Writing Community and Advice

Since I have been working on my Master of Arts in Writing, I have been introduced to a world that I only hoped existed. Well, this world does exist. I have been given a chance to get involved in a writing community in Townsville, Queensland (Australia). I am loving the idea of hanging out with people who just get it. I have received a lot of excellent advice, attended workshops, attended public readings and met published authors. I have been able to become a member of the local writing center here The Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre. This organization puts together various writing workshops, performances, etc. and offer services to local writers. Here is the best advice I've gotten: join your local writers groups. Get involved in writing communities. 

I have received a lot of awesome advice since beginning my Post-graduate degree. I have been meeting each week with a group of writers at a coffee shop to do writing sessions. We do 25 minute sessions of no talking just writing with 5 to 10 minute breaks between. I find that sometimes the 25 minutes go by quickly and the time is focused so I often get more done in those 25 minutes of writing than I would in an hour. This video from Lyra Communications via YouTube is a short concise version of some of the best writing advice.

The most important piece of advice I've been given over and over again is this: READ LIKE A WRITER. I had a professor begin a lecture on the first day of class with "I hope everyone here is a reader. I will have to ask you if you are not a reader, what are you doing here?" This professor went on to say that she would not have been so harsh with her undergrad students, but at the graduate level, we need to know better. I agree. Reading is so important to writing. As a writer, I'm studying what others have done well and what they haven't done so well and why. I am then able to focus on what I can do that will be good but will set me apart in a different way. How can I manage a certain theme the way so-and-so author did while making it unique? This is what reading like a writer is all about.

Happy reading and happy writing!

(C) Emily D. Wood

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Creative Non-Fiction: New Journalism

I started my creative non-fiction class. We have one week to learn what some learn in 12 weeks. We started learning the basics of the craft of journalism...then we unlearned them in order to learn how to write New Journalism (creative non-fiction). I cannot tell you how behind I feel. I have not read any of the works we have been looking into as examples. Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Tom Wolfe, William Burroughs...the beat authors who are now known as New Journalists. My task now is to construct a scene in the style of a New Journalist. Here are the elements that make up the craft:

1. Go into the story sideways. Do not use a traditional lead.
2. Use language picked up or made up that is different. (Jargon of a group, not a mainstream group, a deviant group).
3. Keep going back to the distinctive moment or theme.
4. Explain how something works.
5. Put yourself into the piece. (We, I, the observer)
6. Use dialogue as it is spoken. Do not clean it up.
7. Present a pageant of people. Use minor characters to tell parts of the story and give them names.
8. Talk to the reader directly: You see...
9. Show the reader something: the scene
10. Say what people think or thought.
11. Change the point of view: use different POVs (she saw...he saw).
12. Play with punctuation.
13. Tell what can be known and what cannot.
14. Experiment by reading the latest fiction/non-fiction writers and incorporate their approaches.

I got all of this in class today. Now, my task will be to come up with a scene that builds into conflict and resolution so that I can present it to the class tomorrow afternoon. Many of the New Journalists write in a stream-of-consciousness style. Others tend to jump back and forth between characters and scenes within scenes. The main aspect that is important with these authors is this: the things they wrote actually happened. They incorporate facts into their works while still writing the piece as though it were any other novel or story. The techniques are phenomenal.

What do you think about this type of journalism?


(C) Emily D. Wood
Photo via Favim

Studying Writing in Australia

Well, here I am finally settled into my MA Writing program in Australia. I can finally get back to my blog!

I have not gotten my feet wet with my writing classes just yet. I am currently taking a couple of elective classes: Progress and Anxiety in Victorian Literature and Haunted Screen. I am truly enjoying my Vic. Lit. class because the reading list is amazing. I feel it is important to study the way an author from the past wrote and manipulated his or her characters. Not only am I looking at the works as a reader but also as a writer. The Haunted Screen class is an interesting change for me because we are studying horror films. As a writer, this allows me to take a look at something a little different than just the regular novel, short story, or poem. We get to look into the mind of the director, the social commentary within the screenplay, and the way cinematography is used to manipulate the audience.

I have found that even the smallest element such as sound within a film can change the entire mood and pace of the story. I feel that novels can work in much the same way. You do not have the actual sounds and scenes to hear and view, but if you write the descriptions clearly, the reader will have full access to the entire scene. I am really looking forward to what the rest of the study period and the rest of my classes will bring.

Happy reading and writing!

Copyright (c) Emily D. Wood
Photo via Favim

New Adventures

I have been absent from my blog for a good while now. I hope to get back on top of things. I am really excited because I have been accepted to James Cook University in Australia. I will be getting an MA in Writing. I can hardly believe that I am actually going to get my Masters in a writing program. My significant other and I will both be able to study at the same school, so we will get to enjoy the adventure together.

I have spent the past two and a half years at Troy University's Dothan Campus and have become quite comfortable there. It is now time for me to break out of my comfort zone and really start chasing my dreams.

I am anxious to meet new professors and learn more in depth information about writing in general. I am hopeful that I will be able to share more information and better information on writing with every new thing I will learn.

I cannot wait to get new perspective and get to live in a whole new place.

Here's to chasing dreams and making them happen!





Photo Logo via James Cook University
Copyright (c) Emily D. Wood

Publishing an Academic Paper

I have finally officially decided to get off of my rear and get busy submitting some academic papers to a few journals. The whole idea is terribly frightening, but I am going to push through it. I have one particular paper already picked out that I have also presented at an Undergraduate Research Forum. As with anything I do, I have put my heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears into my work. When I find an idea that I am completely interested in, I enjoy writing academically almost as much as creatively. I am now perusing through the mountains of journals out there that accept material on Contemporary Fiction. At least this is a start...I have a long way to go. I have to be mindful of submission guidelines, the length the submission needs to be, and I have to be willing to adjust accordingly. Hopefully I will find a good fit for my paper.

Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions on this topic would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!


Copyright (c) Emily D. Wood
Photo by Photl

My First Book Club

Believe it or not, I have never taken part in a Book Club until now. A really good friend of mine had the brilliant idea to create a Book Club page on Facebook. This idea is simply genius! This type of book club will not require anyone to be anywhere at any specific time. How convenient! The discussions can be given deeper thought this way. You read a question, have time to mull it over, and then you can give an answer that has substance. I love this. We have just finished our first book. The discussion was lots of fun. I am finding that this Book Club is helping to keep my mind fresh. I love discussing books whether they are good or bad. The first book we read was The Wednesdays by Julie Bourbeau. The book is an elementary school aged read, which I think is a perfect way to get started. I found that we could see a lot of themes and issues in this type of book that I might not have imagined. I also absolutely loved the story. It would be a wonderful read-aloud book for parents to read to their children.

As luck would have it, I got to pick the next book that we are going to read. I chose The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus. I am hoping it will spark some pretty interesting conversation as well.

I think that participating in the Book Club is going to give me a lot of interesting perspectives on reading and maybe even writing. Each person is going to get to pick a book that they would like to read. I am sure we will get to read things that we might not have picked out on our own. I love this idea. I can't wait to see what everyone chooses.



Copyright (c) Emily D. Wood
Photo via Favim

Dialogue and Gilmore Girls

I can only hope to ever write dialogue as compelling as that of the television show Gilmore Girls. I never grow tired of watching the episodes over and over. It's like studying an art. This show has little action really. How many scenes involve characters talking on the phone or just standing and conversing? The dialogue is what drives the show forward. The script is masterfully written, especially where the dialogue is concerned. The characters talking to each other does not just create a crutch for the plot. There are some shows and movies that could function just fine as silent films. Gilmore Girls could not. This concept is not negative. When the main characters, Lorelai and Rory, have a conversation, it is like a dance. The choreography is nearly flawless.

I really miss new episodes of Gilmore Girls, but all things have to end at some point. I am still holding out hope for a Gilmore Girls movie. I have read that the script for this show was usually about 15-20 pages longer than the typical script with the extra pages being made up of all the dialogue that made this show such an amazing work of art.

As a writer, dialogue can be difficult for me. Writing dialogue that does not feel forced is a chore sometimes. I have started revisiting Gilmore Girls starting with the first season. Studying the dialogue is extremely rewarding. Even the characters who only have a few lines fit into the puzzle like interlocking pieces. I feel fortunate to have found this work of art disguised as dialoge that I can study.

Happy writing!


Copyright (c) Emily D. Wood
Photo via The WB