Word Docs: Recent Episodes
Auscast Network
Alex, Amy and Sean (aka Dr Alex Vickery-Howe, Dr Amy T Matthews and Dr Sean Williams)
are professional writers who also lecture full-time at Flinders University, South Australia.
They’ve joined forces to cover topics of interest to new writers in a lively, conversational
style that frequently segues to areas far from where they started. If you’ve ever wondered
what writers talk about beyond the lecture theatre or festival circuit, here’s your chance to
find out.
Bios
Dr Alex Vickery-Howe is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. In 2008 he made his
writing debut with a bilingual, bicultural horror rock musical in Okinawa, Japan, where it
opened the Kijimuna Festival (now Ricca Ricca Festival) and played to rave reviews and full
houses, before selling out again at the Adelaide OzAsia Festival. He has subsequently
written and published works for a number of Australian theatre companies. On screen, Alex
has written and directed short films which have played to a variety of international festivals.
He holds a PhD from Flinders University, where he specialises in writing internationally for
younger audiences.
Links:
https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/alex.vickeryhowe
Dr Amy Matthews is an award-winning novelist who publishes literary fiction under the
name Amy T Matthews and historical fiction under the name Tess LeSue. She's published
short stories in collections including Best Australian Stories and co-edited three anthologies
of short fiction and poetry. Amy is a past chair and current board member of Writers SA and
teaches creative writing at Flinders University. Her current research focusses on writing
colonial historical fiction and the intersections of gender, race and power in romance. This
makes it all sound very serious. It's actually ridiculously fun.
Links:
https://amytmatthews.com
https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/amy.t.matthews
https://tesslesue.com
Dr Sean Williams is an award-winning, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of forty-nine novels and over one hundred and twenty short stories for adults, young adults and children.
As well as his original fiction, he has contributed to shared universes such as Star Wars and Doctor Who, collaborated with authors like Garth Nix, and lived on an Antarctica base in the name of research. His latest novel is Impossible Music, about a young heavy metal guitarist who loses his hearing. He teaches creative writing at Flinders University and writes music under the monicker “theadelaidean”.
Links:
www.seanwilliams.com
https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/sean.williams
Three writers walk into a room...and somehow manage to work together. Not these three writers, necessarily. But in theory, that's how collaboration works. Welcome to the final Word Docs of the season, where Sean, Alex and Amy are in fizzy spirits thanks to acute cases of over-caffeination (or in Sean's case, too much hot chocolate). What's the secret to a good collaboration? Talk talk talk. Pizza. Precious puppet masks. And the supreme act of Veto. Unfortunately, none of the Word Docs have veto power, so there will be tangents, including a charming little story about Alex the Ungovernable Daisy, a call for spam recipes, and a trip down memory lane to when Pizza Hut was an actual restaurant. Those were the days. But these are also days and we're serving them up with a steaming hot spam pizza of knowledge. Seriously, we really do talk about collaboration. And a lot of it is very useful stuff. Besides, you'll miss us next week, so why not put up with us this week? Spam for all!
Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #SpamSpamSpamSpam #Collaboration #ShaneDix #GarthNix #PizzaHut #WellMissYou #WeKnowYoullMissUsToo #HappyWriting
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Sean tests Alex and Amy's knowledge of action and pacing this week (ding ding ding!). What are the pitfalls of pacing an action sequence? We've got all the answers - get your fast bits right and your slow bits even righter. Is righter a word? It is now! Get some classic Word Docs wisdom about character, theme, and how to control the story. There may also be a lot of references to John Wick and some random sportsball chatter that contains no wisdom at all. But stick with it until the reversal, when all will snap into focus. (Don't hold us to that).
Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #ActionScenes #Pacing #JohnWick #AmericanPsycho #ShaneDix #StarWars #TheWookieEdition #CatrionaWard #LastHouseOnNeedlesStreet #SimoneStJames #InsertActionFilm Here #TriplePenis #ThanksAlex #TheSlugInTheSky #FixItInPost #AmyGame #HappyWriting
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Hello from the sickbed...
Alex is calling in from home, where he's down with COVID; Sean is suffering from post-COVID brain fog; and Amy is infuriatingly healthy. Today the Word Docs are answering the most annoying questions people ask writers: Will you read my manuscript? If I give you an idea, will you write it, and we can split the profits? Can I have a free book? The answers range from 'No', to 'Hell, no', with the odd 'Amy is not a mule' thrown in, to spice things up. There's also some consideration of the stupid questions people must ask dentists...
WordDocs #Writing #SeanWilliams #AmyBarry #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #FlindersUniversity #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #WritingCommunity #StupidQuestions #NotSoStupidQuestions #COVID #HappyWriting
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Join Sean, Amy and...uh...Alex?...for this week's episode of Word Docs. Our usual Alex is out with COVID so this week we're welcoming a substitute Alex, in the form of our friend and colleague Dr Alex Cothren, who sidles up to the mic to talk satire, short stories and writing challenges. By the end of this one we'll all love Alex Cothren, fear Sean, and wonder if Amy might be missing next week...
WordDocs #Writing #SeanWilliams #AmyBarry #AmyTMatthews #AlexCothren #FlindersUniversity #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #WritingCommunity #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #LetsTalkTrojanBee #Satire #ShortStory #Meanjin #StephenColbert #SamanthaBee #ItsAlwaysSunny #BlackMirror #SomeoneElsesBucketList #FearSean #WeMissYouAlexVickeryHowe #HappyWriting
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The Word Docs have written a masterpiece. No, really...it’s great. It’s alright. Look, it’s not bad. Together, Amy, Sean and Alex have devised the ultimate romance. Don’t Touch My Dad should be coming to a bookshop near you, but probably won’t be.
MorePeccable #ImmanuelCollege #Style #Plot #TheCorpseofanAuthor #Audience #JumpingAhead #MalandJeanette #Genre #HappilyEverAfterAgain #SomeoneElsesBucketList #MadFather #SaneSon #FathersandDaughters #ExtendedFamilies #AlexHasSpoken #Tropes #WickedQueen #SuziQuatro #RiverPhoenix #Nala #Grimhilde #SecondChance #Incesty #Ageism #Longing #ActivelyCovering #Cheater #Secrets #FatheroftheBride #EmpathyandCompassion #ParentYourParent #FindingHappiness #ScrewupinaDifferentWay #Chances #GoldenIdea #UncleBill
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He has finally done his homework! Alex has come to the table with trees to shake and pots to stir. Can Sean and Amy handle their sugar addled friend? Will they withstand his jittery scrutiny? The host is juiced up...and he has calories to burn.
AlexVickeryHowe #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #PinkDrink #Caffeine #DifficultMaterial #MassagingTricks #EndoftheNightGirl #TheBookofMormon #JeanetteVickeryHowe #Tone #PostColonialism #MattandTrey #PunchingUp #Comedy #Metafiction #Simon&Schuster #ItsAlwaysSunnyinPhiladelphia #HolidayInn #BreakfastatTiffanys #NavigatingtheKingdomofNight #Goodness #AmandaNettelbeck #FraughtHistories #AnitaHeiss #ImpossibleMusic #TheBoyintheStripedPajamas #VoteYes #TheTrumpYears #JodiPicoult #CulturalBaggage #BookTokBurns #Junebug #SupremeDickhead
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And the golden statue goes to...
There are some trophies you don’t mount on your bookshelf (pun intended) but they colour your career nonetheless. The Word Docs have gleefully unearthed the worst of the Bad Sex Awards to explore the act of love in print. With lots of laughter and a little light vomit, Amy, Sean and Alex will discuss the whos, the whys, and the oh-dear-god-nos of these explicit encounters.
Warning: This episode contains weird swearing, confusing anatomy and icky metaphors. Not to be played in public.
AmyTMatthews #SeanWilliams #AlexVickeryHowe #TheSlugintheSky #LoveandDeath #MarryingOffMorganMcBride #SkinnyDipping #Beards #ShesAllThat #TheWildMan #HelmsDeep #TessLeSue #DefinitionsofSex #JulianGough #NippleSucking #Bleep #MaryCostello #TwistyPigPenis #DidierDecoin #SpiderArms #HannibalLecter #PleasureCave #MichaelBay #Blank #MyDadWroteaPorno #TabA #SlotB #CliveBarker #TheCentralZone #HaroldandMadge #BambiTits #SportsBall #HarryPotterandtheGiantSquid #TheOddKids #Haruki Murakami #AMedicalProblem #OhGloriousPubes! #AnyoneForBillards? #PornistheProblem #SanitisedBodies #LongerHarderMore
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The Word Docs are perusing expert recommendations and dissecting them at length. Amy is unwell and trying to keep the train moving, Alex is stuck on a constant delay...and Sean wants to kidnap a dog. This week we learn about Einstein’s epic battle with Hitler, the importance of supportive desk chairs and the dark secret of Mount Everest.
HiPluto #Limp #ZooCam #JoanneHarris #FiveThoughts #WorkSpace #AReallyGoodDeskChair #ClimbingMountains #ThePhysio #VoidofMyOwnMind #JohnMajor #AffectEffect #Clutter #Walking #NaturalLight #Reminders #PlanYourSnacks #HydroHomie
EinsteinvsHitler #GoodStory #GoodCharacters #Succession #HouseofCards #TurkeysWithFirearms #MountEverest #Feelings #MakePeopleCry #BeingAuthentic #JudiDench #ArchiveofEmotionalMemory #DogThreats #AMelancholyPerspective #HavingaGoodNight #MoreDogThreats #TedLasso #PointofView #Traps! #FirstPerson #LarryDavid #LionelShriver #Empathy #JurassicPark #TheSlugintheSky #ReadReadRead #SneakyThoughts #TiffanyLyndallKnight #FrozenAlex #GhostAlex #Loose&Sick
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This week the Word Docs are responding to a listener question and exploring immortality. Would you want to live forever? Would you want your work to live forever? Would you want to spend eternity inside a giant spider? Is that even an option? Sugared up on chocolate, this is Word Docs at their most rambunctious. Sean reads palms, and Amy finds she doesn't seem to have a lifeline, while Alex frets that he might be taken to a farm up state when his time is up. By the end of this one you'll feel you've lived many lives, and you'll be able to use 'heretofore' in a sentence.
WordDocs #Writing #SeanWilliams #AmyBarry #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #FlindersUniversity #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #WritingCommunity #Immortality #WhoWantsToLiveForever #NotMe #MaybeMe #OnlyIfICanLiveInAGiantSpider #Lifelines #WordDocVampire #SciFiWriter #ThoughtExperiment #GiantSpiders #FarmUpState #Heretofore #HappyWriting
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Sean and Alex are sickly and disgusting (in that order), but Amy is here to save the day with research and cogent thoughts. This week, the Docs explore the wisdom of Betsy Lerner and unpack the various writer archetypes Lerner describes. Who among them is the Natural? The Ambivalent Writer? The Wicked Child? Well, some things are painfully obvious... join the gang as they embark on free, unqualified therapy!
FeelingGood #OnTheCouch #BetsyLerner #PostGrads #ComplexProblems #Research #TheForestForTheTrees #AmbivalentWriter #LarryMcMurtry #Slog #ThePerfectThing
RomanticDream #MessyPeople #Love #Hate #CoreValues #SharedVision #ImaginaryCaleb
Motivation #YoungPadawan #Frozen #Risk #SlingsandArrows #Haunted #Bothered #Otherness #Paradox #TheNatural #LimpBooks #TooEasy #SecondBookSyndrome #OvernightSuccess #Grit #PoorAlex #Hunger #ComingBack #GrowthMindset #SupernaturalWriters #WickedChild #Family #Community #Watchlist #GordonLish
JeanetteVickeryHowe #EvaHornung #SomeoneElsesBucketList #FascinatingGrandmothers #Marriage #PrinceHarry #ToBeContinued
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A promise delivered! Bookmark this. The Word Docs are back with the second half of their self-diagnoses, once again working from Betsy Lerner’s examples to whittle away at their artistry and categorise their quirky habits. Maybe this week they’ll each discover what kind of writers they really are. Along the way they’ll explore rejections, chutzpah, sportsball and poor old Missus Heartwig...
LonelyCorner #CancelledPilot #SixKindsofWriters #TheForestFortheTrees #BetsyLerner #TheAmbivalentTheNatural&Me #Detention #MissusHeartwig #StupidDeadBoy #TheSelfPromotor #TheNeurotic #TouchingFire #NewYork #Chutzpah #ShyandWeird #Moxie #RomanticIdeals #IvoryTower #WeNeedtoTalkAboutKevin
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The doctors are in the house. Or rather two of the doctors are sick and stuck at home. This week the Word Docs are recording from home and everything's a bit looser than normal (which is saying something). But on the plus side, they get to practice clapping again, preferably in time to Amy's playlist for Someone Else's Bucket List. Sean boycotts clapping to The Cranberries and Alex is determined to flirt with copyright infringements as he sings along. This episode is about playlists, soundtracks, music and silence - and they get off track in the best possible way, exploring how writers use and abuse music.
WordDocs #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #SeanWilliams #AlexVickeryHowe #AFL #Watchlist #SomeoneElsesBucketList #Hyperaurea #SomeoneElsesBucketListThePlaylist #WritingPlaylist #BookPlaylist #BookSoundtrack #SpotifyPlaylist #TheCranberries #DaisyJonesAndTheSix #TaylorJenkinsReid #Elbow #TheWaterboys #StuckInTheMiddleWithYou #ReservoirDogs #TheSingingDetective #FUMA #ShaneDix #NineInchNails #ACDC #BinauralBeats #TheSoapBubble #TheIronicPoseur #ImpossiibleMusic #GlamGong #ScrotePunch #AnalTwin #Hufflepuff #DuaLipa #Physical #OliviaNewtonJohn #Antarctica #ClappingAgain #HappyWriting
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This week Amy leads us through using beat sheets to plan and/or fix a story. Alex and Sean join in from where they recline eating salty gold Irish chocolate. It's the middle of teaching and everyone's pinch points are more pinchy than usual, but it's nothing gold-plated chocolate can't fix. If you're curious about how story experts like Michael Hauge, Blake Snyder, Larry Brooks and Jami Gold deal with planning Acts One to Three, this is the ep for you. There are sportsball metaphors, car metaphors, and the word 'blue' gets bandied about, especially when the monkey elbows get a mention - but despite it all, you'll still come away with a good idea of how to use a beat sheet to get your acts together. (And yes, there are many silly jokes about the term beat sheet - insert word 'blue' here).
Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #MichaelHauge #DebDixon #JamiGold #LarryBrooks #BlakeSnyder #TheBear #PassTheChocolate #HappyWriting
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There is a secret to writing a bestseller and it is...nah, kidding...nobody knows. But the Word Docs will keep asking people anyway. This week, the dysfunctional trio bend their knees at the altar of the great men who...nah, kidding...Sean has sorted through the rules of the blokey gasbags who’ve come before and now Amy and Alex are trying to decide who wrote what. Join the party as Vonnegut, Heinlein, Leonard and Lewis are meticulously poked, prodded and dissected for the edification of emerging generations. Rules are made to be splintered, but it’s wise to mock them first.
Aspiring #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #Nightmarish #BlokeyLists#KurtVonnegut #RobertHeinlein #ElmoreLeonard #CSLewis #TalkingAboutIt #GarthNix#PeterBeaglehole #CruelSegue #RecreationalSadism #NoCreditForAlex #ChasingTrends#BUYSOMEMILK! #OldOldMan #JustLikeToffee #Succession #Veep #Seinfeld #ItsAlwaysSunnyinPhiladelphia #Macbeth #GailJones #SixtyLights #ThePerfectSentence#SarahWaters #IanMcEwan #AStylishSean #TheMightyBoosh #WriterlyvsReaderly#PlayDregs #RandomBits #WhatAboutBob #OffloadingResponsibility#ThrowMommafromtheTrain #LeonardCohen #Suddenly #WheresWally #WheresWaldo#BirdBox #EnoughButNotTooMuch #JustOnePerson
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They’ve emerged from the marking void! Alive and insane, the Word Docs discuss activities, opportunities, Nic Cage, scientology, chaotic planning, Nosferatu, spiders, inch ants and hungry catfish... Eventually, they may also get around to discussing their books. You never know.
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Alex is in the Mastermind hot seat! Many years after writing Japanese/Australian rock musical Once Upon a Midnight, Alex is trying to remember what he was on about and why it was interesting. Luckily the Word Docs are on hand to tease all the shades of grey out of the process. Join us as we travel the world from our studio and explore the cultural conundrums that arise when mythology, nationality and generational identity intersect.
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The Word Docs are slowly catching up with this mysterious invention called BookTok where all the young people are. Together, the intrepid geriatrics will sort through the virtual shelves and explore their favourite tropes with the usual blend of light-hearted humour, emotional pain and existential despair. If you’re a morally grey villain, a soul in search of a mate or a grump with a heart of gold, this episode is all about you.
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We’re off the rails again! Amy is trying her best to keep the troops under control, but the troops are idiots. The sage advice of Anne Lamott is pearls before bewildered swine as Sean’s eerie chanting and Alex’s fear of naked cults turns a perfectly reasonable vegetable metaphor into something chilling. In this episode we will wonder... why did Sean give up meditation? Why the hell can’t Alex remember going to France? And what’s up with Amy and purple sharkskin suits?
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This week it's Amy's turn to sit in the Mastermind hot seat and the topic is Popular Romance Studies. Join us for love, sex, happy endings, trauma porn, happy for nows, and all the feels. Does Amy have the answers? Has Alex done his homework? Will Sean write a romance novel? And who is killing all the butterflies? If you ever wanted to know the not-so-secret intellectual life of a romance author, now's your chance!
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Got any dead books lying around? Manuscripts that didn't work, or didn't sell, or are just dead in the water for reasons you can't quite put your finger on? The Word Docs sure do. Alex is curious to pry into Sean and Amy's literary closets, looking for dusty old relics of the past. There must be something to be learned from books that didn't work? Was it all a waste? Or are dead tomes valuable things? In response to Alex shining a light into their closets, Amy and Sean drag out Alex's juvenilia, discovering the glory that is Jimmy and the Wizard and King Mean Man. By the end of this episode, you'll be grateful for the books that never made it, and you may also be wishing that you were at the Proscenium in the 90s, pretending to be a Goth.
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What do you do when the end of the world is nigh? Give into despair? Eat chocolate? Read books? Or, maybe now's a good time to join Alex on a pirate ship outta here? This week the Word Docs discuss climate-change fiction and the challenges of writing about our climate changed world. As an unseasonable hail-storm rages outside, Amy, Alex and Sean travel through deep time, searching the literary landscape for ways to think about the future. What is the role of fiction in all this? Can you be positive and optimistic when things seem so ****ed? And who ate all the chocolate?
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Unthawed from the ice, the Word Docs have returned to the airwaves to explain where the hell they've been, what the hell they've been doing, and who the hell they might be creating next. As lockdowns ease and the world reawakens, tune in to hear the gang discuss the perils of balancing professional commitments as writers, teachers and researchers. Just when you thought it was safe to open your ears, Sean is back to conjure honourable ghosts, Alex is back to bleed teens dry...and both Amy T. Mathews and Amy Barry are back with secrets to tease.
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The Word Docs are going back to school. Marian Keyes is the guide this week as the dynamic trio attempt, for once, to do what they’re told. Weighing Marian’s advice against their core criteria of Wank Factor, DNF and Repeatability, the Word Docs try to adopt a writing prompt from the bestselling author. When the exercise produces mixed results, there’s only one way to settle the ensuing debate... The Docs have to seek Jeanette Vickery-Howe’s approval.
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We know you've been waiting for this. The day Sean is finally allowed to talk matter transmitters to his heart's content. Be transported into speculative story worlds, where sex romping may happen on a young man's fictional spaceship, murderers get creative with transmitters, and where Alex and Amy are increasingly scared of ever setting foot into a car again... In this episode Sean leads Amy and Alex through the horrifying, mesmerising, inspiring, mind-bending possibilities of the matter transmitter in fiction. Beam me up, Scotty! And I better not be looking at my ass when I get there...
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How are writers portrayed in fiction? The Word Docs (or, as they’re inexplicably calling themselves, the Warlock, the Wizard and the Witch) are investigating the magic of storytelling as depicted in popular culture. From Fforde to Ginsberg, and Ginsberg to King, there is a tradition of romanticising authors and their work. Amy is into it... Sean really, really isn’t. Join us as we separate the myth from the grind.
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We’re lifting the boot and unpacking our process. This week, Amy leads a discussion on the form and purpose of exegetical writing as Sean snores audibly in the corner (not for the first time) and Alex rails against ever discussing his own work. What is an exegesis? Why is it important? Who is it for? The Word Docs pray the Deans of Research are not listening as they quarry this most sacred pillar of university life.
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Writers are cruel creatures. This week, the Word Docs discuss all the occasions when they’ve felt let down, horribly surprised, or otherwise manipulated by authors, playwrights and screenwriters. Alex is upset by animal cruelty, Amy by failed romance, and Sean by lions that aren’t really lions. When the contract between reader and creator is broken, Amy has been known to throw a book across the room...but Sean is even more sadistic...he once threw a book in the fire. Join us!
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They're baaaaaaaack! The Word Docs have spent the last couple of years recording random episodes and failing to release them. But today is the dawn of a new age. Otherwise known as 2023. Alex stops polishing his awards, Amy crawls out of the writing cave, and Sean returns from a galaxy far, far away (as in, Ireland) and the 'quite interesting' episodes have been collected into a 'transitional' season of uncontained writing joy. Time travel through a year and a half of delayed Word Doc-ery, with writing tips, pitch fests, research chats and more in the clap-free world of the new ambisonic sound studio. Happy Writing!
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‘Fool Me Twice’ is a podcast about diamonds. Jules and Zara were approached by a woman in Hong Kong who owns a diamond business, and had an incredibly compelling story to tell, full of twists and turns. Hearing her story, Zara became interested in diamonds themselves, and started doing some digging. This podcast follows the story of that scam, and attempts to unravel some of the shadier aspects of the diamond industry as a whole. We interview people related to the scam, a diamond miner, scam experts and individuals with their own personal diamond stories. This 8-episode true crime podcast will have you on the edge of your seat.
COMING SOON: Available on Auscast Network and all podcast platforms in July 2021.
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/36kbNmH
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3gBgOdR
Auscast Network: https://www.auscastnetwork.com/home/fool-me-twice
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The Word Docs have returned! Out of the classroom and back at the mics, Amy, Alex and Sean are dissecting the fertile minds of director Lisa Harper Campbell and actor Gianluca Noble who have brought Alex’s latest play Watchlist to the stage. How do talented people turn scribbles on a page into a live event? Who does it belong to once the author has ‘died’ and the director has left the building? Why does Alex get arrested for public walking? Is it just the beard? We don’t think it’s the beard. Join us! We’re back!
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The Word Docs bare their bruised egos this week and attempt to find a balming (is that a word?) salve. Alex drags Sean and Amy into the cobwebby corners of their psyches, seeking to learn whether ego is a help or a hindrance in an artist's life. This week we'll learn about the book that broke Sean; traverse the Dark Place and the Vague Place; confront mediocrity; and try to ignore the fact that Alex's dad seems to be popping out of the wardrobe. We tackle troubling questions, such as: Is smugness perilous? What projects should we say no to? Where's the line between self-belief and delusion, or self-belief and narcissism? And is Caleb Lewis real? (Spoiler: we don't believe he's real.) Join us for an unusually serious and vulnerable episode Of Word Docs. Please...?
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Before you write your magnum opus – or perhaps during – a visit to a distant shore to get you in the mood and help you find the perfect setting for your novel is not a bad idea. Likewise, visiting the scene of your favourite work can bring you deeper into an author’s mindset. This week, the Word Docs share their tales of pilgrimages. From the ice flats of Antarctica to the oppressive heat of a bathhouse in Shinjuku, the dynamic trio are not afraid to push boundaries and smash social norms...even if it ends in injury and humiliation.
Stay tuned for the outtake: It's longer than Alex's novel.
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The Word Docs are stirring from their slumber and weaving their magic – both the whimsical technicolour kind and the wicked dystopian kind – on a raw 2021. How do writers recharge after an insane year? Is downtime part of the process? What do these people do when they're not abusing stationary? You may think the Word Docs simply fold up neatly into cupboards, but no...some of us jog!
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Well, that's it for the grand old dystopian wonderland of 2020. Bring on the New Year! This week, the Word Docs are reflecting on the year that's been: deadlines missed and goals hit, unexpected delights and inevitable tipsiness, real estate bought, sold and fantasised about, and the fact that Amy never delivered on the promised scones. We're making plans for 2021 and even 2022: New bathrooms! Secret disco rooms! Starting our own magic writing school, where Alex will be potions master! Those bloody scones. And we introduce a new segment: Is this illegal? Amy takes the role of Alex's parent; Alex sings, undaunted; Sean promises to DJ for New Year's. Pour yourself a rum and Milo (don't ask) or a cheeky Moscato and settle in for some festive cheer from the three wise elves (is that a thing?).
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This week we have a full pod of doctors and a bonus Word Dog, as the Word Docs are joined by playwrights Piri Eddy and Peter Beaglehole, and Piri's dog Murphy. We explore the experience of writing and producing plays, the life affirming joys of working with other humans, and the reasons why sometimes you just have to go a little nuts. There are power tools and secret ninjas, and Alex gets approximately 20% more manly. Come along and help us probe the vexed questions of playwrights the world over: Why theatre? Can we start a fight in the foyer? Why bring the world together when you can rip it apart? And when will the secret ninja come to our rescue?
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From big structural issues to hooks and semicolons, and everything in-between ... the Word Docs are all over it. Together, Amy, Sean and Alex have edited a lot and been edited even more. In this episode the docs become surgeons, unpacking the editorial process in forensic detail.
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This week, our intrepid Word Docs dig down into the relationship between writers and their words. Can you separate the fiction on the page from the reality of its wider context? Which matters more, the message of the author or the impact of the work? And what happens when your favourite creator turns out to be an appalling human? Join Amy T. Matthews, Sean Williams and a particularly hyper Alex Vickery-Howe as they unpack that thorny relationship between story and storyteller.
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There’s no getting around the fact that we live in strange and difficult times, from a global pandemic to a ‘Leader of the Free World’ who refuses to concede defeat –– but, never fear, the Word Docs are here to provide their remedies! Join Amy, Alex and Sean as they unpack the ups and downs of creating new work and telling new stories in the midst of isolation and upheaval. For Sean, it’s about chocolate. For Alex, it’s about Moscato. For Amy, it’s about finding a room without a random relative in it. Every decade has its challenges, and its lessons...now is the perfect time to reflect on where we've been and plan ahead for the tales of tomorrow.
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In this episode, we compare submitting your work to setting up a profile on Tinder. How far can we take this metaphor? Too far. Much, much too far. As a Tinder virgin (metaphorically speaking), Alex is grilling the pros (not a metaphor, although they do get paid for it) on how to submit your work to agents and publishers. How do you find them? How do you talk to them? When are you being too pushy? Do you split the bill? The questions are endless. Don't fret, the Word Docs are here with the ultimate dating guide for writers seeking long-term love in the industry.
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This week the Word Docs follow Alice down the rabbit hole and take the academy by the tassels to hash out research outcomes, research expectations and non-traditional research outputs. What is research? How do you do it? Are creative works really so different from scholarly articles? The plucky trio will offer some answers, with only occasional segues into – among other things – honeybees and daises, narcissism and duality, rolling cigarettes, the Elkhorn Mountains, homoerotic cowboys, Matter Transmitters, and Miss Shirley Bassey. But segues, rabbit holes and blind alleys are all part of the researcher’s daily mental adventures...it’s writing them up in a few thousand words that’s the hard part. Like Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, these ‘PhD People’ know that nature, and Sean Williams, always finds a way.
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It’s that special time of year again, and to celebrate Word Docs lifts the veil on their inability to stick to the subject, keep it clean, or avoid the giggles. This adults-only episode collects unused excerpts from nine months of broadcasting in the hope of bringing good cheer or at least the occasional shake of the head to all our listeners. There may even be a word or two about writing. Happy All Hallow’s Eve, everyone. Don’t forget to scare the kids!
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In this episode we're talking about how we juggle multiple projects, completely unaided by clones (lazy bastards). This week the Word Docs cram the muse back in her box and adopt a pragmatic approach to this juggling thing. Anti-romantic to the core, we tackle how to be multiple people at once, how to be one person on multiple projects, how to have a life, and whether balance is possible. Just ignore the mental traffic jams and post-deadline crashes and the fact that none of us know who Betty is or why she hijacked the end of the pod. It turns out we have a few strategies for keeping all our balls in the air. If you have balls too then this is the episode for you!
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They almost succeed. Very, very nearly. This week, Amy, Sean and the other guy do their best to discuss heroes...and end up discussing fairy tales and gender binaries, romantic chemistry and cinema demographics, and anything else that skirts around the issue. Being heroic is hard. Writing heroic characters ain’t a picnic either. Who were the heroes of times gone by? What makes a hero in the modern age? Grab your sword – or your biscuit – and follow the Word Docs as they explore different flavours of heroism.
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Another week, another rant. Place your bets as Amy and Alex face off on a range of issues they more or less politely agree on...while Sean towers with arms folded like a regal Tina Turner. From theme to ideology to politics to rebellion, the Word Docs aren’t afraid to go where Trump and Twitter trolls have gone before. It’s all impressively coherent until Alex forgets to host. Do you catch more flies with honey or with vinegar? Why would you want to catch flies when you have Yo-Yos? Join us for the rumble!
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This week the Docs are exploring some of their guilty reading pleasures, although as usual they don't stick to the topic and other guilts are exposed, not least of them someone's fantasies about Kevin Bacon's shorts. Prepare for the over-caffeinated enthusiasm, as we learn who was the bane of their primary school librarians, who has a sadistic streak, and who is a secret sports buff. High art/ low art divide be damned, we're taking on the hegemonic elite and flying our freak flags.
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COVID-19 threw us headlong into online teaching at a moment's notice, requiring flexibility, agility and the fleet-footedness of a moscato-soaked gazelle. Well, it threw Alex and Sean into online teaching and moscato. Amy was on study leave. Now as Semester Two hits, Amy's joining them on the frontlines, but swapping out the moscato for a nice Clare riesling or a McLaren Vale grenache. What tips can the boys offer? How do you convert a curriculum from face-to-face Socratic teaching to the chat rooms and vids of the interwebs? What are the pitfalls? And what are the unexpected benefits? Pop a cork on your wine of choice and get ready for some truth bombs from three dedicated educators in the age of Zoom.
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What have we been doing this year? Other than teaching through lockdown, eating too much chocolate, drinking moscato, and yapping away on this podcast... In this episode we get to catch up on the Word Docs' latest projects, which involve a theatre/film project which is not a porno (but does feature a dominatrix), music made in the Hall of Possibility, and more pseudonyms for the woman who has everything. What other writers do you know who can get kidnapped by pirates on their way to a writing gig? Like, for real. Not in their imaginations. And what other academics do you know who are willing to dish the dirt on what it's really like to be a working writer? Fine, lots of them. But how many of them also make ambient music? One. Sean. Well done, Sean. He's reason enough to listen to this podcast - especially if you're smart enough to listen all the way to the end.
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In which Sean comes down from the mount, stomps out the burning bush and hands down the ten (and a half - don't forget the half) commandments of writing. After a healthy dose of heckling, his disciples agree they're pretty good. No 'thou shalt not covet thy neighbours ass' kind of good, but 'don't be a dick' is definitely a keeper.
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Meet the man who ruined Alex's milk and cookies by writing a story so abjectly disgusting that it laid waste to bedtime. This week we're kicking off our 'Writers and their Partners' series, talking to Amy's partner, the Horror writer Jonny Zweck. (Sean refuses to participate in this misguided series next, even though it's patently his turn, and his partner is also a doc who writes the words. Alex, meanwhile, is threatening to go pick someone up so he can get involved. Be warned.) There's grammar talk, abject horror and the search for meaning, and the eternal question: how do you pronounce the word 'wolf'?
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It's a Showdown! Amy and Sean are going head to head over to Richard Curtis's film Notting Hill, with Alex caught in the middle. Except Alex is too obstreperous to stay above the fray, and Amy and Sean keep agreeing on everything. We can't even argue properly. This week we're looking at character, motivation, embedded sexisms and other isms in Notting Hill (a film from the Dark Ages that we keep finding ourselves arguing over at the pub), and a whole range of random logic holes in films that bear no resemblance to Notting Hill at all. This is peak Word Docs, where there's madness in the method, and we regret everything.
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This week Amy kicks off with a rant about people who want to 'break the mould' of genre fiction, instead of just doing it bloody well, which leads us down the rabbit hole of defining genres, arguing about the rules (knowing the rules; bending the rules; breaking the rules; stop breaking the bloody rules!), following formulas, smashing formulas, value adding and (because it's us) comparing genres to pizza. What other podcast about writing can be so smart and so dumb all at the same time? Guaranteed to be 80% cheeky and 100% 30 minutes long. (This may be our best episode yet, so don't miss it. It's probably all downhill from here.)
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This week we're probing (with consent) Sean's sometime-collaborator Garth Nix. A man who has penned many bestsellers, Garth gives us the lowdown on writing: where he does it (The beach! Alex is astounded. How does he keep the seagulls at bay?), how he does it (By hand! Alex is further astounded. How does he keep his hand from cramping?), and why writing full time was a trap. We get the dish on what it's like drinking in LA with Sean (there's imaginary nudity involved), on how to collaborate (Amy's taking notes and trying not to get hand-cramp), on moonlighting as a publisher and as an agent (clever), and (most importantly) on how to not to get cross.
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Sean, Alex and Amy take almost a third of the episode to get to the point. Which is kind of the point. This week they're discussing the fine art of procrastination: procrastishopping, procrastibaking, Wikisurfing, how not to follow a recipe, stealing other people's nostalgia, and how great Frank Langella's eye performance is in the 80s classic Masters of the Universe. Sean is outraged by Alex's determination to put vanilla in everything, and disappointed by his own inability to find a goose neck phone clamp on the internet; Alex has a Save the Foxes t-shirt he can't remember buying, and a shameful secret about Back to the Future and the Pentagon; and Amy is stuck in the Matrix with this whole Frank Langella thing. Will they ever get to the point? Probably not.
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This week Alex, Amy and Sean interview their colleague Dr Lisa Bennett/Lisa L Hannett about her eerily beautiful dark fantasy fiction, her first draft agonies and second draft ecstasies, and her obsession with writing on trains. Turtles and tableaux, fine art and flying flips, Canadians, Scandinavians, and hillbillies from the Deep South - what more can you ask for? Writing talk? Oh yeah, we've got that too.
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Will Sean ever achieve his life's ambition of getting his work on the banned book list? Will Amy give in and write a book without rude bits? Will Alex stop slandering salamanders already! Or will they just ignore all the critics and push on, puritans, prudes and salamanders be damned! This week, the Word Docs discuss criticism: the good, the bad, and the medium. We'll be exposing all our scars and showing you which slings and arrows were fatal and which were merely flesh wounds (spoiler: none of us are dead yet). We'll ask the questions: Can criticism be helpful? And how can you find the emotional resilience to weather reviews, hate mail, fan mail, stalkers, trolls, and your own inability to accept praise?
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They always say you should kill your darlings...but have Amy, Alex and Sean taken this too literally? Tune in as the Word Docs discuss all the (fictional) people they've murdered. From mythological creatures to wagon trains, hellish high schools to doppelgängers, it's an intergalactic bloodbath.
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Amy, Alex and Sean confess to all the jobs they had before becoming writers. From the eternal happy hour of a Sydney call centre, long nights at service stations, and weddings where the guests eat gold, the word docs have been making mischief across a range of industries. We're not afraid to ask the big questions: Has Amy got any free salad? Will Sean realise he's been shanghaied? And when is a blue chair ever white enough?
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Everyone fails. No one fails forever. There are many ways to negotiate the gap between, in the arts and in academia. The Word Docs have risen through the ranks themselves, and now devote a large proportion of their life to helping others do the same. As teachers, mentors, positive role models, and occasional drinking buddies, Amy, Alex and Sean are here for you.
Episode 11 - tags
Accidental success
Blackface
Carpe Diem
Commercial flops
Computer crashes
Consultation
Covers
Cruelty to animals
Curses
Drafts
Editors
Fail better
Hindsight
Hubris
Ideal reader
Inertia
Jealousy
KPIs
Laziness
Log lines
Luck
Manuscript assessments
Marketing
Miscasting
Misjudgement
Misrepresentation
Numbers game
One-pagers
Opportunities
Owls
Playing Dice
Preparedness
Process
Public embarrassment
Regret
Sales figures
Self-failure
Selling out
Submissions
Teaching
Timing
Unpublished books
Vicissitudes
Whitewashing
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What’s the secret to getting published? Alex, Amy and Sean tell all, or at least as much as they can in thirty minutes.
Episode 10 - tags
acting
advice
awards
bottom drawer stories
bravery
commandments
community
conferences
contests
creative writing programs
deadlines
fear
feedback
flipside
fonts
footnotes
formatting
genres
heartbreak
industry knowledge
long game
marking
mentors
perfectionism
performance writing
PhD
resilience
rules
serendipity
shyness
soundtracks
study
titles
typos
validation
work
Writers of the Future
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Would you rather win all the awards or make all the money? “Both” is a valid answer, but few writers are so lucky. Sometimes peers and publishers will push you one way or another, when really, all you want to do is be yourself. How have the Word Docs managed this? In a lively conversation spanning everything from pop culture to professorships, Amy, Alex and Sean reveal all.
Episode 9 - tags
Academia
Awards
Bias
Classism
Comic-Con
Comics
Community
Competition
Conventions
Cultural capital
Cultural cringe
Defining success
F-bombs
Genre fiction
Inclusivity
Intellectual laziness
Literary fiction
Parental advice
Participatory culture
Polymaths
Pop culture
Popularity
Power relations
Prejudice
Reading habits
Representation
Sexism
Slang
Supanova
Tortured metaphors
Youth
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Alex, Amy and Sean take a closer look (see Episode 6) at two of our favourite character types and explore ways to write thrilling new ones. It’s harder than it seems. Maybe it’s okay for good people to be bad sometimes, but would Darth Vader ever pat a puppy? Answers await in the Cubby House/Lair of the Word Docs.
Episode 8 - tags
Acting
Adaptations
Antiheroes
Boring Good
Drafting
First crushes
Goal/Motivation/Conflict
Horror
Kittens
Ownership
Piping shrike
Plotting vs Pantsing
Puppies
Romance
Secondary Characters
Star Wars
Strengths and Weaknesses
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Who are Amy, Alex and Sean? What have they written? How do they juggle teaching and writing? Is it even possible to teach people to write? Why does this podcast exist? One of them swears too much, one makes an unconvincing soldier, one wrote epic D&D poetry as a teenager: by the end of this informal Q&A, you will know who, and much more about your Word Docs hosts.
Episode 7 - tags
ABC
Bad Poetry
Bob Roberts
Children's Book Council Award
Chocolate
Collaboration
Confessions
Coronavirus/COVID-19
Creative Writing
Creative Writing PhD
D&D
Drunk writers
Editing
Elbows
Failure
Fears
Flinders University
Genres
Gremlins
Heroes
Horror
The ideal reader
Ideas
Lockdown
Mentors
Networking
Nostradamus
NSW Premier's Literary Awards
Once Upon A Midnight
Playwriting
Power Rangers
Practice Led Research
Publication
Publishing
The Queen
Romance
Routines
Screenwriting
Secrets of writing
Short Stories
Space Opera
Star Wars
Teaching writing
Teletubbies
Tess LeSue
Thrill Me! anthology
Tom Young
Villains
Vulnerability
YA fiction
Interest plus hours
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“Two out of three Word Docs have books out this month, and so does special guest Lisa Hannett (aka Dr Lisa Bennett). How do you launch a book during lockdown? By asking Amy to interview all three authors and raise a virtual toast to their inevitable success. Happy book birthday, Word Docs!”
Bonus Book Launch Episode - tags
Allen & Unwin
Book Birthday
Book Launch
Currency Press
Her Perilous Mansion
Lisa Bennett
Lisa Hannett
Songs for Dark Seasons
Ticonderoga Publications
Watchlist
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People read stories about people, so learning how to write people is an important step on your journey. Whether you steal from real life or create out of whole cloth, whether you prefer heroes to villains, whether you regularly lose control of the characters you have brought into being – the Word Docs are right there with you. Their methods may differ, but one thing is certain: chocolate is likely involved.
Twitter: @TheWordDocs Instagram: @TheWordDocs Facebook: The-Word-Docs
Tags - Acting vs writing, Action scenes, Alcohol, Ambiguity, Authorial agency, Backstories, Book chocolate, Borrowing from real life, Capacity for change, Characters, Chocolate, Collaboration, Comfort food, Complexity, Conflict, Context, Creative constraints, Dublin, Evolution, Extras, Forced endings, Franchises, Galley slaves, Heroes, Internal conflict, Intuition, Kids, Killing off characters, Long-haul flights, Meaning of names, Merchandising, Metaphors, Moscato, Mundane details, Name dictionaries, Name dropping, Naming characters, Non-fiction, Obsession, Origins, Outlining, Parenting, Past/present/future thinkers, Past victories, Planning, Podcasts, Protagonists, Psychology, The Queen, Reading, Real people, Rebellious characters, Recurring characters, Relationships, Roll call, Rewriting, Runaway characters, Scale, Secondary characters, Shortlisting, Silent extras, Star Wars, Sugar addicts, Tea, Texture, “Tom the Paper Boy” phenomenon, Too many characters, Tragedy, Villains, Weather, Writing as therapy
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New writers beware: saying that you are one invites interrogation on the nature of your work, where it has been published, and how much you’re being paid – all difficult questions to answer when you’re starting out. Writers, ultimately, come in many different shapes and sizes. The Word Docs are here to help you find your place in the pantheon, and to guide your dealings with Grandma next time you visit.
Twitter: @TheWordDocs Instagram: @TheWordDocs Facebook: The-Word-Docs
Tags - The Act of creation, Agents, Alien ideologies, Audiences, Author copies, Awards, Bad Sex Awards, Baking, Being orphaned, Beta readers, Brag shelves, Bravery, Brutal honesty, Business cards, Cakes, Career paths, Character identification, Characters, Chocolate, Community, Competitiveness, Conferences, Confidence, Conflicting feedback, Consultation, Continuity, Criticism, Critics, Disappointment, Doctor Who, Downturns, Drawer stories, Dreamweavers, Editors, Exposure, Fact vs fiction, Failure vs success, Family, Feedback, Gender-swapping, Genre discrimination, Good news, Gratuitous side projects, Growing the pie, Happiness, Honesty, Hope, The Imagined reader, Imposter syndrome, Inadequacies, Innate genius, Jealous peers, Kids, The Loneliness of success, Luck, Madness, Milestones, Money, Moral arguments, Parents, Parody, The Passionate response, Publishers, Professional vs amateur, Pseudonyms, Public adoration, Punctuation, Qualifications, The Queen, Rated R, Respiratory diseases, Royalties, Self-assessment, Sex scenes, Sense of humour, Sharing the love, Skills, Star Wars, Stalkers, Tall Poppy Syndrome, Taxonomy of writers, Theses, Tribes, Validation, Vampires, Visibility, Wattpad, Werewolves, Withholding, Wordsmiths, Writers’ Associations, Writing for a living, Writer bling
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Your book is done. What comes next? Finding the right editor is just one of the many challenges that the Word Docs have faced with aplomb – or if not aplomb, at least with a cocktail and a good conversational opener. Alex, Amy and Sean will help you break down the wall between writer and publisher that sometimes seem insurmountable.
Twitter: @TheWordDocs Instagram: @TheWordDocs Facebook: The-Word-Docs
Tags - Access, Authenticity, Being a dick, Bangers & mash, Brainstorming, Brutal honesty, Canapés, Chocolate, Cocktails, Collaborators, Community, Conferences, Confidence, Conventions, Coursework cohorts, Credibility, Doctor Who, Double entendres, Elevator pitch, Emma Thompson on a unicycle, Fabio pants, Fake it vs make it, Festivals, Gossip, Homonyms, Human scum, Introversion vs extroversion, Meat alternatives, Merchandising, Momentum, My Dad Wrote a Porno, Name dropping, Nanna Joy, Narcissism, Networking, Publisher’s assistants, The Queen, Selling yourself vs selling your work, Self-promotion, Sex, Shamelessness, Shyness, Social anxiety, Sounding boards, Stable ponies, Stakes, Strategic socialising, Support ponies, Tall poppy syndrome, Track records, Two out of three rule, The Tyranny of distance, The Work is the work, Writers’ Associations
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Whether you’re a reclusive garret scribe or a gregarious cafe scribbler, you’ve put serious thought into the space you write. Alex, Amy and Sean are no different. They’ve experimented with rituals and rooms of their own. They’ve wrangled writers’ groups and writing retreats. One of them has gone to Antarctica in search of the ultimate office. The Word Docs learned their lessons the hard way so you won’t have to.
Twitter: @TheWordDocs Instagram: @TheWordDocs Facebook: The-Word-Docs
Tags - Accomplishment, Administration, All-nighters, Antarctica, The Best time to write, Bob Roberts, Book proposals, Bragging rights, Caffeine, Cats, Coffee shops/cafe culture, Cone of silence, Control vs chaos, Define “writing”, Distractions, Dublin, Exposure, Fake news, Fellowships, The Flow, Hell is other people, Hot chocolate, Housework, Kids, Lofts, Massages, Moscato, Multitasking, Music, Nanna Joy, Noise, Nature, Networking, Offices, Parenting, PhD, Pizza, Privacy, Retreats, Rituals, The Romantics, Sample chapters, Scotch Finger biscuits, The Secret, Seeking perfection, Sheds, Shovelling, Silence, Spotify, Standing desks, Star Wars, Storms, Swimming, Tea, Teenagers, Theme music, Tuning out, TV, Weather, Work/life balance, The Writer’s revenge, Writer cats, Writing environment, Writing goals, Writing groups, Writing in public, Writing on the road
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Where do ideas come from? Are there any new ones left? Does taking a long shower count as work? Is chocolate tax-deductible? The Word Docs share techniques, traps, and tales of times when inspiration has fled but the words must be put down regardless.
Twitter: @TheWordDocs Instagram: @TheWordDocs Facebook: The-Word-Docs
Baking, Beginnings with no endings, Boredom, Bread, Cooking, Community, Creative combinations, Creative music, Creative prompts, Daydreaming, The Definition of work, Daily wordcount, Deadlines, Demons, Double entendres, Downtime, Drafting, Dreams, Drinking games, Editing, Exhaustion, Fishes, Free association, Grants, The Grind, Ideas, Inspiration, Intuition, Ions, Left brain/right brains, Lightning bolts, Loose construing, Love, Mentorships, Movies, Music, Neologisms, New ideas, Notebooks, Play space, Process, Procrastination, Psychics, Reading, Refilling the well, Remixing, Researchm, Routine, Shakespeare, Schenectady, Spotify, Stages of writing, Storms, Sustaining creativity , Thesaurus, Titles, Unstructured time, Weather
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Alex, Amy and Sean check in from their underground bunkers, where their research, writing and teaching continue unchecked. How are they coping with physical isolation? How are you? New times call for new solutions. Stay safe, everyone
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Alex, Amy and Sean tackle a topic close to the heart of many writers and students: getting work in on time. When stopping is sometimes just as hard as starting, the question of how to know if a story is ready for the world is one the Word Docs have all wrestled with many times in their careers. From procrastination baking to life in the Zone, our experts take you on a deep, discursive dive into the life of a working writer.
Twitter: @TheWordDocs Instagram: @TheWordDocs Facebook: The-Word-Docs
Tags; Anxiety, Author copies, Caffeine, Cats, Chocolate, Christmas, Compulsive writing, Confessions, Contests/competitions, Cramming, Creative ownership, Deadlines, Discipline, Drafting and redrafting, Drinking games, Experimentation, Extensions, Fear of failure, The Freedom of the beginner, The Grind, Ideas, Kids, Letting go, Marking, Moscato, Neologisms, Perfectionism, Pseudonyms, Quality vs quantity, Skills, Star Wars, Structure, Students, Teaching, Twists, Work/life balance, Writing muscles, The Zone
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