Story Blasting.

In the afternoon I was happily sitting in the back of The Hub at the Bendigo Writers Festival waiting to hear what a few High School students from the area have come up with. All I can really say is - wowsa.

There were stories revolving around the devil, gang violence, stalking, running away, cults, forbidden love - you name it.

One story was a classic vampire story which was something to admire and others had twists and turns and suspense, it just gave me a sense of happiness that this was all coming from a young group of kids.

Seeing the creativity in the minds of these students and the motivation and excitement gleaming from their faces filled me with the feeling that writing will never die out.
It also made me so happy to see that this is being encouraged by teachers and they are getting that little push to follow what they think is right. 

A few notes I made from the panel discussion showed that these students, even if they appeared young, had a sense of understanding on what they were speaking about. 

Some of them were just writing to a point where they were seeing how the story played out, others had the endings planned and just had to find out how to get there.

It also showed that they had an understanding of teasing their readers and not giving too much away all at once. 

The most important thing I found was that one point a majority of them agreed on was that the encouragement from schools helped them want to write.This is something that should be encouraged more at schools because it is a great way for someone to express their creativity and emotions with words and sentences, not just terrible stick figures.

My first day at the festival had just made me more excited for what is to come. So far it has inspired me to do so much. I can't wait for the rest of the weekend.

Raimond Gaita - Making Me Fall in Love with Love.

As a group of us sat together amongst the free food waiting to hear what Gaita had to say, I must admit I had no idea what to expect. I wasn't sure whether he would be discussing for the entire time his iconic novel "Romulus, My Father" or perhaps other things as well. As he began to speak right up until the end I was captivated by the ideas he spoke on. 

He read from his essay titled "Love and Learning" and spoke about the people who have influenced him and his ideas of love and humanity and enthusiasm. He discussed a teacher of his, describing him as an eccentric and passionate man who showed a true love for Bach. He also mentioned a friend of his father who used to tell stories of his village and how he told them with such love and admiration. Gaita continued by bringing up his two daughters and the Human Rights Groups they are participating in and how they give them hope. 

But overall the pieces which really stuck with me were when he was responding to a comment from another participant, who claimed that a lot of people spend too much time defining what love isn't and not enough on what love is. That is when Gaita replied with "People shouldn't define what love is or isn't, they should just love." He continues with discussing how love never forces or gives consent to force, people just love. And it's that love with it's complexity and depth that just wishes to be celebrated.

Gaita spoke on how love, justice and pity are forms of understanding one another and that the full reality of another human is visible to love. The quality of attention his teacher gave to things that he loved were able to allow Gaita to value those things and bring in a sense of trust with his teacher. He spoke on love and humanity and how humanity is never fixed or secure but it is something we must all rise to.

He talked about the newer generations not being as protected from the evils of the world, yet having this knowledge could help. It's not about whether or not the good outweighs the evil as long as there is good.

All of the points he made on love and the good in the world were thoughts of purity and something that is truly lacking in everyone's mindset. Love is a beautiful thing and I'm happy to have it in many parts of my life. Hearing how he spoke about love and admiration even aided in me falling more in love with people and things I enjoy doing. 

If you haven't read or seen the film "Romulus, My Father" I would suggest you have a look into it.

The Struggle of Beginnings and Ends.

I love the idea of writing a story. Sometimes I have so many ideas running through my mind at once and I just hope I can write them all on paper and have a story magically appear. But when the time comes and I'm sitting down either at a laptop or pen in hand ready to write, I am hit with this wall. The wall just stares me down and says, "How are you going to start? Where do you even begin?", and all of a sudden everything disappears. The first few lines of anything will make or break the text. The words introduce you into this new world full of people and places and things that I just want to explore and dive deep into.

But then another problem occurs. I get too deep into the world that I can't get out and finish. I'm caught in the web I created. It just makes me appreciate the end of a story more knowing that someone was able to do it. I also feel jealous that they can do it.

Speaking of beginnings and ends - I will be beginning my adventure at the Bendigo Writer's Festival this weekend and I am excited. The next few days I will be filling your eyes with Festival goodness and enthusiasm.

If you're interested in any information about the weekend full of writing and reading and fun (oh my) check out their website and have a look around:

http://www.bendigowritersfestival.com.au/

What Makes A Good Character?

Characters play a vital role in a book. The story practically revolves around one or more of them. But there are many types of characters out there, all with their own story to tell. Different types of characters appeal to  people for multiple reasons. Some like a character that they can relate to, whereas others prefer a character they wish they could be. There are characters who are out of this world perfect and others who appear more plain and ordinary.

But it's not just the personality and appearance of a character we learn to love but also their development over the time in the book. There's the classic story of a villain turning good or a hero descending into madness, or the tales of a character exploring deep thoughts on their ideas of the world.

Thinking about the different kinds of characters made me start thinking - what do I like in a character?

I live for development and watching the growth over the period of time. I love a character that after time I am able to picture how they would act in different scenarios because I feel like I know them inside and out. One story in particular where I like seeing how a character copes is through a time of grief. Seeing how they process their thoughts and feelings will always bring a tear to my eye.
I'm looking at you John Green.

I believe the characters that appeal to us also reflect on who we are as people. I love seeing characters grow and learn and cope because it feels real to me. I love all things real and I think that is reflected in the characters that I enjoy most. 

The only problem with the characters I like is that I end up sobbing like a mad woman 80% of the time.

Validation Sensation and Deleting Contemplations.

Lately I have been contemplating whether or not to delete my Facebook profile. However for some reason it feels like such an outrageous act to do. I mean, it is only a website. The problem is, there are some people that I can only contact through this website. Plus there are now groups to join that keep me informed on my classes.
So it's really the latest debate in the 21st Century: Is social media ruining the way we communicate?
Like everything in this complicated universe, there is never a black and white perspective to this question. There are positives and negatives to social media and depending on different people you'll have different quantities of good and bad. Personally, I do see positives with my experience but it's really the questioning of what's the point.

I like Facebook for the simplicity of being able to network with so many people. Like I previously stated about groups it has made it a lot easier to communicate a message to a larger audience than individually calling people or sending a large SMS to a number of contacts. I also love seeing the adventures other people get up to. I have some friends who post their artwork or videos of them singing and it makes me feel connected to their journey in that way.

On the flip side, it makes me feel like it's a numb connection. I witness their journey and feel happy for them, but it's not a real sense of happiness, it's more just observing and "liking". It's amazing how we feel good just because someone "likes" an image we posted or a status about our adventure on the bus. Family and holiday photos can't just be enjoyed by the person but some people feel that their holiday wasn't that great unless they put a photo up to show people how great it was. But then it can't be that great if only one person likes it right?

Another point that gets to me personally that I really feel weird about are birthday wishes. The first time I had a birthday and I was on Facebook I thought "I wonder how many people will wish me a happy birthday". These days I just avoid Facebook altogether. The strangest thing is, I feel as if receiving a text message is more personal than someone just typing it to me over Facebook. I mean it's practically the same message, but because it's sent to my phone privately as opposed to a wall I feel like that person cared more than all those who sent it on a website.

I'm not writing this to sound like I'm some social media elitist who is better than that. I'm writing it because this is how it can feel to me. I have an Instagram account which is practically me putting photos up of my average existence just so people can like it. I am from what people call the "me" generation and I don't blame them for using that term. We've grown up with these websites feeling that our lives aren't seen as anything exciting unless everyone knows about it and "likes" it.

Social media hasn't necessarily "ruined" the way we communicate with one another, but it certainly has altered it. I'm probably not going to delete my Facebook because it's not that I want it. I need it. That's the scariest part.

I am a Writer in Action.

I love writing. I love how a sentence moves. I love how small marks affect the way we read, and interpret a sentence. I love how a combination of letters can form to create the deepest of meanings. I love how the repetitive use of a phrase can sometimes add weight to the impact of a message.

I also love reading. I love how confident a piece of paper is when there are words on it. I love how it can range from a quiet whisper to a loud scream just by the use of CAPITALISATION. I love how some people write in a way that makes you feel as if you are floating down a stream of thoughts and emotion. I love how others write straight forward with no nonsense.

I love how it makes me feel to write out my every thought, taking the jumbled cluster in my head and laying it out evenly onto the sheet. I love the sound of a keyboard on a computer when I am inspired to write. I love how it looks to see work that I have written, all based on things I love, to be published for the world to see.

I just love writing.