Storytime

Last weekend (when I wasn't working) I went to 'From Text to Texture' a great workshop run by Writer's Victoria for the Casey Writers Project over at Bunjil Place. This was a great day, spent with like minded folks, most of us with the same trials and tribulations of wrangling a piece of work into some sort of sanity, the workshop led by Toni Jordan. Toni was inspiring and enthusiastic. We looked at character and how to use minimal dialogue tags. We talked about adverbs (the devil's own in Toni's opinion) and setting. We were given writing exercises - which for some is so easy....others find it very daunting to write cold, without research and data at your side. I came away with some new insight, and eager to get back into the WIP. One thing that really got me thinking was when Toni said 'why does your scene have to be set here?' She made us think about our settings we have chosen. Are they vital to the story, move it on, do they add detai...

I've been thinking a lot lately about my writing...in particular my India travel piece. Of course that is what I hoped would happen after attending the travel writing master class with Claire Scobie....which is all good. Although one comment she made relates to making your book not merely a travel diary. So no- It's Tuesday morning, hot, bit breezy and today I travelled from A to B...there was a slight hiccup at C due to the train being late but it was quite a nice journey. She does suggest using physical descriptions of the people you meet on your way. Now I don't tend to describe my characters. There may be an allusion to an age or ethnicity...sometimes a mention of hair colour but Claire wants more. Bring these characters to life so the reader can meet them as well as go on the journey with you. I do so admire Raymond Chandler for his descriptions.... 'From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something mad...

Characters that is. Honestly who would have thought that after creating them it would be so much work to really understand them? I'm reworking my YA novel (based on feedback received) and while a lot of the story works...more understanding of several of the characters was needed. Which of course made me think. Long and hard about the story as a whole.....does it work? Where is it headed? Is it believable? What does she want? What is stopping her from getting it? All the basics really...but then I had to think deeper.... And of course that is where tangents lie. Because the more I thought about characters and setting and plot and storyline- I then thought of timelines and subplots - secondary characters, point of view, landscape as character, context, theme etc etc etc. Thinking about your work is vital. But where do you draw the line and decide okay, that's enough time to get on with it (yet again). And often the thinking, the planning and to some people the research ...

Last weekend my writing group  ran a writing workshop with Phillipa Martin , who writes crime as PD Martin. Actually it was more of a masterclass than a workshop. Phillipa gave us so much information, so much to think about. It was an intense day, but one that left us really thinking about the writing process. Not only did we look at the basics of writing- character, dialogue, plot - we also looked at what makes good writing. We discussed research,writing styles, genre writing, and then the nuts and bolts of getting published. Definitely a masterclass. One of those where you go home to debrief and thoughts scurry round and round in your head till the early hours. Phillipa said that she would go over a wide variety of information, some of which we would know, some would be new to at least one of us. And as long as we went home with five new pieces of information it was worth it. Frankly I think we all went home with more than five. I for one am not big on research, unless...

When I was much younger, Dad was building us something -perhaps upgrades to the cubby house beneath the cypress tree?. Anyway he went off to answer a phone call with the strict command 'No one touch the axe'. Hmm....of course I touched the axe. And need I say there was blood. I remember telling my brothers and sister 'Don't tell Dad I touched the axe.' I don't know how I was going to explain the bloodied axe, the missing slice off my thumb and my brothers excitedly looking on the ground for the 'remains of Vicki'. Mum and Dad didn't need Sherlock Holmes to realise what had happened. They simply observed which child was bleeding and needed to be taken to hospital....elementary. Observation is vital to a good writer. It's noting and adding those small details that add depth and flavour and life to a piece of work. Doesn't matter whether it's a novel, short story, poem or script...the smaller details are necessary. And unfortunately o...

I'm a character person. Don't get me wrong, hopefully something happens as well in one of my stories but to me, it's the character that drives a piece of writing. I'm not talking 'she was 175 cm tall, weighed 70 kg, had long blonde hair, blue eyes' To me that's boring. For me it's the small details that add interest, that help to build a multi-layered character. Let's create a character. How about a woman, a stay at home mum. And that is boring. It's a simple sketch- we have no idea about this woman at all. Let's add some details. She is shy and finds social occasions something she has to do, rather than want to do. Parties tend to send her into a panic. She's still boring, and now sounds like a wall flower as well. How about if we add this information - She had an idyllic beachside childhood, with assorted siblings, loving mother and father. Although she is terrified of deep water and never learnt to swim, she loves boa...

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY! I've been wondering what makes us Australian? And what makes Australian writers? I'm boringly Australian - I was born here, my parents were born here, their parents were born here and I think 99% of THEIR parents were born here. If you look back far enough we have the perennial bloodstock of English, Irish and Scottish- add a touch of Spanish and for some reason Nova Scotia (I think someone was 'sent' there) - and that's me. Australian. But what makes an Australian writer? If we write about lamingtons and Vegemite- does that mean we qualify? If we write about harsh rugged landscape, heat and drought? But the majority of us live in the suburbs, surrounded by coffee shops and small boutiques - within walking distance to public transport and shopping centres. So if we write about the suburbs, about inner city high rises and racial violence, if we write about the small domesticities of every day life, the struggling concept of family and of rel...