The uni holidays are here! My final assignment for the year was the prologue of my novel-in-progress. I have a squillion story ideas and a repository of story beginnings from that time I did #100DaysOfOpeningLines, but I decided on the prologue as a litmus test, or more precisely, a check of vital stats after having parked my novel for many years. I am pleased to report that there were signs of life and I found my voice through the painful but necessary task of punching out 1,800 words to a deadline. I shall work on the opening chapters in the break!
I celebrated the end of the academic year with a literary weekend in Melbourne, attending the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling event featuring Helen Garner in conversation with Annabel Crabb, and workshopping with my writer friends in our monthly session at the gorgeous State Library of Victoria, where incidentally, Garner wrote her first novel, Monkey Grip (1977).
One of the highlights of my Professional Writing and Editing studies at RMIT has been the community I have found. My otherwise solitary vocation is infinitely richer, and my writing and editing eye increasingly sharper, through friendships with students, teachers, and alumni.
I hope to also foster a community here with Raptorial Writes and now, Raptorial Bites, a short story book club that launches in this issue. I hope you’ll join me. Stay tuned for IRL Raptorial Writes and Bites catchups coming soon (get in touch to let me know if that interests you).
Helen Garner
A life in literature
The Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling event, Helen Garner: A Life in Literature, marked Garner’s 80th birthday with a ‘far-reaching discussion about life, literature, love and the enduring importance of words’. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear the thoughts of a literary icon and three high-profile fans: Virginia Gay, Jennifer Down, and Annabel Crabb.
I loved Jennifer Down’s speech. She spoke of the impact of Garner’s work on her reading and writing life, from vivid memories of the family holiday where she first read The Children’s Bach (1974) to her joy at walking the halls of Melbourne University as Garner had done. She spoke of Garner’s 'observational skills and ability to render complex relationships in few words’, and the way she bares her characters’ foibles on the page without judgment. From my reading of a few essays in Everywhere I Look (2016), I’d say Garner does the same when examining herself - exposing her own foibles in an honest, vulnerable way.
Jennifer closed her speech with a reading of a passage from The Children’s Bach that she uses in her teaching as an example of a perfectly punctuated run-on sentence. It was a breathtaking passage that captured the essence of large chunks of a character’s life in Garner’s trademark observant way. On hearing the words, which I imagine were embellished with a liberal sprinkling of commas, I understood the logic in Garner’s style decision — the syntax and punctuation mirroring the little chance we get for pause as life segues from one milestone to the next and the next over a lifetime.
When Garner took the stage for a conversation with Annabel Crabb, she remarked that while listening to Jennifer’s reading of The Children’s Bach, the book she considers her finest work, she couldn’t believe she’d written it.
This incredulousness and self-doubt were a revelation and a moment of deflation for me. If a writer of Garner’s calibre feels that way, how will I overcome my own self-doubt? Fortunately, she shared insights that went some way to offering hope. The diary she’d kept at the time of writing The Children’s Bach was a reminder of how hard she’d slogged in writing it — the book did not materialise with fully formed sentences. And therein lies a nugget Garner extracted from that reminder, which I paraphrase here:
The agonised bit is an essential part of the writing process. You have to be sure you can’t do it before you can — you have to go into that part of you that’s abject and vulnerable and helpless.
She added, ‘It’s a sign of good faith [to go through the process of uncertainty].’
There is so much more I could write on the event, particularly on Garner’s selection of literary elements and devices while writing This House of Grief (2014), a work of non-fiction about a murder trial for which she carried out extensive research, but I’ll share my notes and thoughts on that another time.
I will, however, leave you with another of Garner’s nuggets, more on living than writing, which came about when the conversation inevitably touched on the controversy and backlash surrounding her book The First Stone: Some Questions About Sex and Power (1995) on an incident of sexual harassment at the University of Melbourne. In response to Crabb’s questioning on the impact that the backlash, particularly from feminists, had on her at the time, Garner said she ‘felt free’ with the realisation that she no longer had to please anyone.
Raptorial Writes
A monthly writing prompt
At my recent workshopping session, I shared a story I had written some years back, based on Edward Hopper’s Intermission. Hopper’s art is rich with story. His often solitary characters and sparse settings make the viewer wonder what is going on, what happened in the moment before the scene and what will come in the moments after. He captures mood so well.
This month, I invite you to create an ekphrastic poem based on Hopper’s Portrait of Orleans (pictured). This MasterClass article offers tips on creating an ekphrastic poem. Set a timer for 10 minutes and write without censorship.
I’d love to know how you go! Post your poem (raw or refined) to Instagram using #RaptorialWrites, or share it in the comments here. Happy writing!
Raptorial Bites
A monthly short story book club
Thanks to all who showed interest in a short story book club. Each month I will select a short story for reading and discussion. If there is a need to purchase or borrow a book, I will flag it with 2-months’ notice.
This month, I chose a story that features in George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (2021) — Anton P. Chekhov’s The Darling (1899). The story is available in a discussion thread with a link to a free online copy courtesy of Project Gutenberg.
Editing services
Do you have a short story that needs an edit before you submit for publication or competition? Whether it’s a structural edit, a copyedit, a proofread, or all or some of the above, I’d love to help! Students get a 20% discount.