Welcome to week three of Writing Fundamentals. For those of you who are new to the craft of writing, I really hope I’ve opened a window into this exciting world. For readers who are old hands perhaps you’ve been reminded of some technical aspects that may be worth considering in future works. During the last two sessions we’ve talked about how to begin writing and touched on important elements such as setting, storyline and theme. A discussion on characters followed which leads us to how you are actually going to tell your story. Every story is told by a voice and that voice and the way an author uses it to tell a story make up the story’s point of view. When writing a story you need to think about which of your characters should be telling your story and how you want the story told. For a writer this is one of the most major decisions to make.

The two major options to choose from are first person and third person and both have their advantages and disadvantages.

If you use first person ‘I’ to tell your story then you can only relate what that character experiences, what he/she sees and feels. So once you start writing in first person you are actually taking on that character’s persona and telling the story as that character. A great example of this is All Quiet On The Western Front.

First person often feels the most natural way to tell a story, after all it is the voice we use to tell the story of our own lives. As the author you literally throw the reader’s imagination into the body, head, experiences and emotions of your character. If you were an actor you would stay ‘in character’ for the duration of the time you are writing the work. Of course being ‘in character’ for the duration of a work has its limitations. It can get boring only hearing one person’s point of view which means you have to be committed and stay true to the voice you have chosen. Most importantly you can obviously only include details in the story that your character would know. Every story has a number of stories within it that could be told, however by choosing the first person we choose to tell only one of those stories.

Having said all that Charles Dicken’s novel David Copperfield begins this way: I am born. Such an opening really involves the reader.

The second major option is third person. Third person tends to be broken into two different forms.

a) Third person limited allows the writer to choose one character and to listen in on that character’s thoughts, so that the reader sees things from that character’s vantage point. As the author although you may have many other characters in your story you are limiting the action and information the reader receives to that which centres on and/or can be known by only one character in the story. So limited third person allows the writer to show us the feelings and thoughts of a number of characters, with the main ‘action’ usually concentrated through one main character. You aren’t limited by the use of ‘I’ so you can use any voice, any style of structure or language.

Here is an excerpt from one of my favourite writers, Ernest Hemingway.‘The two boats started off in the dark. Nick heard the oarlocks of the other boat quite away ahead of them in the mist. The Indians rowed with quick choppy strokes. Nick lay back with his father’s arms around him. It was cold on the water. The Indian who was rowing them was working very hard, but the other boat moved further ahead in the mist all the time. ‘Where are we going, Dad?’ Nick asked.’

 In Hemingway’s Indian Camp the narrator begins by telling the reader that some boats have pulled up on a lake shore and that people are getting into them. Then the narrator directs us to one particular character, Nick and that character becomes the focus for how we see the story.

Your second choice within third person is;

b) Third person omniscient allows the narrator of the story complete access to any information, past or present, stated or silent, enacted or thought, relative to any character in the story. The author can basically narrate anything at all, hence the term omniscient or all-knowing. Third person omniscient is an immediate choice for many storytellers as you can report on anything that’s happening in the story, including what different characters are feeling and seeing. It’s particularly useful for large casts of characters and various settings. Its great benefit is being able to move focus from character to character, one scene to another, one time period to another. As long as the story flows and the reader doesn’t get lost it’s a great way to tell a story.

Here is an excerpt from Disquiet by Julia Leigh.

‘The woman was dressed in a tweed pencil skirt, a grey silk blouse and her dark hair was pulled back into a loose chignon, the way her mother once used to wear it. Her right arm was broken and she’d rested it in a silk scarf sling which co-ordinated unobtrusively with her blouse. By her feet, a suitcase. The children – the boy was nine, the girl was six and carrying her favourite doll – were saddled with backpacks and they each guarded a small suitcase of their own. The woman stepped forward and went straight up to the gate – iron-spiked, imposing – looking for the lock. Instead she found the surveillance system, a palm-pad, and she rested her palm on the electronic pad for a long moment until she was defeated. Unfazed, she returned to collect her suitcase and, without a backward glance at the children, turned off the driveway onto the grassy verge.’

The above excerpt is written from a very distant omniscient viewpoint and contains no feeling whatsoever. Although the reader does receive some internal knowledge; the way her mother once used to wear it. The piece could also be written from the mother’s viewpoint, in which case the point of view would be third person omniscient.

When deciding what point of view I should use for a work I always ask myself;

1. Which character is the most important in this scene?

2. Do I want that character to always be the most important character in every scene, Or

3. would the story be better if I told it from different perspectives.

It is a question of what you are trying to achieve in your work and also what you want the reader to come away with when they have finished reading the work.

Exercises:

1. Finish this thought: ‘When I heard the door shut behind him…’

2. Describe your first kiss.

3. If you chose two characters and listed some detail about them last week, write a scene in which they sit down to talk in the setting you chose in week 1.

4. Write a short scene between a nurse in a psychiatric ward and one of her patients using the omniscient ‘all-knowing’ point of view.

5. Try writing a short story using the elements discussed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this introductory series to the fundamentals of writing.

Editing is one of those processes that can be time-consuming, hair-pulling, enjoyable, go outside and put your head in a bucket of water or a mixture of all four. The editing of Absolution Creek (like the writing of it) has been stalled intermittantly once again by mother nature. With 130 pages to go this edit has been a little more difficult than my previous two novels. I knew it would be. I’d been living in the world of the Wangallon Gordons for nearly ten years by the time book 2 came out and Absolution Creek is a brand new story with new characters, although the bush setting is still pivotal. It’s a hard call to write a novel in one year at the best of times. Throw in an interweaving narrative, historical detail which requires research and the determination to write something that is a little different and it’s a ‘task’ not for the faint-hearted. Occassionally I envy those big name authors with their assistants and researchers, but only occassionally. I like the creative rush of a deadline. I live my stories as I write them and, as the researcher and writer, I love discovering different elements that combined with a solid plot make the narrative hopefully ‘zing’.   A well-known writing friend told me last week that I hadn’t been on the treadmill long enough. That come book 7 or 8 I’d be wishing for some assistance or at least some inspiration to keep the old ‘pen’ sliding across the page. Well maybe I will. But I reckon I’ll be pretty chuffed if people are still reading my work in eight books time.

So what am I checking during the editing process of Absolution Creek? Character motivation, timeline and clarity of the two interweaving time periods. I also have some of the same characters appearing in both time periods so I need to ensure that readers can clearly differentiate between character ages.

Here’s a picture of the manuscript for The Bark Cutters. The editorial markups for both it and A Changing Land were done directly onto my laptop. With The Bark Cutters I ended up printing the work out anyway, as I decided to add to the first few chapters, hence the post-it notes you can see. Once both author and editor are happy with the initial editing process the manuscript is typeset. The next picture shows typeset pages for A Changing Land. This is actually known in publishing lingo as ‘first pages’ or ‘author pages’. The author gets to double-check details and/or, the editor may decide more work is required on the manuscript. This process can go up to ‘second and third’ pages plus, with the typed pages of the ms going to and fro between the author and publisher. Towards the end of the process and invariably before the manuscript is ‘polished’ and ready for printing, a proof copy will be printed up and circulated to ‘readers’ ie; booksellers and reviewers. It’s a little hard to read however the red band across the top of the proof copy of The Bark Cutters says; Uncorrected Bound Proof – Not For Sale.

It’s a lengthy process. The lead time between an author submitting a manuscript and the actual book shelf appearence of a new title averages in at about 7 months. Hmm, I better get back to editing…

Following the severe flooding in Moree earlier this month we received a huge number of telephone calls and emails from friends asking how we were coping with the bigwet. Although early February’s flood was substantial, it was not as big as the one we experienced in December 2011. For those of you following my blog you may recall that I was actually caught at the main homestead by myself for about 12 days. We ended up with about 18,000 acres under water. So how wet did it get this time around? Wet enough! When the Whalan Creek finally peaked in early February, we had about 15,000 acres submerged. As I write this we still have around 5,000 acres under water. Inaccessible blocks include some eastern and southern country and our western country – pictured at left. This cultivation has had water on it since November, with a dry spell in early January of this year allowing us to aerial spray the weeds which quickly sprang up. Apart from the soil erosion from the flooding if we can get to it to plant a winter crop – probably wheat, the subsoil moisture will be fantastic.

On the livestock front we are fortunate in that most of our paddocks have either dam banks, natural or man-made ridges which provide a place for animals to seek refuge during a wet time. We moved our sheep in November when the weather forecast looked a little dodgy. So they have been high and dry in paddocks close to the main homestead. While sheep can float for a limited length of time, they are not good swimmers and even with partial wool growth they can quickly become weighted down.

Cattle in comparison are happy to wade out into water to feed. If the grass is above floodwater levels. As long as they have a dry camp they can return to they are very resiliant animals. No helicopter fodder drops were required. Although we have a hayshed full for such emergencies. So now we’re on a week by week program, whereby we wait and see what areas are dry enough to move stock in and out of. And cattle branding continues where possible.

After all the drama, the country looks a picture and the waterholes are brimming. And the birdlife? The birds cover the sky like stars as they chase the myriad of insects buzzing through waist high grasses.

The Heart of A story: Characters & Conflict.

Why are characters so important in writing, because they literally pull the reader through the book. That’s why it’s so vital to have a compelling main character. When I think of memorable characters Scarlett O’Hara comes immediately to mind.

There is a reason why Gone With The Wind remains the top selling novel of all time. Scarlett is a gutsy, beautiful, conniving heroine and the equally scandalous yet debonair Rhett Butler is a marvellous foil to her wilful ways. Add a tumultuous period in history and a love story for the ages (forget Rhett, the story is actually about Scarlett’s love for the land-one of the many themes in the work is ownership) and the ingredients so carefully woven together in the narrative compel the reader onwards.

As a rule characters should not be predictable, unless the storyline calls for it. Depending on the work they can be stylised and the whole point of the story with very little setting detail; however most characters fall into the ‘lifelike’ category. They are human after all and as humans they are multi-faceted; at times endearing, at others frustratingly annoying. As a writer I like to know my characters inside out, particularly my main character/s. I call this CSI profiling a method I started using a good eighteen years ago in the creation of my short stories. In building a character I construct an entire life around them. My characters have extended families, genetic predispositions (both physically and in terms of personality) and they have strengths and weaknesses. They may love Blues music, go on gut reaction, have poor posture or a habit of invading another’s personal space when in conversation.

As I mentioned in last week’s blog I start preparing for a new work by visualising my characters and drawing the story in my mind. It is only after they’ve been with me for a while that I start my CSI file and this file is added too as I write. Of course much of this information may not be used in the final work, however it does certainly assist in the creation of well-rounded characters and if you’re 50,000 words into a 140,000 word novel, with numerous sub-plots and minor players, a character file can work wonders for continuity. It’s a little like watching a movie and noticing a change in lipstick colour or an item of clothing in the same scene. It throws the viewer back into reality, a jarring effect that does the complete opposite of what the creator intended. The storyteller’s ultimate aim is to suspend reality and immerse their audience in new worlds, no matter the genre. An abrupt change in a personality trait (unless we’re talking a serial killer) or perhaps a limp that swaps limbs can break the flow of a great story.

Once you know your character inside out, construct a character checklist, you could begin with the following:

1. What does your character want more than anything in your story?
2. What is your character’s greatest fear?

Both of these questions can cover the psychological such as being afraid of commitment or losing someone close or the physical, such as catching a murderer or being attacked.

In answering those two questions you have gone some way to establishing motivation. As motivation equals narrative action it’s a fundamental requirement.

Other areas for consideration may include;

1. What is your character most ashamed of?
2. Why does this character’s lover/partner/family love or dislike them?
3. What does your character think of him/herself?
4. Is your character flawed in some way? (The great ones always are)

To a lesser extent your minor characters deserve the same attention. Complex supporting characters can make a good story, better.

Conflict

A plot must include a series of events which as we discussed last week leads to a climax and then a resolution. Everything leading up to the climax is called rising action, the series of events that your character/s faces in your story. They are the elements that drive your story forward so everything that you add to your story should move it forward it some way even if only indirectly.

In Gone With The Wind Scarlett O’Hara has a series of events to jump through: The civil war, the loss of the southern way of life, her descent into poverty, the loss of family and friends and the concern of losing her beloved property Tara. There are many battles for her to endure and in each we see a particular aspect of Scarlett’s personality coming to life. Once Scarlett and Rhett Butler marry (a climax) the story concentrates on falling action, that is everything that occurs after the climax and leads to the final resolution and Rhett’s immortal words, ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn’.

Foreshadowing is a technique of laying down clues and hints through a story that lead to later events or developments. Used carefully foreshadowing can increase reader involvement by creating a deeper context in which your story is set. For example if you were writing a novel in which a gun is used in a shooting by an unknown killer you could drop a clue early in the novel by showing a gun.

1. An early scene in which the owner is seen polishing a hand gun diligently.

-          May make the reader recall the scene and think the owner is the killer

1. A scene in which a number of characters walk past a locked glass gun cabinet.

-  May suggest to the reader that anyone could be the killer.

No matter how basic your clue or hint, keep it subtle. Building tension in your story by keeping your reader guessing as to the final outcome should be a major aim.

Did you imagine that Scarlett would marry Rhett and then subsequently damage her relationship with him to the extent that Rhett would leave her?

Where you really surprised when Scarlett straightened her back after Rhett slammed the door and said very slowly that she would return to Tara.

There is one major rule that is always important to have in the back of your mind – show, don’t tell.

Exercises.

If you wrote down some bullet points last week to describe the kind of setting you would like to place your story in you can use that as a background as you think about your characters.

1. Write down two character names
2. Write down five bullet points to briefly describe each one
3. Describe what about human beings you find flawed or disappointing. Can you add these points to question 2. (Remember rounded characters are not perfect, unless the story calls for perfection).
4. Describe the most beautiful part of the human body. Why is it beautiful to you? Can you include this in your character list, perhaps for a character who is not considered attractive?
5. Now think about your two characters and your bullet point setting notes from last week. Consider the ways in which your chosen setting could determine/mould your characters personality and write about it.

Wow, you now have two characters and a setting… see you next week.

There’s one thing about the bigwet we’ve been experiencing recently, it sure keeps everyone busy. With Moree still recovering from the flood that swept through the town a good ten days ago and our own Boomi-Garah Road (the one we need to take to get to Moree) only officially opened yesterday, it was a fairly lengthy detour that I needed to take to get back from Sydney last week. My brother Scott cadged a lift with me to give a helping hand at home and I eventually dropped him off at the main homestead at 9.30 pm last tuesday night. By the time David and I did the ‘change vehicles’ routine to get through the flood water into our place it was 11 pm. Exhaustion was definately the word. We ended up with around 15,000 acres going under again from the Whalan Creek and there is currently about 7-8,000 acres still submerged. Thursday through Sunday we walked cattle out of flood water to different sets of yards to try and complete our branding. It was a slow process. Driving livestock through mud and foot deep water is tiring for both man and beast. Next week on my video-blog I’ll have footage to show everyone. However I’m definately still on my video ‘L’ plates. I quickly realised that it is nigh impossible to ride a quad bike through water and high grass while mustering and trying to video with your left hand!

We’ve been cultivating country we can get too, aerial spraying others and generally waiting for flood water to move on, and/or dry up.

Of course while I’ve been out mustering and working in the cattle yards the editing of the Absolution Creek manuscript has, to say the least, taken second place. The ms has travelled about 100 kms in the last few days, however, I keep hoping I’ll get a moment to do some editing on it!  This afternoon is my window for that-I hope. In the meantime part 2 of the writing fundamentals course will be posted tomorrow and I’ve nearly finished reading Atonement for the National Year of Reading reviews I’ll be doing every month during 2012.

If you haven’t caught my latest posting on youtube check out https://www.youtube.com/nicolealexandertv Mother nature really kept us on our toes last year so I decided to do a picture slide show to show what happened during the year. And yes, there isn’t any sound on this one for those of you wondering. It’s taking a while for me to come to grips with the technology! Happy Valentine’s Day.

Beginnings & Design. This introductory blog is about the elements that contribute to the overall design of a written work and is intended to get you motivated to put pen to paper. It is not a definitive guide to creative writing, but rather a window into writing that may shine some light however briefly on the role of the author. Firstly if you are new to writing it’s important to know that when it comes to actually beginning a work of fiction there is no sure fire method. Some may pick up a pen and make notes, others may think about their characters and storyline and write a paragraph or two to get a feel for the new world they are entering; however the writing process for each of us is different.

Personally I dream about my books before I begin writing (actually my mother will tell you I daydream about them!) I see my characters interacting with each other and their environment and I watch them grow before me, scene after scene until they literally shake me awake and say, ‘hey Nick it’s time to start writing’. I’ve been known to call people by my character’s names mid-novel and when I leave them at the conclusion it really is like leaving family. Having said all that, I never start writing with a complete plot in mind. Firstly I know my characters have a tendency to take the road less travelled once they are unleashed and secondly I’d rather stumble on the unexpected as I write.
Plots are important however there are a myriad reasons why people read books and the plot is just one. Sure your work must have a story arc (beginning, middle and end) however there are plenty of great novels that offer very little in terms of plot yet we are compelled to read them for their characters and or setting. If you are new to the craft of writing remember, you can choose any angle from which to start joining the dots; a rough storyline, a particular setting, a single event, one character or a solid plot. Starting with a plot however can be both limiting and difficult to adhere to which is why it helps to be fluid in your thinking.

I tend to start with one or two characters, a distinct setting and a strong theme/s, the final plot unravels as I write. However other writers may choose a setting first, with the plot sketchy at best to begin with, others painstakingly map out a detailed plan, which has its advantages if you run into the dreaded writer’s block.
It matters little how you find your beginnings as long as you make a start.
As a whole blog will be devoted to characters (and conflict) next week I thought I would touch on three major elements that contribute to the overall design of a work, no matter if it’s a short story or a novel; plot, setting and theme.

Plot – A plot is the series of events in a story which serve to move the story from its beginnings, through to its climax or turning point and then to a resolution of its conflicts. It is the what and why it happened (it involves the storyline – the things that happen, and cause – why they happen). The key phrase here is series of events. As mentioned earlier many plots are discovered as you write and refine your work.

The central character with whom we identify or focus on in a story is the protagonist. This is the person we follow as he or she moves through the conflicts (series of events) in the story. This is the person we cheer or cry for, at the end. Your central (main) character has to deal with the events thrown at him or her, and the point at which your character faces these conflicts is the climax. Every event, decision and detail in the story leads to the climax. After the climax the story moves from building to resolving conflict, from introducing what’s happening to and why, to the result that came from the climax. The resolution.

Let’s recap: Story begins – introduce and then follow character/s through a series of events (building conflict) – Character/s faces climax of your story (every event, decision, detail has led to this point, the climax) – Character/s face the result that has come from the climax (the resolution) – Story ends.

Antagonists are the things or characters, internal or external opposing the central character. They are the bad guys, real or imagined in your story.

A great example of plot is Star Wars. Luke Skywalker is the central character and every event he faces in the movie propels him towards his final destiny, to be a Jedi Knight and continue to fight evil with the aid of the ‘force’.

Theme -Theme/s are those ideas, patterns and issues which the work keeps returning to and re-examining. Themes are actually the subject as much as the actual details of the story. Pride and Prejudice contains one of the most cherished love stories in English literature: the courtship between Darcy and Elizabeth. As in any good love story, the lovers must overcome numerous stumbling blocks, beginning with the tensions caused by the lovers’ own personal qualities. Elizabeth’s pride makes her misjudge Darcy on the basis of a poor first impression, while Darcy’s prejudice against Elizabeth’s poor social standing blinds him, for a time, to her many virtues. (Of course, one could also say that Elizabeth is guilty of prejudice and Darcy of pride—the title cuts both ways.) Austen, gives us some delicious themes; love, reputation and of course the emotional and social ramifications of pride and prejudice (I can still see Mr Darcy (Colin Firth) emerging from the lake….)

Setting – As a reader I appreciate a strong setting filled with researched detail. I guess I’m after words that create movie style visual and it’s a technique I use in my own writing. I want the reader to step into my world and walk around in it. I want the reader to breathe and see what I do when I’m lost in my imagined world. For many authors character and setting rein equal in supremacy when it comes to the design of their work and certainly there are any number of genre’s where setting is often the starting point for a story. Fantasy, science-fiction and rural literature are prime examples of genre’s whose settings often attract readers before the actual story captures their hearts (we hope). Once you have your storyline and a rough idea of the plot (the what and why it happened), your chosen setting can become a crucial component of the work.

A great setting can add to both mood and tone, however attaining authenticity in a novel can be difficult which is why many new authors write about their own environment in first works. As fiction writing is very much about real life observation and internal imaginings the writer has to strike a balance between description and interior designer elaboration. An old editor of mine once told me that many solid works are bogged down in unnecessary description that slow the narrative; she then very politely underlined a passage in my own work. I got the point, then, but hey I do still get carried away.

Here are a few examples of how setting can be used in narrative.

Chronological: Choosing historical events or particular time periods.
Background: Examine and contrast differences, for example, a person from the country visits the city and may have handy skills for a particular character that lives in the next door flat.
In the novel The Great Gatsby most of the characters are from the mid-west although the story is set in New York.
Weather: A snow storm may force a cast of characters indoors leading to tension.
Family: Do you want your character to be living in an isolated area away from family and friends.
Character perception: A five year old and a sixty year old visiting a fast food outlet will each have vastly different perceptions of their environment. Remember Tom Hanks in the movie BIG This adult regressed to childhood with hilarious results.
Character response: A man may love living in an isolated mining town, a woman perhaps not so much.
Other design elements can include and are not limited to:
Linear narrative: telling the story through a series of chronological events or,
Telling the ending at the beginning or telling the story backwards.
Interweaving narratives/parallel stories: A device that works particularly well when there is more than one timeframe, or the author wishes each main character to have a distinct point of view (Point of View this will be discussed in a future blog).
Flashbacks/Subplots: can help to add interest, tension and intrigue if used subtly.
So now you have an outline of the elements that can contribute to the design of a written work let’s get the brain engaged and open some creative doors.

Exercises:
Here are five exercises to complete before the next blog. The idea behind them is to get you observing and thinking about people, places and things. If you complete the exercises you will find that by the end of the course you will have enough material to consider writing a piece of fiction.
1. Think of a smell that evokes a memory and describe the memory.
2. Listen to some instrumental music and write down what the music makes you think and feel.
3. Find someone to listen to (not talk to) and write about how they speak, the highs and lows of their voice, facial expressions, gestures.
4. Say goodbye to someone on paper that you never got to say good-bye too.
5. If you would like to try your hand at a short story consider a particular setting that you would like to place the story in and write down ten bullet points about this particular environment.

See you next week…

In celebration of the National Year of Reading we’ll be revisiting some great works of fiction during 2012; old favourites and some recent bestsellers. There is certainly a diverse list of books noted below (including one non-fiction) and thankyou to everyone who contributed suggestions. Now we have to decide which books to choose for review/discussion. As we’re already in February and I hope to tackle one book a month my pick is Atonement by Ian McEwan. I already had it on my shelf and am part way through it. So from the list below we have to select ten titles. Let me know if I’ve left any novels out I received quite a few emails.

Atonement – Ian McEwan        Nicole’s pick   

1. A Fortunate Life – A B Facy                                                                                            

2. The Power Of One – Bryce Courtney          

3. The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje

4. People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks       

5. Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson & David O Relin       

6. Jasper Jones – Craig Silvey              

7.  The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer

8.  Black Heels to Tractor Wheels – Ree Drummond

9. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Attwood

10. Freedom – J Franzen

11. Life of Pi – Yann Martel    

12. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louise de Bernieres  

13. Those Faraday Girls – Monica McInerney             

14. Heritage – Judy Nunn        

15. Dirt Music – Tim Winton   

16. Land of Dreams – Peter Yeldham

17. Maralinga – Judy Nunn

18. Morgan’s Run – Colleen McCullough 

19. Promises – Cathryn Hein

As there are so many to choose from can I suggest that you select your Top 5 books only at this stage. Once the initial five are chosen based on total votes we can then go back and revisit the list. To select your favourite five books you can either leave a comment on my website or just type in the author’s surname OR title on my facebook page. Enjoy.

As a rural commodity producer in Australia I often find myself having discussions about food security. The availabilty and access of food is something taken for granted by many. We go to the supermarket or butcher and purchase our groceries with little thought that one day an item may not be available; that is until we reach for say the banana’s or strawberrys (cyclones / pest problems) or can’t find a particular cut of meat (floods) . A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation; yet it is staggering to think that worldwide there are approximately 852 million people who are chronically hungry due to extreme poverty, while another 2 billion (FAO; 2003) have intermittant food security problems due to poverty arising from what historically used to be pigeon holed as due to civil war and drought.  However there are other issues combining to threaten food security and the more impoverished nations are not the only countries at risk. Listed below are just a few of the issues facing the world’s food producers and by extension, you the consumer. On reading through it quickly becomes apparent what a fragile environment we live in.

The loss of agricultural land to residential and industrial development (population growth).

The increase in agricultural land used for biofuels and depending on the country, export restrictions.

Climate change – natural disasters, floods, droughts, fires.

Growing consumer demand in China and India. This is thought to have inflated grain prices.

The growing cost of inputs (oil prices for example) to produce food and associated transport costs. Australia is a big country.

The global credit crisis has affected farm credits internationally.

Although global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past several decades and as of  2006 (MSNCB) the number of overweight people surpassed th0se undernourished, food is not getting to the people who need it most, nor are governments doing enough to promore the importance of agricultural communties. 2012 is the Australian Year of The Farmer. Next time you open that bottle of chardonnay, dunk a prawn in some seafood sauce or make up some mince for the kids to have on toast, take a moment to explain to your children where the food comes from. Education is the only way to spread the world when it comes to food security; and spare a thought for those Australian producers who grow some of the safest and nutrious food in the world.

Selling rights overseas is an exciting process. Writers yearn for that extra exposure and live in the hope that sales into one territory may hopefully lead to others elsewhere. It doesn’t always happen of course especially in the financial age we currently live in. However if you write rural literature in Australia you can pretty much be assured that your title will eventually sell into Germany. Why the Germans love our bush based novels is a mystery to most, so I sent off an email to a German friend of mine to query her on the subject.

‘Australia is so different Nicole. You have space and energy and sights we Germans only dream about and your countryside is so different to ours. To us you are a fresh, young, bold country untainted by past history and many of your (authors) works carry a sense of freedom for us.’

It’s an interesting take on why the Germans love our rural literature. 

If the rights to a book are sold to an overseas ‘territory’ usually it’s a fairly quiet procedure. However I had a slightly different experience.  I was fortunate in 2010 with both The Bark Cutters & A Changing Land ending up at auction with two competing publishing houses vying for the rights to publish the works in Germany. This is pretty much like an art auction for example however usually the bidding is done over the telephone or via email. Occassionally a ‘mega’ book will actually rate Sotheby’s type attention with competing bidders in a room however I still had the thrill of rushing back and forth to my laptop during the night as the bids came through. With the communications coming from Germany to the Random House Rights Manager in Australia and then onto my literary agent before finally being forwarded to me it was quite a convoluted process. Finally everyone went to bed. By morning both books were sold. A fortnight later The Bark Cutters was purchased again in a separate deal to Germany’s leading book club to be released as a special edition hardback. If you love books like me you can imagine the squeal that came from my lips when I heard about that one.

When it comes to translation I’m always amazed at the change in title. I’ve looked at other author’s German translations over the years and wondered at the marketing discussions behind the title changes. I’m pretty sure there are probably about ten or so people sitting around a polished wooden table drinking expresso at any of the publishing houses in Germany, their eyes glazing over at yet another Australian novel which has to be re-titled for their German readers. The Bark Cutters will be released in Germany this September entitled, ‘Wide Land of Desire’. It’s actually being pitched as a romance which is interesting because it is isn’t considered to be one in Australia… maybe it has something to do with the translation.

I remember the movie Pearl Harbour for the great soundtrack, special effects and tumultuous air attack. What I didn’t expect on visiting this historic site was the sense of serenity which pervades every inch of the area; despite the throng of visitors. Tour buses unload with military precision at the site which is managed by both the Navy and the National Parks. Once inside the gates (no bags are allowed and you must carry your passport at all times) there are some tremendously interesting sites to visit – museums, a 1940s submarine and numerous memorials.  A 30 minute documentary in an auditorium sets the scene before each group of about 150 people are directed towards a tender which then sets out across the bay to the USS Arizona memorial. Today Pearl Harbour is a place of pilgrimage for the generations of Americans who fought in WWII, their descendants, interested visitors and the thousands of Japanese who come to pay their respects.

Pearl Harbour was once a tropical lagoon fed by the O’ahu mountains. This massive lagoon known to the Hawaiians as Pu’uloa was once home to an extensive system of fishponds that provided a rich catch for the local inhabitants, unfortunately its use was soon to change. Initially granted to the US government in 1888 in negotiations over the import of Hawaiian sugar, by 1940 the US had head-quartered its Pacific Fleet here. The Japanese air attack on 7th December 1941 decimated the US fleet which was moored quietly in the placid lagoon in the area known as battleship row. The USS Arizona received a direct hit. The loss of 1,177 men made this the worst single disaster in US Naval history and to visit the memorial is quite a profound experience. The monument (pictured above) straddles the USS Arizona and from its open windows you can see the Arizona (below) only feet below from bow to stern.

 It is a beautiful memorial to those souls who lay below. Although oil still leaks slowly from the great ship, fish dart through the clear waters a gentle reminder of life. Survivors of the USS Arizonia have the choice to be laid to rest with their crew mates if they wish. Cremated remains are carried down to a gun turret by an army diver and safely placed inside. Many choose this final resting place.

 By the end of the attack in 1941 eight of the USs nine battleships had been badly damaged, including three that were sunk. Destroyers and cruisers were also damaged as well as over three hundred planes either lost or damaged. The Navy lost 1,999 sailors, the Army 233 soldiers and the Marines 109 men. 49 civilans were also killed. Following the attack the US formally entered WWII.

On reflection I naturally thought about the loss of life, the families affected and the ongoing sense of national pride that such a memorial instills. I also wondered perhaps naively why mankind still persists in doing harm to one and other.