Becoming a writer by Dorothea Brande

Posted on by
Reply

Can you teach creative writing? In the words of Dorothea Brande: “There is a sort of writer’s magic… which can, in part, be taught.”

Is that true?

I’ve heard of this book before (published in 1934) but didn’t realise until recently that you can now read it online here.

What I really liked about Becoming a writer is that it isn’t full of writing exercises (there are a few), but instead it talks about the writing “temperament” – the difference between the conscious and the unconscious mind, and which does what in your writing life, and how you keep them in check or foster them or help them to work together. ”Becoming a writer,” she declares, “is mainly a matter of cultivating a writer’s temperament.”

Her solution is that “you must teach yourself not as though you were one person, but two” – in other words, the conscious and the unconscious mind. I love her reasons for why you should never talk about what you’re writing. And here she describes the genesis of a story:

“…the story arises in the unconscious. It then appears, sometimes only vaguely prefigured, at other times astonishingly definite, in the consciousness. There it is scrutinized, pruned, altered, strengthened, made more spectacular or less melodramatic; and is returned into the unconscious for the final synthesis of its elements. After a period of intense activity—which, however, goes on at so deep a level that the author himself occasionally feels he has “forgotten” or ”lost” his idea—it once again signals to the conscious that the work of synthesis has been done; and the actual writing of the story begins.”

So who was Dorothea Brande? According to Wikipedia, she was a well-respected writer and editor in New York (1893 – 1948.) She also wrote Wake up and live which was made into a musical. Some parts of Becoming a writer, and the overall tone, come across as surprisingly modern. Other parts betray its age (“Now that everyone has his portable typewriter…”) But overall it is so readable and full of elegant little gems like this: “the first step toward being a writer is to hitch your unconscious mind to your writing arm.”

Thank you, Ruth and Bob

Posted on by
Reply

Last Wednesday, the Wellington Children’s Book Association held an Illustrators’ Panel Discussion  featuring Ruth Paul and Bob Kerr. I am in awe of anyone who can write picture books, and doubly in awe of anyone who can both write and illustrate them (like Ruth and Bob).

Ruth gave a talk about the talent myth (“there’s hope for all of us!”) and her own path towards being a children book illustrator, peppered with wonderful quotes such as “talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways” (H. Jackson Brown.) We all learnt more than we knew before about myelin and its role in helping us develop new skills, based on plenty of practice. Ruth also showed us some amazing photographs taken at the week-long illustrators’ masterclass she recently attended at Amherst, Boston, where she worked on the drawings for the wee dog in Bad Dog Flash.

Then Bob took us through three of his favourite time-lapse titles, to show how well picture books can capture and express the passing of time. He described these books as “the best app for moving through time – you just turn the page, and there’s another decade.”

First: Steve Noon’s A street through time, that covers 12,000 years, from the Stone Age to modern times:

Next, Virginia Lee Burton’s classic The little house

And lastly, Jeannie Baker’s Window.

Under Bob’s guidance, I’m sure we all noticed things about these three books that we’d never appreciated before. Bob also generously shared with us some of his thoughts and ideas about the project he is currently working on.

Lots of questions afterwards: What was your motivation for becoming a children’s book illustrator? How do you keep learning? Do you draw for fun? Do you think all ideas are good ones? (Bob: “some ideas just float away; others won’t go away”; Ruth: “your eyes gets better, so you can tell a better idea from a worse one more quickly.”)

And Ann Mallinson summed up the general feeling at the end: “Children’s picture book writers and illustrators are heroes!” So special thanks to these two local heroes for sharing so much of their knowledge and expertise with us.

 

 

 

Strange fruit

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve already mentioned this installation by Donna Sarten, currently on display at the NZ Academy of Fine Arts on Queen’s Wharf.But now I’ve been to see it as well, and I loved it.

It consists of 3890 military ”dog tags”, most of them individually stamped with a soldier’s name and ID number, although some are blank because of missing information or to represent those men who, for various reasons, might not want to be identified. Some are cut in half, to show the men who died.

On the other side of the silver dog tags are pictures of red pomegranates. One of the things I liked about this exhibition was learning that the word for pomegranate in French is “pomme grenade”, which gives us our word “grenade”, perhaps because the two objects – fruit and weapon - are similar shaped. But whereas one contains seeds, the other holds tiny balls of shrapnel. The comparison is even more ironic given that the pomegranate is an ancient symbol of fertility, whereas the grenade is a symbol of suffering and death.

The dog tags are suspended - at approximately but not exactly the same height – by red threads from a meshwork grid near the ceiling.One side is a silver shimmer as it catches the light. On the other side, the red of the pomegranates and the hanging threads remind you of dripping blood, or the tint of a sunset sky, but of rich fruitfulness as well.

Each dog tag stands for an individual (the NZ soldiers who served in Vietnam), but together they make up one big group that nudges you to think of the wider groups beyond these names: the families that sent them and waited for them to return. They also make you ponder on how often disasters and wars are summarised in lists of casualties and combatants, but how people are more than just numbers.

And although I saw it indoors, it has also been shown outdoors, as here at the NZ Sculpture OnShore 2010 exhibition:

Anzac Day: the day after

Posted on by
Reply

I love the fact that people are continuing to find new and creative ways of marking Anzac Day and the days leading up to it.

Here in Wellington, instead of just handing over poppies on Poppy Day, a host of volunteers spent hours planting them on Midland Park so people could pick their own poppy in return for a donation. Poppy Day 3

At the NZ Academy of Fine Arts on Queen’s Wharf, Donna Sarten’s installation Strange Fruit uses 3890 military dog tags suspended from the ceiling (each one stamped with the veteran’s name and number) to show the number of New Zealanders who went to Vietnam.

I read about restaurants and movie theatres offering Anzac Day discounts to veterans, and Wellington even hosted a historic game of ARL football: St Kilda vs Sydney Swans (the first ever AFL clash played outside of Australia as part of the premiership season) which included the presentation of the Simpson-Henderson Trophy, honouring the stretcher-bearer heroes of Gallipoli.

In our family, we managed to attend Anzac Day services in three different countries. My sister and her husband got up at 3am to drive into central Sydney for the dawn service at 4.15am. I’m so proud of them (and also of my nephew who attended as well)- what a big effort to make!

One daughter is in New Caledonia on a school French trip, and the students were invited to join the Anzac Day service in Noumea – a very special occasion, as it was also being attended by 84 New Zealand WW2 veterans, there to mark the 70th anniversary of New Zealand’s involvement in the Pacific war.

Meanwhile we went to our own local Anzac Day service, attended by adults, children and babies, Brownies, Guides and Scouts, St John’s – and even a neighbourhood cat which wandered in and and seemed quite at home.

It has been a busy few weeks, with two book launches, several school visits and a number of interviews. But I am so grateful to everyone who has bought a copy of Anzac Day: the New Zealand story, for themselves or to give away. Thanks for helping put the book on the best seller list for the last 6 weeks (including one week at number one!) And thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to tell me – in person or by email – that they’ve enjoyed it, or to share with me their own family stories of involvement in war.

Here are a few places you can go to see, hear or read more about the book:

(Thanks to Kathryn and the rest of the Nine to Noon team for making this live interview as stress-free as possible!)

“Brooke Dobson speaks with author Philippa Werry about her new book, ‘Anzac Day, The New Zealand Story’.”

 

Anzac Day: the New Zealand story book launch x 2

Posted on by
Reply

Following the first launch in Wellington  we then held a second launch in Auckland, this time hosted by the National Library in Parnell. Christine Thomson and Amanda Robinson were both there from New Holland Publishers, as well as Nick Turzynski who did the amazing design work. Maria Gill said some very kind words in introducing the book, the National Library staff were wonderful hosts and and John Graham from Paper Plus was a very genial bookseller.

Christine Thomson and Nick Turzynski

Christine Thomson and Nick Turzynski

Amanda Robinson, New Holland Publshers

Amanda Robinson, New Holland Publishers

My lovely daughter Charlotte doing the Auckland reading

My lovely daughter Charlotte doing the Auckland reading

DSC_0500DSC_0512

Anzac Day: the New Zealand story book launch x 1

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks to everyone - friends, family and members of the writing community who came along to one of the two book launches for my new book Anzac Day: the New Zealand story.

The Wellington book launch was very kindly hosted last Thursday by John and Ruth McIntyre of the wonderful Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie, and Stephen Clarke, Chief Executive of the RSA, did the honours of formally introducing the book.

John and Ruth McIntyre

John and Ruth McIntyre

Stephen Clarke, Chief Executive of the RSA

Stephen Clarke, Chief Executive of the RSA

photo 3

My lovely daughter Lizzie doing a reading

My lovely daughter Lizzie doing a reading

DSC_0468

photo 3 (8)

 

Wellington Writers Walk

Posted on by
Reply

Since its opening in 2002, the Wellington Writers Walk has become one of the showpieces of the city, honouring local writers and proving a fascinating addition to the urban landscape.

660x300Glover02

On Thursday 21 March, the harbour was sparkling, the waterfront was crowded with people enjoying the balmy sunshine – it was a perfect evening for the unveiling of Stage IV of the walk. Four new benchmark sculptures have now been added to the existing 19 works, making a total of 23 authors whose work is celebrated in this way.

Speeches in Circa Theatre included one from Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae who is joint patron of the Writers Walk with his wife, Lady Janine.

Circa Theatre, 21 March 2013

L to R: Sir James McNeish, Elizabeth Knox, Joy Cowley, Jack Lasenby

Invited guests and members of the public then walked to each new plaque in turn for its unveiling. First was Sir James McNeish, whose benchmark is situated on the bridge behind Te Papa leading to Waitangi Park and Chaffers Marina. Elizabeth Knox’s benchmark was unveiled at a temporary spot before being installed near the Meridian Energy Building, Customhouse Quay, in front of Michael Tuffery’s kina sculpture. (Breakfast TV did a live cross to cover this on Monday 25 March.)

Joy Cowley’s benchmark is on the lower walkway, quite close to the Katherine Mansfield plaque (you might need to lean over the fence to see it.) Reading out her quotation, Joy commented how people complain about the Wellington southerly, but forget to praise the gorgeous day that often follows it.

Joy Cowley

Joy Cowley with Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae and his wife, Lady Janine

Jack Lasenby’s quotation is placed sideways on a pole near the Wharewaka. Jack declared that he was sure the local seagulls – one of which obligingly came and perched on top of the pole – would now be flying around with cricked necks as a result.

IMG_3295

Jack Lasenby

Jack Lasenby in front of his vertical quotation that will prove a trap for literary seagulls

Sponsors of the new quotations are The Todd Corporation for James McNeish, The Deane Foundation for Elizabeth Knox, Mark and Wendy McGuinness for Jack Lasenby and Jenny Morel, Allan Bollard and Penguin Books for Joy Cowley.

This was a great event, bringing together many writers and members of the literary community to celebrate and enjoy what is a very special part of our city. It has been an exciting couple of years for the Writers Walk, which also featured at the Frankfurt Book Fair and launched a wonderful new website and Facebook page.

Thanks to Rosemary Wildblood (Chair of the Wellington Writers Walk Committee)  for the lovely photos.

New Zealand Book Month in Taihape

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks to New Zealand Book Month for sponsoring my trip to Taihape, and a BIG thanks to Kate in the library who organised my visit and put together some great displays and posters. Thanks also to the people of Taihape who came along to my talk on Sunday afternoon, to Katherine in the local Paper Plus for stocking plenty of copies of my new Anzac Day book and to the Year 7 and 8 children from St Anthony’s and Taihape Area School who proved such attentive listeners on Monday morningDSCF6614.Kate had also borrowed a selection of war mementos from the  Taihape Museum. Most of these were put in a display case for people to look at, but the children were fascinated by the World War One One lemon-squeezer hat and World War Two metal hat, which we let them (carefully) pass around.

So what did I learn about Taihape:

  • It feels like quite a different place when it’s not crammed full of holiday drivers taking up every parking space and every seat in the cafes
  • It’s the sort of place where people say hello as you walk past
  • The Taihape Motel is a lovely place to stay and super-friendly – thanks very much to the Vasil family who are excellent hosts
  • When they are-sealing the road through the middle of town and have taken away all the pedestrian crossing markings, it can be an alarming experience to try and cross the road unless you are with a local who will just stride ahead, knowing the traffic will stop.
  • It’s true about the drought. SO hot, SO dry. Wishing you some more rain very soon.

And what about the children from St Anthony’s and Taihape Area School - what did you learn? Well, I hope you found out a bit about what it’s like being a writer – and if you’ve got any more questions, please email me through my website and I’ll promise to answer them!

 

Have you won any awards?

Posted on by
1

Have you won any writing awards?

This is another question I often get asked. Like the previous two that I’ve described (how many books have you written? and how long does it take to write a book?) it’s not always easy to answer -  but perhaps for a different reason. I’m enjoying pondering on a few responses to these questions so that next time I get asked them, and I’m floundering for a coherent response, at least I’ll know that it makes sense on my blog.

The short answer is yes. I can recite a list of awards I’ve won or been shortlisted for.

But what is a writing award? It can be as grand as the Booker, or it can be a regional short story competition – do they both make you into an “award winning author”?

Another reason I’m ambivalent about this question is that I’ve been on judging panels myself, and I know how hard it can be to reach a consensus - and that a different panel of judges would probably have come up with a totally different winner, and quite possibly a different shortlist as well.

I think the “award winning author” category is used by teachers to help students pinpoint someone to study – because students are often the ones emailing the question. It can work for that purpose – but I’m sure that somewhere on Google there will be a list of “authors who never won a major award.”