Today, I went into Sydney and listened to Garth Nix talk about his books and more importantly his writing. He said nothing that I didn’t already know, but it was good to listen to someone who has been through what I’m going through now.

He wrote for 15 years before he got published, and as I watched him talking I could see that he was nervous and that he was just a normal person who happened to find success. I daydreamed about the time I might get to do a book signing - and I know that, apart from the actual talking in public, I would dread reading from one of my books (because my voice would drone on and on…) and I’d fear the question time.

There wasn’t a huge gathering, and my friend and I felt like over-aged teeny boppers (we had a giggle about that), but it was an interesting hour and we did get our books signed.

Garth said that stories can come from anything and everywhere, the only thing holding you back is your own imagination. He demonstrated this by telling a story that was true but it was laced with untruth. I could tell the untrue parts, but it’s all in the telling because he made it sound believable - and that is the key to writing fantasy.

On another note. A dear friend of mine, Lermy, said the following in an email:

I’ve always been of a mind that you can only write so many words every day. What form they come in doesn’t matter - non-fiction or fiction, emails, forum posts - we all have our limit and once we’ve reached it for the day we’re written out.

I agree with this statement. It makes perfect sense and I think we all need to save the energy we use on emails and forum posts etc for our actual writing. And now, having agreed to that statement, I’m going to put it into practice and go start my rewrite.

Filed under: Books & Movies, Writing: