The Press Christchurch Writers Festival event A novel idea at Christchurch Arts Festival was a corker. Author (and Christchurch Writers Festival literary director) Rachael King talked to novelists Stephanie Johnson, Sarah Laing, and Carl Nixon.
The authors read from their latest books. It worked well; each author was quite different in style and personality. They also had a lot to say about the creative process of writing.
Here are some quotable quotes:
There are more people writing novels than buying the bloody things. (Rachael)
Writing novels is like being a piece of fly paper. (Sarah)
Novels enable you to inhabit another person’s space … your own personality becomes richer and more informed. (Carl)
It is good to be struggling to find time to write. (Stephanie)
I have the rhythm of stories in my head. (Sarah)
Writers should have a really good bullshit detector. (Stephanie)
How about a quote from a character in a novel? Here’s Merle, from Stephanie’s novel The writing class:
The beauty of the novel in full sail will never be lost even though we are choking in a plume of electrical soot.
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“There are more people writing novels than buying the bloody things. (Rachael)’ I thought this quote was brilliant. 🙂