Karyn
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| 23-03-2011 10:25 AM |
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Hi, Racers
Welcome!
Tonight's special guest author is Benjamin Law, author of The Family Law. You can read more about Benjamin at www.benjamin-law.com
Please note that the usual housekeeping rules apply:
- Please "Add Reply", not "Add Topic" so that we all stay in the same thread
- Refresh your screen regularly to see new comments
- Work in your own document offline, but feel free to share your favourite paragraph or two with us after the Race :)
Log back here at around 7.45pm EST (Brisbane time) for an 8pm start to chat, write, and have some fun!
Karyn |
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Karyn Markwell |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 7:31 PM |
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Welcome to tonight's Writing Race!
We'll be kicking off in around half an hour with special guest Benjamin Law.
Feel free to share with us your goals for tonight. I'm going to try to get some of my uni dissertation underway. I need to hand in 4000 words at the end of semester, so we'll see how many I can write tonight! |
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Karyn Markwell |
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Benjamin
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| 29-03-2011 7:36 PM |
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Hello!
On board now, folks. My aim for tonight: I've got roughly 45,000 words of rough-as-hell drafts to filter through to submit to my editor soon.
Would love to hear everyone else's goals for tonight, and looking forward to the dialogue between us.
— Ben |
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Benjamin
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| 29-03-2011 7:37 PM |
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| Good luck with the dissertation, Karyn. Those things can be tricky bastards, in my experience. |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 7:40 PM |
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Hey, Benjamin
It's so great to have you joining us here tonight. For people who may not be familiar with your work, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
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Karyn Markwell |
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Benjamin
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| 29-03-2011 7:44 PM |
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Sure:
I'm a Brisbane-based writer, and I mainly work in non-fiction. My bread-and-butter work is writing stories for publications like frankie, The Monthly and Qweekend, and I've also written for The Big Issue, Sunday Life, Crikey, New Matilda and others.
Last year, I released a black comedy memoir called 'The Family Law', which was a collection of real-life stories about growing up gay, Asian in a sprawling (and slightly dysfunctional) family in Coastal Queensland in the '80s and '90s.
Right now, I'm working on a book of journalism, sort of a travel adventure book that looks at queer communities in Asia. So far, I've been backstage with the world's biggest transsexual beauty pageant in Thailand, looking at sham-marriages between gays and lesbians in China, stalking queer celebrities in Japan and just got back from India's queer pride parde, where they've just decriminalised homosexuality.
(Phew.) |
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meg
Posts:116
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| 29-03-2011 7:46 PM |
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Hi all,
Benjamin, it's so great you could make it to a Race! I hope you go well sifting through your wordage - may I ask what project you are working on?
I will be putting together an outline for my uni lecture in a couple of weeks - on my fave subject, research for crime fic!
Hey Karyn, good luck wit your first draft of your dissertation :)
Cheers,
Meg |
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Writing Racer
Manager, The Australian Writer's Marketplace
mamaguilt.wordpress.com |
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meg
Posts:116
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| 29-03-2011 7:47 PM |
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| I just saw your post describing your current project - sounds fantastic!! |
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Writing Racer
Manager, The Australian Writer's Marketplace
mamaguilt.wordpress.com |
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Benjamin
Posts:16
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| 29-03-2011 7:48 PM |
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Hey Meg,
Thanks for the welcome. Working on editing/fine-sifting through the 45,000 words I've got so far for my Gaysia book — so it's all about shaping a mess into some reasonable tonight.
I love the idea of researching crime fiction! That sounds hideous ... and pretty fascinating, I've got to admit. |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 7:48 PM |
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Thanks for that, Ben.
I see that you've written for a number of different publications, but would you consider yourself as having found your niche market? Can you see yourself writing in different styles/genres in the future?
I'm always interested in how writers find their way into writing in specific genres. |
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Karyn Markwell |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 7:50 PM |
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Hey, Meg
Thanks for joining us!
I heard that you'll be guest lecturing on crime fiction at uni - I'm looking forward to it!
Karyn |
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Karyn Markwell |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 7:51 PM |
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We'll be kicking off our Race in about 10 minutes.
Time to make that cuppa! |
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Karyn Markwell |
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Benjamin
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| 29-03-2011 7:53 PM |
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My thing's predominantly non-fiction. I do screenwriting as well, and have worked on some interactive/television projects before.
I tend to keep to journalism, not just because I'm an appalling fiction writer, but because I like the human interaction. Most of the time we write tends to be in solitude, so I like how writing non-fiction usually involves going out into the world, harvesting research and bringing it back to the desk.
Though it sounds like a lot of fiction writers — especially historical and crime writers — have to do that too.
Also: there's instant gratification with what I do. If you're working on a piece for a magazine, you write 1000 or 4000 words, you file the thing and then you're done. |
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Benjamin
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| 29-03-2011 7:55 PM |
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Cuppa's made! Darjeeling.
I do hope someone out there will be drinking beer/gin, though ... |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 7:56 PM |
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That's a great insight, Ben.
You mentioned that you have about 45,000 words of your next book to do through; do you usually do your own editing? Have you got any editing tips for our Racers? |
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Karyn Markwell |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 7:56 PM |
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Ha ha!
Green tea for me. :) |
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Karyn Markwell |
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Benjamin
Posts:16
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| 29-03-2011 7:57 PM |
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Well, my "editing" is more about getting it in shape for my editor so I'm completely filled with shame.
My approach is usually to vomit out as much as possible, patch it together roughly, and then chisel it down into shape.
That's what I'm doing now. More chiselling. |
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Benjamin
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| 29-03-2011 7:58 PM |
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Also: my editing tip is just to cut fat. Especially if you're anything like me.
If possible, also: (1) read it out loud; and (2) print it out and edit on the page.
I never submit a piece of writing to any editor without having printed it out and gone through it with red pen first. You find all sorts of appalling things you never saw on the computer monitor. |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 8:00 PM |
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That reminds me of what my creative writing professor told me when I was an undergraduate:
'Creative writing is vomiting, then cleaning it up.'
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Karyn Markwell |
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Karyn
Posts:334
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| 29-03-2011 8:00 PM |
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| It's 8pm so let's get this Race underway - ready, set, GO! |
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Karyn Markwell |
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