“If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. ‘Cause that’s all there is. What we do, now, today… If there is no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.”
from ‘Epiphany’ – Angel – Season 2, Episode 16, by Tim Minear
And here’s a slight problem – even though I have written several novels over the years, the starting process usually eludes me. How exactly did I start my last novel??
Maybe it came to me, fully formed, in a dream? Nooo.
Thankfully, I kept some of my old notes. And there, in all its glory (not) is a rather befuddled brainstorming process on bits of paper that, over time (and undoubtedly much pulling out of hair) eventually morphed into the novel I ended up writing last year.
Phew, thank goodness I kept those notes. So this morning I’ve just come up with version #1 of the next novel. This is such an embryonic phase that I thought it was worth sharing. There may be some of you out there who have had a gem of a novel idea present itself in a flash of lightning, and if so, I’d love to hear from you. Though I suspect the reality is more similar to my own laborious process.
The Bateman New Zealand Writer’s Handbook – 6th edition, which I have edited – is due to be released on 1 March, yay. To celebrate, I’m running two events for NZ Book Month, and hope to see heaps of enthusiastic writers come along. Book Month is a really cool way to remind us all that (despite publishing doom & gloom) New Zealand books and writers are alive and well, thanks very much.
Recently I was interviewed for the NZ flash fiction website. Here’s the site for anybody who’s interested: http://flash-frontier.com/2013/01/25/interview-with-tina-shaw/
In these straitened publishing times, as a friend tells me, it’s more important than ever to write what we like and be damned. People do like distinctiveness and specificity.
So true. And I remind myself that heaps of people love reading (print books) – look at all the book groups around the country – the Book Discussion Scheme (WEA) now has 1000 book groups they cater for. That love of reading is never going to go away.
Recent news is that Penguin and Random House will be merging … the problem is that there will be less places for writers to send our mss. I’ve just heard of a writer who has had her novel ms turned down by RH so now she will have to try Penguin or HarperCollins next – once the two biggies merge, that writer will have one less publisher to send her work. Yet I like to think that small niche publishers will spring up, phoenix-like, from the ashes. The print book will survive (in one form or another). Tho the current market is still worrying for writers … and booksellers.
The other thing I’ve been thinking about recently is that there are lots of lovely writers who are falling into obscurity because they can’t get published any more … which means that there will be less choice of local fiction available to readers. There ought to be a co-op for us neglected writers to keep our work alive – The Lost Cause Writers Society!
I was very excited to see the cover for the NZ Writer’s Handbook this week. Bateman have done a brilliant job with the design of both this cover and the typesetting. Am looking forward to seeing the finished product in 2013. I spent several months earlier this year editing and revising the latest edition of this classic directory.
*The image here is actually crunched, so the pointing hand which should be at the top is missing.
I was sent a copy of a poem from the memorial service for Margaret Mahy who passed away last week. Doesn’t it really make you think of her writing?
THE FAIRY CHILD
The very hour that I was born
I rode upon the unicorn.
When boys put tadpoles in their jars
I overflowed my tins with stars.
Because I sing to see the sun
The little children point and run.
Because I set the caged birds free
The people close their doors to me.
Goodbye, goodbye you world of men,
I shall not visit you again.
Having recently finished a major project (yes, it was a novel), my mind automatically starts thinking, ‘What next?’ The funny thing about being a writer is that sometimes you have to remind yourself (or have somebody else remind you) that it’s good to give the creative juices a break – a chance to refuel. Here is what Margo Lanagan has to say on the subject:
“Sometimes you’re not the kind of person who can get useful material from writing every day—I’m certainly not, not month in, month out. Sometimes you have to lie fallow for a while, remove yourself far enough from your own words, your own style, that you can come at them afresh later. Sometimes there’s a good story waiting, but your subconscious hasn’t worked out how you’ll approach it yet. Leave it alone; let it grow, unforced, un-angsted-over.”
Lanagan is my favourite author. Her latest novel is called The Brides of Rollrock Island – based on the Selkie mythology, seals into humans. 
At an event with Paul Thomas – the NZ crime (and sports) writer – I was interested to hear his thoughts on how he first came to write crime fiction. Having read a lot of crime novels, Thomas felt he understood the mechanics and structure of this genre. As a writer, it involved setting up a mystery and then solving it, so it’s a matter of taking the next step until you finish writing.
Thomas considers the genre to have universal appeal and that it is a self-contained process – a crime will be solved. Crime fiction has an enduring appeal, even though it can be formulaic. The trick, I guess, is to take that ‘formula’ and make it fresh.
And, like many crime authors, he was a big Agatha Christie fan as a kid. I loved Christie novels myself, gobbling them up. I wonder if kids still find them such good reading, or whether they might now seem too old-fashioned …
My latest project has been the revision of this classic publication, going into its 6th edition. What an excellent resource it has been for years. I remember, as a starting-out writer, proudly buying my first copy. The revised Handbook is due out early next year.
