Eat my Words!

Each time I walk into a book store it seems as if the cooking book section has spread into yet another aisle. How many ways can we shrimp be cooked on the barbie? I think as I scan the rows of books with a hunk sizzling shrimp on the cover.

I always wonder what it is that draws people to cook books so much. The practicality, the images, the tempting food on the front cover? Heck, they even make me want to buy them all sometimes! But I usually just end up 'Googling' recipes anyway, as the internet is at my fingertips.

Our obsession in Australia with cooking not only shows itself on the book shelves. Shows like Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules have become so popular in the past few years that it is no wonder cook books are also on the rise. I think that it all comes down to marketing and image. Like how joining the gym makes you feel fitter, cook books make the reader (if they ever do read them) feel creative, healthy, and up date with the cooking trends.

It makes me sad that cook books take up such a large proportion of the non-fiction genre. But hey, at least people are reading SOMETHING!

Translating Travel Writing

A friend of mine is an academic who has done research on translation writing. Last week as she was speaking about this she mentioned travel writing. My ears pricked and my eyes lit up. I had thought that translation literally just meant translating work from one language to another. But, no. It has a range of meanings which I would like to explore in my own writing in the future, and is definitely something to think about when travel writing. 

Firstly, translating writing can mean changing the idioms and slang from the writers culture into phrases the reader will understand. For example, a European audience may not know what the term 'kick the bucket' means, so the translator would have to put this in words the readers can understand. This is not only the case between languages, but also between countries and cultures. For example, although Americans also speak English this phrase is not commonly used in America and therefor the readers may not understand it. I think this could be an issue in travel writing as the readers would want to be able to get a sense of the culture and place being written about, as well as the culture of the writer. Lots of this could be lost through the translation. 

Secondly, I found out that translating writing is a process that the travel writer actually undergoes themselves, which I find very interesting. As a travel writer writes about a different country and culture to their readers, they must translate that culture into words the readers will understand. As soon as a travel writer from a different culture writes about another country they are automatically translating what they see into their own words. I think this is great as it shows how much diversity there is in the world-- imagine just how many different reactions and interpretations could be written about one place from different cultural perspectives!

Travel writing is an area I would like to look at getting into, and it sure is a great excuse to go and see the world... and translate what I see into words for everyone back home! 

Image:  http://www.travelgearforwomen.com/travel-writing-2/

Writing freely, truthfully, and honestly

I was faced with many difficulties when I sat down to write my first 1000 words of my non fiction major piece of work. My topic is mental illness, in particular anxiety and OCD, which I suffer from. I found it really hard to try and mesh my own thoughts with those of the people I interviewed, so that there was a coherent angle and line of thought through the piece. It was also really hard for me to write freely and truthfully about my experiences with OCD, as it's not something a reader will hear about every day and some would feel shocked when reading it. When I was first writing this piece I chopped and chose certain sections of my experience with OCD that I felt comfortable including. My piece is going to be about mental illness and its negative stereotypes, so I began to question whether I was buying into the stereotype of mental illness sounding 'crazy' if I was too afraid of the judgement I would receive by putting in some of the more disturbing parts of the illness. So I took a shot at it, and wrote down the truth. I still have a long way to go to be able to write honestly and truthfully, but I think I made a good effort when I posted my 1000 words with information I would not usually share or write about. It feels good finally getting it out, and getting my voice heard, even in a small way.


Image: http://www.apronsandapricots.com/tag/toronto-food-writing/

I want to master the English language

I want to be able to write confidently and well. This means producing grammatically correct writing, as I believe that this an important skill, as I outlined in a previous blog. I have a desire to master the English language. I do not know any other languages besides English, which I feel strengthens my need to use it well and know it inside out.
I believe that grammar is not taught well enough in Australian schools--at least this was the case in the high school I attended. Grammar books were left at the bottom of the pile and none of the teachers desired to teach it. However, they expected us to use the comma, capital letter, apostrophe, and period correctly. How are students expected to build a good piece of work if they are not given the tools? I think that students should not only be taught how to use grammar correctly, but also why the rules are there.
I am interested in becoming an editor as I would love to have a set of skills that could be beneficial for many work places. I think that the ability of people to use language correctly and appropriately is lacking and that people should not shy away from grammar, but tackle it.

I want to write what I want to write

Essays, exams, discussion board posts, reflections, and speeches. Uni really takes its toll on a writer. It feels like I am writing all the time, yet I don't fell like I am writing what I ought to be. What I want to write. Words are caged up inside my head while I choke on assessment for university. But will it all be worth it, I wonder. Do the essays sculpt me into a better writer? Does writing 2000 words of a chapter of a novel steer me toward some day a novelist? I think it can help, but you need your own passion first. It can be hard to write this first chapter, to immerse your entire self into an idea, only for the semester to end and for you to have to quickly get a new idea and do it all over again. All those poor little uni pieces that get stamped with a grade and then forgotten about- I am sure there are best-selling stories among them.

When you are writing all these pieces of assessment for university it is hard to find time to read what you really want to read, let alone write what you really want to write! I don't think I could sit down and begin a screenplay about the zombie apocalypse when my English essay is guilting me into paying it attention--an annoying little voice in the back of my head. With uni there I don't think I could really put my whole self into writing something. But maybe I should try. I feel like I need to develop the kinds of things I want to write, so that after university I have direction and focus. But the essays and readings will always be there, and unfortunately I can't ignore them!

Using real people in fiction

During the semester in 'Creative Writing: Non Fiction' we have learnt that you have to be careful when you write about family members and friends, yet you need to also recognise your role as a writer and be brave and tell the stories you need to tell. As I am also doing 'Creative Writing: Genre Fiction' I have been wondering how this relates to the writing of fiction. I am currently working on a low-fantasy work for uni in which I want to use a real character from history- a painter and schizophrenic named Richard Dadd. I wrote about Dadd in my story but was unsure if I should change his name. I don't want to infringe on his rights and his families rights... but he is dead and from the 1800s. This then makes me pose the question as to how long someone has to be deceased to make it OK to use their name in your fictional writing? His circumstances and background fit so well into my piece that I wanted to keep his name and background true to reality. My tutor said that I can use his real name if I don't 'soil' it by making him evil, and a murderer. But he was a murderer... so would he really mind? Then there is always the risk of making his character the antagonist and getting haunted by his ghost. Though that would make a good story for non-fiction if it happened...

I thought that fellow writers would find this amusing!

It also relates to my previous blog about the importance of a writers knowledge of grammar and word choice.