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#236 - Autumn Woods
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Author and aerospace engineer, Autumn Woods is with us this week to chat about her debut dark academia novel, explain what cottage core is, finding success on TikTok without putting herself in front of the camera and her obsession with commissioning artists to draw snapshots of her stories.
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Transcript
Discussion on writing techniques
00:00:00
Speaker
Oh, a spicy question. I love it. Because the writing sort of everything, right? Like you can fix plot holes, but if the writer... So some readers love that and some readers are like, but I wanted more of this. So it's kind of, it's kind of a gamble.
Meet Autumn Woods and her debut novel
00:00:14
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Right and Wrong podcast. On today's episode, I am joined by an author and aerospace engineer. It's Autumn Woods. Hello. Hello, thank you for having me.
00:00:26
Speaker
Thanks so much for joining me. um Let's start, as we always do, with the book, your debut novel, Nightshade, which came out at the end of June.
Exploring 'Nightshade' and its themes
00:00:37
Speaker
Tell us a little bit about it. So Nightshade is it's a romantic suspense in that, you know, there's a romance plot line that that follows along the whole the whole book. But then there's also a sort of mystery kind of thriller aspect to it as well.
00:00:55
Speaker
And it's set in a castle in the Scottish Highlands. And our main character, Ophelia, has gone up to investigate why her parents died um and the sort of strange circumstances around their death. and And that's where she meets our main male character, Alex.
00:01:12
Speaker
And yeah, it just follows the sort of chaos that ah ensues. The chaos that that brings. And
Genre exploration and preferences
00:01:20
Speaker
it's... yeah It is, um I've got on the on the press release here, it says dark academia, cottagecore, cozy romance.
00:01:29
Speaker
Yes, that's sort of the genres I love to write. Are they also the genres you love to read? Yes, and and I also love fantasy as well. I'll read anything really. I will literally read any book.
00:01:43
Speaker
ah Okay, okay. um Is there fantasy in this story? No, it's not fantasy. Although I often find it in the fantasy section in bookstores.
00:01:56
Speaker
There's something sort of fantasy-esque about it. And that was sort of my intention while writing was to write something that's set in the real world that's as close as you could you could possibly get really to fantasy and we're set like right in the very you know most remote parts of the Scottish Highlands in a castle that has sort of choppy electricity and no phone signal so you you are like you're not far away from fantasy and And I kind of wanted readers to to think
The influence of Scottish landscapes
00:02:27
Speaker
like, you know, this feels like fantasy, but it could happen to me. Yeah. yeah I think there's there's definitely, and like I think anyone that goes on a holiday to Scotland and you you go kind of outside of the cities, there is something a little bit magical, a little bit sort of fantastic about the Scottish islands. You feel like you've gone back in time sometimes.
00:02:48
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Or you've been like, you're like in a time loop, you know, like yeah you're still you, but you've got, yeah. Exactly. It's cool. um So of the three things I mentioned, I know what dark academia is. Yes.
00:03:02
Speaker
Cottagecore. What is that in terms of a story? It's, it would be, so these kinds of themes that I like writing when I'm writing is the setting that I have so much fun writing the setting, you know, as much, even maybe even more than writing the characters, you know, i love.
00:03:21
Speaker
And Cottagecore is, while Dark Academia is very sort of gloomy and dusty and cobwebby, Cottagecore is, I would say it's like the Shire. from You know, it's very like mushrooms and and baby deer and and flower meadows and sunny days and,
00:03:40
Speaker
It is different from Cottagecore, from Dark Academia, but they're just like quite immersive outdoor environments, I would say. Okay, that's cool. I like that because Dark Academia, whilst it's not necessarily, in a is it has an aesthetic, I think there's an aesthetic association with it. I think of it as quite gothic, you know, these kind of imposing structures.
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. that sort of counter cottagecore from what you described yeah but i love them both equally i just love um any kind of like setting that has something sort of interesting about it you know whether that's you're living in a in a haunted gothic castle or you're living in a toadstool i love them both but yeah Okay. Okay. Well, I mean, that kind of contrast is always great within any kind of story, just as, you know, it sets up the setting so well, sets up potential contrast for characters and where they come from and where they connect with.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Okay. um And then cozy romance. We know what cozy romance is. Yeah, just cozy. Like, i mean, nightshade is, it's creepy, but it's cozy in its own way. You know, like if you're in a castle library and and the power is out and everything's, you know, you've had to light candles.
00:04:54
Speaker
It's creepy, but it's cozy. Yeah. Kind of like that feeling of when you're inside by like a window and there's like a thunderstorm happening outside. ah Exactly. You're like grateful to be inside, but you're also weirdly nervous.
00:05:09
Speaker
Or I am anyway. Yeah, exactly.
Self-publishing journey and marketing
00:05:12
Speaker
um So in terms of timelines, ah this is your debut novel. When did you start writing this? I started this a long time ago. I mean, I've written a couple of books before. Some have never seen the light of day.
00:05:28
Speaker
um But this one, I think it was about two years before I self-published it. I was in Scotland and I was kind of forming an idea. you know ever I think most authors have a sort of chaotic file on their notes up on their phone of like random book ideas and I'm no different. So I was like...
00:05:47
Speaker
you know I remember staying on the Isle of Marlon and going to the Isle of Iona, if um if you know Scotland. and i mean They're so remote and there's not really any kind of help if something goes wrong. you know you're You're better off going to the mainland. So I just was thinking you know this is such a great place for...
00:06:05
Speaker
a sinister castle with sort of uh you know like secret societies and things like that um yeah so I started writing like plotting the book then and I remember writing a few chapters and then putting it on pause while I was you know busy with other things and finishing my degree and then um you know I just picked it up started writing it again and then it was only sort of I self-published it January just gone and um It was only sort of three or four months before that I was like, oh, my God, you know, this is happening.
00:06:37
Speaker
had someone edit it and then I self-published it. And I mean, it just went crazy from there. And I ended up selling it to a publishing house. So, yeah, it was probably two years start to finish. But I took ah a bit of a break in the middle.
00:06:52
Speaker
A sabbatical. Yeah. Yeah. So in terms of self-publishing this the first time around, was it, you did you try to like send it to agents and and publish and things like that? Or did you know that you just wanted to self-publish it just to kind of get it out there?
00:07:08
Speaker
Well, I'd self-published something before, but removed it. ah um But I'd self-published a little fantasy book that but I keep meaning to go back and re-edit. But I wrote that when I was 18. So I knew the process of self-publishing, and I knew I liked it, which was kind of... I decided I would send you know query it a couple of times, but you know i wasn't tied to it, and that that way I wasn't sort of distraught when...
00:07:36
Speaker
when I didn't find an agent last year because I i knew I liked self-publishing and I knew it would kind of do well self-publish. So, and but yeah, I sent it to maybe three or four agents, which I know is ah low amount um for compared to some writers and writers.
00:07:54
Speaker
I think I like three just never got back to me and one said it's just not really what the market is after. and then I went back and did another round of edits and and self-published it. And about a week before I self-published it, that's when I had an agent reach out.
00:08:08
Speaker
and Okay. So yeah, it was, ah i was kind of gave up on getting an agent and then it just sort of came to me anyway. Yeah. Okay.
00:08:18
Speaker
So yeah it hadn't, was that Daisy Chandley? Yes. Yeah. Okay. And I had ah two others reach out ah because in the week before publication, ah was just sort of hitting the social media jackpot. It felt like, you know, everything I posted went viral. So wow i mean, a lot of agents find authors on social media now. um So I ended up having three reach out to me, but ah kind of knew I wanted to go with Daisy and picking the right agent is, is a big decision. And I just trusted my gut.
00:08:50
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we, I had Daisy on the podcast a few months ago and she's, uh, she's awesome. Um, she is, she's great. I mean, that's probably the dream way of finding an agent is, you know, you've obviously, uh,
00:09:04
Speaker
found some traction online and then agents have reach out reached out to you. Did you like, other than using, you know, social medias, TikTok, Instagrams or whatever it might be, did you do anything else in terms of marketing um or, or publicizing the self-published release? really, no. I just, it was just heavy on the the TikTok and the Instagram.
00:09:26
Speaker
um I didn't really have a budget, so I didn't pay for any advertising or anything, but I'm told Amazon ads are a very good um thing to do. But I was a uni student at the time was not really any spare change. So it was just yeah me and my three second TikToks against the world.
00:09:42
Speaker
Yeah. The other thing I've heard about that kind of Amazon spend, and I've had some very successful um indie publishing authors on the podcast, but the thing I've heard with spending with like Amazon is that you basically need to spend a minimum amount for it to actually be worthwhile.
00:09:58
Speaker
Otherwise it's not really going to do anything. And the minimum amount is quite high for most people. It is. And I know some authors put like, you know, 40% of their earnings just straight back into Amazon ads.
00:10:10
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah, it's tricky. But once you sort of find your feet on on Instagram and TikTok, TikTok especially, which pains me because before um before, you know, all of this before January, I'd never opened TikTok in my life.
00:10:27
Speaker
Oh, wow. But all my successful author friends were telling me, you know, you've got ah you've got to get on the TikTok hype. So I did. and And sadly, you know, it's always sad when you've been ignoring someone's advice for a year and then you take in it and you're like, God damn it, they were right.
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah. It's very frustrating there, isn't it? Yeah, it is. And with the TikTok, you you're quite a private person. You don't show your face or anything like that. Most of your TikTok, I had a quick scroll, is it looks hand drawn, mostly kind of representations of your of your characters.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, it is. Does that make it harder to like get traction on the platform or have you found that that works just as well? To be honest, like I had kind of, I mean, not showing my face on videos was kind of one of the reasons I'd given up on TikTok until, you released, until like release week really, because don't know, I just saw a lot of my friends being like, you know, hello, this is me, this is my book, this is why you should read it. And I'll be like, you know, and it's not even just about privacy. i i'm so bad in front of a camera. I just know I couldn't do that anyway.
00:11:36
Speaker
um But then I just, I had, I'm addicted to getting character art of my characters. You know, I mean, anytime I have any spare change, that's what it goes on. um so I was like, I might as well put this to use and just really simple hooks.
00:11:52
Speaker
So like, it's just one tiny scene or moment or premise of your book, you know, so mine might be, in it the girl investigating her parents' death. And then she meets, you know, the son of that killer on day one. And then, you know, that's just enough for some people to see that and think, oh, you know, intriguing. I want to read that. And then they, you know, off they go to find it.
00:12:13
Speaker
Oh, okay. Yeah. So they're very simple. Yeah. You're just kind of like giving little pitches, little like snapshots. Yeah. Like one snippet and obviously it's a jackpot. It literally TikTok more than any other social media. It feels like a slot machine. Yeah. And sometimes I post one and go to bed and I wake up and it's got like 10 likes, even though I, even though I have 9,000 followers. And then other times, you know, it's just, it just, well, very rarely, but when it does, it's worth it.
00:12:42
Speaker
it It takes off. Yeah. and And the effect that like one TikTok blowing up can have on, you know, a number of things as, as an author and probably ah as, you know, in many different ways for people, yeah it's hard to measure. Yeah. It's just crazy. um Like more than Instagram, a viral Instagram reel, I don't, you know, it does not affect my sales in the same way that a viral TikTok will. You know, I remember when I was on indie publishing, you know, you can get a graph of like your page reads, how many,
00:13:13
Speaker
People are reading it. And, you know, if I put that graph over my TikTok views, I mean, they literally lined up. So it was crazy. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's inexplicable.
00:13:25
Speaker
I spoke with, I was a couple of years ago now that Cynthia Murphy was on the podcast and she had, she was doing pretty well as it was, but then randomly one of one TikTok, which someone else had made a TikTok of the, literally the first page of her book just blew up, went viral. And then suddenly her book sold out across like bookshops and things like that. It's just,
00:13:44
Speaker
yeah you can't there's no way of like anticipating it or reacting to it it's just no it's just unpredictable and sometimes it's frustrating i mean i've i've had a lot of success on tiktok myself but my book isn't necessarily posted about a lot on tiktok by other people and it can be frustrating you know you're like why is no one talking about my book but you just have to have faith there like it will come and and you know last week with the week before you know my book released and and there was just one tick tock that was like, you know, run down to the bookshop, you can get this book now. And I remember that got like 40,000 views and loads of people were off to get my book from the bookstore. And I, you know, you always want to reach out to that person. It's like, you know, you're probably the reason I hit a bestseller list, but yeah yes, even smaller creators, they have such an impact. And I always find it's better when it's organic.
00:14:38
Speaker
Um, You know, or even i when I'm scrolling social media, you know, someone's selling something to me and and I am actually looking, you know, are they paid to say that or or are they just recommending it? So um I'm just sort of waiting for like the organic buzz to go crazy on TikTok.
00:14:56
Speaker
Yeah. And it's hard. You can't really replicate it. You know, i have a lot of my friends who have seen something and on BookTok go viral. So they try and do the same thing with like their book or like one of their friends' books.
00:15:07
Speaker
And it you just can't replicate it for some reason. No, can't. I mean, the TikTok algorithm is just, it's like a ah cruel mistress and will never understand it yeah it's just like rolling dice yeah really is going back to your tiktok specifically ah and you said you are obsessed with getting artwork done of your of your things do you have do you have like a specific website or like an artist that you like to use to to have the artwork done and well i do have a ah sort of third job which is oh i see uh book cover designing and character art so i've done
00:15:42
Speaker
I've done three of my character arts, but the remaining 30 are ah um just, I sort of scroll Instagram and, and it might be a really small artist who's just like watched the Hunger Games and they've posted a bit Hunger Games fan art. And I'm like, Oh, i love your style. You know, like, would you take a commission? Or it might be that an author friend of mine has posted some character art they have. And I'm like, Oh, you know, like I need that.
00:16:08
Speaker
And then I reach out to the artist, but, um it's mostly instagram where i find it three oh that's cool but i just love uh i don't do like that much art anymore but i remember we like just starting how exciting it was um you know to get to draw someone else's characters and and all the while i have spare cash to support artists i'll i'll do it because i mean it's so exciting seeing your characters drawn Yeah, of course.
00:16:33
Speaker
And in different styles and stuff as well. Yeah, exactly. It really fun. I hadn't thought that that would look like that, but actually it looks really cool. I like that. Yeah. And sometimes, you know, you just tell an artist, oh, you know, they're in a kitchen, but I'm i'm not sure. And then they just come back with something and you're like, whoa. Yeah.
00:16:49
Speaker
So let me just adjust the scene to fit this artwork because that artwork is so good. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.
Aerospace career and writing approach
00:16:57
Speaker
I love that. um Before we head over to the desert Island, I had to ask because you do your second job yeah as an aerospace engineer. That sounds yeah amazing.
00:17:12
Speaker
What just, just very briefly, what is the kind of day to day? What sort of things are you doing as an aerospace engineer? Well, so as an aerospace engineer, I mean, there's so many things you can get involved in.
00:17:23
Speaker
We deal with and planes and spacecraft, but also ships and and submarines sometimes at all stages, you know, whether they're just an idea and you're designing.
00:17:36
Speaker
a plane that's going to not fly until like 2050 or whether you are, you know, dealing with like spitfires that are going out of, you know, that are getting old and rusty, but you want them to keep flying. So it's all different things.
00:17:49
Speaker
But wow um I specifically work in aircraft safety. So it's looking at when a plane has an accident or a crash or a near miss or, you know, what went wrong.
00:18:02
Speaker
and calculating the the odds of that happening again. So it kind of helps you know whether you need to ground the fleet or or keep planes flying and and stuff like that.
00:18:12
Speaker
So it's very different to writing books, but it's rewarding. They're both rewarding in their own way. Well, that sounds like a very technical um and knowledge heavy kind of thing to do and skill heavy, I guess. Very number heavy. Yes.
00:18:27
Speaker
Does, does any of that, do you, do you like use any of that? Does it find its way into your writing or is your writing like too far removed? Definitely it does. Like when I'm, when I'm in the early stages of a book, and it's very like a number driven thing.
00:18:43
Speaker
I'm like, right, I want, you know, I set myself a word count and i and I set myself a chapter count and I divide my my word count by my chapter count and I hit that as my target. And then it all goes into an Excel spreadsheet. um So definitely there is like, I probably take a slightly engineering approach to so writing. But other than that, I would say the only sort of skill is like problem solving. I mean, even now I'm writing another book and and my plot is sort of,
00:19:12
Speaker
It's full of plot holes and it needs a bit of work. And I do kind of, I feel like you problem solving both of both of those jobs quite a lot. Yeah, that makes sense. Have you thought about potentially setting a story within the sort of aerospace field?
00:19:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, in my endless notes, out I do tend to write books that are sort of darker or and if more sinister, but I have had a sort of like a comedy kind of lighthearted book about a burnt out engineer in my notes for a while but I don't know if I'll ever do anything and then I'd love to write a ah more of like a thriller around a plane you know like I always think a plane makes such a good setting for a thriller whether it's like hijacking or a crash or just like a strange passenger um what is that program hijacked I watched that and that was really good um so yeah I'd love to write uh I'd have to get like not too much in the
00:20:09
Speaker
technical detail. Do you know what I mean? Like I found there's a helicopter crash in in Nightshade and you know, one of my beta readers was like, I don't think they, they probably care that it was a terrifying shaft. Like you could probably cut that out.
00:20:23
Speaker
And I was like, good point. it is Yeah. Okay. That'd be fun. Yeah. I think you're so right. I think, um I've talked about this on my other podcast. Uh, we, we talked about how people love trains for stories because it's like a compact space. Everyone's forced together and you're kind of, you can't get out.
00:20:42
Speaker
And I think that's, you get the same thing with potentially higher risk with a plane. Oh yeah. I mean, I hate flying. I'm terrified of flying. So, um, make, yeah, like having a thriller on a plane. I mean, I'm scared anyway, but then adding the, whatever the, the actual drama is, it just makes it worse.
00:21:00
Speaker
Okay, I'm going to gloss over the fact that you, an aerospace engineer, are scared of flying. i was scared before, if that helps. I've been scared of flying my whole life.
00:21:11
Speaker
and And knowing how it works doesn't reassure you? no not really. okay i just know more ways it could go wrong now. Oh, good. i think before I was an aerospace engineer, I was like, the wings could fall off.
00:21:24
Speaker
Now I'm one I'm like, I know the wings would probably never fall off, but I know other ways. I guess ignorance in some ways is bliss. It really
Advice for aspiring authors
00:21:34
Speaker
is. Okay. So last question before we head over to the desert island.
00:21:36
Speaker
um Now that the, the, the book is out, you've done a full circuit of traditional publishing Are there any things that you you know now that you think might have been helpful to know ah when this all, when it when it all kind of started, when you first kind of got signed by an agent and then moved into the traditional sphere?
00:21:58
Speaker
Um, I would definitely say like one, the biggest thing for me, I'm quite an introvert and I'm obviously very grateful for all of this. And like, you do have this big urge to be grateful. I think a lot of authors have sort of,
00:22:14
Speaker
i I mean, most books on the shelf, the journey to that book being on the shelf hasn't been easy. Like I know a lot of authors who've queried for one, two, three years and they've had so many rejections. And obviously I'm not saying don't be grateful, but um sometimes, you know, I remember meeting publishers and I and i was saying to my agent, you know I don't know how to impress them. I don't know what to say.
00:22:36
Speaker
And, you know, she'd be like, they're trying to impress you. They're trying to buy your book. And so like, you don't have to be so grateful that you would just let anyone do anything. And I remember like, definitely in the early stages, I was so sort of dumbfounded and, and awestruck by everything that was happening that I'd be like, you know, I mean, a publisher could probably offer me 50 P for the book and I'd be like, Oh, thank you. You know, like, but remember, you know, you wrote the book, you're the one that's sort of in control. And, and it if there's anything you're not comfortable with or don't like, then, you know, you can speak up. And, you know, I remember there were a few like cover changes that they wanted to make to my cover. And and I was like, oh, you know, I'm not sure about that.
00:23:17
Speaker
After like, my agent had to hype me up to just say that for about an hour. And they were like, yeah, good point. Let's change it. And i was like, oh, okay. Like, yes, just so yeah, just so anything that like ever doesn't feel quite right. Just don't be afraid to to kind of speak up because probably there are other people who are like, oh yeah, good point. You know, we hadn't noticed that.
00:23:38
Speaker
Yeah. So that'd be like my biggest advice to myself from six months ago. That's great advice. And I think, um, from the other side of it, I think a lot the time the publisher, whether that's the editor or whoever it might be, are also like, they want to hear your feedback. They want to hear your thoughts on the things, the editors I've spoken to. Yeah, and they want you to be happy. You know, they want you to stay. They want you to, to not move.
00:24:01
Speaker
you know, to any other houses and stuff like that. So, yeah. A world where the author is happy, you know, that's the best kind of world for the book. but Yeah. Cause the book's going to be in the best place when everyone's yeah happy like that.
00:24:12
Speaker
And the editors that I've spoken to, um that a lot of them have said like, you know, you often find the best kind of change for a novel is when they've like marked something as like, maybe we could change something here.
00:24:26
Speaker
then the authors come back to them and then together they've figured out the best way for that to go. Like they want to hear the feedback from the author. Yeah, exactly. And like, as an author, you definitely, this is my other like big bit of advice because I do get people, which is still crazy to me, like reach out to me for advice. And it's like, no, you need to know when to care and when not to care.
00:24:48
Speaker
And, you know, editing and having your agent give you feedback and your editor give you feedback and your like alpha readers give you feedback. That is the time to care and to listen and to be open minded and to put your pride aside. and And then, you know, once the book is out and inevitably as an author, you do get readers maybe send you their negative thoughts or tag you in negative thoughts. And that's the time to not care. Yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
yeah So you really have to like pick your battles and and turn off that part of your brain at the right time, which is a difficult balance to find. But I feel like once you've done that, then it becomes a ah sort of much happier experience.
00:25:28
Speaker
Yes. I think advice probably for, for life in general. Yeah, definitely. Just know when to care. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.
Desert island book choice
00:25:37
Speaker
Uh, some, some great little tidbits in there.
00:25:38
Speaker
Uh, and that brings us to the point in the episode where I, ah whisk you away and dump you on a desert Island all by your lonesome, uh, with one single book, but I will at least ask you which book would you like it to be?
00:25:55
Speaker
that is such a good question. um some people think the opposite i feel like i would it's very boring of me to say lord of the rings but it's such a a it's such a i mean it's a comfort book if i was lonely on a desert island it would bring me such comfort b it's such a thick book it could be a table it could be a chair it could be a shelter you can get them bound as well all three in one Yeah, exactly. oh yeah, I've got so many. I usually have like ah no more than one copy of a book rule, but Lord of the Rings does escape that rule for me.
00:26:30
Speaker
Oh yeah, I've got a few books like that. I mean, I want to say Lord of the Rings. If I actually got put in that situation, I would probably bring book about surviving on ah on a desert island. It's probably a most sensible option. But really, um would just want to read Lord of the Rings and ah could use it as a little house because it's that big. and Yeah, little coffee table. ti just love that book.
00:26:54
Speaker
I feel like someone said that before. It's probably a basic answer, but... You know what's strange is it obviously is sort of over 200 episodes of the podcast. It's been said, but recently a lot of people have said it like there's something in the zeitgeist at the moment. The people are going back to Lord of the Rings. I don't know what it is. It's just so good. And I, even the movies, you know, it's rare that I've, I read a book and I love the movie as much. I do like, Oh, I just love that book. And I think, you know, I'm someone that,
00:27:26
Speaker
I do get lonely sometimes and I definitely turn to my comfort books and TV shows and that one would probably help. As a big fan of both the books and the movies, what did you think of the Amazon TV show?
00:27:42
Speaker
Oh, I'm sorry to say I watched like three episodes and then stopped. I just, I do need to give it a second chance and I will, but you know, it was too much strangeness for me.
00:27:53
Speaker
yeah um I'm just such a an old fashioned gal and I love the old fashioned Order of the Rings. And yeah, watched the first few and I was like, I just was was like, Elvis with short hair. Like, what is this? And I haven't gone back yet, but I will.
00:28:09
Speaker
I know what you mean. I watched the first season, but like, yeah, it was fine. um Someone said to me, I was, someone asked me, oh, what did you think of it? And i was like, i was like, oh, I don't know. Yeah, it was okay.
00:28:20
Speaker
and Yeah, it was, and for the budget as well, it just... Yeah, but then the question was, would you have watched it all if it wasn't Lord of the Rings? And I was like, no, probably not.
00:28:31
Speaker
Which to me, I was like, okay, there's a bias there. And there's so many like other shows like... I mean, The Last Kingdom, I love that. And it has a Lord of the Rings vibe to it. So I just feel like I wouldn't pick it over. over There's so many shows out there now. So it it didn't like grip me. I need a TV show to to kind of grip me.
00:28:51
Speaker
A lot of my friends have said season two is a big improvement though. so Oh, okay. Yeah, maybe I will. I will give it another go. convinced god you're so easily convinced i'll come back on the podcast in a year episode by episode we'll just start a whole new podcast where we just review yeah um awesome uh so the lord of the rings uh makes another appearance it is an all-time classic uh next up in the episode uh i've got some bits uh to ask uh we're going to talk about autumn's pen name we're going to talk about her writing process uh the second book uh and lots more stuff that will all be available in the extended episodes at patreon.com slash right and wrong
00:29:35
Speaker
umre we're We're about at the end of the episode. So thank you so much, Autumn, for coming on podcast. Thank you for having me. Letting me ramble on. No, it's been great. It's been really fun chatting with you and hearing all about your writing and publishing adventures.
00:29:50
Speaker
ah And for everyone listening, Nightshade is out right now. You can get it in all the usual places. And if you want to keep up with what Autumn is doing, you can follow her on TikTok at autumn.woods.author, on Instagram and threads at autumnwoods.author, or on her website, authorautumnwoods.com.
00:30:11
Speaker
To support the podcast, like, follow, and subscribe, join the Patreon for ad-free extended episodes and check out my other podcast, The Chosen Ones and Other Tropes. Thanks again, Autumn. And thanks to everyone listening. We will catch you on the next episode.