Sunday

Writing Game was my last session for the festival. Kate Larson, John Purcell, Alicia Sometimes, Alli Sinclair and David Henley sat down on this cool Sunday morning to tell an audience about how they got into the writing game and how they stayed there. I found Alicia Sometimes quite an interesting person to listen to. She was quite humours with some of her comments. “Are we all just making shit up?” “If someone is full of hubris you just want to kick them in the biscuit.”

John Purcell and his secret identity Natasha Walker were also entertaining in their stories of how they have succeeded in the writing game. “I’d think: this is pretty dirty, I’ll put it in the drawer and for some reason no one published it from there.” I can relate to that because I’ll end up writing something and then hide it away because I don’t think its good enough or I don’t want to expose what I have written.

These past three days in the festival, plus the class day before hand, have been amazing and exhausting. I have had a great time and hope to come back next year. I can now say I have been to a festival, and more than that, I have been to a writer’s festival. I left today after caving in and buying some books from the hub, and then I said farewell to the Bendigo Writer’s Festival and left with a lot of memories and a lot of things to think about.

Saturday

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Or not. Amateur journalists here. We subjected three authors to our questions for an hour and they couldn’t leave. Mwahaha! Anson Cameron, Anna George and Erica Hayes, all writers for different genres or professions bravely answered all questions and even gave us a laugh or two. I was a little nervous before this all began because I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was happy with what transpired. I listened to quite a few good stories and I wish I had written them all down but I remember the feelings were all good.

“Write sober and write early.” Good advice from the entertaining Anson Cameron as he told us about his experience staying up late at night, drinking wine or whatever, and then writing something.

“Don’t give up because it doesn’t work right away.” Also by Anson Cameron thanks for that especially since I generally do the exact opposite. I’m known to give up after failing but now I will try and think of this.

“There is an audience out there for absolutely everything.” Erica Hayes, thank you so much for this because it gives me hope.

“If you love writing then write.” By the lovely Anna George. I might just frame this and turn it into a poster.

I have never been able to write or read or watch horror movies. It has always intrigued me though, the talent which goes into making such a story. Keri Arthur and Sean Williams talk about their own stories in the genre and their own experiences with writing it. Which sounds like an excerpt from a blurb but moving on. “A good story is full of the fear of the thing that scares the character, the dread and anticipation, rather than the actual thing that is scary” (partial quote) by Sean Williams. I never looked at it that way before but now that I have I can understand it a little more. Probably still can’t write it but if I ever become brave enough I can look back on these words and hopefully be successful.

I really linked a lot of myself with that Keri Arthur said, such as “People who read have a vivid imagination.” I have a pretty good imagination, sometimes too much which I’ve always said is why I can’t watch horror movies, because I will remember and my brain will try and convince me the monster is under my bed or waiting around the corner. Even writing about this making my nervous, wondering if there is something out in the hallway, which goes to show how good (or manic) my imagination is.

“I got sick of all the females in stories being idiots who fall over and need rescuing. I like strong female roles” Keri Arthur’s reasons for why she started writing just about inspired me to pick up her book because I like a female character who “kicks butt” as well. However I’m one of those people who can’t really stand a cliff hanger and Keri Arthur doesn’t conclude her happy ending (if there even is one) until the end of the series. Still, definitely something to keep in mind.

“I turn my nightmares into stories” Keri said that and I remembered a dream I turned into a story years ago which I never got to finish.

“Are you dark inside?”

“I am. I was a former chef I played with knives”.

This is the kind of slightly dark humour I like so another reason why I think Keri Arthur is awesome.

I went to Almost True…and wished I didn’t. I’m sure it was a lovely seminar; I’m not saying it wasn’t, but it just wasn’t the thing for me. I chose wrong and regretted it.

Consult an Expert gave me really great ideas. Find a publisher or get self-published. Network. Online profile. Wheeler Centre. A lot to take in and a lot to think about.

Publish or Be Damned was not my choice, rather my friend’s, however it sounded interesting so I went along to it. I was not interested for most of it until the end. Politics are not my thing. It was like she had been going through the motions until she mentioned at the end, publishing Mick Gatto’s book and then it resonated with me because she sounded passionate. Perhaps it was just my perception. She sounded proud of her accomplishments.

I ended up writing a haiku poem during the seminar which just popped into my head while I was zoning in and out of the speech.

Writer’s Festival

Bendigo in Winter

Writers in Action

Yeah not that great, pretty simple, but it’s odd what will just pop into my head at random times.

Plotting did its job, it inspired a plot in my brain and I spent a while sitting there brainstorming my new story rather than listening although I did take notes. Geraldine Wooller, Peter Timms and Ellie Marney were three very different people with different ideas.

“I’m a notorious pantzer” when Ellie Marney said this I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wondered what the heck she was talking about. Do you run around pulling people’s pants down? What on earth is a pantzer? Apparently a pantzer is someone who “flies by the seat of their pants” instead of plotting when it comes to writing a story. Certainly something to think about but I am definitely a planner. I like to be organised.

What’s Love Got To Do With It? Well, romance writing is apparently quite popular right now so that might be it. A group of five women all sat down and told us about their different forays into the genre of romance writing. They mentioned The Black Moment, when everything that can go wrong, goes wrong, and makes the reader think that there is no way for a happy ending. I like to write about romance but I’m never sure if I really can but hearing from these amazing authors than “You can write about anything, so long as you do it right” was possibly some of the best advice ever.

Beyond Extreme. Again, politics are not my thing however Tariq Ali was an interesting person to listen to. He sounded very passionate and assured about his beliefs.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but the echoes are always there.” I’m not sure I fully grasp this but I have the feeling it could be important some day so I hope I remember it.