• This Writing Journey

    Dr. Fuckwit

    Whenever I run workshops on writing memoir, biography, and that sort of thing, I instruct participants to keep us mired in the moment. That means if they’re writing about an experience when they were a twelve-year-old, then all I want to see, all I want to know, is what the narrator saw and knew as that twelve-year-old. Keep the narrative as if it’s unfolding then and there. Don’t let the present-day self butt in with present-day wisdom, opinions, or reflection. That punctures the suspension of disbelief. I also always say (and stress this also in fiction workshops I run) that unless there’s a justification for it, keep events chronological. It’s…

  • Books

    This

    Title: This Publisher: MidnightSun Publishing Publication Date: 1 August 2023 Category: Young Adult Paperback: (129 x 198mm) ISBN Print: 978-1-9228581-4-6 Ebook: 978-1-9228581-5-3 I don’t get this. I don’t have anything to worry about. I’m fifteen! And in Year 10! I should be thinking about the way Samantha keeps looking at me, nursing that crush she’s had on me since primary school. Or about Gabriella, who’s so cool and seems interested. Or the Boland Fellowship, an award given out for academic excellence that everybody thinks I could win. Or about my best friend Ash, and the way he’s sullen about his arguing parents, or our friend Riley, who’s becoming a bigger…