Digital Portfolio

This piece was written as the Major Work for ENGL8017 Writing the Past. I discovered during that subject how much I enjoy researching for creative writing. I also discovered how easy it is to become side-tracked by all the fascinating treasures dug up in the process.

This piece began essentially as another piece of creative non-fiction, a memoir from my father-in-law’s life. In the drafting process, I immersed myself in John’s travel diary, flight crash reports, maps and tourism brochures. I became bogged down. One peer suggested it read more like a travel-log and challenged me to ask myself, as Dr Kelley Gardiner had suggested to us, “What is the ‘thing’ you have come here to say?”. I realised two things: one, there was enough conflict and drama there to simply tell a good narrative and two, it would have to become largely fiction as it was impossible to guage what John’s inner conflicts and motivations were: I would have to make those up. This piece taught me to bring readers into the story – less exposition, more dialogue, slow down the pace when something is important and press delete for all that’s not.

I wrote this micro-fiction for the subject ENGL8022 Short Form Writing. We were to write a piece designed for Twitter, limited to no more than 20 tweets, each a maximum of 280 characters. The exercise taught me how to say more with less, how to utilise gaps and silences to create rhythm, suspense, tension. How micro-fiction can look like poetry, with its heavy use of imagery. How to use new digital platforms.

Feedback received helped me to see where technique could improve the effect: using the platform effectively for ease of reading; using position of words, syntax, even new physical lines for clarity (for example to distinguish who is speaking).

I had feedback that surprised me: some peers saw humour where I had intended to convey guilt and shame for deliberately causing one’s child pain. It was no less emotionally effective for this unexpected interpretation though. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. It taught me something beyond technique: while for me an emotional hook is what helps me find form for a story, once that story is released, every reader will interact with it uniquely, and make the story their own. Which to me is the greatest power creative writing wields.

I wrote this micro-fiction for the very first exercise in my very first subject of the Master of Creative Writing (ENGL8010 Creative Writing Seminar 1). It is included here because it shows me the potential of a glimmer of an idea.

It was a task to focus on the essentials of narrative: action, change or consequence, use of a name, gesture, potent adjectives, use of the senses. The character came to life for me and I wrote more about her in subsequent exercises. But then I got stuck. I was telling, not showing. I was consumed by trying to convey “themes” and ended up being didactic and too controlling. I had to let her go.

Until recently, when other writing projects brought me back to these themes and a possible new way of writing them: using ficto-feminism as my approach.

I re-visited this first scene I wrote about Sarah and realised it is good. It does have potential. There is powerful conflict there and a chance to explore dark alleys in Sarah’s future choices. Now that I have gained more knowledge (writing genres) and skills (character development, dialogue, narrative structure, focalisation, world building through research) I feel ready to engage with Sarah again.

Watch this space!