Disclaimer

So this blog is written very informally and in a kind of stream of consciousness style, like I'm just getting my thoughts out and not really worrying about structure. I hope it reads as 'voice' rather than 'shit writer'.

Overview

This post is basically going to serve as a 'these were my favourite speakers and this is what they discussed' minimal analysis account of the weekend. 

Peter Singer was the only guest whose writing I had actually read before the festival (I'd actually studied him in high school and then again at university). His talk on the Friday night was good, although it was basically just a rehash of things I already knew from his work on effective altruism. I hadn’t heard of most of the people I saw over the weekend, let alone read their works, which was interesting as it was all new content for me. Peter was part of a second session, first thing Saturday, with his wife, Renata Singer, who is also a writer. Rather than talk about philosophy, Renata spoke about the value of books (which I suppose is philosophical). It was probably the most interesting talk of the weekend for me, and she only spoke for about fifteen minutes before giving it to Peter, who also talked only briefly before opening it up to the audience for questions. (Power couple, by the way.) 

Renata’s talk was really fantastic. She spoke about the influence young adult literature can have on a person throughout their entire life, particularly in regards to morals. She says literature shows us how ‘people should, do, treat each other’. It shows us that there are worlds beyond our own. It allows us to experience thrills without real consequence. Good fiction shows the ‘complexity of morality’, which I absolutely agree with. 

Jaclyn Moriarty was perhaps my favourite individual guest of the weekend. She spoke about writing itself, how words can become worlds, where her characters come from, how plot, setting, characters’ motivations and goals and personalities combine to make stories. This is the kind of thing I was interested in when I signed up for the course. My last two sessions, The Character of Place and Tools of the Trade, were the best in this regard, especially after attending a slew of talks on politics. I ate them up. Anecdotes on how fiction writers conceive and create their novels are what I really wanted to hear about. Jaclyn and Gabrielle Tozer were the two writers who lived up to my hopes for the weekend. 

And finally, David Astle’s session was a (literally) last minute decision of mine, in a timeslot with four sessions I was interested in. It ended up being my favourite talk of the weekend. David’s best known for creating crosswords, and his obsession with words and the English language was fascinating to behold. Some writers are characters themselves, and David's certainly one of them. His host, Anthony Radford, described himself as a layman in comparison to David’s knowledge, so he would prompt him with a question and let David run loose, which was a clever way to run the discussion. Their chemistry was great, and David was really entertaining and didn’t take it too seriously, which was refreshing after the politics talks. The audience joined in on the fun too, and the whole session was just relaxed and enjoyable. I think going to any of the other talks would have destroyed me on the Sunday morning. Seriously, check out my itinerary, the Saturday was just filled with gloom as it went on. My Sunday sessions were each just a lot of fun, something to keep in mind for when I go next year.

Festival

I made a joke to a friend about this festival being my Groovin’ the Moo, but there really were a lot of similarities between this festival and the musical festivals I’ve been too. The crowds! Holy hell, so the one criticism of the festival that I have is that it doesn’t really allow much wiggle room between sessions for people with weekend passes. Maybe a lunch break in the middle of each day? But damn, the crowds in between sessions, particularly at the Capital, were insane. No sticking to one side of the staircase, people stopping in the middle of walkways to look at their phones or programs, getting to the bottom of the staircase and then just standing there. Just a general lack of spatial awareness, really. This isn’t exclusive to this festival, of course, but I really did assume that the crowds at a literary festival would be more patient and more organised. But crowds are crowds. There was definitely a rushed feel to the weekend. Maybe I’m just being a grump, though. At musical festivals I love this kind of atmosphere, and looking back on it I probably could have loosened up and embraced the flood of people who were there because they share the passions that I do. 

It certainly created a festival atmosphere without forcing it, though. The guests seemed to enjoy themselves, the crowd was reactive in the best ways (laughing at jokes, staying quiet while the writers spoke). Overall everybody was respectful to one another (except for the incidents I talk about in another post, but those were exceptions). The audience was responsive to the guests; it was mostly the case that the time ran out before all the questions could be answered than the alternative. Even if a lot of the questions did drag on a bit, it was nice that people were getting the chance to ask questions to those they were interested in. I didn’t attend the book signings because I wasn’t really interested in any of the writers individually (plus, my timetable didn’t allow for it anyway), but giving patrons the opportunity to meet the writers, and also giving writers the opportunity to meet the people who have been following them for years, is a really special thing, and I’m sure would have been the highlights for people who took up that opportunity.

Perspective

An interesting point of discussion that was raised in multiple sessions was that of perspective; reading the views of others, and writing your own. Sam Cooney, of The Lifted Brow, mentioned how reading had allowed him to step into the shoes of an African American woman living in New York City. He touched upon a literary debate of whether you should ‘write what you know’, or whether you should be free to write whatever you want. Now, there shouldn’t be restrictions on writing, especially fiction. There’s an assumption from the reader that it’s not real, and you’re writing imaginary characters in an imaginary setting. However, fiction on its own, even well written fiction, is not necessarily good fiction.

The best writing should be able to connect with a reader, whether if that reader is reading about anthropomorphised animals or fantasy creatures or real historical figures or teenagers facing unrequited love. The best way to get an emotional response from a reader is to hit on realities, on truths. The best literature also expands the view the of the reader by the end of the story. Myself, as a white guy from regional Victoria, is absolutely allowed to write as a minority character in an urban setting. I’ve read enough of this experience to have an understanding of what that would be like for my character. However, it probably wouldn’t be as good as the writing of a person who has lived that situation. Nor would it be very truthful writing.

Jaclyn Moriarty writes fantasy novels, having created an entire world filled with characters and customs foreign to Earth. However, she said in her panel with Di Morrissey that all the locations she’s created have come from the cities and landscapes she has visited, just fitted with a new name and history. Di Morrissey, on the other hand, visits real locations and then uses those literal locations in her fictional novels. Writing obviously takes inspiration from real life. Di Morrissey describes the world she is familiar with that she has studied, giving it an authentic feel when you read it. Jaclyn Moriarty’s world of Cello has that same authentic feel, even though it doesn’t exist, because she is drawing on a reality that she and the reader can both relate to.

Good literature tells us the truth (or at least presents us with some version of a truth), while also telling us something we don’t already know. It lets us enter a world beyond our own. This is not to say that all writing should be autobiographical, even on a subtle level, or that you should not write characters that are other genders, races, sexualities, or even in situations you haven’t experienced firsthand. A good writer should be able to exhibit a range of different views from their characters. What's important is making sure you are not taking away the voices of those who are living what you’ve made for your characters. Speak with others, but don't speak over them. And by all means, listen. Read these experiences, walk in their shoes. Creating diverse characters are important, but reading from diverse writers is more important.

Left

Although I try to avoid dichotomies, I think the talks I attended can mostly be split into two camps. There were those about writing, and those about politics (I've given indicators on my itinerary to show which is which). Just because one is a writer doesn’t mean that they have to talk about writing, and I knew this going in. However by the end of the Saturday (where I’d say out of the seven sessions I attended, five were about politics) I realised, that although I have an interest in politics and society, I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of the festival. As a writer (we’ve all heard the ‘no such thing as an aspiring writer’ speech), what I was most interested in hearing about was writing as a craft. More specifically, the processes authors go through when writing novels. On the Saturday, only one session I went to involved fiction authors (though this is more poor foresight on my behalf than a criticism of the schedule, which did its job in catering to a variety of interests). When writing my itinerary earlier in the week, I’d lined up a few talks on Sunday that dealt with social justice and, again, Australian politics. But after attending five sessions in a row, I was very tired of hearing about important issues and wanted something more entertaining, something that felt like it would cater to my needs as well as my interests (which David Astle absolutely did, with my last minute decision to see him instead of Social Justice turning into what was probably my favourite session of the weekend). 

Now, I want to quickly talk about the politics sessions I attended the day before, and why they weren’t as fulfilling for me as I had hoped. I’m very much what you’d call a leftist. I’m passionate about feminism and achieving social justice for those who weren’t born with the privileges I have. So this was my crowd. I don’t think anyone could successfully argue that the festival did not cater towards the left. I thought I would love this. However, there didn’t seem to be much critical arguments being put forward. I’d like to give a special mention to the Make It New session for being the only panel of the weekend not to mention Donald Trump, Brexit or Pauline Hanson. Literally, I kept a record, out of the eleven talks I attended over the weekend, that was the only one. On that, actually, they were often lumped together, ‘this is what’s lead to the emergence of Trump or the Brexit results, or the re-emergence of Pauline Hanson’ was a common statement, without there ever being an acknowledgement that the three have occurred in different countries, with different political situations, for different reasons. In talks directly about Australian nationalism, a discussion of Pauline Hanson with an offhand ‘it’s the same as Trump’ seems a little lazy on behalf of the guests (Kerry O’Brien in particular, whose I held to a higher standard in regards to political discourse). Observing the crowd, too, another disturbing occurrence I noticed was that people nodded and mmmed most at the simple statements. Not the succinct summaries at the end of a lengthy and detailed explanation, but the flashier, overarching statements. Perhaps this is just another instance of me being slightly too cynical, but I got the feeling that people went to these talks not necessarily to be challenged, but seeking validation for their own views (views of which I share). 

There was this one person who hosted a panel, I think they may have been a last minute replacement, so they probably weren’t as familiar with the guests’ backgrounds as they could have been. Anyway, this host said some things that the audience didn’t agree with, and the audience let her know. There was murmuring, followed by some actual booing. The thing is, though, this host didn’t actually push any views; they simply asked a question, and put forward some thoughts that went against the consensus that had been established. One of the writers was quick to jump in and answer the question with a thoughtful response, but I was shocked by the behaviour from the audience. I’m not sure if it’s surprising or not, but the audiences for the ‘writing sessions’ seemed to me more open minded and more critical than the ‘political sessions’ audiences. (I’m pretty sure we all rolled our eyes at that one guy yelling out during the Julian Assange session.) 

I suppose what I’m getting at is that even though I lean so far to the left I’m practically falling over, there didn’t seem to be much room for open discussion. It was very biased, I guess is what I’m saying, even if that bias suits my own views. I wasn’t expecting a debate, but the only time somebody played devil’s advocate, they were booed. I try to have an open stance on even the issues I’m stubbornest about, trying to understand others’ perspectives rather than dismissing them as inherently wrong. So although I tended to agree with most of what the guests spoke about, along with the rest of the audience, I feel as though they could have risked being a little more controversial and push against their own ideas at times. Oh well. At least it didn't lean the other way.

(PS when I wrote this up in Word it was titled Echo but now it (along with the post below this) is a pun.)

Write

Here's my 'this is what I learned as a writer' high school assignment write up. 

Okay, so my main reason for attending the festival was to come out of it hopefully a better writer. Jaclyn Moriarty’s self-confessed procrastination (as well as Gabrielle Tozer’s years of rewriting rather than writing itself) mirror my own position right now, so it made me optimistic to see that it’s possible to actually finish a work after a little slump. 

Sam Cooney’s advice of not planning for writing to be your main source of income was probably the best direct advice of the weekend. Even if you love it, you shouldn’t plan for writing as a career, and instead approach it as a hobby. Obviously, if you can make a career out of it and wish too then by all means go ahead, but in the meantime be practical about your situation and write on the side. 

Sharing your writing with others and being open to criticism (and praise) are important too. People are pretty biased towards themselves, and sometimes you can get too deep that you can’t stand back and objectively look at your work. Having courage and letting your words out into the world is going to help, even if others cringe a little at first. 

But ultimately, as Gabrielle Tozer said, all you need to do is write and you’re a writer. Don’t worry about being published, it’s not a verification of your abilities. Just write, write, write. Writing’s also practice, so the more you write, the better you write. Write, write, write, write, write.

Line-up

Friday

Keeping Up Appearances with Jaclyn Moriarty and Gabrielle Tozer (W)

As Good As It Gets with Peter Singer (W)

Saturday

Books Make Us Better with Peter and Renata Singer (W)

Make It New with Sam Cooney, Briohny Doyle and Lauren Mitchell (W)

Knowledge is Power with Peter Doherty (P)

The Big Issue with Tim Flannery (P)

Nationalism: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly with Peter Doherty, Benjamin Law & Anne Summers (P)

The Fifth Estate: Powers that Be with Dennis Glover, Kerry O'Brien & Margaret Simons (P)

According to Assange with Julian Assange (P)

Sunday

The Wordburgher with David Astle (W)

The Character of Place with Sally Abbott, Jaclyn Moriarty & Di Morrissey (W)

Tools of the Trade with Sam Cooney, Mark Dapin & Gabrielle Tozer (W)