{"id":10422,"date":"2015-07-20T10:56:35","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T00:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/?p=10422"},"modified":"2021-08-30T16:32:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T06:32:49","slug":"advice-from-trudicanavan-frankenstein-photos-from-the-nswwc-speculative-fiction-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/advice-from-trudicanavan-frankenstein-photos-from-the-nswwc-speculative-fiction-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice from @TrudiCanavan, #Frankenstein, & Photos from the #NSWWC Speculative Fiction Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Zena<\/a>A week in the sun can do a lot to a person. You can either get incredibly bored, or if you have a good book and a comfortable spot in the shade you can enjoy yourself. For me, last week involved the latter, I was flying home from England and stopped-over in Vietnam on the way. Lucky me!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the book I read was so good it also made me feel bad\u2026 as a writer. This often happens when we writers read good books:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never write anything as good as this!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Then again, see previous post on what I actually expect of myself as a writer<\/a> these days.]<\/p>\n

So I returned to Sydney feeling a little glum. Luckily, three things were waiting to cheer me up.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. On Saturday morning I had my writers\u2019 group, the award-winning Northern Beaches Writers’ Group<\/a>, and they always cheer me up!<\/li>\n
  2. On Saturday afternoon I got to attend the NSW Writers\u2019 Centre\u2019s Speculative Fiction Festival, which was amazing \u2013 especially because it was here in Sydney!<\/li>\n
  3. On Saturday evening, I was able to catch up with a bunch of my author buddies, who are so inspiring they can\u2019t help but lift your writing spirits!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This year\u2019s Speculative Fiction Festival was organised by the multi-talented Cat Sparks, who is also extraordinary with a camera. She took a load of photos at the festival, which you can view here:<\/p>\n

    Cat Sparks flickr photos<\/a><\/p>\n

    \"Terry<\/a>

    Terry Dowling, Kaaron Warren, Rob Hood & Louise Katz<\/p><\/div>\n

    I went to the \u2018Frankenstein Legacy\u2019 panel with Kaaron Warren, Robert Hood, Terry Dowling and Louise Katz, where they discussed the Frankenstein films as well as the book by Mary Shelley.<\/p>\n

    \"Shapter<\/a>Incidentally the Shelleys (Mary herself<\/a>, her romantic poet husband Percy<\/a> and her feminist mother Mary Wollstonecraft<\/a>) all resided and are buried in my hometown of Bournemouth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    After Rob gave a comprehensive overview of the films, and Terry admired Mary\u2019s inventiveness (\u201cShe had no predecessors\u201d), Kaaron pointed out that the emotional aspects of Frankenstein are often forgotten.<\/p>\n

    \"Shapter<\/a>This resonated with me, as one of my favourite aspects of the book is the anguish Dr Frankenstein feels once he finally realises what he\u2019s done. As with children and monsters alike, Kaaron went on to say, \u201cYou mould them into what they are, and that\u2019s terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \"Waiting<\/a>

    Waiting for burgers at dinnertime with Trudi Canavan.<\/p><\/div>\n

    Next I had a kaffeeklatsche with Trudi Canavan.<\/p>\n

    Trudi told how she started out as a published author, pitching a single book that turned into a trilogy and having to re-edit the lot. She described her life as 90% hermit and 10% social animal, which sounds like my life too! I then asked her for some advice for writers, and she said to:<\/p>\n