(no subject)

Last year I had a totally fun weekend teaching a short course on history for fiction writers at the Writers' Centre in Sydney. This year I get to do a mini-version for Canberra. 2 1/2 hours of helping writers sort out what they need to do if they're going to use history effectively in their fiction. My favourite bit is helping people sort out the difference between the questions witers ask and the ones historians answer. My students tend to prefer learning how to weave historical detail into a novel without weighing the plot down. As I keep explaining to writers, if I teach this sort of subject, then I get to enjoy their novels much more.

You can find all the details here, though you possibly want to note that the workshop is soon (2 May).

(no subject)

One of the reasons I re-read books from my childhood (the other is something to do with being addicted to fine reading) is to find out things I already knew, but hadn't actually understood.

What I suddenly understood today was why I keep looking for writers who portray their universes from an intimate viewpoint, rather than from the global. Why I like to know the words a character refuses to say aloud. Why I love reading about odd emotions that flicker through a mind. Why I am most moved when magic and danger arrive gently and are only a little bigger than I can touch. Why a whole universe that fits in a country town makes more sense than one that spans galaxies. This is how William Mayne writes.