A Poet’s Epiphany

By Donna Ward

A poem is an epiphany in words, a journal note in the soul’s high adventure, a gem cut brillante so all life’s glory gleams through. In days filled with lists, and jobs, and deadlines we forget we are part of something intriguing and mysterious. Epiphanies remind us.

Epiphanies occur when we are not really doing anything, or thinking anything in particular—moments when the mind is quiet, free of lists and jobs and deadlines, though those lists and jobs and deadlines remain. They come when we’re driving to pick up the children after school, when we’re hanging out the washing, or polishing the car. And they almost always come when we are in our own little bubble, though the world might be surging on around us. An epiphany always happens when we are alone, when our god has the chance to appear. An epiphany is a showing of the divine.

And when epiphanies come, they wrap themselves around us and we are opened to something we never knew before. When they go the mundane world closes over as if nothing every happened, as if we were not privy to the workings of the universe, as if we never witnessed the divine. But we never forget what happened, it is held in the cells of our memory and told around mahogany tables sipping wine in firelight, or twenty-first birthday parties to the rapture of streamers and whistles, or at christenings and naming ceremonies and wakes. Epiphanies gift us our own unique wisdom, wisdom we share with those we love.

I must admit that since I’ve been hanging around poets I’ve discovered they have more epiphanies than most, and when a poet has an epiphany very soon after they have to stop everything and write a poem. As one who is merely witness to such creative events, it seems to me the epiphany has lodged within them like a grain of sand and irritates until it is pearlescent with image and must out.

One such epiphany occurred to Australian Love Poet, Gregory Day when he went to a wedding in a town on the coast of southern Victoria. Perhaps it was the weather, or the love between the bride and groom, or the love the poet had for the betrothed that parted the veil for Gregory that day. Whatever it was, he stood, just for a moment, in the fullness of life, death and everything and on the way to the reception Gregory’s pearl was ready. He had to stop the car by the edge of that great road, with the wet mountain rock on one side and the great blue ocean on the other and write that poem before going to the celebration where he read it. The poem,

‘Epithalamion’ (a lyric or ode in honour of a bride and bridegroom) now appears within the pages of Australian Love Poems 2013, edited by Mark Tredinnick.

Stay tuned to the blog to hear more about poetry from Mark Tredinnick in the lead up to his special workshop, Throwing Soft Bombs.

Donna Ward is a publisher with Inkerman & Blunt who have just published Australian Love Poems 2013, edited by Mark Tredinnick, which will be launched at SAWC next week.

Who Are You and What Do You Write?

By Victoria Purman

Part of being a writer is talking about yourself and your writing. I know, I know, that idea scares the proverbial out of some people. If you write purely  for yourself, to experience the joys and heartbreaks and deliciousness of assembling words on the page just because you like the writing, all power to you. But most authors are aiming for a book deal, publication, readers and, fingers crossed, a community of people who love their writing.

If you are one of those hopefuls, there will inevitably come a time when you will have to tear yourself away from the keyboard, the office or the kitchen table, and explain yourself. To actually talk about what you’re writing.

You might be describing your passion to close friends and family who have been wondering what you’ve been doing hunched over the computer for all those months or years. Or, if you’re lucky enough, you’ll be talking to readers or perhaps even being interviewed in the media. My question to you is: are you prepared with answers that will make sense to a potential reader?

As soon as you mention out loud, in public, that you are a…gulp… writer, as soon as you come out of the literary closet and hang your shingle out that says “hopeful,” “emerging”, “about to be published,” some one is going to ask you that question: ‘What’s your book about?’

I’ve answered it hundreds of times now. When you tell people you’re having a book published, especially if they haven’t known that you were writing one, they’ll be curious. Is it a non-fiction text on bird-watching or the next fifty shades of “you know what”? People ask because they are thinking, ‘would I like it?’

So, are you ready to answer? Have you honed your elevator pitch?

To some writers, the idea of talking about what you do is painful and scary. You might be talking to someone who has no idea that there is a massive readership for sci-fi, for instance, and you know they aren’t going to get what you do. That doesn’t matter. Be proud of your work.

Here’s a tip on what not to say:

‘My book is really hard to define. It’s kind of a psychological drama, no wait, more like a thriller, but with elements of dark humour, featuring a shape-shifting goat and…’ When you see their eyes glaze over, you’ve lost the chance of a reader and a potential book champion.

Even if you’re emerging and a total pantser and still not quite sure how your book will turn out, it’s easy to give people an idea. Perhaps you’re writing an Australian political thriller, in a Scandinavian style. Maybe it’s steam punk with a vampire twist. Love poems. Or sci-fi adventures for kids. I’ve settled on “coastal romance” for my particular brand of contemporary romance fiction.

Why is it important to sort this out for yourself? Because you never know who you might meet. You might find out that the person handing over the loaf of bread at the bakery adores tortured detective heroes. Voila! A potential reader. You might be lucky enough to meet someone else who writes in your genre who would make a fantastic writing partner. Or you might meet a romance reader who devours books and who has been waiting for a book just like yours.

I know someone who met a publisher in a lift at a conference. She pitched her book – she was prepared with her “elevator pitch”  – and won a contract. Totally true story!

My point is – don’t waste the chance to define yourself and start finding your audience. If you’re lucky enough to catch the attention of the media, these shorthand ways of describing your work will come in very handy.

Journalists need a short, precise way to describe you and your writing. There are only so many words in an article and they want to catch the attention of their readers and listeners, too.

Any time you talk to someone about your book you have a chance to create interest in it. Don’t waste that chance!

Victoria Purman was our most recent Writer in Residence and is a contemporary Australian romance author. She has signed a three book contract with Harlequin Australia and the first book in her Boys of Summer trilogy – entitled Nobody But Him – will be on the shelves and on reading devices in October

Sizzling the Page – Writing Erotica

By Astrid Cooper

Anyone can write erotica—it’s just sex scenes strung together. Right? W-R-O-N-G! 

To be successful in the competitive erotic fiction market you need more than hot sex on every page. Sometimes you don’t even have to have that much sex in the story to sell like wildfire.

What are some of the ingredients to writing that sizzler (with or without sex)?

1. Be comfortable with what you’re writing. If you are, then the writing flows, if you aren’t, the writing labours = a boring read and an unmarketable work.

2. Characters: as with all forms of commercial fiction, characters are the most important ingredient for any successful story. A publisher once told me that she rejects approx. 98% of all work submitted. Why? Her answer was:  ‘poor characters’. A deficient plot can be rectified, “bad writing” can be fixed, but deficient characters cannot (at least not without a huge re-write).

No bland cardboard cut-outs, your guys and gals have to be “real”. Create characters that leap off the page; create sympathetic characters. How? Become involved with the characters. The writer has many ways to do this, but one path is through emotion.

3. Emotion: an author needs to create an emotional bond with the reader. How? Through characters. Readers read for characters—they want to “live” as the characters: share their triumphs and conflicts, their fear and their peril. And characters must respond to each other—in the bedroom and out of it. How? Through emotion. The characters must have a “connection” beyond the physical. And a “sex scene” without emotion is boring – to read and to write!

4. Conflict: characters just don’t have sex, they have drama and they have conflict (emotional, physical), to add pace to the story.

5. What’s hot in the market? What sells like hot cakes? Male-Male stories; ménage; shapeshifters; vampires – do your research!

6. Think closely and cleverly about how to market yourself and your stories. Astrid’s books regularly hit best-seller lists, so she must be doing something right!

7. Consider how to make your writing stand out from the crowd. Write effectively using emotion, dialogue, conflict, characters and then draw on real-life to spice-up your writing. Research is the key! Write the book you want to read and take risks with your writing: don’t accept bland in your stories—dare to be different!  But understand what you are writing.

8. Think seriously about whether you should be writing erotica? If you’re squeamish about writing sexy, then this genre may not be right for you.

But can you still write “erotica” without graphic sex? In her workshop, Astrid will define what makes a work erotic and what readers want (and don’t want) – the answers will surprise you! Astrid will define the genre and introduce you to the markets and how you can write successful erotica and make money. For more information about her workshop please click here.

Astrid Cooper has been professionally published in Australia, UK, Europe and North America for over 20 years. She is also a freelance manuscript editor and assessor, as well as a teacher and mentor.

Seven Musts for Online Promotion

Hi peeps,
Cassandra Dean here, with a few hints and tips for online promotion and marketing as a writer!

1. Have a website. Make the design of it simple and easy to use. Update it regularly.
2. Blog. Blog regularly. Blog often. Blog about random shizz you’re convinced no one wants to read about – funnily enough, they probably do!
3. Develop a social media presence. Facebook, twitter, pin, instagram, tumble away…but remember no one likes a spammer.
4. Engage your readers with bits and pieces, sneak peaks and updates. Tell them how you’re researching the first instance of a Frog Cake in South Australia or how you are constantly stunned that Wikipedia is a glorious amalgamation of tids and bits. These interactions will build a rapport with your readers.
5. Make friends with your fellow authors and then pick their brains. There are a lot of very savvy people out there, and why do the work when you don’t have to?
6. Your publisher will be only too happy to help. Run ideas past them, see what they say. Remember, they’re just as interested in selling millions of copies of your book as you are.
7. Finally, the very best promo – write your next book!

Cassandra Dean will be holding a workshop on navigating the often scary world of the internet for writers at the Centre on 8th June. Click here for more details. Cassandra is a multi-published author in both ebook and print. She has previously presented at South Australian Romance Writers Conference.

Cassandra and Lucy ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ Tumblr ~ Pintrest ~ Amazon.com

How to Write A Novel – 5 Tips From an Author

By Lucy Clark

1. If you don’t write your story, who will?

2. Procrastinate… but then write.

3. You make time to go to the gym, work, sleep, socialise, so why not make time to write?

4. Research is MASSIVE and time consuming and from all the info you collate, you’ll condense it to two lines in your story.

5. Give yourself permission to write a ‘vomit’ draft (get it out of you). You can fix a bad page but you can’t fix a blank page.

Share your tips below!

Lucy Clark has published many romance novels with publishing giant Harlequin Mills & Boon. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages and have sold in excess of one million copies. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing and has completed her Master of Arts (Writing & Literature). Lucy will be holding a weekend Romance Writing Bootcamp on 18^th and 19^th May, where she will impart more writing wisdom and help you to learn how to perfect the art of writing romance stories and scenes.