“There’s a story here. There’s definitely a story here.” That was Jennifer Smart’s hunch, having worked behind the screens in film and television for many years, including five years on Home and Away. And she was in a position to know – having even penned two scripts of the hit
In episode 15 of our top-rating podcast, So you want to be a writer, Allison Tait spoke with two authors at the same time: Kim Wilkins and Kimberley Freeman. But rather than talk over each other, it was all very orderly. That’s because it was the same person. Dr Kim
Earlier this year, in episode 4 of our top-rating podcast, So you want to be a writer, we spoke with internationally published author Allison Rushby.
Now, many writers begin self-publishing and end up with a traditional publishing book deal. However, Allison has done it the other way round – choosing after 14 years as an author to self-publish for the first time this year when the rights to four of her earlier books reverted to her. Then, on a roll, she chose to self-publish her new young adult novel, Being Hartley, at the same time.
Allison provided some valuable insights into the relative strengths of both of these two publishing methods, and writing in general – which we have summarised here.
Hugh Howey is the author of the best-selling book WOOL, which started life in the ebook jungles of Amazon as an online novelette. This was before it became a global sensation and the first instalment in a three-book series known as the Silo series. Hugh’s second book in this series,
Great news: our new half-day course, Writing Australian History is coming up in November! So to get the inside story, we asked presenter and historical guru, Pamela Freeman, a few questions around this fascinating genre…
Hi Pamela. There seems to be lots of Australian historical stories appearing in mainstream media currently (e.g. Gallipoli and ANZAC Girls etc). Why do you think they’re so popular at the moment?Historical fiction generally has become more popular worldwide, often due to television shows like The Tudors and Da Vinci’s Demons (although I wouldn’t call that history!).
In Australia generally, people are becoming more interested in history; the number of people going to the Dawn Service for Anzac Day, for example, has gone up and up over the last ten years or so. And then, of course, we had the 60th anniversary of World War II, and now the 100th year anniversary of World War I, which is sparking even more interest. The media are riding the centenary wave, but I think they’re being successful because people are genuinely interested in the past and, in particular, in the people from that past – how they differed from us and how they were the same.
Many people might get to the age of 50 and look at their successful career, grown-up kids, stable life – and happily put their feet up. But not Sara Donovan. In fact it was this rather domestic alignment of the planets that saw her come to revisit a lifelong feeling.
Dr Anita Heiss is a busy woman. As the author of non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women’s fiction, poetry, social commentary and travel articles, she’s never far from a well-shaped word or two. Her books include Am I black enough for you? and Tiddas, and she is on the list of Booktopia’s favourite Australian novelists.
In 2001, Anita was the first Aboriginal student in the history of the University of Western Sydney to graduate with a PhD in communications and media. And despite being so busy, she’s always willing to connect with her loyal readers to help grow the voice of Aboriginal writers. “I like meeting my readers,” she says. “I think festivals are a great way to do that. It’s a great way for readers to engage with you and learn about why you do what you do.”
They say that you should write about what you know. So it’s quite comforting to look out of Australian “rural fiction” writer Fleur McDonald’s window and not see high rise buildings. Or any other houses for that matter.
Instead, a rural scene is the backdrop: her 8,000 acre farm in the southeast corner of Western Australia. It has certainly provided plenty of inspiration for her novels to date, debuting with the extremely successful Red Dust back in 2009. Her fifth novel, Crimson Dawn, was published earlier this year, and we did the sums and worked out that’s around one new book every 12 months.
So what’s her secret? How does she balance a family and a farm with knocking out a new novel every calendar year?
Do not adjust your sets. Yes, we really did just say that you can be a productive writer without actually writing a word. At least that’s how Graeme Simsion (author of the ridiculously popular 2013 smash hit, The Rosie Project) sees it.
Well, kind of anyway. It’s true that The Rosie Project does indeed have words – around 75,000 of them, and that Graeme actually did write them himself. In fact, when we spoke to him in Episode 1 of our top rating podcast So You Want to Be a Writer earlier this year, he also had some interesting things to say about the evolution of the story from screenplay to novel.
As a writer (or wannabe writer) you’re often juggling many other priorities and it’s easy for writing to become the last item on your to-do list. So how do you find the time to write?
The short answer is: you make time. There is no way to wave a magic wand and hope that more than 24 hours will somehow appear in your day. If you want time to write, you are the only person who can make this happen.
Too many writers think: “I’ll write that when I have more time” or “I’ll wait till I retire or the kids grow up”. The reality is that’s an excuse. If you really want to succeed as a writer then you need to … write! And the sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll succeed. Because guess what? It takes time to…
Eli Glasman is an author based in Melbourne, Australia. His first book The Boy’s Own Manual to Being a Proper Jew explores the complications of being a homosexual boy in the Melbourne orthodox Jewish community.
We caught up with Eli to discuss his writing process and the blurred lines between real life and fiction.
To get published these days you don’t just need an amazing book — you often also need an amazing and hardworking agent to go along with it.
But when Therese Creed wrote her first novel, Redstone Station, she submitted it to the first big publisher that would take her unsolicited manuscript. To her surprise, she received a formal offer on the book not long after.
Charlotte’s Creek is her second novel released by Allen & Unwin, and we sat down with Therese to chat about her love of writing and outback adventures.
It’s 5.30am. Gabrielle Tozer, 28, shuts the door to her study and sits at her desk. Sydney’s concrete jungle is quieter so early in the morning and Gabrielle likes to write in silence. A gumtree stands outside her window – the only greenery among the nearby buildings. It’s a reminder
Melbourne-born Karen Viggers is the author of three novels, the latest of which is The Grass Castle. Karen grew up in the Dandenong Ranges spending her free time riding horses and writing stories. Her love of creative writing was put aside in high school in favour of maths and science after being told it was too hard to make a living from writing. It was only after she completed vet school that she began writing again, though those works were mainly poetry and were not published. After years of working, studying and family life, Karen finally began writing fiction and, two years (and many drafts) later, her first novel, The Stranding, was published. The novel was well-received and Karen followed it up two years later with The Lightkeeper’s Wife.
Her third novel, The Grass Castle, has just been released. It follows the stories of two women in the Brindabella Ranges and their struggles to free themselves from long-buried family secrets.
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