Currently reading

"THE SHEPHERD'S HUT" - Tim Winton (Aust 2018) 

        Other than the fact that it's a great read, this is an object lesson in how to write a novel. By the time you're about ten pages in it has hold of you, the pace is measured but constant, you know where it's set and when it's set, and the main character and his circumstances are acutely alive and in your face. And it's small-ish at about 75k words. But feels big.

        Jaxie Clackton - even Winton's truly brilliant choice of a name says a bundle, it sounds so edgy and so bloody prickly! - and godknows that's Jaxie! He's a 14-15 year old (going on 40) with excesses of angst and attitude, from a dysfunctional home north of Perth somewhere, set in current day, and he's on the run, living off the land and his wits, telling his story in retrospect.

        My particular copy is out of a street library, and has had a bit of a hard life, water damaged and stained (could be mould!), but if this isn't the way the publisher made it, they should've. It just goes so well with the story.

        So, if you aspire to write both well and marketable, get hold of a copy and digest it whole. It'll do you a world of good!

        Cheers....

                T.R.E.

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Currently writing

         Still on that train of getting started and inspiration and methodology and all that - I've put up the front end of my current project over in "Pandora's Box".

        As I said the other day, all I do is get hit with an idea and follow it, for a while at least, to see where it goes. That small book of "Blokes & Sheds" (below) got me thinking about what a "Shed" really is, to a bloke I mean, and it got me sucked in, as you should be able to work out from the first piece of it. I've been working on it ever since.

        Okay, it's always going to be a very "male" story, but if you sharpen your eye you should be able to see the deeper, non-gender, story. But I'm not going to add anything else, it's up to you to make what you can of it.

        So, the thing is, just get an idea and chase after it. Not all spasms of inspiration will "go" somewhere, and I for one have about as many non-starters as ones I follow and make into something. And yep, some of them turn out to be a touch different than what I expected, as that's the whole point of exploring inside your own head. As I said once - "I read to know you, but I write to know me."

        See what you reckon.

                Cheers....

                        T.R.E.

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The HOW and the WHERE

        In the last few weeks I've had three people ask me about how to get "creative" words down onto the page, like they couldn't find the start line. Two were women, 45-ish, and one bloke about 75. The women were together and had read a couple of my novels, and one wanted to dabble in short stories, and the other aspired to a novel or two, while the old fella just wanted to get his life captured in an "interesting way", referring to how I'd done some of my stuff on "The Workshop", as he'd rightly picked that I often do memoir but make it look like fiction, standing behind an invented character. Way to go!

        I guess I'm fairly single-minded when it comes to handing out this kind of advice. I love to help people find in themselves what I've found, that joy of creating life right there on the page, but I can only give them my own approach. I suggested they check out the re-jigged stuff off here to the right, but they wanted to talk about it, about - how? But mostly where? How do I start and where do I start?

        So I - as always - pointed them at short stories. But the thing I always can't get my head around, is how can they NOT be writing. I mean, once my switch was turned on, I just couldn't stop. Back before then I felt as though I simply had nothing to say. But afterwards, there were stories at every hand and I felt - still do - the need, the compulsion, to write them down. So, now I think I expect every wannabe writer to be the same and therefore shouldn't need to ask.

        But they ask what I do. So I walked through the life of my current short story.

        You get an idea, "inspiration" I guess. Something grabs you. For me this time it was reading that book "Blokes & Sheds" (below somewhere). But it's often something I hear or see or remember. So I mull it around for a couple of days, "write" stuff in my head, take a pad and pen, scribble it out, type it up, print it off (using Courier New font with double line spacing for editing), put it in a project folder, get back to it as often as I can, edit, scribble more ideas. Things I hadn't thought of spring off the page. It takes on a life of its own, comes alive. From then on I do endless "head writing" as the thing evolves, get impatient to get them onto the page, but when I can't I scribble them down on a scrap of paper, stuff them in the folder till I can get to them. And so it grows.

        Only this way can I "see" the possibilities, see what it's REALLY about. Because you are writing down LIFE. The choice and arrangement of the words is only about the entertainment factor, making it enjoyable and stimulating for some stranger to read. But it's in that choosing that you need to let go of your controls and your shackles and concerns, and take CHANCES. One of the best things to read to understand taking chances is Dylan Thomas's "Under Milkwood". Geez I love that piece. He let his pen loose. To the point of arrogance. As it should be.

        So that's what I told them. Every writer must pick an idea, then explore it on the page, without inhibition. Make your pen sing. Get your feelings down on the page, you can always edit it later, find a better way of saying it, but get the inspiration down while it's fresh, in any words you can find.

        I hope this helps you as well.

            Cheers...

                    T.R.E.

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WHO is reading WHAT ?

        I was curious about who was reading, and what they were reading in Aus, and came across this 2016 Macquarie University (Sydney) major survey of reading habits in Australia. It's well worth ploughing through if you're serious about getting published, as it looks at the consumer from just about every angle.

        If you're like me and writing fiction is your thing, there's a heap of data on market groups and genres, as well as print vs ebook, and has a look at buying vs borrowing, stuff like that.

        A few quick points (all Australians, over 14, of group surveyed) -

        66% read a book at least once a week
        41% are regular readers
        61% of Frequent Readers are female
        47% of Frequent Readers are aged 30-59

        49% (of Fiction read) are crime/mystery/thriller
        36% historical fiction
        33% general/contemporary fiction
        32% sci-fi/fantasy
        31% classics

        When it comes to choosing a book to read, they consider...
        90% go by topic, setting, or style
        70% read and enjoyed previous by the author
        63% because it's in the format they want
        60% because it was recommended by a friend
        45% consider the price

        60% mostly prefer print
        31% mostly prefer ebook

        And lastly - almost as many people borrow books as buy them.

        Check out the Survey in full....

THE WHO AND WHAT OF READING

        Hope some of this helps...

                Cheers...

                        T.R.E.

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You just can't go back sometimes

 

    Every so often I like to try on a book that's clearly written for kids. Not sure why, maybe wanting to recapture those fireworks that went off in your head when you discovered the world of books and the stories in them. When you were ten. Or whenever it was for you.

    For me it was ten, and "William" and "Biggles" and "Warrigal Joe" took me off into the world of fiction, from which I have never truly returned. I was hooked.

    So, when this recent book fell into my lap (Craig Silvey - 2022 Aust) I got stuck in - a young girl and her scraggy larger-than-life mutt in an Australian country town that's struggling. 10-12 year olds will surely love it, especially girls, as it has all the elements, clearly written for just that market.

        But I guess I'm not ten years old any more, not even that "kid" part of my spirit. I just couldn't finish it, as well designed and written as it is. I wanted to, but couldn't. Sad eh? I guess that if I took down (and I might) my "Biggles" and "William" books from my shelf now I'd have the same reaction. So maybe I won't. I want them to always be back in that special place in my soul. When they were amazing.

        Cheers...

                T.R.E.

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Just finished

 "RAMBLING MAN" - Billy Connolly (2023 USA)

         This was a great read, about one guy and his time "on the road", who runs into extraordinary people, places, and experiences that not many of us will ever manage. I mean, it's not many people who can say that they played elephant polo with Ringo Starr in Nepal, or that good mate Mark Knopfler introduced them to Brett Whiteley - it was a while back and at which point Billy politely asked Brett what he did! - and then became good friends. As he always seemed to do, collecting up mates as he went along, and always finding something to laugh at. Often himself.

        I'm a big Billy Connolly fan, of his standup comedy, (most of) his movies, and especially of his hugely diverse travels on TV, which is where he picked up the material for this book. And always with such an insight into the human condition. And I'm not just talking about the "names" he ran into, but the myriads of us ordinary folk, each of whom he embraces equally. And he writes up what he finds in such a laid back manner. Find a copy!

        And before I put this one away, look for the art of Robert Lenkiewicz, clever stuff, and some of it just a touch erotic. Just a touch. He's the guy who painted Bill's portrait (on his "World Travels of England, Ireland, and Wales" TV special), down in Dorset, while Bill rabbitted on about everything under the sun, because the remarkable thing about this painting, is how Lenkiewicz has captured his subject's hidden persona, that part of the man that his comedy front hides behind. "Vulnerability" was the only word I could find for it. See what you reckon.

        Cheers...

                Trev

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Re-thinking "purpose"

         The other day I had a pick through all the gear over on the right hand side, the "WRITE STUFF" material, and realised it was just taking up space, which made me ask myself what I intended in the first place. I mean, what's a blog supposed to do anyway - mainly entertain, sometimes inform, sometimes enlighten. But I think I originally meant that "side" to be of help to any wannabe writers, pass on titbits that have been of use to me.

        But it just became stuffy and overloaded and even a few of the tags didn't work anymore. So I cleaned it all out. Bit by bit I'll either review the old stuff and bring it up to date, or find something new. More relevant. And godknows I was never the expert in anything literary, just a touch experienced.

        So, what first?

        I will re-do all of the tags that I've found useful (and yes, these will probably all be Australian, as my overseas following has dwindled over the years, while the Aus hits have grown steadily), such as Publishing, Agents, and Competitions, which are still the most important other than actually writing. But the rest could be anything, as in truth I mostly have no idea who you are or what you might be looking for here, but I'm sure there's a few out there who are simply looking for encouragement. I surely was when I set out. And in the ideal world we'd sit down over coffee and have a decent one-to-one chat. But it's never an ideal world.

        One thing I do intend to do though, is put up a SCRAP HEAP.

        I read a book in the early 1980s, by a long term author who was nearing the end of his days, and simply wanted to do something with all the bits he still had, which he thought were all too good to be chucked away. So he published a whole book of them! Made it clear it was all in the public domain and un-copyrighted, and invited any reader to use any bit they wanted. It was a brilliant read, some bits inspired the hell out of me so I re-jigged them and made them into short stories. Not a single pang of guilt.

        Okay, I'm not feeling the creepy guy with the scythe particularly close, but I like the idea, and I have heaps of stuff I'll never get to. So, be my guest, steal whatever you want out of THE SCRAP HEAP once it's up, do something with it. If a bit triggers an idea in you, grab it and run. That's what Inspiration is all about.

        You see, it was the book (below) of "Blokes & Sheds" that brought all this to a head. It gave me a paroxysm of Inspiration! Just after I'd sworn NOT to start any new writing projects, as my creative time is limited and I already have way too much half done. But you can't ignore Inspiration. Geez no! It's one of the most powerful forces in the literary universe.

        (Oh shit, head getting woozy, time out, bugger!!!)

        (20 mins later!) Had a walk up and back, swore profusely at Old Age and bloody Nature, better wind this up. Stay tuned.....

        Cheers....   (and thank you for sticking with me for all this time, I love doing this and I wish and I wish that we could share that cup of coffee.)

                T.R.E.

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Back to the future...

         Before Covid I used to walk to my favourite cafe on my "free" mornings and get in an hour of quiet writing, the old pad and pen type, then later transcribe on-screen and follow up with all the editing. It worked well. But Covid stuffed up so much in the way of routines, and then our friends sold the cafe. Upshot was I switched to working at the desk only, do all creating and editing direct on screen.

        But now I've developed "Screen Vertigo", a fairly common syndrome where, if you spend too much time at the computer you get a thing like travel sickness, woozy head followed by dodgy stomach. A load of fun! Upshot, I've had to re-think once more, especially as so much of what I love to do needs time at the PC, writing and researching.

        Actually, my first run-in with this thing was about 15 years ago, after an intense three hours of re-programming a suite of stuff for my old company and, ignoring the warning signs, I suddenly found myself on all fours on the floor! I suppose having spent the last 35-odd years working with computers, no wonder my head is giving me just one more reminder that I'm inexorably falling to bits. (Geez getting old is bloody fun!)

        So, now I'm back to having to write - even legibly! - with pen and pad, quickly load it up (or read it in with my wonderful new Voice-To-Text gizmo - bless you Microsoft!), then print off.

(An hour later)

        The above was all I squeezed out of one sitting today, before going a touch doo-lally. Do you have that problem? Seems that many do, so mustn't complain. As per my new mantra for Life - It is what it is. Get on with it.

        But the best thing is, I find that pen-and-pad puts me into an old "zone", another time, when that was all that was available. It has somehow re-jigged my brain. Makes me more - what? - primitive? Like the old days, when I first learnt to write, learnt to access The Ghost. That book (below) on "Blokes & Sheds" fired up something, and I've found a very satisfying streak of images, thoughts, ideas, a whole philosophical thing even. Makes me feel good. And that's what it's all about. Exploring one's neurons. Discovering Self.

        So, get stuffed Nature, I'm still standing!

            Cheers...

                        T.R.E.

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Currently exploring with....

"RAMBLING MAN" - Billy Connolly (2023 USA)

        I'm a Billy Connolly fan, of his standup comedy, and especially of his hugely diverse travels on TV, which is what this book is all about. Rambling. And the odd thing is, there's so much of what he says I can relate to, the loner thing, the explorer thing, the rambler thing. Not that I'm a bit manic as Bill is. Or funny. Or adventurous. (I sure don't see myself ever bungee-jumping in the nude. Or at all.) But I do so love to ramble and explore. Find out new things.

        I'm not all that far in yet, but one early bit caught my eye, talking about how he's not a fan of being cooped up for long distances, so not a fan of flying or sailing. Here's what he says...

        "I'd rather build a boat than sail in one. That might not make sense to everybody, but it's another element of being a Rambling Man, because a Rambling Man loves creating things, whether it's carrying a banjo around and playing music, taking apart your motorcycle and putting it back together again, learning how to build something from nothing, or painting a beautiful picture, the process of creating something is what he loves best...."

        Amen to that, mate.

        I have this theory that it behooves the human race to ask questions. It's part of God's design. God wants us to read more, to ramble more, to listen more, and learn from the experience, improve the species. And Godknows we so desperately need to. So you could do worse than read this book, as Billy has the Curiosity Gene big time. And he writes what he finds in such a laid back manner. Find a copy!

        Cheers....

                T.R.E.

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Just dumped - and why!

        I gave this recent release (2014) novel a decent shot, plodded on to page 84, but it just didn't get hold of me. As a principle I don't put up negative reviews, but there's a few things about this one that contains a lesson or two for any aspiring writer of fiction. In my opinion. Which isn't generally shared by other reviewers in this case.

        Helen Simonson wrote "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand", which I enjoyed (see under "The Fun Stuff"), so I had some expectation of this one. But...

        Okay, why couldn't it get hold of me? After all, its apparent theme is about motorbikes and aircraft, and a bunch of women getting stuck into male prejudices just after World War One in England, thumbing noses at the wannabe Upper Class norms, just before the Roaring Twenties got going. And it's well written. Why wouldn't I love it!

        First up, it's presented in that (for me) off-putting "fat" format that's all the rage for so much modern stuff, using up 415 pages to cover its ap 140k word length. This is not overly long for a novel I guess, but I sort of feel that if you can't nail it in about 100k words maybe you need to have a serious edit. And that's my other gripe with this one. It's over-written to the point of self-indulgence. At one point the author takes three large paragraphs of fine detail, describing a walk through a garden, which has no bearing on the story except to help with the "mood", which had already been well covered.

        So, if you're more patient than me, and you want to read about young women trying to balance out the injustices of having ran so much of the country's infrastructure - farms, offices, factories - for 3 to 4 years (at less pay than for the men they replaced), only to be thanklessly tipped out on their return, patted on their pretty little heads, and told to get back to concentrating on becoming a wife and a baby-minder and a cook and a cleaner, this is the book for you.

        It's an idea that should work. But for me it just took way too much time getting to wherever it was going, wallowed about painting the picture of the times, which have been meticulously researched. But made just a touch too light and fluffy. Sorry Helen.

        Cheers...

                T.R.E.

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