{"id":3700,"date":"2012-01-25T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T23:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zenashapter.com\/blog\/?p=3700"},"modified":"2021-08-30T16:37:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T06:37:04","slug":"what-aussie-authors-think-of-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/what-aussie-authors-think-of-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"What Aussie Authors Think of Australia…"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does it mean to be a writer living in Australia?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s Australia Day today! A day when we celebrate everything great about Australia. As a writer, I love living in Australia. So do most Aussie authors.<\/p>\n

Or do they…?<\/p>\n

Last year, I asked some acclaimed Aussie authors about their best and least favourite aspects of living as a writer in Australia. You can read the full results here<\/a>, but in honour of today\u2019s celebrations I\u2019ve summarised the results for you below.<\/p>\n

On the Down Side<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Australia can be isolating for authors<\/span><\/p>\n

Australia is a vast country that\u2019s a great distance from anywhere, so it\u2019s both difficult and expensive for our authors to engage with both fans and fellow writers, especially when compared to Europe and the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe part I don\u2019t like,\u201d commented Tracey O\u2019Hara<\/a>, award-winning author of the paranormal romance \u201cDeath\u2019s Sweet Embrace\u201d, \u201cis that since most of my market is overseas such as the US, I am really distanced from a lot of my readers and my industry professionals. Having said that \u2013 the internet has definitely made the world smaller.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Australia's geographical remoteness is still central to shaping our culture and identity.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jason Fischer<\/a>, award-winning author of the zombie horror \u201cAfter the World: Gravesend\u201d, agrees: \u201cThe tyranny of distance,\u201d he told me, \u201c\u2026has largely been eliminated by the rise of the internet, and the markets that now accept electronic submissions instead of the cash-consuming postage of dead tree submissions.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Graham Storrs<\/a>, author of sci-fi thriller \u201cTimeSplash\u201d, lives in rural Queensland and says that the internet is only a reliable communication tool in the cities. \u201cI was cut off for fifteen days recently (no, nothing to do with floods or hurricanes) and missed a writing deadline because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the hardest thing for me though,\u201d comments Fleur McDonald<\/a>, author of outback mysteries \u201cRed Dust\u201d and \u201cBlue Skies\u201d, who lives over a hundred kilometres from her nearest town in Western Australia, \u201cis the lack of contact with other writers \u2026sometimes, I\u2019m sure I\u2019m the only one in the world with writers block and anxiety!\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Australia offers authors a limited fan base<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, because Australia has a relatively small population, it also has a small book-buying populace, and this makes it difficult for some genres to flourish. Nansi Kunze<\/a>, author of young-adult novels \u201cMishaps\u201d and \u201cDangerously Placed\u201d, says her least favourite aspect of writing young-adult fiction in Australia is its \u201csmall readership\u201d.<\/p>\n

Michael Pryor<\/a>, author of over twenty-five novels including the fantasy series \u201cThe Laws of Magic\u201d, \u201cThe Quentaris Chronicles\u201d and \u201cThe Chronicles of Krangor\u201d, agrees that \u201cthe small size of the market\u201d is the main disadvantage to writing in Australia, especially since it does little to improve the general \u201ccondescension toward speculative fiction and young-adult fiction (try writing young-adult speculative fiction!)\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, because Australian authors all share these disadvantages, they have developed their own \u2018up side\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n

On the Up Side:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Australians support each other<\/span><\/p>\n

When my surveyed authors came to consider their favourite aspects of living in Australia, almost every one of them praised and were proud to be a part of Australia\u2019s exceptionally supportive writing community.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We have a happy writing community!<\/p><\/div>\n

Ian Irvine<\/a>, author of twenty-seven novels including the \u201cThree Worlds\u201d fantasy sequence, told me \u201cthere\u2019s a great camaraderie among Aussie speculative fiction writers. Everyone is supportive, ready to help and pleased at others\u2019 successes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alan Baxter<\/a>, author of the dark fantasy thrillers \u201cRealmShift\u201d and \u201cMageSign\u201d, believes Australia\u2019s \u201cfantastic speculative fiction community\u201d is full of \u201cvery supportive people\u201d. \u201cThere is a real writing community here,\u201d commented Graham Storrs, \u201cwhatever genre or geography you are in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Fischer agrees, \u201cpeople are quite approachable, willing to work together on projects.\u201d Whilst Michael Pryor\u2019s best aspect of writing in Australia is \u201cthe collegiality and support from my fellow writers.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Australia is an inspiring place to live<\/span><\/p>\n

But why are we Australian authors like this, what fuels our unique kinship? I suspect the \u2018win\u2019 of the situation is, in Michael Pryor\u2019s simply stated words, \u201cbeing able to live in Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fleur McDonald told me \u201cit\u2019s hard to live in a country as beautiful as ours and not be inspired to write about it. Australia is full of colour, uniqueness and best of all characters that just crave to be written about!\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim Falconer<\/a>, author of the fantasy series \u201cQuantum Enchantment\u201d and \u201cQuantum Encryption\u201d explains that the \u201cupside of being an Australian author includes freedom of speech, great bike paths, a publisher that feels like my best friend, sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, geckos, whip birds and the sound of the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too true.<\/p>\n

Aussie, aussie, aussie \u2013 Oi, Oi, Oi!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Happy Australia Day everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

If you want to read the full text (including further comments by these and other authors, as well as commentary on how writers should all be competing in the \u2018new world of work\u2019<\/a> since 2008\u2019s Global Financial Crisis), you can read the full post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does it mean to be a writer living in Australia? It’s Australia Day today! A day when we celebrate everything great about Australia. As a writer, I love living in Australia. So do most Aussie authors. Or do they…? Last year, I asked some acclaimed Aussie authors about their\u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,7],"tags":[29,209,225,238,251,274,305,349,420,436,481,554,588,668],"class_list":["post-3700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australian-authors","category-bookish-inspection","category-writer-advice","tag-alan-baxter","tag-fantasy","tag-fleur-mcdonald","tag-genre","tag-graham-storrs","tag-ian-irvine","tag-jason-fischer","tag-kim-falconer","tag-michael-pryor","tag-nansi-kunze","tag-physical-isolation","tag-science-fiction","tag-speculative-fiction","tag-tracey-ohara"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3700"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14251,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700\/revisions\/14251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}