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.- - - 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.
