Becoming A Fiction Writer » Writers’ Festivals

Meeting your writing heroes – and speaking to them!

amanda — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:10:58 +0000

Like many writers, I can be a bit on the shy side. Now, some of you who know me personally might think I’m telling porkies, but it’s really true. If I’m teaching or training then that’s not a problem, and I’ve certainly got a lot less shy over the years, but the one thing that had eluded me until recently was the ability to go up and talk to famous people!

I’m not talking rock stars or presidents or anyone like that, because I’m sure I still wouldn’t have the guts to talk to them, but I have finally become just a little bit better at speaking to writers – who seem more like real people than weirdo celebrities, right?!

It all began very soon after the birth of my little boy, almost a year ago. My teenage-era hero, Australian journalist Jana Wendt, was coming to Perth to launch a book and there was an event scheduled right close to me. Problem was, I would most likely still be in hospital, or be nine and a half months pregnant and waiting. But (helpfully) my little boy arrived ten days early and so when the Jana Wendt event date rolled around, I decided to go. It was my first boy-less excursion and it was rather weird, but I really wanted to make the most of it. Knowing I had to get home quick-smart after the event finished (as my little one would probably be screaming the house down by then), I raced out of the lecture hall, bought her book and was third in line at the signing table.

Not content just to get my book signed, I willed myself to be brave enough to have a conversation. I blathered about how she’d been my hero as a teenager and I’d wanted to be a journalist because of her (her answer was something like she was sorry to hear that!), and I tell you, I was immensely proud of myself. And it seems this was the beginning of a new confidence.

At the recent Perth Writers Festival, I spoke to several authors after their presentations or events (at the very tent pictured above). Carmel Bird, an Aussie writing icon, and someone whose books have been sitting on my bookshelf forever, was just a normal person who liked the name of my son. Speaking with Natasha Lester, a local first-time novelist, reinforced for me that writers are ordinary people just like me, and that means that I could actually do it too. The only hero I didn’t get to meet was Ramona Koval – you’ve heard me rave about her ABC radio programme, The Book Show, before, and I sat enthralled through her role-reversal interview, but unfortunately I had a first birthday party (for a group of babies, mine included!) to dash to – I was already an hour and a half late, since I’d decided I couldn’t bear to miss seeing Ramona LIVE! I’ll just have to keep an eye out for another opportunity there – at least I know I’m brave enough already.

So my question for you: who’s the writing hero you’d love to meet? And are you brave enough to speak to them? Let me know in the comments.

Tips on getting published from the Perth Writers Festival

amanda — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:08:32 +0000

As part of the glorious Perth Writers Festival (always the literary highlight of my year!), I was very lucky this year to be able to take part in a day-long workshop: the A-Z of Getting Published. (Lucky because I had two willing babysitters!). It was chaired by Angela Meyer from the great Literary Minded blog and came in three parts – basically put, it started out with publishers, went to agents and then ended on publicity. The chance to actually hear from real-life publishers and agents was pretty special, and I took copious notes, laughed and cried, and went home both inspired and a little depressed. More inspired though, I’d have to say.

Now, I could give you a blow-by-blow account of what happened, but that’s already been done beautifully by a couple of other people who were there – so head over to Cristy Burne’s write-up (the quotes in the second half of the post from the various presenters are gold!) or All the World’s Our Page for some good summaries of what went on. All I want to talk about are the key messages I took home from the day. So, without further ado:

VOICE. VOICE. VOICE. Nearly every member of every panel at this workshop mentioned that the most important thing they’re looking for in a novel (or other stuff, but especially novels) is a unique, original, enticing, beautifully-written VOICE. You have to sound like nobody else. You can tell the same story as everyone else, but you have to tell it in a way that only you can. Voice is something I’m often worried is lacking from my novels. I think it’s also very hard to “notice” your own voice. The question was raised of whether voice can be learnt and Mandy Brett (Text Publishing) said (to summarise) – sometimes. You can improve your voice with practice, and by reading (and reading, and reading), and some writers will “get it” and
some won’t. Well I really hope I’m one of those writers who can develop a good voice. I’m sure going to try! It was also mentioned that if you are absolutely passionate about your story, you have a better chance of having a great voice.
Your manuscript has one chance to impress. Therefore, it really truly really truly REALLY has to be its absolute best. John Harman, who (among other things) does manuscript assessment, gave me food for thought – getting a manuscript assessment done doesn’t seem as silly as I once thought – and the publishers and agent there certainly made it clear both through anecdotes and statistics that the chance of anyone noticing your novel manuscript is small enough without presenting the most perfect version you can. Which makes my decision not to send out my current manuscripts even firmer in my mind.
Having an agent is basically essential these days. The publishers present (Random House, Text, Fremantle, UWA) gave some slush pile statistics (although, it must be said, they at least do read their slush piles, on a regular basis and with open minds and a sense of fairness, which I suspect may be more than other houses) and they are frightening. Text Publishing said they get between 300 and 400 unsolicited manuscripts per year and often won’t publish any of them. Fremantle Press said they had 654 unsolicited manuscripts sent in during 2010 and I’m not sure they published any of them – the entire output of the house for the year was only around 25 books, so it’s very unlikely. And so on. Needless to say, this has now utterly confirmed that there is no point in searching for a publisher myself, only an agent.

I learnt a whole lot more, but I’ll tell them in conjunction with my tales of some of the other great discussions and presentations I saw at the Perth Writers Festival. Sometimes, it seems like an utterly ridiculous idea to try and become a published writer – the odds are definitely stacked against me (and everyone else), but you know, I just can’t not. Crazy but true.

2011 Perth Writers Festival programme has me salivating

amanda — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:54:53 +0000

Oh, sweet darling that is the Perth Writers Festival. Honestly, I’m going to go out on a limb here and admit that pretty much nothing else gets me as excited and inspired as getting a massive overdose of writing, writers, reading, and books, and that’s what the Perth Writers Festival provides every year.

I’ve just come home from the launch of the 2011 Perth Writers Festival programme (and yes down here we do say programme, so that red squiggly line that wants me to type program can just disappear, please!), and have devoured the Festival brochure, drawn rings around the people I just must see, and even been online to reserve a few relevant novels from my local library (with major apologies to the writers, but my budget just doesn’t stretch to buying every book I want, plus my husband would kill me as books take up space, which he claims we don’t have).

You might be able to guess from my blathering and generally wobbly speech that I’m rather excited by what I’ve found and I can’t wait until the first weekend in March when this all takes place. Some time ago I already snapped up tickets for the Armistead Maupin evening (this was one of the early announcements) but now I discover I may have to sandwich Annie Proulx in before him and after a day full of some of my favourite local writers and writing personalities (oh, I even told my husband who really didn’t get it all, that dear Ramona Koval from ABC Radio’s The Book Show will be here, I adore listening to her and her podcasts have got me through many a boring dinner preparation!). And I can’t believe I really only found out tonight that Joanne Harris (yes, author of Chocolat, among others) will be here too.

For me, seeing and hearing so many writers within a few days gives me a major inspiration boost, and even just thinking about it six weeks ahead of time gets my fingers pretty itchy, too. One thing I really love about the writing world is that 99% of writers are absolutely ordinary people, and the nature of books and writing means that even most successful writers are not particularly affected by their fame (probably because not too many of them become rich because of it!), and mingling with them at a festival makes me truly believe that I can be “one of them” too. I think it must be much more daunting to want to be a famous actor or rock star, because there’s so much more hype surrounding those personalities. Thank goodness my big dream is just to become a fiction writer!

What does seeing writers “live” do for you? Let me know what you think in the comments (and tell me if I’m insane. I can take it).

The Perth Writers Festival excitement begins

amanda — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:49:35 +0000

So, I was supposed to be writing a bunch of blog posts that are due this week, and today’s my day away from school, in other words, writing day. But just for a change, I got a little off track. It’s not my fault, of course – the Perth International Arts Festival brochure was delivered to my letterbox last week, and when I saw the page for the 2010 Perth Writers Festival, and read the magic words “check out the complete list of authors on our website”, well, I was off.

The festival is held in the last weekend of February, and it seems a tradition that the programme is actually not released until the end of January – perhaps pinning down writers is harder than other festival events, I don’t know. In any case, I didn’t expect to be able to find out much info, but it’s true, their website has a long, long list of authors who will be attending the 2010 Perth Writers Festival.

Of course, this got me pretty excited. Seeing writers in the flesh is, for me, the number one most inspirational experience as far as my writing is concerned. It’s nice to hear them on radio or see them on TV, it’s lovely to get writing tips off a website, and doing some writing itself is often inspirational too, but nothing gets me salivating more than actually being in a room with a writer or three at the front, hearing them speak about their writing. I think being face-to-face like that really reminds me that they are (usually!) absolutely normal people, just like me, and if they can do it, so can I.

Already, I’ve written the 2010 festival dates into my diary for next year in capital letters, and in a gold pen. But there’s more to my Perth Writers Festival preparation than that (oh, have I mentioned before that this is the coolest festival ever because nearly all the events are free? Yay, Perth!). Reading up on what the authors have written before I see them in person makes it all so much more exciting, so I’ve been trawling the catalogue of my local library, reserving books left, right and centre so that between now and the end of February, I’ll have read a good taste of what the authors on show have offered. As usual, there is a mix of international, national and local writers coming, from all different genres, so I’ve got a lot of reading to do.

If you’re interested, perhaps the most famous writer attending will be Irvine Welsh (yes, of Trainspotting fame), a writer who has actually rated a mention in my blog twice already: once, because I have real trouble getting through the strong dialect of his novels, and once because I was worried that having his book Porno listed as overdue at my local library in Germany could cause me real problems when my mother-in-law received an overdue notice to her address and wondered what on earth I was reading.

Anyway, no time for writing now, I’ve got too much reading to do!

Countdown to the Perth Writers Festival

amanda — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:37:02 +0000

Just a few more sleeps and it all gets started: you might remember I’ve been waiting for the Perth Writers Festival for ages. I’m looking forward to getting a huge dose of inspiration both for reading and writing.

Special events – Some evening experiences

While most of the events of the Perth Writers Festival are free – and I have to say again how fantastic that is, and I hope that never changes – they usually hold some evening presentations, daytime workshops and special events like lunches that require tickets. And that’s more than fair. This year my mother and I will be heading off to three of the evening events (at just A$20 each), starting off on Thursday with an outdoor picnic “book club” with Stella Rimington, then Saturday evening with “Stories of the World” featuring six different novelists, and then finally we’ll be at the closing event on Monday night when one of my new favourite novelists, Sebastian Barry, will be there.

I looked into enrolling in one of the workshops this year, as last year I missed out by not booking ahead of time – but any that I’m slightly interested in are on at the same time as other (free) presentations I don’t want to miss.

Main programme highlights, according to me

There is so much to choose from – for three full days, there are four or five parallel sessions of presentations, panels and writers’ chats. I’m excited just looking at the programme (really, I am – call me a book nerd if you will!). A panel that looks at using parts of your own life in your writing – and the damage it can cause – intrigues me; some travel writing of course gets me interested as well, although I don’t (yet) know the authors involved in that panel (Mark Dapin, Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl); there are several sessions in which Kate Grenville’s taking part, and I’m sure she’ll be fascinating; and having just read Julienne van Loon’s novel set in the Pilbara, the panel looking at novels set in north-west Australia has got a big ring around it from me.

There’s so much more cool stuff to do too – families with book-loving kids must be loving all the sessions with children’s authors (most of them are free too). I’m just getting all excited in advance and will be ready to report back next week – although it might take me a few days to process all the inspiration I get. Last year my brain was shell-shocked for weeks – hopefully this time round it’s grown a little more resilient.

Anticipating the 2009 Perth Writers Festival

amanda — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:16:08 +0000

When the programme for the 2009 Perth International Arts Festival arrived in our house last week there was a flurry of excitement: we love going to see the international films at the outdoor cinemas they set up (although we’re disappointed by the number of French films this year and not enough German ones …); and as for me, personally, finding out about next year’s Perth Writers Festival is exciting too.

The only problem is the Writers Festival doesn’t seem to be organised as far in advance as everything else, so this programme only gives a quick taste of what might be (and which weekend to keep free) and the actual programme of events isn’t due until the end of January. The festival itself is taking place over a long weekend this time – so Perth people, keep the last weekend of February/first weekend of March free. I’m not convinced that holding it over a long weekend is such a great idea – last year it was held over a normal working Friday plus the Saturday and Sunday (I had the Friday off work) – I’m concerned that a long weekend will mean more people go away and attendance might be down. I guess they’ve thought of that and we’ll wait and see.

In any case, some of the authors that will be attending, according to the tantalising blurb, include:

Sebastian Barry – I’m reading his book The Secret Scripture right now, which was Booker short-listed; I’m only a couple of chapters in but it’s “lyrically lovely” so I’m keen to meet the writer …
Kate Grenville – a fantastic Australian writer I’ve mentioned before as being a previous Vogel winner – several of her novels have a home in my bookshelves and she has a new book called The Lieutenant
Robert Drewe – perhaps an equally famous Aussie writer, but one I’ve never read (I think; I could be wrong) – the book of his that’s most well-known is The Shark Net and that’s on my reading list right now.

I got so much out of attending last year’s Perth Writers Festival – not least of all because it’s in my hometown and nearly every event is free, so I could really make the most of it – so I’m definitely looking forward to that last weekend of February next year. Some day in the (maybe far, far) future, I hope I’ll be on the programme too!

Listening to the Perth Writers Festival

amanda — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:48:04 +0000

Yes, it’s a fair while back that I actually went to February’s Perth Writers Festival but I’ve only just got around to catching up on the promised podcasts of the sessions. At the time, some of the session organisers had promised that they would soon become available online to listen to, and in February and early March I checked the website regularly to find them so I could listen to the sessions I hadn’t been able to attend, and review those I had. But they didn’t appear.

It must have taken a few weeks – or maybe months, I have no idea – but the festival people now do have a bunch of sessions now streaming online. Yay! I’ve just started listening to them and they’re well recorded (so far) and almost as interesting to listen to here in my study as it was down at the university.

Unfortunately, there are just 11 sessions being broadcast (out of a much bigger number) but there’s still some quality stuff to listen to. #4, Secrets and Lies, was one of the most interesting sessions I attended. These will be handy things for me to listen to when I’m looking for a bit of inspiration but don’t have a writers’ festival at the ready. (Although having said that, I’ve started keeping track of other festivals around Australia to try to tie in some holidays with some inspiration!)

Melbourne Festival of Travel Writing provides a few sparks

amanda — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:55:23 +0000

It may not be fiction writing, but being able to attend the Melbourne Festival of Travel Writing while I was in Melbourne was still useful for my fiction writing ambitions.

The biggest message I got from attending the Saturday sessions of this festival was the one I usually get whenever I see writers speak: published book writers are totally normal people, just like me. (Friends might say writers, and me, are rather abnormal people, but the point remains the same – the people who can walk into a bookstore and see their book on their shelves are not so different from me). This is always a refreshing message to be reminded of, and something that I suspect might not happen in other kinds of arts – say you’re an aspiring musician and you go to a concert, the musician’s equivalent of a writers’ festival, seeing your hero on stage performing probably doesn’t do much to convince you that they’re normal and just like you.

And the second message I took away from this festival was that the stories I have to tell are definitely interesting enough to be told. I saw a few sessions by writers who have published travel narrative books about their experiences travelling in various countries, and I felt sure that my experiences also lived up to them – and in some case, might even be more interesting. Whether I tell these stories as a travel narrative book or use them to inspire my fiction, I do feel reasonably confident that I have something worth saying, something that other people will find interesting. And that’s very reassuring.

Inspiration from the Writers Festival

amanda — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:06:00 +0000

All my blogs have been a bit empty over the last week, because I spent a few days at the Perth Writers Festival. It’s the first I’ve attended since coming back to Perth a year or so ago, and I was more than pleasantly surprised at how professional it all is – perhaps Perth isn’t such a cultural backwater after all!

In any case, I saw a dozen or more presentations over three days and the majority of them were FREE! Incredible. The reminder that novelists (because most of the people I went to see were novelists) are truly normal people just like me was a valuable one. Having seen some of the writers talk more than once, I’ve become quite hooked on the idea of reading the books they spoke about, and that’s given me a reading list that’s much too long!

A few of the writers were “superstars” in my mind, like Christopher Koch, whose book The Year of Living Dangerously was one I’d read four or five times as teenager. And there were a lot of writers who I hadn’t known or read before, but now want to. Catherine O’Flynn’s What Was Lost: A Novel is high on the list, as is Louise Doughty’s Stone Cradle and Crazy Paving.

But as well as getting more reading done, I’m very inspired to do some more writing, too. I’ve now found a string of novel writing contests that should inspire me to get editing: first chapter due in March, first three chapters in April, and the whole manuscript in May or June. I’m off to get writing right now!