March 2022 in Review
Well here we are at the end of yet another month and what a month it’s been. I met lots of people and have worked on lots of different things. Here’s just a taster of some of it…
Work
I started this month with a presentation for the lovely people over at Editors NSW on Worldbuilding in Fiction, where I talked about worldbuilding theory and what editors need to think about when they’re helping authors flesh out their worlds. One of the attendees did a wonderful write-up on the talk which you can read in the IPEd April newsletter. I believe the recording of the presentation will also be made available to watch ($10 for IPEd members or $15 for non-members) if you’d like to watch the full presentation.
One of the slides in my presentation. I used popular culture references such as Star Wars (pictured in the slide above) to illustrate my points.
Throughout the rest of the month I have been working on a manuscript assessment for a 146,000 word sci-fi novel. It’s been a joy to delve into a new world and really seep up the author’s imagination.
I’ve also started working with a new mentee, a young emerging writer who has already been working hard on a series of novels. We’ve been discussing their future as a writer and developed a plan to help them build a publishing portfolio.
And finally, while Covid thwarted a couple of shoots, I still managed to catch up with the wonderful Shannon Meyerkort. Shannon’s debut book Brilliant Minds, which is about people with dyslexia and all the things they have achieved, is due out later this year with Affirm Press.
Reading
It’s been a big month for reading and reviewing. I reviewed three books for The AU Review as well as finally finishing a book I’ve been slowly making my way through since the end of January!
First up is League of Liars by Astrid Scholte, a YA fantasy-thriller about a young man who wants to be a prosecution lawyer and uphold the law… except the law is not quite as straightforward as he thought it was.
It’s the perfect blend of suspense and drama, in which no one can be trusted and nothing is as simple as it seems. If you enjoyed her debut Four Dead Queens, you’re going to love this.
You can read the full review here.
The next cab off the rank was The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories edited by Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang, a collection of translated speculative fiction from Chinese women and non-binary creators.
… a sensational collection that showcases the creativity, passion and sheer scope of sci-fi and fantasy work from Chinese femme and non-binary authors… a book I’ll return to again and again.
You can read the full review here.
The last book I reviewed this month was Unlimted Futures edited by Rafeif Ismail and Ellen van Neerven, another speculative collection but this time by First Nations, Blak and Black writers in Australia.
There is hope, and a sense that justice can be served, that a better future is attainable. It infuses the reader with a sense of power and direction, in the way that only truly great visionary work can.
Last but not least I got to enjoy some personal reading this month, finally finishing Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes. I didn’t write up a review on this one but it was a lot of fun.
It’s a quirky space adventure about Captain Eva Innocence, a woman with a dark past and a difficult family, and her crew of misfits. When Eva’s sister gets mixed up with the wrong crowd, Eva is tasked with paying the ransom by doing a series of exceptionally dangerous jobs. With her newfound family’s lives on the line and a series of questionable decisions leading things from bad to worse, Eva starts to wonder if it’s all worth it.
Chilling Effect is the first book in a series and it’s a good bit of action-adventure filled with strange aliens and brimming with all the deceitful politics we know and love of sci-fi. Highly recommend.
Leisure
There hasn’t been a whole lot of leisure time this month as I’ve been dealing with some personal situations including a puppy with luxating patellas and my own chronic fatigue. But in those few fleeting moments I did have, here’s what’s taken my interest…
My partner and I were off to the cinemas to see Matt Reeves’ The Batman movie at the beginning of the month. It’s a long film with lots of cameos and appearances from the classic villains and characters, but it sees a return to the classic Batman as ‘the world’s greatest detective’. Robert Pattinson’s Batman is jaded after two years of fighting crime and feeling like it hasn’t made any difference as he tracks down the latest criminal, whom the audience immediately recognises from the calling card as The Riddler (played by Paul Dano). The case leads Batman to uncover Gotham’s hidden corruption including links to his own family.
The movie’s creators clearly wanted to say something about the problematic nature of Batman’s approach to crime, with one scene having Catwoman (played by Zoë Kravitz) tell Batman that the string of murders are all about “privileged white guys”, while in another scene mayoral candidate Bella Reál (played by Jayme Lawson) calls out Bruce Wayne for not investing any of his fortune in welfare for the poor. Unfortunately, it doesn’t linger on any of these ideas for long, although we do at least get a Batman who is finally starting to question what the value of his character actually is.
In other viewing pleasure, I revisited the anime Haikyuu! which I wanted to rewatch for… inspiration? Perhaps that is the wrong word, but what I wanted was for the main character’s mindset to be instilled in me. Let me explain.
First, a quick rundown of the show: Hinata Shoyo loves volleyball but a lack of experience and height mean he’s not the first person you’d expect to see on the court. However, his natural athleticism and passion for the game, as well as an impressive jumping height, land him a spot on Karasuno High School’s leading lineup. As he goes up against new teams and clashes with the players on his own team, Hinata must learn the finer details of the game if he wants to continue playing.
So why does someone as un-sporty as me care about a sporting anime?
Because I want to emulate Hinata Shoyo’s approach to volleyball. When Hinata joins the team the only thing he has going for him is stamina and an impressive jump. He’s got no idea how to hit the ball properly, no idea about strategy, and he can’t receive or serve for his life. His setter is a genius player who appears to be incredible no matter what position he plays in and a number of his teammates are reliable staples. Additionally, each new team they play against puts him up against new challenges. Just when he thinks he’s got the hang of it, some new obstacle is put in his way.
And how does he handle all that? He smiles. He gets excited. Occasionally his team worry, when an opponent is particularly strong, that he’s losing heart, only to be confronted with his boundless optimism and determination. Hinata sees each new challenge as a chance to get better. Each new opponent is a person to learn from. And he practices endlessly. From the moment he wakes up til the moment he goes to bed, Hinata’s brain is filled with volleyball no matter what he’s doing and every spare second is spent practicing. He doesn’t get good just based on sheer talent; you can actually see him working his butt off to get there.
Which brings us back to why I wanted to rewatch this series. I wanted that mentality to rub off on me. It’s been over a year now since I last touched any of my creative writing. And while I’ve often passed it off as being busy and having other priorities for the moment, the truth is I’m also scared. I am surrounded by quality writing all the time and I’m scared that I can’t write like that. I’m scared that I never will be able to write like that.
I want to absorb Hinata’s mindset. I want to see those stories as something I can learn from. I want to see them as a standard that I can rise to if I just practice. I want to get out of the headspace of feeling like I have to be good now; instead, I need to believe that I can be good if I just keep watching, learning, and practicing. Because just like Hinata always wants to stand on the volleyball court one more time, and play one more game, I want to keep writing one more manuscript, one more book, one more story.
