By Annie Waters (coeditor of Dubnium) If you had told me, three months ago, that I would have solicited, read and edited over seventy pieces of writing, whittling them down to twenty which were then polished, formatted and compiled into an e-book and limited print edition; had you told me […]
Blog Articles
To Die For – Classic Aussie true crime books you need to read
By Derek Pedley One Down, One Missing Joe D Álo with David Astle Hardie Grant Books, $24.95 Serving detectives don’t write books. They especially don’t write books about the double murder of police officers by an armed robber who also happens to be a serial killer. Because when they […]
‘Talk it Up’: Writing dynamic dialogue
By Caroline Reid Dialogue and action are two great tools writers use to push a story forward, create tension and reveal character. In the ‘Talk it Up’ workshop as part of the Creative Writing Boot Camp for Teens you’ll be writing your own dialogue and in doing so you’ll see […]
Writing as betrayal: representation and responsibility at Emerging Writers’ Festival
By Lou Heinrich Writers’ festivals wonderful. They are the convergence of ideas, the collection of a like-minded community. Going to them are an excellent way to network, stretch understanding and feel like you are living a literary life. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Emerging Writers Festival […]
Five Words to Becoming a Better Writer
Read Play Work Love Live Read other great writers. What do you enjoy reading? That tells you what you should write. Play, experiment, take risks. Obvious really but so few writers play. They do take themselves seriously and their work is poorer for it Work. It is hard. Harder […]
Flash Fiction Tips
How does flash fiction make you a better writer? By its very nature, it requires your writing to be the tightest it possibly can be. Your writing has to be stripped down to the bare minimum whilst still presenting a gripping story that will remain with a reader for a […]
Flash Fiction is Like a Good Dram
By Angela Meyer On my desktop is a whisky wheel, a device that’s supposed to help you with your tasting notes when sampling single malts. Does your drink have a touch of black pepper on the nose? Or is it orange blossom? Is it lactic or nutty on the palate? […]
How to Slow Down Your Prose
By Cassandra Dean and Lucy Clark Cassandra and Lucy provide insight into a common mistake. In their capacity as editors, they come across the same misstep all too often – a rush through scenes and situations, so that all emotion and depth is lost. A reader wants to feel the […]
How to Sell Your Book and Yourself
by Victoria Purman So you’ve written a book and it’s out there in the world, waiting for a home with a publisher. Or perhaps its about to hit shelves or e-reading devices. You think the hard part is over, right? Before you take to your bed and pull the covers […]
Polishing and Publishing Short Stories
If you are not fortunate enough to have an editor then a little distance between the completion of a first draft and an edit can be useful. Time to forget what you were actually writing about can help the writer to approach the story as a reader might. Can you […]
Why chick-lit’s dead and romantic comedy’s the new buzz
By Carla Caruso Chick-lit had its heyday in the nineties with Bridget Jones, Sex and the City, and cocktail-adorned book covers. It was so big, it was inevitable it would one day get too big for its Jimmy Choo boots and become the unthinkable: daggy. But true diehard fans know […]
Why Write Romance?
A Mills & Boon book is sold in the UK every 3 seconds ‘…the market is enormous, and almost every major publisher has a romance line. Most romances are mass market paperbacks. Most publishers will look at unsolicited unagented queries. Some will also take unsolicited manuscript submissions.’ Rebecca York […]
Why Read Literary Journals?
By Jennifer Mills There is a good crop of literary journals in Australia at the moment, from stalwarts like Meanjin, the Griffith Review and Overland to newer projects like The Lifted Brow, Stilts, and the Review of Australian Fiction, and many in between. Some, like Voiceworks, have a particular brief […]
On Writing 52 Tuesdays
52 Tuesdays is a locally produced feature-film by Adelaide-based collective Closer Productions. It explores the relationship between a mother and daughter over a year, a year in which the mother decides to transition to become a man. 52 Tuesdays was filmed once a week, every Tuesday, for a year – with the scripts […]
What is Editing Really About?
By Katy McDevitt NB: SAWC is holding an Editing Bootcamp. Register early to avoid disappointment. Here’s a proposition for you: editors are the most misunderstood of any publishing professional. Let’s test it out. What do you think of when I ask you to imagine an editor? Perhaps a dainty woman […]
