Sydney writers festival

Over the weekend I attended the Sydney Writers Festival. I attended discussions on writing with published authors as well as a workshop on reading like a critic. Including listening to Garth Nix, which was such a moment for me as a fan of his writing.

The discussion on writing by authors gave the best insight into the writer’s mind. That there is no one way to write. Some are planners and some are pansters. A term I actually hadn’t heard before. Also realised that is probably how I write. I have no plan, no direction, I just let my writing guide me. Though I do forget character names and descriptions along the way. So, whether I like it or not I need to have some kind of organisation.

The voice of the book and how many things can influence it, including the author writing the story. You can receive feedback and editing, but it is still your piece of work that is being written.

Then we come to the voice of the character. They have to be believable, relatable and trustworthy. Why am I going to continue to read a book if I can’t connect with the character or trust their POV. Though is it better to draw the reader into the story by having a trustworthy narrator to only twist the character at the end to be the bad guy.

The best lesson I learnt was to just start. There is no one perfect moment, or idea or place. It is just to have the idea and the sitting down to actually write it. Mind you I usually have a million ideas and have to write them all done.

There are authors who put all their ideas into one book and then edit out what doesn’t work. There are some who write the first paragraph and keep it stored in a file for a later time.

With many aspects of life there are rules we can follow to accomplish a task. There are some who work best within the rules and structure. This doesn’t really hold for writing. As you try to follow ‘the rules’ it loses the warmth and authenticity of a book. The author losing their voice in the struggle between what they want to write and what they think they should write. I’ve never been one to follow the rules when I work in a creative space. I hate following patterns and recipes; I like to just start and see what happens. Probably why I will never make a chef. But with my writing, this kind of chaos works for me. I don’t have to follow any rules. I write what I feel and that has met my desire to write has far exceeded any other creative pursuits I have had. And I am more than grateful for discovering this. I have no idea if I am a good writer, but I this form of work to express myself in this world.

I think I got the most from the workshop I attended on Reading like a critic. We looked at how to be a bridge between the author and the reader. As critics, or reviewers, that is our job. To encourage the reader to read the book. There are different aspects we looked at including, the form of the book, the context, the ideas and the actual readers of the book. The connection with those, the emotions etc. It was a fascinating way to look at this. I tend to focus more on the connection to a book and the ideas, or the tropes. But thinking about the context of a book I can see its relevance to the time it was written and who it is written for. Then we look at the form. Is it edited, well written etc? There is more to a review than just if you did or didn’t like something. Or just listing the tropes. I guess that is why I like to video my reviews to make a better connection, acting as the bridge to the readers. I hope that what I learnt will mean making better reviews and connecting more readers to books.

As I finish my master’s degree I look to what my future in the book world might be. Will I be a writer, will I be an editor, will I just continue to do book reviews and create book content, ow will I go on to do my phd? I am only limited by my imagination.

This is my first time attending a writer’s festival and I have to say I have got a lot out of it, and I am so glad I decided to attend. To get access to and advice from authors means exposure to different ideas in this field. We are all so different and we all have such different stories to tell. I have read many times that we all have a story inside us; we just need to sit down and write it.

What’s next, attending more events and book fairs. I would love to travel the world going to these, but for now we start local and progress from there. Oh, and to finish the book I am currently writing and get it published.