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.

You're going to use your grammar well!

In our tutorial we all had to come up with an interesting idea that we could write a personal essay on. Megan's idea- how important is correct grammar usage and knowledge for the creative writer- really got me thinking.

I believe that even creative fiction writers, even amateur writers who are unpublished, need a solid grasp of correct grammatical usage and word choice . If they were unsure about what words would best describe an a scene, or if a semi-colon or colon should be used they may omit a sentence altogether; such a sentence could have made an important contribution to the story. If a writer has a sound knowledge of grammar and word choice then they will be able to write more freely as they will not have to be thinking is this really correct? Without this set of skills then the writer could become lack confidence, meaning they may never reach their full potential as a writer.

Although creative writing allows you to play with form, style, and the mechanics of writing more than non-fiction I believe in order to successfully pull this off you need knowledge of what rules you are breaking, and why you want to break them. Without this knowledge it will just look like you do not know how to use grammar and spell correctly- which may in fact be the case!

However, don't despair. I believe that in this case practice really does make perfect (or close enough anyway!). If writers stop replying on spell-check (which causes many bad habits and stunts learning) then they will really have to think about what they are writing and why. A dictionary or the internet to look up grammatical rules to make sure you are using everything correct can be a great way to speed up the learning process. As can having a great written reference such as The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron. Writing courses at UQ, including the fundamentals of writing and writing for the professions, have heightened my love of the english language and made me want to know as much as I can about how to use it correctly.


In direct relation to this course, grammar is even more important in non-fiction writing (especially when it is published in magazines etc) and I believe that journalists and travel writers, for instance, need a developed understanding of grammar and word choice. Both fiction and non-fiction writers may  argue that it is the editor's job to fix grammatical errors. I believe this is lazy and that if you think like this you will never produce a work that really reflects what you are capable of.


Although I am still at the beginning of my learning in this area, and there are probably many embarrassing mistakes in this very blog, I have improved a lot over the past year and believe that all creative writers should put in a solid effort to get their grammar up to scratch if they're serious about getting published.

Image: http://www.happyplace.com/14389/comic-strip-illustrates-how-bad-grammar-can-kill-you

Interviewing

This semester I have enjoyed learning about the interview process in both Writing Non Fiction and a religion and writing subject called Writing Religion and Spirituality. For the latter I interviewed a Christian friend about how Christianity is represented by the media and how it has been commodified and commericalised. The interview process interests my greatly- I love seeing how the interview takes unexpected turns. It was particularly interesting being in a more formal and academic space with a friend. You can really learn a lot about someone's values and interests if you ask the right questions and make them feel you are really interested in what they have to say.

Some things that I have learnt are very important for the interview process and writing up the interview are:
- Take the setting into account; including how the interviewee enters the space and holds themselves. Write this into the interview to set the scene and develop character.
- Look at the interviewee's body language and emphasis they place on certain ideas and topics. Tone and body language, not only words, can reflect a person's feelings (especially in regards to what they feel very strongly about).
- Ask the interviewee to expand on things. Even if you have a time limit you should not try and rush through all the questions as often the answers that are interesting take a bit more effort to get out of someone.
- Straight after you do the interview write up your mental notes about the setting and interviewee. Add any interesting points that you may not have been able to write down. If you recorded the interview then listen to it as soon as possible and take some more notes.

Time was my biggest issue when doing the interview- it went so fast and I did not get to ask as many questions as I would have liked. I also found that the interviewee had a strong focus on how people should live their lives around Jesus- I think this is because he is used to spreading the word of God and trying to get people to come to his Church. However, he still provided me with some great answers. Looking back on the interview, I wish I had recorded it as I did not get to take down many direct quotes as I was trying to paraphrase a lot of what he said so that I got all the information in writing to use later.

I really loved the interview process. It is a great change to write non-fiction (I have done too many short stories at uni!) and I hope that in the future I will get the opportunity to interview a variety of people about issues that I feel strongly about.


Image: http://effectiveonlineteaching.org/2012/03/28/how-to-cure-the-talking-head-syndrome-creating-online-videos-for-deeper-connection/

Lecture by Benjamin Law

My favourite lecture for WRIT3050 so far has been by a guest lecturer Benjamin Law- I love that he is published in one of my favourite magazines Frankie.

TIPS I LEARNT FROM LAW ABOUT WRITING NON-FICTION AND INTERVIEWING:

- - - Research, research, research!

- --Questions, even just with friends.

- - - You Don’t have to be an expert, but be interested and curious and then become an expert.

- - -You don’t just need facts, but need a story behind it.

- - - What you learn in fiction bleeds into your non-fiction work too.

- - - Have to recognise your own biases- so you can question and doubt them- or you will never be an objective observer.

- - - Don’t use editorialising voice.

- - - Let people speak their minds and let the reader figure out what they think about it themselves without pushing your own thoughts.

- - - Can’t write about yourself unless you write about people you know- need to be sensitive in comedy when doing this but also need to get good material.

- - - Can include doubt about what happened in memoir- doesn’t have to be definitive.

- - - Screenwriting- think hard about the theme you are writing. This can be applied to non-fiction.

- - - Ask yourself- why am I writing this piece?

-- - What are the ramifications for yourself- you bear the consequences of what you write.

- - - Interviewing- memoir and biography require you to talk to people too.

- - - Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance!

- - - Ask open-ended questions.

- - - Use add on questions- really? Can you explain that in another way? Or just be silent and they will often continue their train of thought.

- - - Don’t feel inadequate if you don’t understand what they’re talking about.

- - - Ask them to expand on this.

-- - Don’t be afraid to follow up.

- - - If you are writing someone's story you need sensual images.

- - - Tragedy + time = comedy.

- - - If you can get someone to laugh they will want to read the rest of your work.

- - - If you can’t write through the grimness, people will struggle to read it.

- - - Ask youself- Is this too much information? Will I regret writing this about myself?

- - - If you write something that reminds you of something else you have to stop- cliché.

- - - Description – switch around words that always go together.

- - - Pitch lots of story ideas at once.

- - - Have to know the magazine you want to write for inside out- and submit writing examples.

Thank you Benjamin Law!

Images:

http://ebooks.readings.com.au/product/9781921825507

http://natashadarlingstylist.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/frankie-magazine.html

http://andrewmcmillen.com/2010/06/06/the-courier-mail-story-benjamin-laws-the-family-law/

Writing the Right Way

Can words arrange themselves around my life, or do I have to arrange my life around words?

I often wonder, is there a right way to write? Of course every person has their own style, but how does one know when they have perfected their style so it is exactly right for them, expresses exactly what they want to say, and can convey all kinds of emotions from their readers. How does a poet know they are meant to be a poet- that their ideas wouldn't be better suited to a short story, memoir, or novel? I guess passion and inspiration choose their own form; even a shopping list can transform into a poem if it really wants to.

Sometimes I dream that I have a hidden talent waiting to be unleashed. Maybe I am meant to be a journalist in Africa, a screenwriter with a pen behind my ear, a novelist in lonely mountains-the Cliché's always reel me in. People say you can be anything you want, but it that really true? I think people are born writers. They have it in them. From the moment they first hold a pencil it has begun: a future of clean white sheets being smudged with ink. But of course there is always the hope that if you find how to write the right way that future can be yours too, if you really want it.

Image:

http://www.content-writing-india.com/blog/tips-to-get-inspired-while-writing-2/

The Importance of Sharing

I believe that from a young age one should share their writing. Whether it be reading their secret diary to their teddy-bear, reading a poem to a friend, or reading aloud to their class or family. When I was in grade two we all had to write a short story and stand up and read it in front of the class. Instead of this memory bringing back emotions of embarrassment and terror I always see myself standing in front of the class with confidence and keenness. My story was the longest and I had to read a little bit every day instead of doing it all in one big go. I will never forget that moment as I think it was the first time I realised how much I enjoy writing; I was able to uncover this through sharing with my classmates and teacher.

Image:

http://missfinlaysblog.blogspot.com.au/2010_08_01_archive.html

Susan Orlean's Orchid Fever Left Me Wanting More

The class discussion on Orchid Fever last week really interested me as I had a different reaction to the article as a lot of other students. While many people found the text bland and that she could have made the subject more interesting, I would gladly read more about John Laroche and his obsessions.

As I was reading the text I found myself trying to diagnose Laroche- does he have Asperger's, OCD, or did he loose something when he was a child that made him cling to certain things above all else but not get too attached? This is why I would love to be able to read more about his journey, especially about his childhood and strange collections. Laroche is far too interesting to be confined to 6000 words.

As a reader I never felt i could really connect with Laroche- Orlean may have written it in order for the reader to feel alienated from his, and thus more inquisitive. This is demonstrated through quotes such as "I'm probably the smartest person I know" (Orlean)-- Laroche is depicted as either self-obsessed, crazy, or both. For me Laroche's story shows what everyone desires to be in some way- the best. The constant picking up and dropping off of collections, until he discovered the orchid, signifies the curiosity and absurdity of an indecisive human mind as we struggle to ascertain what really matters in life and what purpose we have. Laroche's decision to "never set foot in the ocean again" (Orlean) is an indication of how humans strive for perfection, and if it can't be achieved they do not want to be reminded of their attempts to gain it.

The choice of orchids as Laroche's long-term collection made me think of my Pop, who used to also collect the plants, had greenhouses for them, and went to orchid meetings and in competitions. He always had a new flower to show me, and still has many of the plants. I was very interested in how the orchids were brought to life through the article-they morph, adapt, and can be mutated. This idea of mutation makes me want to read more about Laroche's story as I would like a better understanding of how a real collector of the plant can view a mutated plant as a real specimen- and where is the line drawn between a real orchid and a human creation. Maybe these things do not even matter for collectors; some could deem orchids as art-forms instead of a plant and flower.

Source: Susan, Orlean. Orchid Fever. The New Yorker: New York, January 23 1995. Web. 6 March 2012.

Image: http://mesosyn.com/orchg.html