the story in a structured way, undertake research for it, present it to a class and work with other students to give and receive feedback was the best thing for my writing journey. It opened a floodgate for me.
I realised it wasn’t that scary sharing my writing, nor was receiving feedback, and I learned how to work with feedback and began to understand my strengths as a writer.
I then spent a few years then jotting down ideas, writing bits and pieces, some flash fiction, but it was in September 2019 that the urge to write a novel was so strong I couldn’t ignore it any longer. I enrolled in the Australian Writers’ Centre short course ‘Creative Writing Stage 1’ to help me gain some skills for putting a novel together. In that course, we needed to write a 500 word piece on setting, so I wrote the therapy room that appears in my first novel, Normal Functioning Adult. I already had a rough idea about the story and characters, plus I had a few other ideas rattling around, but in the course they advised, ‘if you have several ideas, go with the one that speaks to you the most.’ The therapy room, and my character Amy, spoke to me the most, so after that course finished, I sat down and wrote my very first (very bad) draft of my first novel. Within a month, I had a rough 50k draft to work with, and it took another year to get that novel to a publishable state. I’ve been writing stories ever since.
I’m not really indie by choice, although I do love the control over editing, covers, publishing timelines and the higher royalties. But unfortunately, traditional publishers are risk adverse and straight, white fiction continues to dominate. There is very little Australian sapphic fiction published by Australian publishers houses.
Both my novels have been taken seriously by a couple of the big five, and Meet Me in Berlin even got to acquisitions with one of those publishers, but it’s all about money and markets (I truly don’t believe publishers care about diversity despite saying they do), and because I don’t have a big following, although they loved my book, they didn’t take my book any further (yes, they actually gave me that reason). I don’t really bother even submitting to publishers anymore. I know they won’t go for the novel I’m working on now, so that one is straight to indie publishing. I do have a fourth novel there to get back to, so I might try the publishing route again for that one.
- How does your personal background or identity influence your writing, and how do you incorporate that into your stories?
I am the L of LGBTQ+, so all my stories feature characters from this community. My main characters are mostly lesbian, but I also write bi and pan characters, too, hence the reason I market my stories as sapphic fiction as opposed to lesbian fiction. Although I am passionate about keeping the word ‘lesbian’ and for people to understand that ‘sapphic’ doesn’t mean ‘lesbian’, so when my main character is lesbian, I will refer to that particular story as lesbian fiction. Being Australian and living in Australia features in my stories a lot too. That’s something I’m very proud of in my writing and I think it sets me apart a little bit from a lot of other sapphic fiction authors. I particularly like setting stories in my home city of Brisbane, that rarely features in fiction.
- What has been the most rewarding part of your writing journey so far, and what might you do differently in the future?
Finally publishing after all the hard work of getting the book ready is very rewarding for me, and getting a nice review from someone you’ve never met is also very rewarding. While most writers don’t write for recognition, it is very nice when it comes, particularly in the form of an award and making a list in a competition or anthology.
What might I do differently? After two published books and having written a lot of unpublished stories, I feel like I’m finally getting to know myself better as an author and how my stories relate to the world. So my marketing and author tags have recently changed to align more with how I see my fiction. Before I was trying to slot into author and reader communities where I thought I fit, but that hasn’t worked for me, so now I’m carving out my own path and am finding my own way forward as an author.
- What advice would you give to new or aspiring indie authors?
When you first start writing, there is so much advice about what to do and what not do, and it can be overwhelming. But it’s important to remember that not all advice will work for every writer, so don’t be afraid to reject feedback from people on your writing if it doesn’t gel with your or your story, don’t try and follow all the writing ‘rules’, and apply some common sense about what works for you. I think it’s important for people to find their authenticity as writers and to not be afraid to beat to their own writing drum.
And my number one tip, just write! Don’t worry about trying to find the best word or how that clunky sentence reads when you’re starting a new story, just get it down because you can’t edit a blank page.
You’ll be amazed what comes out if you just sit down and type. Be patient with yourself – it’s not a competition and it’s not a race.
- Can you tell us about your latest book and where readers can find it?
I published two books in 2024, a couple of weeks apart. My most recent publication is called Meet Me in Berlin, which is a contemporary sapphic romance with two main characters – Holly from Melbourne and Casey from London – who first meet and the reunite in Berlin. It’s set across Melbourne, Berlin and London and while it’s a romance, it has my trademark real life themes woven throughout and includes lots of ups and downs where the characters need to work for that happy, romantic ending. It’s available at all online bookstores, but it helps me most if people buy from Amazon.
I also republished my first novel, Normal Functioning Adult, which is general fiction with romantic elements. It’s a story of grief, friendship and love about Amy who lost her wife tragically and is trying to find her place in the world without the person she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with. That is also available on Amazon.
I have a website, where readers can find links to my books (including a link to the anthology I was part of this year), and an option to sign up to my monthly newsletter https://www.samvalentine.com.au/. On socials, readers can find me on Insta, TikTok and Facebook under my author name. My next novel will be out in 2025 and is a lesbian romance set in Brisbane.
About the Author
Samantha L. Valentine is an author of contemporary sapphic fiction, both life lit and romance. She is passionate about diversity in fiction and would love the world to read more diverse Australian stories. She graduated with first class honours in English Language and Linguistics from the University of Westminster (London) and holds a Masters in Writing, Editing and Publishing from The University of Queensland (Brisbane). In her early twenties, Samantha went to the UK for a one-year working holiday that turned into twelve years living in London and Oxford. She now lives in Brisbane with her wife and their two Boston Terriers. She is the author of two published novels, one published short story and many unpublished drafts.
About Normal Functioning Adult
The only way to find herself is to lose herself.
A year ago, Amy Campbell’s life was perfect. She had a beautiful wife, her career was on an upward trajectory, and her friendship circle was uncomplicated. Now she’s a thirty-five-year-old widow who relies on wine and a dysfunctional situationship to cope.
Aware her life is hanging together by a thread, Amy reluctantly returns to therapy. As she works through her grief and opens up to others in her group therapy program, she forms an unexpected bond that gives her life renewed purpose. But as she strives to become a normal functioning adult again, strains on her new relationship, conflict with her best friend, and the pressures of everyday life throw her into turmoil.
The more Amy tries to redefine herself, the more her old self surfaces until the two collide and she’s forced to confront her reality and make a decision about her future.
Can Amy find the courage to say goodbye to her late wife and allow herself to love again? Or is the risk too great?
Normal Functioning Adult is a story of grief, friendship and love told with heart and humour.
About Meet Me in Berlin
‘If we lose each other, then we’ll come back to this spot, on this day, at this time, every year until we find each other.’
Casey Miller-James works hard, plays hard and loves hard. She has her dream job in a London art gallery and is busy planning a wedding to her influencer girlfriend who’s determined to have the best lesbian wedding anyone has ever seen. Life is good. So why does Casey feel like her heart belongs to that woman from Melbourne she met in Berlin eleven years ago and never saw again?
Holly Craddock feels like life is passing her by. Her career is going nowhere, and her spare time is spent running around after her unappreciative partner and worrying about her mum’s illness. She longs to rediscover her passion for photography, and she dreams of finding that woman from London who broke her heart in Berlin so long ago. She doesn’t care how brief their romance was, if she’s ever going to move on, she needs closure.
When a work opportunity gives Casey time alone and an unexpected event gives Holly the chance to shape her future, they both find themselves asking, ‘what if?’ After all, the intense chemistry they once shared must mean something. But how do you find someone from the other side of the world when you only know their first name, and the only plan to reunite was to meet in a Berlin park in late August at 6 pm, eleven years ago? Even if they do manage to find each other, can they make something work in the real world?
Meet Me in Berlin is a second-chance sapphic romance with heart, humour and heat.
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you will take some time to support Samantha and her work. If you enjoyed this interview, please remember to subscribe so that you you don’t miss the next interview! And as always, dear Wordies, have an abundant day!
The Abundant Word
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