Article written by Rory Hawkins.
A question that was bandied around most of the day: “Is writing such a solitary practice?” It’s times like these, that I think answer best. From a (relatively) early start on Sunday through to most of the day, we of Paint the Town’s Literature department were lucky enough to attend the State Library of Queensland’s second ever Young Writers’ Conference.
Whilst originally SLQ only ran a Young Writers Award, since last year the Young Writers’ Conference was formed to supplement all that gathered interest. This year, the award had 216 entrants – around half that amount were able to get tickets quick enough. The award became the final point on the schedule, the build-up so much better than just one little ceremony.
With a program set to cover creative writing workshops – guided by current Australian authors – to panels discussing the ins-and-outs of the industry, we couldn’t wait for the weekend to come. Caught up in excitement, I’d even mistaken what month it was in! But despite our own organisational shortcomings, the YWC held up in delivering an engaging and streamlined event.
At 10am, doors opened and writers fell into an orderly queue (we’re a tame sort, at times). We put our names down for whichever workshops or panels to attend. It was a reasonable selection. Before lunch, you chose between a panel covering non-fiction, freelancing and working with editors or a writing workshop. After lunch, it was either a seminar on the publishing industry or creative writing.
Everyone has their own individual interests when it comes to writing; I think organising the YWC this way was a good idea. The day becomes catered around what you want to take away from such an event.
The auditorium was smaller than expected, but fitted everyone comfortably – attendance was just over a hundred, not as many as we’d thought. Still, tickets for the YWC had completely sold out. Not a seat in the auditorium remained. First came a warm welcome from Megan McGrath, event coordinator, before introducing four of the authors that would be speaking, mingling, and sharing their experience.
I loved the variety of voices between them: a fiction novelist; a playwright; a non-fiction/cultural critic; and a children’s fantasy novelist, respectively. It really summarised the experience – well-rounded so that everyone could listen to discourse over already appreciated topics or try something new. Each had their own heartfelt opinions on writing and the publishing industry, and in listening I knew we were in good hands.
O’Grady: Work on and have as many things submitted to publicists at once, because you will get rejected. It’s difficult, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Let your rejections polish your work. It took roughly eight years before her novel The Yellow House was picked up, but was all the better for it.
After Christian read from her first ever novel (written some time during high school), she spoke about writing stories that make sense to us, in order to make sense of the world around us. Writing had been both a pleasure and a means of working through hardship. Her book Beautiful Mess is about what we talk about when we’re trying not to talk about something difficult.
Writer George-Allen realised during university, instead of writing fiction, she could do so much more. Sitting between the lines of investigative journalism and memoirist, she’s written on the cultural rituals we make for ourselves, including how women see and use make-up and beauty products. Her advice: don’t write what you know, write what you’re curious about, and willing to learn more of.
Lochel is one of the co-authors of the children’s fantasy series Zakora (the other co-author his sister). Having worked in the Australian TV and film industry, he understands how much pop culture loves strong stories. It took a jump to self-publishing to find out how much he enjoyed working on a passion-project made real. Perseverance is key.
A similarity I found between all four: most had only started “writing” during or after university years. From how they described, discovering that what they were doing made them “writers” was almost a hurdle in itself. How much do I need to write? How do I get something, anything out there? In adult life, what does it mean to be a writer?
Introductions complete, people went their separate ways for the different activities, led by the different authors. “Plotting Your Novel” was one, headed by Emily O’Grady, covering the different formulae and necessities of plot within a story. For anyone younger, these workshops were a great opportunity to learn the foundations behind what makes a story flow well. For writers more experienced, they’re a decent enough refresher course to reaffirm what to do in your own writing.
What I really enjoyed was more of the panelist-centric conversations between writers. As a writing student, I’ve covered the theory behind good writing in seminars and mini-workshops before – it’s too separate from what readers would actually be engaging with. What I’m interested in is the application.
Because of this, the craft of creative writing seminar seemed much of a muchness – though Lauren Alvery, the author running it, kept it at a decent pace and offered so many short stories and authors to read into.
It was the panel on non-fiction, freelancing and working with editors that I LOVED. Their answers to every question might’ve ambled a little in places – but, god, was it better for it. There was perfect balance of information, personality and humour that listening and watching was genuinely enjoyable. A scant few people remained in the auditorium for this, so people missed out en-masse. I stepped out feeling like I’d learnt a lot just from an informal talk.
My one criticism of the day: despite giving attendees options between what activities to go to, the variety between was a little lacking. I went to the non-fiction panel and the craft of creative writing seminar and Ashleigh (also from our Literature department) chose a workshop and a seminar on how the publishing industry works – yet only a little content stood out as different.
I felt the same way about the “Next Step” panel. Topically, half of what was covered had already been talked all the way through in the non-fic panel. The personal touches by the panelists let you get to know their experiences with publishing and publication, but it wasn’t anything groundbreaking.
Personally, I know I could put this down to the size of the event. It only ran for the one day and so SLQ were focused with packing in the essentials. Remember, this is a fledgling event, only just finding its feet after garnering enough interest among Brisbane writers.
But the best aspect of the Young Writer’s Conference was something only planned out in theory – but, boy, did it work just as planned. Networking. Stick a bunch of people all interested in the same things together in room after room and some are bound to stick. Myself and Ashleigh managed to get our people-skills on and form our own writers’ group with the people we’d clicked with.
The Young Writers’ Conference was a great step down the road to making the events writers deserve. Content wise, I found it a little lacking at times, but I know it’s down to how much time and resources SLQ’s willing to put into something so new. I hope with the success of this year, the Young Writers’ Conference will only improve.
Thanks again for the event coordinator, SLQ’s Megan McGrath, and everyone else involved in putting this together – nothing seemed out of place for a writers’ event geared towards younger people.
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