Writing fantasy, horror and science fiction with Lisa L Hannett

I seized an opportunity recently, and I’m glad I did.

I chose to drag myself out of bed on a Saturday morning (which is just as difficult for me as it is for Neil Gaiman) and schlep all the way into town, to enclose myself in a room with strangers for several hours, while the first decent sun in months shone brilliantly outside without me. 

Why?  Because it was a workshop about writing fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories.  And that’s what I do.  Or at least, it’s what I’ve started to do, and very much the direction this Denouement gig is taking me.  

The workshop was presented by Lisa Hannett, who is particularly deft with short stories of a speculative ilk, and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I throw in some words like dark, imaginative and bent to describe them.  Lisa is fabulous enough to have gone along to Clarion South (pause for a moment of envy) back when Clarion South was still a thing.  Of late she been picking up handfuls of shiny awards and nominations for other shiny awards, and she also happens to reside in our fair city.

Besides all of that (and once my Saturday morning cappuccino had kicked in), Lisa gives a cracking workshop.

The first session covered ways to stimulate story ideas and develop plots.  Lisa emphasised the need to focus on the “single element” in a short story.  You may catch glimpses of the larger imagined reality, but the job of the short is to explore a single idea with depth, in a readily digestible chunk. There’s an elegance needed to include what needs to be there and omit what belongs to the larger picture, offstage.  The art of the strong beginning was demonstrated, along with succinctness of description and avoiding the dreaded info-dump. 

Lisa came armed with stimulating exercises and thoughtful handouts.  Throughout, she referred to esteemed writers (Sean Williams got a mention), and backed up all of her points with examples of excellent writing within the genre.  Finally, she issued a challenge – to submit a draft for workshopping by a small group in the second session, along with a critique by Lisa herself.

I went away filled with enthusiasm and ideas, which must be the best recommendation possible, right?  Not only did I add to my knowledge base, but the convergence of creativity and cleverness in the room stimulated my own imaginative energies. 

I even had an epiphany.

This was one of those workshops that will stay with me and continue to inform my thinking and writing for a while yet.  Definitely worth peeling my eyelids open early on the weekend for. 

Get started writing

I was thrilled to be invited by Connie Berg to co-present a “Get Started Writing” workshop for members of the public at the Tea Tree Gully Library.  The aim of this two-hour workshop was to introduce participants to writing by “doing”, and give them some tools and hopefully some inspiration to continue on with it.

Ironically, I was nominated to run the section on poetry, for which I have great appreciation but little compositional skill.  I had enormous fun putting together a haiku worksheet, and a shared poetry-writing exercise, which was enjoyed with amazing and occasionally hilarious results.  Participants then wrote some of their own fiction, and had the opportunity to share their work with a supportive audience.  Anyone who’s engaged with a good group of writers knows how enormously rewarding and encouraging this can be. 

But life is a wonderful and mysterious thing, and the workshop held a surprise for me.

I was surprised at the late arrival of lady who had both the face and the surname of my Grade 3 teacher, Mrs R.  Could it be my most fondly remembered teacher?  She had been flaming-haired and vivacious, passionate about imagination, about learning.  I remember, as the quiet, strange girl that I was, that this was the teacher who showed me that if you put in extra effort, you can produce something good.  Something beautiful.  Something that you can be proud of.  Even though I spent only two-thirds of the year in her classroom, it was a pivotal time in my learning.  She encouraged my reading, but even more importantly, she switched me on to writing, neatly and well. 

I remember the shining feeling of pride seeing two gold stars and a smiley stamp on what must have been one of my very first works of imaginative fiction.  I clung to that feeling when I was suddenly uprooted to a distant, hot land.  I changed schools five more times in the next five years, but the memory of her and what she had taught me kept me engaged with learning, even in desolate emotional terrain.  I had wondered since whether I might ever meet her again, and hoped one day to thank her.

And yes, thirty years later, in this community writing workshop, it was indeed Mrs R.  She remembered the sad, quiet girl I had been at age 7.  When the class ended, she handed me an acrostic poem she had written for me.  This beautiful, expressive, expansive teacher – who’d had no idea of the impact she’d had on my life - had seen a spark inside a quiet child and coaxed it to a flame.  She was rewarded all these years later by seeing that girl transformed, and that flame now blazing as passion for writing and the joy of sharing it with others.  

The significance of this moment was not lost on me.  It seems like more than just coincidence that I reconnected with the teacher who taught me to want to write well, in that same space – the sphere of writing, of sharing learning, of getting started on the thing that calls you.  It affirmed in both of us the power of sharing what you’re passionate about, in a moment of unexpected, exquisite denouement.

So, the moral to this story, if there is one, is to get started.  Get started writing.  Or painting.  Or singing.  Or whatever it is that lights you up, get started doing that.  Do it often, and share the joy that it brings you.  It creates a space, a magical chink through which all sorts of unimagined rewards can enter your life.

What are you waiting for?   

Light it up... by young_einstein @ Flickr

Blogging workshop - notes

The big day arrived, and I headed out to the South Australian Writers’ Centre for the Just what is blogging? workshop.  It was an interesting and well-structured evening that provided a number of blogging resources to bring home.  And it stimulated some critical reflection about Destination: denouement.  It turns out there are a number of blogging principles that I have been very nonchalantly ignoring since its inception.  (More on that another time).

Much of the two-hour workshop was aimed at people with much less blogging experience than myself.  However there were some pointers worth attending to:

·    Regularity - prunes aren’t just for nannas*.  Readers will lose interest if you don’t turn up up regularly.

·    Scheduling - use the scheduling function in your platform to release posts at a time that works for you and your readers.  Louise posts on a Thursday and then has the weekend as social-media engagement time. 

·    Use your key words in a targeted way – The language in your URL, post titles, first paragraphs all counts. (Uh oh. Multiple infractions by Destination: denouement).

·    Social media is your friend - (I really need to get across the twittosphere).

·    Content, content, content.

This last point was not explicitly stated, but it coalesced in my impressionable brain as the most important idea of the night.  Louise, Jane and Sarah all talked about how they started their blogs and attracted readers, and it was obvious from their stories that content is everything. It’s what attracts a readership and causes it to flourish.  Each of them has a readily visible niche to write to.  Each of them understands exactly what it is they are giving to their audience.  And crucially, they know what value it has to their readers.

*Nanna Jean was an enthusiastic advocate of the power of the prune.

Just what is blogging?

Further to my recent aspirations for Destination: denouement to become a Best Australian Blog, I am thrilled to hear there will be a FREE blogging workshop at the South Australian Writers' Centre in April.


"I CAN HAZ BLOG?!"
|indoor| by arquera @ Flickr

Just what is blogging?

The Media Resource Centre, the SA Writers Centre and the MHCSA are proud to present a workshop on blogging on the 17th of April 2012 (YAY!).  The event will be held in the atrium at the SA Writers Centre and feature key speakers Louise Pascale and Jane Howard from the Media Resource Centre (Interesting).

Editors and moderators from mindshare Sarah Reece and Steve Clark will also feature an introduction on getting started as a blogger on line.

In this new world of technology and the internet, ordinary individuals are allowed the space to speak up - online in cyberspace. With seemingly one of the hardest parts of being a blogger – capturing people’s interest and attention in the constantly busy world of the world wide web (That’s what I said!)

Is blogging something you would be interested in doing? (Yes) Does anyone actually read what you write (Maybe… not) or are you just sending things off into the electronic cyber sphere for your own amusement? (Actually, I do it for my virtual future imaginary fans) … As a writer should you bother to blog or not? (Yes.  Obviously).

The evening will cover topics such as 'What a blog is' and 'why some people blog'. You will get tips on how to develop a following and keep people interested as well as some basics on how to get started and work your way around a possibly confounding new electronic age.

Perfect.  In fact they could’ve called it “Blogging for the clueless newbie” and it wouldn’t be any more perfect for me.  (Ok, maybe I’m being a bit harsh on myself.  Destination: denouement is already FABULOUS.  Clearly.  But it would be even better with a readership).

I especially love that this is a community event, born out of a collaboration that aims to support mental health.  Writing is such a powerful tool, for self-expression, for creativity and for enhancing wellbeing.  I believe passionately in the healing power of telling our truths, and hearing those of other people.  Writing allows us to connect with each other energetically, regardless of whether we ever actually meet.  And blogging is an amazing platform for writing – its flexibility provides endless possibilities for unique expression. 

So, yes!  I will be there (with rings on my fingers and bells on my toes) for this very valuable (and I'll say it again, FREE) blogging workshop in Adelaide.  I suggest you get along to it, too.