A Writer’s Life

North Korea Hops to Giant-Rabbit Breeding

I saw this report on Nightline on Sky News the other night, which was a much stronger report. I think it’s awful. First to breed rabbits to such unnatural sizes can’t be healthy for the rabbits (their bones?), and then to do that purely for animal husbandry? To eat them and make money? If this was genetic engineering people would be outraged. Why aren’t they now? This seems no less natural to me.

Maybe there’s a German version of PETA who could intervene? I’ll have to look and find out. Maybe one voice, my voice, doesn’t count for a lot, but it’s something.

Cricket chiefs ban Mexican Wave

Earlier this summer I called Cricket Australia stupid (and worse) for trying to stop people from calling the English cricketers poms. I don’t like it, but let’s be realistic - what were they going to do, eject 20,000 people? I think not. Well, now they’ve done something even more stupid in my books - they’ve banned the Mexican Wave at all cricket grounds.

I understand why, of course. There’s a safety concern with people throwing cups and bottles into the air, and nobody wants to get food and beer thrown on them for sitting where they’re told to sit. They had to do something, but this is a bit stupid. The Wave goes around the entire ground - at Sydney that’s 40,000 people, at Melbourne 80,000. And there are only so many police. What are they going to do, throw out everyone in the ground? Of course they can’t.

The Wave is just a part of cricket; what they should do is eject the people who throw objects, and so far they’ve done a pretty good job of that. But to me Cricket Australia’s language on this has been ridiculous. They’re a beaucracy. There are so many concerns about cricket right now, and this is what they choose to take a stand on? Urgh!

Vanstone on-song with pride

Amanda Vanstone’s been in the news a lot lately. First after Howard’s reshuffle, and now because of this new anthem she’s written. I guess the idea is for “Under Southern Stars” to be played in schools after the national anthem, not to replace it; the lyrics seem to represent Australia quite well in any case, even if it is heavy on being a “shining light for freedom”. I’ve always thought of Australia as more of a land of second chances, but hey, that’s me.

I don’t understand why we need a new anthem, though. It would seem more suited if we became a Republic, or wanted to reevaluate our national identity, redesigning the flag and anthem to represent Aboriginal culture. But at the moment neither of those seem very likely, so I can’t see the point. And wouldn’t singing 2 verses of Advance Australia Fair, then “Under Southern Stars” and school anthems take a lot of time out of an assembly? What about learning?

Still, it’ll be interesting to see where the idea goes from here. It could bring the Republic debate back into the open again, in an election year. And there’s a bit of irony that “Under Southern Stars” be written by Vandstone, after the asylum seekers and her having been shifted from the government. Hm, I wonder what Labour would think if they won the election and we became a Republic, but Vandstone’s song became the new anthem…

Interests: Reading, writing, history, mythology, movies, music, cricket, tennis.

Favourite Movies: The Cider House Rules, Blade Runner, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, Finding Forrester, The Green Mile, The Man Who Cried, Pan’s Labyrinth, Lost in Translation.

Favourite Music: (pop/rock) U2, Coldplay, SavageGarden, The White Stripes, Tina Arena, Sarah McLachlan, Crowded House, Joni Mitchell, KT Tunstall, Gotye, Sarah Blasko (scores) John Williams, Michael Kamen (R.I.P.), Alan Silvestri, Vangelis, Rachel Portman, Howard Shore.

Favourite Books: Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear, The Green Mile by Stephen King, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

On writing: I like the initial creation of a story most, when the characters and plot come to life for the first time. I write by hand and I write four to five pages a day. The story starts to come together when I’m editing it. I’ve become much better at editing, looking back at my earlier stories. I enjoy that part of it more now.

On ideas: Sometimes something will just jump out at me from a magazine or newspaper, but usually I’ll start with the characters and try to develop an interesting setting that would impact them or society; the impact of a new technology or drug, etc. I also read a lot; if you don’t read, you can’t write.

On the future: I’d love to have a novel published. I’ve had 10 small publications so far and interest from several agents. Realistically I’m still a long way from that; maybe when I’m 27 (another 4 years or so) I’ll be ready to send more of my work away. I find it difficult looking back at my early work now… something like Monica Davis shows how far I’ve come since A Glimpse of the Future.

On the world: I’d like to be optimistic, but it’s hard to be optimistic right now. Ever since 9/11 the world’s been a different, scarier place, and it’s hard to see that changing. The Terror War touches us all; through our televisions, the Internet, on trains and buses and planes, at security terminals and shopping malls. You can argue whether the war is being fought the right way (and much of it is a mess), but the most important thing to remember is to make sure we don’t lose ourselves in the process; give away too many of our freedoms and what do we have left to fight for? The problem is this isn’t just a Terror War, it’s an age of fear. We live in a time when terrorism, abductions, paedophilia, drugs, AIDS, etc. are more visible than ever, brought home every minute, every day by 24 hour news… it paralyses people, and an irresponsible media covering terror for ratings doesn’t help anyone.

On Roger Federer: He’s a joy to watch. He makes shots no one would dream of making and carries himself so well. I’d love to see Federer win the Grand Slam, but it’s great seeing Nadal doing well; their rivalry is good for the sport and hopefully it will keep Federer hungry - last thing we want is for him to quit early like Borg.

On the 06/07 Ashes: I certainly didn’t pick 5-0. The last series in England was amazing and we were never going to have that series again, but this was… disappointing. England never showed up and after Adelaide they didn’t seem to believe they could win. Ponting was brilliant, though, and it was a fitting farewell for Langer, Warne and McGrath.

Just finished reading Lisey’s Story by Stephen King. What a great book. So many people think King is a horror writer, but he’s so much more than that; he’s a storyteller, a writer who creates vivid, real characters, and Lisey’s Story is a beautiful, sad love story.

What I admire the most about King, though, is his gift with language. He creates scenes so well and he understands how language is unique to people: the references between family, friends, lovers that only they can know. He gets the small things right, and that’s what brings his stories to life.

I wish more writers would pay attention to language, narrative. There’s such a trend of visual writing right now that feels hollow to me. And then there’s the other end of the spectrum, writers using “big” vocabularies to describe simple settings, making scenes more important than they really are. Urgh! It’s depressing.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a good read, pick up a copy of Lisey’s Story. You’ll see how good books should be written: with a story, a heart, and some of the more real characters in recent fiction. As Scott would say - SOWISA, babyluv.