Writers, editors, agents, publishers and more share their thoughts, experiences and stories.
Stories from Home: Weekly writing in May and June
During May and June 2020, Writers Victoria in partnership with VALID, are posting a weekly writing prompt for writers with disability. With so many of us isolated at home, this is a chance for us to reflect on our experiences and share them with others through our writing.
When Leone Purdy of the Sale Write-ability writers group decided to self-publish her poetry book, not everything went to plan.
I was elated. My first book published – and it was lovely. I felt pride in myself; a feeling that was new to me. Was this beautiful, softcover, book of quirky, idiosyncratic poems really mine? Working with a publishing service had all seemed so easy. I’d paid them to edit and review my manuscript. Where once it had been a jumbled mash of incoherent, long-winded and unrhythmical verse, it was now a polished poetry book.
Writing may be a solitary pursuit, but it doesn’t follow that being a writer means resigning yourself to loneliness and isolation. Writing communities, large and small, exist in all kinds of forms, catering to all kinds of writers. Some communities develop organically.
I have always been fascinated with how cinema depicts writers and the craft of writing. Much of what appears on the big screen, the huge publicity tours and massive advances, is pretty far from the mark in terms of reality for all but the most successful authors. That said much a lot that cinema gets right: the hard grind of getting the words on a page to make the deadline, dealing with rejection, struggling with envy in relation to more successful colleagues, the constant effort of staying relevant, etc.
Writing is not a career for the faint-hearted or the impatient. To start a career as a freelance writer, you have to be both resilient and prepared to play the long game.
CC: The move away from commercial to network television has allowed TV writing to break out of some of its traditional boundaries in terms of format and audience. What are the results of this for aspiring TV writers?
CC: How long have you been involved with running literary events?
Plotting and Structure for Beginners
CC: Which comes first for you, plot or character?
