Becoming A Fiction Writer
One girl, one dream … and a whole lot of procrastination
July 11, 2008 by amanda

Australian Book Industry Awards are interesting …

Having lived overseas for so long, I’m still catching up with how the world of writing works here in Australia, and that explains why the Australian Book Industry Awards slipped under my radar last month. But now that I’ve become aware of them, I noticed something especially interesting to me – that Scribe Publications won the gong for 2008 Small Publisher of the Year.

Curiously, I’d never heard of Scribe until several of the writers I listened to at the Perth Writers Festival mentioned that their Australian publisher was Scribe, and when I did my research I discovered that Scribe is exactly the same age as me! They’re based in Melbourne and publish around 70 books a year, both non-fiction (often about Australia) and novels – including “imported” titles that are published here under the Scribe imprint.

Anyway, all this has one point behind it: I don’t know enough about the Australian publishing industry, but I should. One clearly important part of becoming a fiction writer is becoming a published fiction writer, and what I do know is I’ll need much more than luck to do that. So I’m putting myself on notice that I must start to pay more attention to the Australian publishing scene.

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July 10, 2008 by amanda

Why fiction writers should change to non-fiction

I’ve always thought that with two grandmothers who lived into their 90s and a mother and father who both look and act considerably younger than they are, my longevity was unquestionable. I’ve been calculating my superannuation requirements assuming a long, long life, but I’ve just read a story that suggests maybe I should start planning my pensioner years with a shorter span in mind!

The good news is the distressing fact that I might die younger than expected only works if I actually becoming a “real” novelist. So if things don’t work out with novels, at least I’ll have a few more years alive to do some more reading. Apparently there have been a bunch of studies done over the years looking at the age at which writers of various kinds die, and a recent article in the Guardian summarised the work of James C Kaufman, an American professor who seems particularly obsessed with this somewhat morbid topic.

Here’s the deal: if you’re a poet, you’re going to die first. Playwrights come next, living on average just one year longer than poets. Novelists will live four years longer than poets. But switch to writing non-fiction and you’ll live almost six years longer than a poet. I guess if I keep away from poetry – that’s probably easily done, because while I quite like reading it occasion, I don’t think I have the right talent to write it – at least I won’t die the youngest.

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July 9, 2008 by amanda

100 books, some of which I’ve read

Amy at the Quiet Rebel Writer posted recently about an interesting list of books – you’ll see straight away that this is perfect for me because I love lists and I love books. The list she’s talking about is from the National Endowment for the Arts in the United States, and it’s a list of 100 novels.

The scary statistic is that most adults (I’m presuming this statistic is from the US) have only read six of the books from the list. The good news is that I’ve read 61 of them and by coincidence, have 2 more of them half-read on my bedside table.

Amy’s instructions were to do the following things with this list:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list on your own blog.

Here’s my version of the list; feel free to borrow it for your own blog, but let me know if you do so I can check out what reading history we have in common. I’m curious!

Read the rest of this entry »

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July 8, 2008 by amanda

Writing while I prowl the classroom

Recently, I haven’t been too good at being one of those writers who always has a notebook to hand and can get some writing done whenever a spare moment presents itself. When I was living the travelling life, I was much better at this, and wrote things on buses or in queues or while waiting for really slow service in a cheap restaurant. But in the last year or two I pretty much only write if I’m sitting at my computer.

With one exception that I only just noticed: Friday mornings. I teach ESL to adults two and a half days a week at the moment and every Friday morning, for the first ninety-minute lesson, I’m required to give them a test on what they’ve covered that week. While they’re quietly working away, I have a chance to do some work too, and I usually plan the schedule for the following week and do any other paperwork that’s required. Which takes about ten minutes. And then I get bored.

In recent weeks, it’s become a bit of a habit for me to use this time to write. Because of the need to be present in the classroom (and aware enough of a student who needs help), and perhaps also because of the cold winter weather, I’ve taken to grabbing some scrap paper, leaning on a textbook and walking around the room writing. Sometimes I pause at the window to write a few longer sentences, sometimes I actually write as I walk. It seems to be a very therapeutic way of getting some ideas down (but without neglecting my students – don’t worry, boss!).

I’ve produced ideas for my novel, plus posts for various blogs, via this walking and writing method. It’s a bit of a surprise for me that it works so well. Perhaps I should set my students solo work more often and take advantage of this quiet, productive time!

Do any of you write in unusual places or unusual ways?

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July 7, 2008 by amanda

Overdue library books: My public confession

My name is Amanda, and I have a problem with overdue library books.

Those who know me in real life often already know this fact, but I feel I have to confess it a bit more publicly to try to solve this problem once and for all. All my life, I’ve had problems returning books to libraries on time. There is a library in Osaka which, I’m sure, has my picture on the wall (with a caption saying “dangerous book-stealing foreigner” in polite Japanese). A rather embarrassing overdue library book situation arose in Germany when I realised my mother-in-law – we’d redirected our mail to her – would soon receive an overdue notice for Irvine Welsh’s book Porno – but it just took so long to read with all that irritatingly slang dialogue. And when I returned to Perth, the only way I was able to get a new library card was by using my new married name and “forgetting” about previously being a member of that library system.

The dumb thing is that I have enough books from other sources to keep me well-enough stocked for reading, but I just can’t resist libraries. If I go to my local public library, usually my plan is to grab a DVD or two – they have a great variety of foreign films and they’re free, so why not take advantage of them – but you know, it’s really hard just to walk to the DVD racks and ignore all those lovely shelves of books behind them, so inevitably I come away with three or four extra books to read. And then it’s sometimes hard to get them back before the due date, and although online renewal makes that easier, my current library won’t let me renew books more than once, so then … well, you know how it goes. If you’re like me, anyway.

I’m always trying to turn over a new library-borrowing leaf. I’ve been pretty good, really, since I returned to Perth, because there’s a fine of 25 cents per day per book for overdues. Plus they email me three days before my books are due to remind me (just another reason why my soul was built for the internet age). I did have to pay a $2 fine yesterday, but that’s not my fault – the library was installing a new computer system and their automatic reminder system failed so I didn’t realise my book was overdue until they physically sent me a rather demanding overdue notice.

There are worse problems to have – I could be addicted to drugs, for example, but I’m not – but I hereby promise to try to improve my overdue library book situation.

I wonder if any other writers out there have library book problems … and if so, will you confess?

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July 6, 2008 by amanda

You’ve got the best book … no you haven’t

I’m quite obsessed with news about awards for writers. I guess partly that’s because I hope that one day (in the far distant future …) I might actually win one, and partly because I’m always intrigued to see how much our society values writers – or should I say, how little many parts of our society value writers, especially compared to actors or musicians. But that’s a rant for another day.

I just heard about a terrible awards night when the wrong writer was announced as the winner. It was at the Wales Book of the Year ceremony last week and the local Culture Minister got mixed up somehow and announced one of the runners-up as the winner; as he was just about to reach the stage to get his prize, they had to announce that it was a mistake, and someone else was in fact the winner.

As I read this story, I imagined it happening to me, and how heartbreaking it would be! Nobody expects to be the winner, but you would quickly adjust to the excitement of being the winner if you heard your name called. (Suddenly being 9,000 pounds poorer wouldn’t be pleasant either – the difference between the winner’s prize money and the runners-up’ prize). As the author himself said – this would never happen at the Oscars – how true, and that’s what I mean about where writers fit in the whole scheme of things. But don’t worry, I’m not going to switch to acting all of a sudden.

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July 5, 2008 by amanda

Meme me: 6 things about me and my writing

The always-interesting Guera (current location: Mexico) tagged me for the 6 Things Meme which I thought I could turn into a bit more background about me with a heavy fiction writing slant. (No, that doesn’t mean I’m going to just make stuff up, although that does sound like an attractive thought.)

Before I start, the rules, of course:

I have to answer 6 questions about myself. At the end of the post, I then tag 6 people and post their names, then go to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read my blog. Then, I must let the person who tagged me know when I’ve posted my answers.

#1: 6 places I have lived

  1. Karrinyup, a northern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. This suburb had my childhood home (18 years!) and is somehow just a typical suburban spot. I’ve never written any fiction remotely related to this suburb – I think my life there was very stable and normal, which doesn’t give big inspiration for writing, I guess. Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of stability and normality sometimes.
  2. West Perth. In my early 20s I was dying to live in the inner city – part of my escape from the suburbs thinking, I guess. What I liked about this spot was I could (and did) walk down to Oxford Street in Leederville, where I could visit one of my favourite bookshops, Oxford Street Books. Long live independent bookstores! I still dream of being able to find my own novel on the shelves at Oxford Street Books.
  3. Fuse, Osaka. I taught English in Japan here for two years and this was my first home, in a fairly ugly semi-industrial, semi-suburban corner of the city. I can imagine a few short stories I could set here, but it’s too grim for me to place a novel there.
  4. Amagatsuji, Nara. My second home in Japan, and there was a rice paddy next door – although it was still close to civilisation. Although I didn’t set my first novel here exactly, this kind of area was in my mind. I still have really fond memories of Amagatsuji.
  5. Bratislava, Slovakia. Now that I think about it, curiously the most inspiring city I’ve ever lived in. I think that mix of post-socialist spirit and being on the corner of half of Europe (I could see into Austria and Hungary from my balcony) is unbeatable. I’m drawing heavily on Bratislavan life for the setting for my second novel. That reminds me, I had a bunch of photos printed out from this time to put up in my study so I can get extra “sense of place” inspiration.
  6. Heilbronn, Germany. This was the last place I lived in before returning to Australia, and I learnt a lot there. There will be Heilbronn-ish novels in my future, I’m sure.

Read the rest of this entry »

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July 4, 2008 by amanda

On not writing down your ideas

Something Louise Doughty said at the Perth Writers Festival earlier this year has really stuck with me, and still disturbs me a little bit. I hope time hasn’t altered my memory of what she actually said, but it was definitely something along the lines of being a writer who doesn’t collect her ideas on random bits of paper. I thought we all did!

As I remember it, Doughty said that she’s not one of those writers who keeps a journal with lots of ideas and snippets of fiction. She doesn’t write anything down unless she’s actually working on a novel. And the reason, if I remember rightly, is because she thinks that if she writes it down first, the freshness is lost and the idea is never the same again. On top of that, she believes she never really loses or forgets her good ideas.

It’s an interesting point of view but I’d be absolutely paranoid about losing my best ideas. I know already that I lose ideas – things I think of in the shower or lying in bed that I’m unable to write down at the time – although I don’t know for sure if they’re actually good ideas. But they could be, and I certainly do use ideas that I’ve written in odd places later on. Sometimes the very act of writing them down is enough that I then remember them when it’s relevant to what I’m writing, but without keeping notes – in a journal, in my diary or a sticky note – I can’t believe that everything would still be present in my brain.

Having said that, I am often surprised about the odd kinds of details and ideas that jump into my mind just when I need them, while I’m writing. A snippet of conversation I overhead years ago, or the kind of shirt that someone wore on a TV show, or whatever else I need to fill a gap in a story I’m writing, all seem to appear with fantastic timing. I’m getting myself tangled up now – perhaps Louise Doughty really has a point. Yet I’m not confident enough about that to stop jotting down ideas when I’m able to. What about you?

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July 3, 2008 by amanda

183 goals are too many for me

I just stumbled across a nice blog called Project 183, written by a refreshingly normal-sounding guy from Melbourne who decided he would make a public list of 183 goals he wanted to achieve before he turned 30 (he’s 25 now). You know I love the idea of publicising my goals because that makes me more accountable, so this Project 183 site got me thinking about my writing goals again.

Since it’s over half-way through the year now, it’s time to take a look at my 2008 resolutions one by one (there are only five, not 183, so it won’t take too long). Strictly speaking, they’re not all fiction writing related, but it’s hard to separate all that writing sometimes, so here goes:

  1. The good news is goal #1 (edit and submit my first novel) is complete – although as some wise man once said, art is never really complete, just abandoned. So I don’t rule out returning to edit it again, and perhaps in a couple of months I’ll dust it off properly and consider submitting it to agents, not just my favourite contests.
  2. I’ve already got the first chapter of novel #2 done, a half-plan is in place, and I’m on track to write it during NaNoWriMo this November – although it might be with a late start as my sister-in-law and brother-in-law will be visiting during the first week.
  3. Short story writing (my goal was to submit to 20 contests) has taken a back seat to novel writing and non-fiction blogging this year. I have submitted 3, which is obviously nowhere near half way. Will try to improve that.
  4. My goal of increasing my travel writing income by 50% is probably well in progress, I think. Actually, I haven’t done quite enough bookwork there recently to really check the income, but with pay rises and a couple of extra jobs, it should be on target. We’ll see.
  5. My original 5th goal was to monetise my Ballerina blog, but instead of that, I decided to start up the Same Sky Magazine instead as well as moving this Becoming A Fiction Writer blog to its own domain. Early days in both those processes yet, but at least the goal is partly achieved.

Mr Project 183 has inspired me to do more than just have my annual writing goals up online, so I’m going to start collating my lifetime fiction writing goals and post them soon. Hold me to that if you don’t see them appear in the next couple of weeks.

Permalink | Posted in Goals and Motivation | 3 Comments »

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July 2, 2008 by amanda

Creativity tips: Cross-training

I think I’ve said before that I’ve never had a problem with writers’ block, just a problem with sitting down and actually writing. So I nearly didn’t read a recent post at Tina Su’s Think Simple Now when it came through on my blog reader, despite it being titled “Connect With Your Creative Writer”, because it started out talking about writers’ block. I figure it’s one of those negative things that I don’t need to read about – perhaps it’s something you can talk yourself into if you read too much about it.

But I scanned the rest of the post and did find something really interesting. Tina included a list of tips for “unlocking creativity” that included a few standards like keeping a notebook with you wherever you go, establishing a routine and practicing a lot. The final tip on the list (lucky 13!) was to cross-train. That is, practice other kinds of creative endeavours so that you improve your overall creativity – as Tina puts it, try “doing something creative that frightens you or you don’t have much experience with”.

This struck me as a really great idea, and something I don’t usually do. I play the piano, and I know that this musical expression often puts me in the mood to do some good writing, but I actually don’t really have any other creative outlet at the moment – although at times, my teaching involves a decent amount of creativity. I enviously watch my husband painting, but as for painting myself – that definitely falls into the “it frightens me” category, although he’s always encouraging me to have a go.

I’m going to look around for a few other creative opportunities and I’ll report back soon on whether a bit of creativity cross-training helps out my writing or not.

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