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Writers when it's time to write the story no one forced them to come up with in the first place 🙄

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Suggested reading: How To Write A One-Page Synopsis

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What’s writing, you know? What does writing actually mean?

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cr:  secondsapart

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This is from a comic about being creative. Read the rest on my website:  8 things I’ve learned about creativity.

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This is from a comic about being creative. Read the rest on my website:  8 things I’ve learned about creativity.

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2020 gothic

- you join a zoom call. everyone’s mic is muted, but no one is talking anyway. you stare at the squares with faces in them. which is your face? you can’t be sure.

- the news is full of numbers. you try to learn what they mean, but the articles are full of jargon from fields you have no experience in, and you swear the numbers change when you blink. 

- you wake up. you sleep. you wake up. you sleep. how many days was that? you have no idea.

- you go for a walk. a shadow follows you down the street, moving when you move, stopping when you stop. always the recommended six feet away.

- every day you get several emails from corporations you’ve never heard of. each company name sounds fake, too vague, too optimistic. “Stay healthy! :)” they say. “We’re committed to keeping you safe! You must stay healthy! We love you very much! We learned everything about you so we can keep you safe! Please believe us we love you so much we’ r e  , s 0Rry:):)):))”  You try to unsubscribe, but the link just takes you to a blank black webpage. Suddenly, you can make out your reflection in the screen. What’s that over your shoulder?

- you’ve been wearing the same clothes for days, but somehow there is laundry.

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Tumblrbot just casually suggesting I message TAYLOR SWIFT to start a tumblr friendship 😂😂😂 I mean honestly that would be #goals but also insanely improbable

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I’m so excited to announce I’ve been offered a place in the 2019 KSP New Writer Program.

I’ll be spending two weeks in December 2019 working on my urban fantasy novel at the KSP Writers’ Centre in Perth.

I can’t wait for the dedicated time to focus on writing my novel away from full time work, part time uni, and all other general life commitments/busy-ness!

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Thanks to the ACT Writers Centre for this copy of #TheBusOnThursday I’m so excited to read! Also look how stunning the wisteria is!!! 😍😍😍 #bookstagram #thebusonthursday #actwriterscentre #amreading https://www.instagram.com/p/BpHEkuUlXIq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=nyf7qitjc2q1

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So spoilt! The lovely @bookishbron got two review copies of The Right Place by Carla Caruso so she gave one to me ❤️ then I won We See The Stars by Kate von Hooft from the wonderful ACT Writer’s Centre, and also won Inappropriation by Lexi Freiman from the awesome people @allenandunwin 📚📚📚

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Hidden Homes by Madeleine Johns

My short story Hidden Homes has been published on The Regal Fox, check it out!

http://theregalfox.com.au/2018/06/18/hidden-homes-by-madeleine-johns/

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Halfway through #lifel1k3 by @misterkristoff in one sitting because it’s so damn good I can’t put it down!!! 🤖🍋Furry snoozing companion is glad I haven’t moved in two hours 😂

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Local Literature - Books Set in Canberra

I love reading books set in my home town, Canberra!

I’ve lived in Canberra my whole life and I love it – despite the negative publicity Canberra often gets, it’s a beautiful place to live, and has the perfect balance of ‘big enough’ to have everything you want, but it’s not too big and overcrowded like some other capital cities.

Here are some ‘local literature’ – books that are based in Canberra:

Secret City and The Shadow Game by Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann

Political thrillers set in Canberra and written by two well-known journalists.

Secret City was originally published as ‘The Marmalade Files’ and ‘The Mandarin Code’. These novels inspired the Foxtel hit Secret City (books 1 and 2 were then republished under the name Secret City.)

Dr Pimms. Intermillennial Sleuth series by L.J.M. Owen

The first three books in this cosy mystery series are out: Olmec Obituary, Mayan Mendacity, Egyptian Enigma

The books are set in Canberra and focus on archaeologist Dr Elizabeth Pimms moving into her new role as a librarian after returning to Canberra.

Convergence by Marita Smith

YA Sci-Fi where a scientist is searching for the ancient gene that is supposed to enable humans to communicate with animals.

Anyone who has studied at ANU will recognise the university in the first few pages of the book, where protagonist Robyn Greene has her laboratory.

The Edith Trilogy by Frank Moorhouse

Only the third book in this trilogy is set in Canberra – Cold Light.

As a young woman in the 1920s, Edith Campbell Berry travelled from Australia to Geneva to join the League of Nations, and stayed there through WW2.  In Cold Light she moved back to Australia and went to the developing city of Canberra where her life changed yet again.

I’d love to hear any recommendations you have so I can keep adding to my list. Let me know what books you’ve read that are in/around/about/a variation of Canberra!

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Speculate 18

I recently attended Speculate 18 – the inaugural Speculative Fiction Festival for Writers. It was held in Melbourne at the Gasworks Theatre on Saturday 28 April.

As I’m from Canberra getting there involved an early morning flight, a bus, a tram and then a walk to Gasworks. But it was well worth it!

The day was extremely fun and was filled with great insight from some wonderful authors. Speculate 18 was well organised, especially as this was the first time the festival has ever been held.

The theatre was a good location for the festival, with an intimate feel for the audience, as the seats led out directly onto the stage where the authors were seated. There were books for sale on the day, and opportunities for the authors to sign them after their sessions.

I attended both the morning and afternoon sessions so was lucky enough to hear from a huge list of authors, including: Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff, Alison Arnold, Trudi Canavan, Michael Earp, Alison Goodman, Laura E Goodin, Earl Livings, Elizabeth Flux, Ben McKenzie, Andrew McDonald, Rose Michael, Brooke Maggs and Dirk Strasser. What a list!

The morning was dedicated to hearing from a range of authors about the history and the current state of speculative fiction, as well as hearing personal stories from when the authors first read and first wrote speculative fiction. A particularly interesting conversation was regarding the language we use and being aware of how characters are described without bias towards certain genders or races.

Lunch was a lovely experience, sitting outside in the sun, while a BBQ and salads were prepared, chatting to other festival goers and mingling with the authors. The whole day felt very relaxed and everyone was so friendly and approachable.

The highlight of the afternoon was a surprising event – a live game of Dungeons and Dragons was played out on stage with Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman, Andrew McDonald and Brook Maggs, accompanied by a live band, and run by Dungeon Master Ben McKenzie. As someone who has never played D&D before I wasn’t sure what to expect but this was a really fun experience and the entire audience got involved. The authors all became their character so well and I loved seeing a story come to life in another form rather than a book. It made me think that roll playing would be a fun and interesting way to think of plot ideas or even co-write a book with friends.

Speculate 18 was a great day dedicated to writers talking all about how much they love the speculative fiction genre and community, and I look forward to attending again next year.

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Book Launch – The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross

On Thursday 26th April I attended the book launch for local Canberra author Leife Shallcross, at Harry Hartog Woden. Her debut book is The Beast’s Heart, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast told from the Beast’s perspective. The Beast’s Heart is currently available in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, with a release planned for the US in February 2019.

Leife’s writing is poetic and beautiful, and instantly transports you to the French countryside where the tale is set. Magic is deftly woven throughout the story and she has written a book that reads like a true fairy tale.

Leife’s launch pulled a huge crowd, with around one hundred people filling Harry Hartog Woden to the brim. Store manager, James Redden, confirmed it was the biggest launch to have ever happened in the bookstore. Angela Slatter, award-winning Brisbane-based author of the Verity Fassbinder series, and an enormous number of short stories, came to Canberra to launch Leife’s book. Angela was wonderful host for the launch and the night was an enormous amount of fun.

Leife discussed her journey to publication, having her story picked out of the ‘slush pile’ of an open submission callout from Hodder and Stoughton in the UK. They received nearly 1,500 submissions and Leife’s book was the only one chosen for publication. This alone is a jaw-dropping achievement.

The Beast’s Heart stands up to the high expectations placed upon the sole chosen submission and is a wonderful read for anyone who enjoys fairy tales, magic, slow-burning romance, or a new perspective on a tale as old at time.

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The Perfect Twist – with Jack Heath at the ACT Writer’s Centre

On Saturday 17th February I attended an all-day course with Jack Heath, local Canberra author, at the ACT Writer’s Centre. Jack has published over 22 books for kids, teens and adults. The course was called The Perfect Twist and focused on plot. 

Jack talked about how plot, setting and character need to be woven together equally to evoke emotion and maintain the reader’s interest for the entire story, and leave them wanting more. Jack likened this to a tripod – each must balance the others out or your tripod won’t stand.

He talked about how an engrossing story should have the following elements: 

The characters has goals;

The reasons for those goals are revealed; 

But ever-worsening obstacles appear, 

The character comes up with increasingly risky strategies to deal with the obstacles; and

 Eventually they are successful. 

He discussed how it is also important to include suspense and surprise, escalation, contrast and balance. As these help the reader from becoming numb.

During the day we did two short writing exercises. For the first one we were given three cards with random words on them to create a story from. For the second we were told to escalate a problem then resolve it, and given the first sentence we had to start with. We had seven minutes each time to write a story from these prompts.

This was a really fun way to get your brain into gear and get the words and story ideas flowing. It has given me some good ideas for future when I may be stuck with a story or in need of an idea or character. By using randomly generated words and scenes it opened up a whole lot of new ideas that I usually would not have thought to write about and explore.

We then talked about how there are no longer any truly original ideas any more – but if you take a separate idea for the plot, the setting and the character from already existing ideas and mix them together then you will have an original combination that has not been written before. An example that Jack gave of how to do this was to think of three books you enjoyed and the take the character description from the first, the plot idea from the second and he setting from the third.

While Jack was working on his latest adult novel Hangman he came up with the following tips for making readers forgive unlikable/anti-hero characters. His character Timothy Blake in Hangman is just as terrible as the inmates on death row he is dealing with but Jack was determined to learn how to write a terrible character that people could still relate to and enjoy reading about.

Tips for Writing Unforgiveable Characters:

1.       Guilt – if the character feels at least some guilt about what they have done the audience are much more forgiving.

2.       Suffering – make the character suffer for their bad choices (both their past choices and also their future choices.)

3.       Recognisable – people are more likely to forgive someone they recognise or identify with – give them something they can relate to.

4.       Skilled – people are also more forgiving of an unlikeable or morally grey character if they prove themselves useful.

5.       Selfless act – have your character do at least one selfless act.

This was the most interesting part of the course for me, as I had been so compelled by Hangman when I read it. I was so impressed that Jack was able to write about such a horrifying/gruesome main character and make it so enjoyable. To pull off such a twisted/sick protagonist and make the reader experience his two sides and still see some good in him takes real skill. Not for the faint hearted but a gripping, thrilling read that I could not put down. This book keeps playing on my mind, because when I was reading it I found myself connecting with the main character Timothy Blake and feeling sorry for him. I also found him a really intriguing character that draws you in. I would then find myself shuddering in horror a few pages later when his “addiction” would take over. Intense but thrilling book that I’ll be recommending. (Although with the caveat: don’t eat while reading it…!)