I took pages and pages of notes at the Perth Writers Festival, and I haven’t had a chance to look at them again until now. Some notes are great ideas for the novel I’m working on; some are books I want to read; others are interesting tidbits about the writing life.
I’m going to keep the ideas for the novel to myself, of course. You know I’m a bit secretive about its contents. Suffice to say that these ideas are the ones with the biggest asterisks in my notes so that I don’t forget them.
What I can tell you about the ideas for my novel is that they came from often unrelated things that the speakers said. I wish this happened as often in everyday life, but I guess it’s the atmosphere of being at a writers’ festival, surrounded by writers, talking about books all day, that makes my own book and related ideas come to the front of my mind. For example, Tan Twan Eng said something about “the seductive power of secrets”, and I instantly had an idea to adjust the story of my novel a little to include a captivating secret.
Other writers gave me ideas about writing style, creating a sense of place and at my final session, Nathan Englander spoke about the role of research in novel writing. I won’t be giving too much away by saying the novel I’ve drafted is set in Japan, and I’ve been wondering about how detailed to make the setting. Englander gave me some clarity here: he described how you should strip down the details to what he local people know. His example was a New Yorker one. If you’re going to meet at the New York Public Library (oh, I remember it fondly …), locals might say “I’ll see you at the lions” (which stand outside. Not real ones). A heavily researched novel might describe the building in minute detail. Some novels do this, but I don’t want mine to.
More learnings from the festival to follow soon.
