Gillian Polack's Blog, page 159
August 18, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-08-19T09:41:00
I managed to get good work done yesterday despite myself. This is because my novel arrived late from my supervisor and there were a host of things I could instantly do, to free the way for the last full edit (starting today - printout happening as soon as I finish this post). While it's printing, I get to do my end of the edits on my next BiblioBuffet column and then work on the Beast for a little.
It's going to be a lovely morning, simply because I'm at the end of things that suits my mood. Also because it feels things are moving. I like it when projects progress, and I like it especially when readers (whether they be editors, supervisors, or the wider public) have thoughtful things to say about my work.
After the printout, I get coffee, though, for I might need it.
It's going to be a lovely morning, simply because I'm at the end of things that suits my mood. Also because it feels things are moving. I like it when projects progress, and I like it especially when readers (whether they be editors, supervisors, or the wider public) have thoughtful things to say about my work.
After the printout, I get coffee, though, for I might need it.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-18T22:37:00
I've been reading the Pratchett books instead of working. I think I am a lost cause. I'm down to the last one until I can get to the library again (Monday?) so maybe I should make it last.
I get my whole novel back from my supervisor in a few hours, so I should enjoy the quiet time while I have it. And it's not quite as quiet as I thought, for I looked at my lists and discovered that I actually did some work yesterday. Today, somehow, I got my inbox down to 40 items. Since that included a manuscript assessment (I keep everything in my inbox until it's dealt with, so this is really my intray, and can get impossibly unwieldy very quickly) and a whole heap of replies to various things, it's not bad. When I can get it down to 20 items, it will be positively good.
I'm seriously thinking about going to ICFA next year. I don't know how I'll manage it, but it's something I both want to and ought to do. I'm definitely going to a conference in Melbourne in November and, for my next trick, will book my transport. The transport is the major expense for Melbourne, since the conference is free and in the city, and I can stay with my mother. With luck, transport should cost me about $170. ICFA will be a lot dearer, in a magnitudinous manner, but I still want to go and ought to go. Also, I ought to put in a paper proposal. I'm so taken up with my dissertation, that I can't think of one. Or, rather, I can half think of one. I'm tempted to suggest a paper on the way spec fic writers translate the Middle Ages. It would be fun, and it's a natural extension of what I'm doing.
If I book transport to Melbourne and pay my student fees, then maybe I can allow myself more Pratchett. Or I could work on the Beast and enter the middle Ages for an hour. Or maybe all of the above, for I am an ambitious tyke.
I get my whole novel back from my supervisor in a few hours, so I should enjoy the quiet time while I have it. And it's not quite as quiet as I thought, for I looked at my lists and discovered that I actually did some work yesterday. Today, somehow, I got my inbox down to 40 items. Since that included a manuscript assessment (I keep everything in my inbox until it's dealt with, so this is really my intray, and can get impossibly unwieldy very quickly) and a whole heap of replies to various things, it's not bad. When I can get it down to 20 items, it will be positively good.
I'm seriously thinking about going to ICFA next year. I don't know how I'll manage it, but it's something I both want to and ought to do. I'm definitely going to a conference in Melbourne in November and, for my next trick, will book my transport. The transport is the major expense for Melbourne, since the conference is free and in the city, and I can stay with my mother. With luck, transport should cost me about $170. ICFA will be a lot dearer, in a magnitudinous manner, but I still want to go and ought to go. Also, I ought to put in a paper proposal. I'm so taken up with my dissertation, that I can't think of one. Or, rather, I can half think of one. I'm tempted to suggest a paper on the way spec fic writers translate the Middle Ages. It would be fun, and it's a natural extension of what I'm doing.
If I book transport to Melbourne and pay my student fees, then maybe I can allow myself more Pratchett. Or I could work on the Beast and enter the middle Ages for an hour. Or maybe all of the above, for I am an ambitious tyke.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-18T18:50:00
I paid for this week most of today. I'm sure I did the regulation whingeing throughout the week so that you knew I was not as comfortable as I should be. I was at the stage yesterday where I kept going back to bed to get the sleep I hadn't had during the nights. I bought more pain relievers. I changed my medication. The latter proved the trick and last night I slept the whole way through. I slept most of today, too. And finally, just in time for dinner, I'm only in moderate pain and I'm wondering if I wasted the whole of the last two days or only chunks of them.
Actually, I did some good work yesterday, in between things. And I shall do some work today, now that my legs have ceased to wobble. Also, I'm finally at the stage with work where everything I read makes sense. Most of today I looked at my computer and wondered what I was seeing. That's when I'd toddle back to bed and sleep a bit more.
I guess the virus isn't gone yet. It's going, though, in its own slow manner.
I'm still looking for those writing techniques, BTW. I wasn't trying to say, "Woe is me, I am under-represented in fiction." Though I am, it is irrelevant. As a writer, I ought to be perfectly capable of writing about my own culture/religion/everything (although publishers might not accept this, and though I may not be a good enough writer yet to do it as well as it should be done), and I am fully aware how many of us do not see ourselves in fiction.
What I want are writing techniques and narrative techniques and modes of explanation that have worked in a novel for individuals when they see a non-mainstream character (especially one that is close to their own personal experience, and especially where said techniques etc are actually effective). I want to know what works from a reader's perspective and from a comfort-zone perspective. I will then analyse this material and apply it in various contexts and writings and work out what it's doing, in cultural terms and with tropes and etc (much etc) and then we can start to talk about changing paradigms.
I'd also love to know if anyone's read anything on this by other writers/critics/thinkers/whoever. In fact, I'd especially love to know. I don't want to reinvent the wheel here, I just want to move away from the angsty "Where is the fiction about these people/our people" zone and into a "This is how we can write good fiction that doesn't other" zone.
Actually, I did some good work yesterday, in between things. And I shall do some work today, now that my legs have ceased to wobble. Also, I'm finally at the stage with work where everything I read makes sense. Most of today I looked at my computer and wondered what I was seeing. That's when I'd toddle back to bed and sleep a bit more.
I guess the virus isn't gone yet. It's going, though, in its own slow manner.
I'm still looking for those writing techniques, BTW. I wasn't trying to say, "Woe is me, I am under-represented in fiction." Though I am, it is irrelevant. As a writer, I ought to be perfectly capable of writing about my own culture/religion/everything (although publishers might not accept this, and though I may not be a good enough writer yet to do it as well as it should be done), and I am fully aware how many of us do not see ourselves in fiction.
What I want are writing techniques and narrative techniques and modes of explanation that have worked in a novel for individuals when they see a non-mainstream character (especially one that is close to their own personal experience, and especially where said techniques etc are actually effective). I want to know what works from a reader's perspective and from a comfort-zone perspective. I will then analyse this material and apply it in various contexts and writings and work out what it's doing, in cultural terms and with tropes and etc (much etc) and then we can start to talk about changing paradigms.
I'd also love to know if anyone's read anything on this by other writers/critics/thinkers/whoever. In fact, I'd especially love to know. I don't want to reinvent the wheel here, I just want to move away from the angsty "Where is the fiction about these people/our people" zone and into a "This is how we can write good fiction that doesn't other" zone.
August 17, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-08-17T23:02:00
I gave careful consideration to types of snow this afternoon. I was colder today than when I walked in wet snow in London, twenty-um years ago. I was colder today than when snow fell on me in Canada twenty-even-more-um years ago* because really, it was a little snow I was walking in today and a lot of rain, and with the rain came a wind from the Snowies, and the Snowies were possibly 8 degrees colder than Canberra. My clothes were fine, but my umbrella didn't like me, and kept blowing inside out - and I still can't put on gloves**.
It wasn't bad to actually walk at first, which is just as well, for walk I had to, but it was exhausting. I can't have walked more than two miles outside, and most of that was rain, and a slice was sunshine and a little dribble was snow. It's the third time this week I've walked that path (for library/post office/supermarket seems to reoccur a lot right now*** ) and I wasn't carrying much of anything for the first third, but it was a much harder walk.
I analysed the coldness of snow vs slush vs rain for the last half mile in particular, for the groceries**** and the books***** made everything difficult when I didn't distract myself.
So snow that has just transformed into rain and is cut through by a wind straight from the snowfields is the wet stuff I like least. And if I go out tomorrow AT ALL, it will be with a friend who has a car. For I didn't achieve any work AT ALL once I got home****** and haven't since. My coat is drying over the heater******* and I'm contemplating a very early night. Today's work is now officially to be done tomorrow and Sunday. It may be that I wear pyjamas and my down dressing gown to accomplish more work in greater style, too.
*But when snow ceased falling, that was when it was really cold - since the temperature doesn't get below about -8 here, so we're only taking moderate coldness (maybe 4 degrees)
**because of the damage I did to my finger, which is healing but still restricts me from some activities, like washing dishes, putting rubbish out, wearing gloves, and doing almost anything while chatting on the phone
***although I forgot the chemist and completely forgot to buy batteries...again
****about 5 kg worth
*****about the same, though three were Pratchett and if I had full use of both hands and the air had been dry, I could have lightened my load by reading my way home
******though I did manage to roast a chicken and read some Pratchett
*******and has been for six hours...
It wasn't bad to actually walk at first, which is just as well, for walk I had to, but it was exhausting. I can't have walked more than two miles outside, and most of that was rain, and a slice was sunshine and a little dribble was snow. It's the third time this week I've walked that path (for library/post office/supermarket seems to reoccur a lot right now*** ) and I wasn't carrying much of anything for the first third, but it was a much harder walk.
I analysed the coldness of snow vs slush vs rain for the last half mile in particular, for the groceries**** and the books***** made everything difficult when I didn't distract myself.
So snow that has just transformed into rain and is cut through by a wind straight from the snowfields is the wet stuff I like least. And if I go out tomorrow AT ALL, it will be with a friend who has a car. For I didn't achieve any work AT ALL once I got home****** and haven't since. My coat is drying over the heater******* and I'm contemplating a very early night. Today's work is now officially to be done tomorrow and Sunday. It may be that I wear pyjamas and my down dressing gown to accomplish more work in greater style, too.
*But when snow ceased falling, that was when it was really cold - since the temperature doesn't get below about -8 here, so we're only taking moderate coldness (maybe 4 degrees)
**because of the damage I did to my finger, which is healing but still restricts me from some activities, like washing dishes, putting rubbish out, wearing gloves, and doing almost anything while chatting on the phone
***although I forgot the chemist and completely forgot to buy batteries...again
****about 5 kg worth
*****about the same, though three were Pratchett and if I had full use of both hands and the air had been dry, I could have lightened my load by reading my way home
******though I did manage to roast a chicken and read some Pratchett
*******and has been for six hours...
August 16, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-08-17T14:21:00
"The sad truth about the book world is that it doesn’t need more yes-saying novelists and certainly no more yes-saying critics. We are drowning in them. What we need more of, now that newspaper book sections are shrinking and vanishing like glaciers, are excellent and authoritative and punishing critics — perceptive enough to single out the voices that matter for legitimate praise, abusive enough to remind us that not everyone gets, or deserves, a gold star." (Dwight Garner)
The first half of the article rehashes the usual stories, but the second half points out the price of lack of robust criticism and considers the options.
We don't have to take personal potshots at anyone - but we really ought to be pushing ourselves to think and have opinions and to express them and be willing to argue them. We don't have to hate anyone to do this, and we don't have to dislike every book we read. We might have to, however, be guilty of clear thinking and independent thought.
The first half of the article rehashes the usual stories, but the second half points out the price of lack of robust criticism and considers the options.
We don't have to take personal potshots at anyone - but we really ought to be pushing ourselves to think and have opinions and to express them and be willing to argue them. We don't have to hate anyone to do this, and we don't have to dislike every book we read. We might have to, however, be guilty of clear thinking and independent thought.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-17T13:45:00
One of the reasons it's hard to change the way we write, why it's easier to have a male hero with great physical abilities than a female disabled hero, for instance, or why it's harder to write Jewish characters, or cultural minorities, or trans characters is because of reader expectations. Somehow a writer has to not only write the character well (not just give a darker skin to someone who is otherwise a Poor White, for instance, which reflects a novel I read this week), but has to somehow convince the reader that the prior expectations they might have of any groups or individuals ought not be brought into play. My Jewish characters are Australian Jewish, for instance. "But that person isn't Jewish," I've been told a couple of times. "They don't act Jewish." Our knowledge of Judaism in fiction is generally filtered through the US understanding of Judaism, and it's quite different to Judaism in Commonwealth countries. Not only Commonwealth countries: being Jewish in India or Jamaica is very different to my own experience.
We have assumptions for a whole host of aspects of our lives. I fight assumptions concerning the Middle Ages all the time. People didn't wash. People starved. People were stupid. Wars were endemic. There was no rule of law.
Lots of writers talk about how to get a wider range of backgrounds for characters into their novels and how to get said novels accepted by publishers. But how do we get aspects of real people accepted by readers when the readers are carrying their stereotypes of categorises to which they assign those people?
In other words, we tussle a lot with step one which is understanding that the worlds we write don't have to have characters who look like us or have the backgrounds we're most familiar with. How do we accomplish step 2, which is convincing others without resorting to polemic?
I'm having so much trouble explaining what I'm after here.
What I would really like (which this post is actually about) is help. What techniques can I use in my fiction to write a fascinating character from a background that doesn't appear nearly often enough in fiction without triggering a "This can't be that kind of person because it doesn't meet what I think all these people are like"? What are some good examples of these techniques?
I've hit a spot in my learning where I just can't seem to work out the answers I need for my writing and for my teaching. Suggestions of writing techniques or examples of this being done well would be most appreciated. The ones I've been able to find are mainly of outsider recommendations. I suspect that what I really want is to know what works for people inside a group or a culture. What feels true and sound and why it feels right.
There may be no simple techniques. Or complex ones. It may be a terribly difficult matter. But if I don't ask, I may assume this instead of learning the writing skills I need to learn, so that I can write the characters I want to write and do them justice.
We have assumptions for a whole host of aspects of our lives. I fight assumptions concerning the Middle Ages all the time. People didn't wash. People starved. People were stupid. Wars were endemic. There was no rule of law.
Lots of writers talk about how to get a wider range of backgrounds for characters into their novels and how to get said novels accepted by publishers. But how do we get aspects of real people accepted by readers when the readers are carrying their stereotypes of categorises to which they assign those people?
In other words, we tussle a lot with step one which is understanding that the worlds we write don't have to have characters who look like us or have the backgrounds we're most familiar with. How do we accomplish step 2, which is convincing others without resorting to polemic?
I'm having so much trouble explaining what I'm after here.
What I would really like (which this post is actually about) is help. What techniques can I use in my fiction to write a fascinating character from a background that doesn't appear nearly often enough in fiction without triggering a "This can't be that kind of person because it doesn't meet what I think all these people are like"? What are some good examples of these techniques?
I've hit a spot in my learning where I just can't seem to work out the answers I need for my writing and for my teaching. Suggestions of writing techniques or examples of this being done well would be most appreciated. The ones I've been able to find are mainly of outsider recommendations. I suspect that what I really want is to know what works for people inside a group or a culture. What feels true and sound and why it feels right.
There may be no simple techniques. Or complex ones. It may be a terribly difficult matter. But if I don't ask, I may assume this instead of learning the writing skills I need to learn, so that I can write the characters I want to write and do them justice.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-17T12:12:00
It's snowing in Canberra. This is unusual, for our climate is so dry and full of sunshine.
Unfortunately for me, my part of Canberra is all about icy rain (how can it be a wet three degrees outside and not snowing?) and, of course, my usual weather change reactions. I was going to warn everyone about weather last night, but couldn't work out what was happening, and so didn't. Now I know: it was snow. I still have the sense of weather, including a possible storm, but it's miserable-cold. I strongly suspect that my messages this afternoon will include a special treat and that I'll come home and have a hot bath.
Anyhow, friends who live in the vicinity of me (up to 400 miles away) - the weather is not going to be beautiful for a bit. Enjoy the snow if it deigns to fall, and it's hot chocolate all the way for the rest of it.
Unfortunately for me, my part of Canberra is all about icy rain (how can it be a wet three degrees outside and not snowing?) and, of course, my usual weather change reactions. I was going to warn everyone about weather last night, but couldn't work out what was happening, and so didn't. Now I know: it was snow. I still have the sense of weather, including a possible storm, but it's miserable-cold. I strongly suspect that my messages this afternoon will include a special treat and that I'll come home and have a hot bath.
Anyhow, friends who live in the vicinity of me (up to 400 miles away) - the weather is not going to be beautiful for a bit. Enjoy the snow if it deigns to fall, and it's hot chocolate all the way for the rest of it.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-16T21:21:00
Teaching was quite hard work tonight, but the class seemed to like it. I went through different genres and what the expectations of them are, what the range of word lengths are, and how they suit first and third person narrative. It was much chalk and talk, but there were some excellent questions and the students are getting themselves oriented. They're moving away, I think, from thinking about writing a Great Australian Novel towards writing the novel that they can write best. I hope so, anyhow. I would love to see some historical fiction from this group, and a romance and maybe a biography.
Next week we talk about plotting (I shall prepare my evil laugh) and also make a start on worldbuilding techniques.
Next week we talk about plotting (I shall prepare my evil laugh) and also make a start on worldbuilding techniques.
August 15, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-08-16T14:56:00
One of the interviews is on the web now. Alan Baxter said some very interesting things about my book when he first reviewed it, and I asked him about them, and we ended up in conversation. I rather suspect he'd like to hear about more books he could read that have the features we discuss. I know I would be. You can find it here: http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/conversation-gillian-polack/
The other interview will be around later in the Month - I'll let you know when it appears.
The other interview will be around later in the Month - I'll let you know when it appears.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-16T11:50:00
This morning all my interviews are coming home to roost. By 'all,' I mean two. I have questions to answer and thoughts to think.
Two of my adult nephews are coming home to roost, too. Not visiting, so much as popping up online and asking to be considered as new followers on social media, even though they've been there forever and I've known them for much longer than forever. They wanted me to admit I knew them. This is evidence that there is no Evil Gillian, just a rather disturbing family sense of humour.
Spellcheck doesn't like me. Whenever I type my name, it wants to change it to Lillian. It appears there is a Lillian Polack, in Denmark. I wonder if her spellcheck ever wants to turn her into me?
This morning was brought to you with an air of randomness, made even greater for the universe having realised I wasn't paid properly last term* and me being due some money (which I'm seriously thinking of spending on accommodation for the next NatCon). I'm in danger of getting average wages this semester, what with all the teaching and the scholarship and now some backpay. I found myself telling writing students, "Only a very few writers make a living from their work" and then realising that, just at the moment, I'm one of those few. Long may it last! Imagine, having enough money to possibly pay for a comfortable convention on my birthday weekend. And I could go to the movies, if I could find the time. Not today, though. My next task is to wrestle Medieval Christianity (a chapter thereon) into submission and then to look at the article I was writing last night, and then to ponder a fictional concept (a possible short story) and then to run more of the messages that keep cropping up and then to teach. After teaching, I must write 500 words of my conclusion, for without a conclusion I will not be able to submit the idiot doctorate and turn into Dr Who.
To be honest, today doesn't make much sense. That's OK, though, for it's not a bad day. I'm still basking in the very good news of yesterday.**
*I was paid for some of last term, but there were gaps. Those gaps have now been identified and have proven to be somewhat larger than we thought. This is rather good, for last term I was too busy to spend the money I wasn't getting and this term I'm trying to save a bit in case I find the job I'm after and have to move. Some of the back pay will go into savings, but, since it's more than I expected, I think I will give myself the special treat I have dreamed of for a long time: a NatCon on my birthday where I get to go to room parties and see all my friends and generally have a fine time.
**If anyone is reading this and wants to know the good news and can't get at the locked post in LJ, let me know and I"ll copy it to you. It's not a secret - it's just that I can't post the details in public.
Two of my adult nephews are coming home to roost, too. Not visiting, so much as popping up online and asking to be considered as new followers on social media, even though they've been there forever and I've known them for much longer than forever. They wanted me to admit I knew them. This is evidence that there is no Evil Gillian, just a rather disturbing family sense of humour.
Spellcheck doesn't like me. Whenever I type my name, it wants to change it to Lillian. It appears there is a Lillian Polack, in Denmark. I wonder if her spellcheck ever wants to turn her into me?
This morning was brought to you with an air of randomness, made even greater for the universe having realised I wasn't paid properly last term* and me being due some money (which I'm seriously thinking of spending on accommodation for the next NatCon). I'm in danger of getting average wages this semester, what with all the teaching and the scholarship and now some backpay. I found myself telling writing students, "Only a very few writers make a living from their work" and then realising that, just at the moment, I'm one of those few. Long may it last! Imagine, having enough money to possibly pay for a comfortable convention on my birthday weekend. And I could go to the movies, if I could find the time. Not today, though. My next task is to wrestle Medieval Christianity (a chapter thereon) into submission and then to look at the article I was writing last night, and then to ponder a fictional concept (a possible short story) and then to run more of the messages that keep cropping up and then to teach. After teaching, I must write 500 words of my conclusion, for without a conclusion I will not be able to submit the idiot doctorate and turn into Dr Who.
To be honest, today doesn't make much sense. That's OK, though, for it's not a bad day. I'm still basking in the very good news of yesterday.**
*I was paid for some of last term, but there were gaps. Those gaps have now been identified and have proven to be somewhat larger than we thought. This is rather good, for last term I was too busy to spend the money I wasn't getting and this term I'm trying to save a bit in case I find the job I'm after and have to move. Some of the back pay will go into savings, but, since it's more than I expected, I think I will give myself the special treat I have dreamed of for a long time: a NatCon on my birthday where I get to go to room parties and see all my friends and generally have a fine time.
**If anyone is reading this and wants to know the good news and can't get at the locked post in LJ, let me know and I"ll copy it to you. It's not a secret - it's just that I can't post the details in public.
