Tough stuff brought together a team who have dealt with raw and challenging subjects in different ways. Film maker Gaylene Preston produced the recently screened Christchurch earthquake TV drama Hope & Wire; Rebecca Macfie wrote on the Pike River mine explosion; and Lloyd Jones has written on tough themes. Their panel was ably chaired by Finlay Macdonald.
Rebecca Macfie talked about writing Tragedy at Pike River Mine. It was tough because of the subject matter, but also for grieving families and community so much was at stake. Rebecca had to cope with earthquakes too:
“I felt my life was these twin calamities trucking along beside each other.” @rebeccamacfie on Pike River & #chch #eqnz #wordchch
— ChChCityLibraries (@ChristchurchLib) August 30, 2014
Gaylene Preston spoke about her documentary War stories our mothers never told us. During filming, her mother revealed a wartime affair. At the premiere, her Mum held her hand and said “Don’t let the lights come up”. But the crowd was warm, and hugged Gaylene’s mother out of the theatre. After a panadol and a glass of champagne, her Mum was the star of the after party.
Lloyd Jones told a couple of stories in which he used true stories and the moral dilemmas involved. “Please don’t write about my testicles” his son said after a hospital incident. Lloyd also used the story of a friend’s Auschwitz survivor mother’s robbery in an article in the Dominion Post. This was not the tough stuff of writing, conveying nothing and stillness is the hardest:
High coloured moments are easy.
Lloyd observed that one of the tough and key things about writing narrative is how you manage time.
Gaylene is “attracted to the gap in the story” and later she said “the best place to stand is the gap”.
Gaylene Preston: In film, it’s always now. You’ve got no tenses, unlike a writer. #wordchch — CherylBernstein (@CherylBernstein) August 30, 2014
The discussion moved to the Canterbury earthquakes. Lloyd said:
This was a city that forgot what it sat on. … Time suddenly had a smell.
Gerard Smyth’s When a City Falls the single most important cultural artifact to come out of New Zealand: Lloyd Jones Tough Stuff. #wordchch
— WORDChristchurch (@WORDChCh) August 30, 2014
Rebecca spoke of “a brilliant rediscovery of the power of reporting … everydayness suddenly became news”.
When Hope and Wire was first mooted, Rebecca had objected to Gaylene: “It is too soon and you didn’t live here”. Auckland’s “quake fatigue” was picked over, and the balance between being an outsider and an advocate.
The panel agreed it is important the Christchurch story is claimed nationally, or it is just a thing that belongs to Christchurch. People have an “incredibly primal need to tell their story when they have endured something”.
- Search our catalogue for Gaylene Preston, Rebecca Macfie and Lloyd Jones
- Our quick festival questions with Lloyd Jones
- Lloyd Jones catches up to history on our blog
- Pierced hopes at Pike River: Rebecca Macfie on our blog
- Our NZ Kids authors interview with Lloyd
- Read more WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival posts
- WORD Christchurch photos
- Our page on WORD Christchurch
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