Last month I managed to catch the last two days of the Emerging Writers Festival in Melbourne.
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A lovely sunny winter afternoon with the helicopter pad beckoning, it was a shame to spend it indoors. But I’d pre-booked tickets for three afternoon sessions and with my Perth writer friends waiting for feedback, I knew I couldn’t just skive off. Having attended many writing workshops over the years, I’m pleased to say this one had a number of good features.
To begin with the sessions started at the civilized hour of 12.30pm, perfect for interstaters still operating on different time zones, or locals who had ‘networked’ a little too hard the night before.
Similarly all the sessions were held in the same building, The Wheeler Centre on Little Lonsdale Street. Clearly the organizers were cognizant of the fact that writers’ preferred mode of expending energy is taping their fingers across keyboards, rather than perfecting the 100m dash across town.
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The Wheeler Centre was very easy to find, and a short walk from the free City Loop Tram stop. Word of warning though, make sure you know whether you need the tram going clockwise or anticlockwise, otherwise you can add 20 minutes to your journey.
I arrived after a brief and somewhat unexpected tour of the Docklands, having got on the tram going in the wrong direction. Still there was enough time to check out the festival hangout Rue Bebelons. The café was positioned next to a graffiti wall reminding you you’re in Melbourne not a bohemian part of Paris.
At the Independent Publishing session we heard from Alice Gage who created her own journal Ampesand. She spoke about becoming incorporated and recommended the Australian Business Arts Foundation for help.
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She also talked about the need to be original, supportive of talented people and setting good timeframes. We also discussed printing in Taiwan and that it’s easier to work with someone on the ground in Australia. A very interactive workshop the group delved into Blogland thanks to the experiences of two participants. Unfortunately the timing meant I had to leave before the end to make sure I wasn’t late for the beginning of the
next session.
Next Opinion Writing with Mel Campbell. Generally it’s not good to hear, ‘I haven’t prepared anything structured, I wonder what people want to get out of it?’ Perhaps it’s better to arrive a little late. Thankfully however what followed was a very casual, but excellent discussion.
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Again the focus quickly turned to all things online, with the key takeout that writers should create their own online profile rather than wait for someone to come and discover them. Mel also talked about deciding on your genre, using social media to your advantage (she has 5 twitter accounts!) and that facebook owns your content. In the end she said if you want to be a writer the best advice is ‘to be curious about the world’.
The last session for the day was The Pitch, a panel of 9 editors, consequently the room was packed out with an attentive audience. Each speaker had five minutes to give their tips on pitching to editors. While there were a few interesting ideas overall they all made the same comment.
Great, I can hear you thinking, there’s one solution to all this. Sadly no the comment was ……‘go look on the website and follow our submission guidelines’. Yep, and we heard that 8 times.
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I’ve seen the same thing happen at many festivals and it’s extremely disappointing, particularly if you’ve paid for the session. Even more disappointing if the answer is ‘we don’t deal with pitches, or submissions, we only use pieces we’ve commissioned’. At least this comment gave some hope…
‘Writing is like finding a home for a new pet, just shop it around and you’ll find somewhere.’
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The next day was the Fifteen Minutes of Fame session and market at Flinders Square where novice authors got to present their books and experience being interviewed. There were some really interesting books/authors on show and I’ll be profiling some of them down the track.
In between listening to the emerging authors I pondered….
- It was interesting that both workshops quickly moved off into online territory. In the first it was the audience who took the discussion there. In the second it was a combination of the presenter and the audience. Perhaps this is an insight into where we’re all heading.
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The EWF is a good starting place for anyone at the beginning of their writing career. Just miss the sessions on Pitching.
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Hats off to the organisers, Lisa and crew, who managed to keep it all together right until the end of what was a long festival.
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Here’s hoping I can get to the Town Hall meeting one year.
