Kalinda Ashton, whose debut novel The Danger Game has caused a bit of a splash here and overseas (it’s longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC prize) made some useful remarks re writing in an interview with Stephen Romei in The Weekend Australian Review (4-5 Dec 2010). Aspiring writers have heard if before but it is salutary to say it again, especially, as Kalinda does, in a nice pithy way:
- If you want to be published for fame and fortune … choose another profession.
- There are no short cuts, so be ready to experiment, fail, abandon, cut, reverse and shift point of view.
- Get used to spending a lot of time alone, often frustrated or blocked, or approaching structural change with deep dread.
- Find a reason to write apart from to get published or merely because you need to express yourself [such as] a genuine desire to do something, say something, question something in your work.
- Persist, and finally
- Do not think that being published changes everything, because it doesn’t.
The Danger Game is published by Sleepers Publishing and you can buy a copy from Readings here.