So you're a misogynist – so what? So you're a homophobe, or a racist – so what? Does that make your art less interesting? I don't think so.
A lot of people seem to be weeing their collective pants about Bret Easton Ellis coming to Australia next month. But talking to a few people on edcomm about it, none of us really care. Most of us were barely walking when American Psycho was first published. I guess the spectacle and build up around a 'big name author' coming to town are understandable, but is he still relevant to a new generation of writers and readers? To anyone?
I liked American Psycho, and have defended it from haters, etc., but it's hardly on the cutting edge anymore. There's plenty of value in looking at it retrospectively, and while it's still confronting to read, I don't think it's particularly shocking anymore in strictly literary terms. It's kind of like his quote above - he's not wrong in what he's saying, but it feels like that particular boat has sailed. He's missing the point. It doesn't make your art less interesting, but being those things no longer makes you provocative so much as it makes you a douchebag.
He seems to be riding his success a decade or two ago pretty hard. I imagine Imperial Bedrooms is not a bad book, but there's lots of not bad books being written by people that attract far less fanfare for it. Anyway, what do people think? Is Ellis' writing still provocative or relevant? What's peoples take on that quote? And what's the deal with all these people seemingly clinging really damn hard to the writer he was back in the 1980s?
6 Comments »
Are you finding Friday Writing Exercises tie your knickers in a knot? Feeling anxious? Are you reaching the end of the blog post, opening a word document, and flopping toward the pantry door Piderman-style, in the hope you’ll chance upon food that was invisible five minutes earlier?
Unfortunately the pantry will only continue to offer stale starch, a strange breed of savoury conserve from a 2006 Christmas hamper, and a ransacked packet of snakes featuring only stiff orange and yellow. Worse still, you’ve given up on tapping out a Friday Writing Exercise post. The latter is a grand shame - I can only imagine the deliciously imaginative things you would have written (far better than anything in that bland old pantry).
I stumbled across (i.e. a very cool friend of mine linked me) this piece of fantastic last week, and couldn’t help but daydream about some of the wild responses y’all would invent. It’s not Friday, and this isn’t quite a writing exercise, but it might just loosen up those joints in lieu of the end of this week.
READ MORE »
18 Comments »
Personally, I find descriptions to be the hardest part of a story. See, what happens is that I’ll have a rough plot in my head and there’s this part in the narrative that I desperately want to get to, because that’s the part I have the words for. But what about the other parts? What about setting up the scene, creating an image of my characters or adding that extra bit of depth? That’s unfortunately where the clichés come in.
For this exercise, I’m going to give you the beginnings of a sentence that requires you to follow up with a description. See if you can expand on it; create characters or scenes or emotions. As always, work with the first thing that pops into your head. However, watch out for phrases that you’ve read before, see if you can twist them round.
Bonus points if you can guess where I stole these from:
He looked down at me from his pedestal. ‘Have faith.’ Having faith in him was like…
To start the bar I’d borrowed as much as I could from every place that would lend me money, and I’d almost repaid it all. Things were settling down. Up until then, it had been a question of sheer survival, of keeping my head above water, and I didn’t have room to think of anything else. I felt like I’d…
That’s all it was. A huge plate of fat. His fingers found the fork. It seemed as if I was watching…
What they are hanging from is hooks. The hooks have been set into the brickwork of the Wall, for this purpose. Not all of them are occupied. The hooks look like…
6 Comments »
Submissions to Voiceworks have the option of being published under a pseudonym. A few months ago I was submitting a story that I thought could probably offend certain acquaintances of mine should they read it and figured it would be safest to use a nom de plume. Discussing possible names with my family members (as it was over Christmas) the most astute of them suggested that if I wasn’t able to publish the story under my own name I shouldn’t try to have it published at all. Fortunately it wasn’t selected and in hindsight I realise it wasn’t a very good story anyway. Funny how the powers that be at Voiceworks could divine the inwards shame I felt about it.
I don’t know if there’s any legitimate reason why submissions to Voiceworks should be under a different name. In my case, I thought there might be some sort of conflict of interest or moral dilemma involved and a pseudonym would protect everyone. Should I be writing things that people need to be protected from? Probably not. Or if I had written something outstanding, would the success have negated any ill or immoral feelings I had about it? Should we be worried about the moral implications of writing something, or should we plough on with our literary pursuits regardless of consequences, in a Helen Garner way?
Gone are the days of the Bronte sisters or George Eliot where we have to change our names just because we’re ladies – I haven’t noticed a crippling insistence on nineteenth century values at any Ed Comm meetings – besides, names aren’t included on submissions, so they are all treated with the same anonymity. But despite the crazy values we uphold at Voiceworks, I remember reading that JK Rowling was encouraged by publishers to make her sex more ambiguous so young boys wouldn’t be put off reading her books by her name. Which is frankly a bit weird when you think of the success of Diana Wynne Jones. Anyway the K wasn’t even part of her name, she stole it from her grandmother to go from Joanne Rowling to how we know her today.
READ MORE »
8 Comments »
Buying presents is never as easy as you expect. It's a particular problem when buying for the book lover. They like books, let's get them a book, I think to myself. Oh wait. Will they already have it? Will they like it? Will they turn their nose up and forever doubt my literary tastes? Maybe I should get them a nice Moleskine instead.
It seems one solution is to buy them a gift that looks like a book but isn't one. Like this:
I've been given a tea cup and a notebook with the Penguin classics design. I've also bought similar gifts for heavy-reading friends.
READ MORE »
4 Comments »
If you're in Melbourne, we're running another Voiceworks Live event this Thursday, and we'd love to see you there. There'll be readings from Birthmark, including Daniel Hogan, Christopher O'Neill and Holly Voigt. We'll give away some prizes in games of boggle and a spelling bee, and the editorial committee will do a radio play of Danielle Bink's 'Is this a miracle?'
All of us have a face for the big screen, not radio, and the only way to enjoy said faces is to be there! It's a free event at the Wheeler Centre, but bookings are required. To see what happened the last time we did one of these, see Sam's recap.
No Comments »
Michaela McGuire is a Melbourne writer. Her first book "Apply Within: Stories of career sabotage" was published last year by MUP. She co-curates and hosts 'Women of Letters' which is Melbourne's loveliest literary event TM. She is currently working on her second book, a collection of essays, that will be published by MUP in 2011. Her writing has appeared in The Age, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue, JMag and is forthcoming in The Lifted Brow.
READ MORE »
4 Comments »
or alternatively, is one person’s trash another’s night-in?
Editors and lit nerds far and wide cannot be blamed for that vaguely sexual thrill that comes of a seriously well crafted sentence. The refreshingly brave imagery that successfully equates a first kiss to something you never realised was titillating until now. Writers who avoid the term ‘pregnant pause’ at all costs, god bless them. Donne’s metaphysical conceits (I was forced to study The Flea in y12, and now think it’s actually pretty cool). There’s a lot of good stuff there.
But that’s not what I’m talking about. Well, that’s not all at least.
Little known fact: ManComm (that’s Managerial Committee of Express Media) have never blocked a story due to its content. This should be kept in mind for all kinds of content that is considered subversive, or as I like to think of it 'awesome'. For a quick study of back issues, I bring your attention now to Bryce Joiner's ‘Pushkin’ in SUPERFUNHAPPY, a story that made me cry on a plane. Or more recently, ‘Fog’ by Elspeth Muir published in Budget. Now there’s an example of surrealism and rape working together to create something special.
So the question stands. Where is the smut, kids?
And what is the difference between erotica and porn?
In your opinion.
READ MORE »
3 Comments »
This exercise is about something you probably do every day anyway and if you don't well then it's time to start! It's about: eavesdropping! Which is a wonderful word isn't it? Time to drop some eaves people!
Eavesdropping on other people's conversations can sometimes help with a piece of writing when you least expect it to, you are walking along thinking about something else then someone says something brilliant and you know how to keep going with that poem or story. But we are going to use eavesdropping consciously, to start to train your brain to be on the lookout for interesting words or phrases.
Your challenge is to start listening to other people's conversations. Subtly of course. On the tram or the train, in the office, at school - anywhere! You need to find 5 phrases that grab you and write them down. Share them here on the blog! Then take all 5 and try and write them into an imagined conversation.
Remember we're thinking about the way people actually talk and what makes their dialogue real and fresh and exciting to hear. Go forth and listen!
No Comments »
Unfortunately we misprinted Holly Voigt's poem, 'The Talks', in Voiceworks 81 Birthmark. We failed to include the last few lines of her poem. We apologise to Holly, and have already put systems in place to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. Please find her excellent poem below, in full.
The Talks
by Holly Voigt
a writhing heap on the street
with no hive
the noise made me see them
the bees
to crush them into the grass
with my feet would have been
sweeter than watching
but I hadn’t the guts
the bees knew and they talked
walked meetings over each other
and under
hissing to each other with their feet
hands all touching
small hairs brushing
the last one uttered
deft eulogies by the gutter
whispered lies about flight
to his high pile
of dry bodies
like yellow leaves
they speak to breathe
and all speak is breath
and they spoke that night to death.
1 Comment »
We really like the National Young Writers' Festival. We'll be there because hey, anyone who's cool will be there, and we are pretty cool. But if you really, really like the festival, maybe you'd like to volunteer and help them out? Lots of cool, different opportunities are up for grabs, and I bet there are lots of perks. Details below the jump.
READ MORE »
2 Comments »
Marieke Hardy, responsible for Charlotte/Wilbur degradation/masterpiece
I’ll admit it. Between the ages of thirteen to sixteen I was an avid reader and writer of fan fiction. Brace yourself because I’m about to declare something nerdy in the extreme. My friends and I called ourselves the Marauders (if you don’t understand the reference then you are officially cooler than me. If you do, you may still be in the running – we would need to swap details to confirm). I was James. Enough said. Anyway, writers of fan fiction like to fill in the gaps. Though much fan fiction is not erotic, leaving out the vast amount of fan fiction that plays out the hilarious fantasies of fans would be a glaring omission; every reader of fan fic knows about the R-rated tab. Basically, erotic fan fiction is about taking characters beloved by many and turning them into sexual deviants – it’s wholesome family fun! READ MORE »
8 Comments »
VOICEWORKS SUBMENU.