Category: Uncategorized
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What journalism taught me about fiction
Journalism is a fine apprenticeship for fiction, provided you’re willing to unlearn large parts of it later. Top of the hit list is the inverted pyramid. I don’t remember being formally taught this template for writing newspaper stories. I suspect it was simply knocked into me. My first news editor was a crusty old bloke…
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The advantage of starting late
There’s a myth in writing that if you haven’t “made it” by a certain age, you’ve missed your chance. It’s a young person’s story, borrowed from sport and tech, and it makes very little sense when applied to books. Writing isn’t a test of speed. It’s a test of accumulation. Marina Lewycka published her first…
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Beating a retreat
Every now and then a glossy ad pops up promising a “transformational writers’ retreat.” The photos always feature windswept cliffs, steaming mugs and a dozen thoughtful types gazing into the middle distance as if waiting for their muse to arrive by helicopter. I’ve never attended one — not a single catered morning tea or group…
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Oh yes, I’m the great pretender
Every industry has awards. Actors have Oscars, musicians have Grammys, journalists have Walkleys. Writers, supposedly, have plenty too — although most of us will never get within sniffing distance of one unless it’s on display in someone else’s lounge room. So I’ve decided the time has come to celebrate the overlooked, underfunded and entirely fabricated…
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I was a driving instructor on Mars
Writers are often told to “draw on their life experience,” which is excellent advice if you spent your formative years roaming the globe, living on a schooner or training llamas in Peru. I, on the other hand, spent 38 years in journalism. During that time I worked variously as a sports reporter, news reporter, feature…
JOHN MARTIN'S TALES 