On travel, writing and anything in between.
09.02.2012
© Dmitry Lobanov
It’s taken a while for me to get close to my
Kindle. Nine months in fact. (Hopeless I know.) But now we’re good friends. Many people I meet are still shocked I have crossed to the dark side of e-books. So I thought I’d share my reasons why.
What I love
It’s size, shape and weight. The fact that you can lie down and read and turn the pages with a click of a button.
It’s great for travelling. You have a whole library in your handbag without adding any kilos to your luggage. And, it fits in all my handbags.
I’m a serial reader. On a kindle I can be reading three or four books simultaneously depending on my mood.
The downloads are instant. I don’t have to a) wait three weeks if I order online b) stop what I am doing to go and find the book I want.
The books are cheaper: most are less than $5. Many of the classics are free.
Having a kindle means I’m not a luddite, but a writer and reader who’s embraced the brave new world of e-publishing.
I can highlight notes as I read rather than have all my books covered with mini-post-its.
The fact the kindle isn’t backlit is an advantage: you don’t feel like you are reading from the screen which is kinder on the eyes.
What I don’t like
Now, call me old fashioned, but the kindle doesn’t feel like a proper book. So while I use it for work-related books, where I tend to skim, if I want to savour a decent travel memoir then I need the real thing. (Funnily enough, someone told me recently that she’s the opposite. Now she skims paper backs but for a proper read, uses her kindle.)
I daren’t use my kindle in the bath and that’s where I read all my favourite books.
Lots of books I want aren’t available. But Last Seen in Lhasa is coming soon. I’ll keep you posted.
I know many independent bookstores are closing down because of more people like me a) buying from Amazon b) no longer buying books.
And, now that I’ve got an i-Pad (more on that when I’ve mastered some decent writing apps) the kindle is already looking rather quaint and old-fashioned…
So, do you kindle?
For those in Sydney, my next weekend travel memoir workshop is now 25/26 February at the Sydney Writers Centre.
02.02.2012
I’ve written about finding your voice before but this week I want to investigate it further. Voice is one of those hard-to-pin-down terms that writers and readers and critics bandy about. We’re always told to find our own voice. Make it distinctive. Make it unique.
But what does that actually mean? And how do you get there?
Last year I went on a very serious writerly retreat organised by the Writing and Society Group at the University of Western Sydney. For three days, writers and scholars talked in-depth about craft. One of the presenters, Dr Tony Macris gave this technical definition of voice.
‘It is the process of enunciation: the flow. It is the subjective feeling of writing, it is the flow of thought and converting it into language.’
What’s great about this description is the word ‘flow’. Voice is the way we communicate what’s going on inside of us—that constant movement of ideas, beliefs and thoughts—with the world outside. Of course we do this through language. But we also do it through intention.
People sometimes say to me, ‘If only I could write the way I talk.’ Often, when we convert our thoughts into words on the page something gets lost. Or it doesn’t come out the way we want.
This is where intention is important. To keep coming back to what it is you are really trying to say. And HOW you want to say it.
So you have an idea. You want to write about the most perfect day of your holidays. Your intention is to capture that perfection in words. Write that at the top of the page in bold.
Then allow yourself to get into the flow of remembering the day. Reflect on the senses. Evoke taste, touch… you know the deal. Make some notes without editing or censoring yourself. As you settle into a rhythm, allow more impressions and memories to surface.
Once you’ve written a page or so, pause and re-read your intention: to capture the perfection of that day. Have you done that yet? Keep that as the focus as you write some more. It may be one single moment—converted into a single sentence in your piece—that will nail it.
You won’t always get it on your first take. Writing is a process of discovery. Each time you write, you spiral deeper. Your voice becomes more assured. You words on paper begin to reflect how you think and how you truly want to share yourself with the world.
Feel free to share your voice below!
For those in Sydney, my next weekend travel memoir workshop is now 25/26 February at the Sydney Writers Centre.
25.01.2012
January has almost gone and in life’s busyness, I wonder how many of those good intentions to
write have slipped…
Rather than come up with all the sensible reasons to write (there are lots of blogs that do that), I want to share advice from author Natalie Goldberg. Over the break I devoured her classic Writing Down the Bones. It shouted at me to write for writing’s sake – not to get published or show off or as a career. It inspired me to write without a destination.
She calls it ‘Writing as a Practice’. Like running, ‘the more you do it, the better you get… You practice whether you want to or not… You train your mind to cut through and ignore your resistance.’
Most runners don’t expect to complete a marathon first go. But there’s a myth that if you write, the muse will instantly come. Occasionally that happens. Most of the time, you need space and time. So if you haven’t written much before, it’s tough completing a full-length travel memoir or novel. Take small steps before you attempt longer strides.
Goldberg encourages her students to ‘write the worst junk in the world’. On bad days I just give myself permission to write s**t. It’s counter-intuitive. If I have no expectations, then I’m more likely to surprise myself. Above all, it gets me clacking the keyboard.
Her personal guideline is to finish one notebook a month. Her ‘ideal’ is to write every day. When she writes in her journal, it’s her way of warming up and flexing her muscles. She’s doing it for herself, not to get published. She’s doing it as practice.
A committed Zen Buddhist, Goldberg’s all-embracing attitude is infectious: you want to start scribbling straight away. Here, writing is a form of meditation, a dance, a way of life.
‘It’s a place that you can come to wild and unbridled, mixing the dream of your grandmother’s soup with the astounding clouds outside your window. It is undirected and has to do with all of you right in the present moment.
Sit down right now. Give me this moment. Write whatever’s running through you.’
Over to you. What makes you write?
If you need encouragement and you’re in Sydney, join me for my next five-week travel memoir course starting next week, on 31st January. I also have a weekend workshop on 4 & 5th February. Both are at the Sydney Writers Centre.
19.01.2012
It’s that time of year, in Australia at least, when the summer holidays are drawing to close. It’s also the time to make juicy New Year resolutions (more on that next week). I certainly have a few. One is to keep up with my blog… whatever else is going on in my life ☺
I’ve certainly struggled over the past week to get my brain back into gear and crack on with my novel. Yes, it’s still not finished. Here are some things I’ve found helpful.
- If you’re itching to get back to writing, but, like one friend, still have the kids at home… Try this.
Before you start a mundane cleaning task, consciously think about what you want to write. Fold the washing AND think how to advance the story. As ideas come, jot them down; send the kids outside and write for 15 minutes.
I know it doesn’t sound much, but it all adds up. It will help the project percolate in your subconscious, making it easier when you do get back to writing.
- If you’re at your desk and don’t know where to start, re-read the last thing you wrote. After a break, you’ll often be positively surprised. Enjoy re-acquainting yourself with your work.
Give yourself a bite-sized task:
Edit one page.
Re-write two paragraphs.
Write a fresh introduction.
Expect your brain to be woolly on the first day and know it will get easier.
If you’re starting a new project, make a list of tasks or do a quick mind-map. Some writers like to start several word documents with a title on each page. This helps them get over that fear of staring at a blank screen.
If you’re still stuck, read one of your favourite travel memoir writers. Then, copy out, word for word, a paragraph you love. Look at the rhythm of the sentence, how the verbs function. Get back in touch with the nuts and bolts of writing.
Then, try this exercise.
Find an object related to your travels. Spend six minutes writing intuitively about it. Random words, thoughts, whatever. Don’t censor yourself.
For the next fifteen minutes, use the object to write a scene related to travel.
Describe the object in detail. Pick it up and hold it. How does it make you feel?
Write down as much of its history as you know. What memories does it store? Where did it come from? How did it come into your possession?
In this second section use the object as a way to trigger reflection and anchor your memories.
Inspired? Want to write more?
My first five-week travel memoir course in Sydney starts on 31st January & I have a weekend workshop on 4 & 5th February. Both are at the Sydney Writers Centre. Hope to see you there!
07.10.2011
I’ve written about how to edit book-length pieces of work but this post covers how to cut a travel article.
These days it’s rare to get a commission for more than 1200 words. So, say, you have written 2,500 words and your brief is 800 words. How to shave off all those extras?
Firstly, a tip on process. Always save earlier drafts of your story before you cut. That way, if you edit something that you later want, you can retrieve it. I suggest numbering your drafts like this #1, #2 as they are easier to file electronically. You can also date them.
It’s often easier to edit by printing out a copy of your story. This is time-consuming but until you get used to on-screen editing, it’s more effective. Print it out double-spaced, boil a brew, and choose a favourite red pen/pencil. Make corrections and cross through words on the hard copy. Then, start a new draft on your computer and type in the changes.
As you read your story Follow the Writer’s Mantra: How does this Sentence Advance the Story? If it doesn’t, it can probably go.
What can you cut?
Colour. This covers descriptions, adjectives, flowery turns of phrase. i.e ‘The dolphins leapt through the foaming waves, sunlight glinting on their silvery backs,’ can become ‘the dolphins leapt through the waves’.
In travel writing there’s a tendency to repeat descriptions of birds/trees/landscape/people. Often you only need a flavour of where you are visiting. Choose a couple of your best descriptions and lose the rest.
Personal anecdotes. Although travel journalism is written from the first-person point of view, the ‘I’ in a story can often dominate. ‘I was feeling sleepy as the sun rose over the plains’ can become ‘The sun rose over the plains.’
Turn passive verbs into active verbs.
Find quicker ways of describing something. i.e ‘The man walked fast’ can be ‘The man sprinted’.
Re-structure your paragraphs. If you have brief (thumb-nail) descriptions of your ski instructor dotted throughout the story, group into one paragraph.
Quotes. You can always pare back a quote. You only need a fragment to convey a sense of character.
Lastly, lose attachment to your words. Kill your darlings! The more precious you are, the harder it is when you are ruthlessly edited.
If you have a word limit, stick to it. Remember that when you edit your own work, you get to choose what stays in. This, in itself, is empowering.
Thoughts?
P.S For my Sydney readers, my last 5-week travel memoir course for 2011 starts next Wednesday 12th October at the Sydney Writers Centre.
16.09.2011
It’s taken me a bit longer to get there, but here are my tips on how to write that outstanding proposal.
Firstly, writing and re-writing a proposal can take several months. Whether you pitch to a publisher or an agent, you usually only have one shot, so make it your best.
Your proposal sells your book idea and you as the author. Use the proposal to show off your writing, so the reader gets a sense of your voice as well as your story.
It requires considerable planning, market research and forethought. You need to persuade whoever reads it that:
your book stands above the crowd
has commercial potential i.e will sell several thousand copies
why you rather than someone else is the right person to write this book
why the publisher you’ve approached should publish it.
CONTENTS OF THE PROPOSAL
1. THE OUTLINE
This is an overview of the entire book and sells the concept. It can be up to five/six pages long (double-spaced). It will answer how your book will benefit readers. i.e how does it tell the world about India in a way that no other writer does. What is the book’s unique contribution? How have you told the story in an original way?
In the outline you can also say what sort of book it is: i.e a pocket-sized guidebook or an average paperback. How many pages? Most travel memoirs are around 200 – 250 pages.
You can also mention how far into the manuscript you are. Do you still have more trips to do? Or is it written? What is the date you expect to finish?
Conclude with something compelling about your book. Make the reader want to know more.
2. YOUR BIOGRAPHY
This needs to emphasise how your life experience has given you the tools to write this book. This is generally written in the third-person. i.e as ‘he/she’ not ‘I’. Although if you want to be more informal, you can write as ‘I’.
3. MARKETING INFORMATION
Here you spell out why you think your book will sell, how it differs—or is similar—to other titles on the market. Include any books in competition to yours and after briefly describing them, emphasise your point of difference.
Show how your book fills a niche. i.e when I put my proposal together for Last Seen in Lhasa, I mentioned that it was similar to Tibet, Tibet by Patrick French because it was written with authority, but that my story was more personal and about a friendship between two women. In my case I chose Tibet, Tibet because it had recently been published and was selling very well.
Indicate your target audience. If your book is about mountaineering, find some stats on how many Australians belong to mountaineering groups. The more different groups you can identify who will read your book, the more likely the marketing department will say yes. Don’t be afraid to put together a solid marketing plan with graphics, figures and charts if that’s your style.
If you already have a following through your website or database, spell out the numbers. If you know people who can endorse your book, say so.
4. BREAKDOWN OF CHAPTERS
Give a brief detailed description of each chapter in a paragraph or two. Include snappy chapter headlines if you can. If you are putting together a proposal for a business book, it’s fine to use lists or bullet-points. For a memoir, it’s important to show the narrative quality of your writing.
5. SAMPLE CHAPTERS
Include no more than three sample chapters, up to 10,000 words (although around 5,000 words is usually okay.)
6. PRESS CLIPPINGS
Include any relevant press clippings about you and your work.
7. COVERING LETTER
Make your covering letter brief. Ensure all your contact details are there. Simple, but easily overlooked!
Ensure it looks professional. Read any guidelines on the publisher’s website about how they like proposals presented: usually it is double-spaced, sometimes they ask for an sae.
Get it proof-read by someone you trust.
Lastly, send it to the right editor/publisher—someone who commissions non-fiction books.
Phew! No wonder it took me a couple of weeks to get to this post.
Any other advice, feel free to comment.
01.09.2011
Ask anyone who writes regularly in a private journal why they do it, and they usually say, ‘because it makes me feel better.’ I’ve written a diary since I was nine. When I was growing up I did it every night. These days it’s more haphazard, but when I’m struggling with a personal or professional issue, I make time to sit and write.
For years I’ve been fascinated why writing helps. So I’ve delved deeper and have come across some interesting scientific research on how writing regularly improves mental and physical wellbeing, increases the body’s immune system, reduces the number of visits to the doctor and lessens the impact of trauma.
James Pennebaker from the University of Texas in Austin is a pioneer in this field. He’s conducted several studies with people ranging from college students to prisoners, crime victims to chronic pain sufferers.
Here are some of his key findings from just one of his articles, Forming a Story: The Health Benefits of Narrative.
Writing for 15 minutes over the course of three days improves mental and physical health.
Those who benefit most use ‘a high number of positive-emotion words and a moderate amount of negative-emotion words’.
By writing about an emotional experience, people integrate the experience better.
The physical act of writing ‘allows disturbing experiences to subside gradually from conscious thought’.
Expressive writing helps in romantic relationships.
And here are a few more reasons of my own:
Storytelling is an innate human ‘gene’. As we make sense of our world through narrative, we also make sense of our own lives.
By writing, we externalise feelings on to the page. When you do that, you literally write out your pain or grief. In time, you are able to distance yourself from the event.
Journaling is a way to be your own therapist. All you need is pen and paper. You may like to invest in a beautiful handmade diary or you might prefer a simple bound notebook. What’s important is that you give yourself permission to write as often as you need to and carve out the time to do it.
There’s much more to say on this. If you happen to be in Byron Bay this weekend, I’m running a workshop Writing to Heal, Writing to Inspire on Saturday 3rd September and there’s still a couple of places left.
How does writing help you navigate through your life?
P.S I haven’t forgotten about the post on writing that winning proposal. Next time.
19.08.2011
It can be a lonely road to the top. This week is a round up of publishing tips. Next post, I’ll focus
on how to write a winning proposal.
Traditional Publishing
This requires a decent proposal sent to an agent or direct to a publisher. If you are sending to a publisher, ensure you have the correct name of the editor who publishes non-fiction/travel memoir. You can often find names of agents/editors in the acknowledgements of other travel memoirs. Pick half-a-dozen of your favourites and start there.
Agents' and publishers' contact details can be found in the Australian Writers Marketplace. Read their submission guidelines carefully.
Allen & Unwin still publish travel memoirs regularly and offer the Friday Pitch. Essentially you email them a short synopsis and the first chapter of your work. If they like what they read, they will get back to you within a fortnight. This is for fiction and non-fiction.
If you go down this route, or you approach any publisher directly, make sure your writing is as good as it can be. Ask friends for critical feedback or get professional advice. Normally you only have one shot with a publisher.
Self-publishing
For a full discussion on the pros and cons, check out American agent Rachelle Gardner’s recent post. Remember that she’s talking about the American market which is much bigger than the Australian. In Australia, if you sell 10,000 copies, that’s considered a success. Still, there are interesting ideas in the discussion.
If you want to go down the self-publishing route, the Australian Selfpublishing group consider themselves ‘cooperative self publishers’ and have book stands at the London and Frankfurt book fairs. They are currently looking for submissions for the 2011 October fair in Frankfurt.
E-books
E-books are another option worth exploring, especially if you want to use your travel memoir as a ‘calling card’ to get other work. Both self-publishing and e-books are often popular among business authors who sell their books at seminars or workshops.
I published my first e-book Secrets of Travel Writing last year. Despite no marketing, I sell several a month (cost $17.95) to customers all over the world. I plan to expand on this and write several others once I finish my current major book project.
You can also publish your e-books through Lulu, which claims to be the global leader in self-publishing. This is a one-stop-shop for publishing, marketing and distribution.
Then, of course, there’s Amazon. You can find e-books on every topic on Amazon Kindle e-books. Many are free, most cost no more than $5.
If you’re based in Sydney and want to find out more, Sydney Writers Centre run seminars on self-publishing and Amazon e-books. I’m planning to go myself. Otherwise, there’s plenty of advice online.
If you do go down the self-publishing route, you must think how to build your online platform and how to promote your book. Marketing is key. Novelpublicity offers lots of services to do just that.
Anyone out there got a success story? Feel free to share.
13.08.2011
Last week I printed out the not-quite-there-yet manuscript of the book I’m working on. I’ve been trying to get to the end of it for months. I can see the end in my head shining like a beacon at the end of a very long road. I can’t make it there on the page.
My current project is a novel. That’s a big leap for a journo and non-fiction writer like me. But why I decided to try my hand at fiction is another story.
This week I want to talk about how to revise and re-read your work. With a long-term project it can be hard to get perspective unless you put it aside for a while. But I was so determined to get to the end of the whole draft that I ploughed on.
Then, life intervened. A few weeks ago we moved house and this forced me to stop writing. Several days into the manic packing and unpacking I realised that for the first time this year I wasn’t thinking about my book every day (yup, obsessive I know).
For the next three weeks I didn’t touch the novel. Then I took a deep breath and printed out everything I’d done: the bits I think do work and the chunks I know don’t. But before I started re-reading (and I cleared 2½ days just to go through part 1) I set the parameters to know what I was reading for.
That might sound odd but it’s really helpful to do this before you revise any big piece of work. It can be overwhelming to try and tackle everything in one go.
So here are a few tips on effective revising:
Use different colour pens or pencils to highlight different aspects.
In your first read, look for issues of narrative drive that need fixing. Think about
pacing. Where does the writing rush ahead, where does it drag? Does the whole story hang
together?
Think about the themes and the narrative arc.
In your next edit, carefully read your descriptions and examine each character. Do the characters lift off the page?
Then see if you’ve anchored the place you are describing.
Next get down to the nitty gritty. Are your verbs consistent?
Have you repeated some words many times? If so, reach for your Thesaurus and find a new word—le mot juste. This is diction. The right word will have the exact meaning; it will sound correct and look right on the page.
Then think about the structure of your sentences—the syntax. Vary long with short sentences.
You see, there’s a lot to think about. Ensure a large supply of tea or coffee on hand, and at the end, cake.
How do you revise?
29.07.2011
Last week I wrote about creating scenes. This week I’m looking at how you can change the affect within scenes by shifting the focus.
When you take photos, you automatically change camera angles. Sometimes you want a wide shot of padi fields to give an overview, or a close-up of a woman’s hand picking rice for detail. Or perhaps you are taking a group of people and you want to have them in the foreground, with the busy market behind.
This is the same with writing. As the narrator you have to make constant choices about what you choose to focus on, which angle you decide to take. If you write from the same angle then the writing can be flat. It’s as if the story is told from one plane, without shades of dark and light.
Similarly you need to think about what parts of your story you want to foreground, and what to leave in the background. The clearer you are on your major storyline, the easier it is to make these decisions.
A good way to start practicing is to think how you capture a new place. In Michael Wood’s The Smile of Murugan, about his journeys through Tamil Nadu in south India, he describes arriving in the town of Chidambaram on the eve of the Divali festival.
There was a fog enveloping the town and he writes, ‘everything appeared hazy and indistinct…. Fireworks thumped and cracked [and] acrid smoke hung in the air like a tropical bonfire night.’
Then he describes seeing ‘the pyramids of the temple towers rear up black against the cloud-filled night sky’. He steps into the temple courtyard ‘to where huge silver-studded doors open into the interior down a granite stairway. At the bottom a forest of columns went off into the darkness.’
Filled with plenty of sensory descriptions—the smell of the smoke and the sound of the firecrackers—Wood leads you step by step into the temple, which is at the heart of the town. This is a great way to capture the essence of the place itself.
He moves from the wide angle of the foggy indistinct outskirts, to a medium-long shot of the temple. He then zooms in on a close-up of the columns disappearing and finally ends with an extreme close-up: ‘Camphor burning at the foot of the columns created the illusion that the stone was somehow magically on fire.’
So next time you write about a place, imagine your pen is like a camera. Then, when you come to write longer scenes, use the same approach.
Thoughts?
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