Review: 'Sektion 20' by Paul Dowswell





November, 1972: Germany is in the middle of the Cold War, pitting people in the country’s East against those in the West. Teenager Alex lives in East Berlin during a time when it was illegal to read books, paint, sing and do anything else creative that isn’t seen as benefiting the governing dictatorship. Sick of the oppression and the way everyone suspects their friends and neighbours of being spies, he decides to speak out against what he believes is a pointless war and the heavy handed Stasi—the state’s security force. But when he goes too far, a Stasi agent is sent to make Alex conform, or kill him. Alex and his family realise their only chance to survive is in West Germany, but getting close to the wall that divides the country in two, let alone over it, proves to be virtually impossible.

It’s hard to avoid clichéd descriptions like ‘coming of age story’, ‘political thriller’, ‘gritty realism’ and ‘page turner’, so I won’t try. Lovers of historical fiction, especially alternate history, will adore Sektion 20. The narrative is immediate and thrilling; the setting realistic, compelling and well-researched. The result: a piece of historical fiction I highly recommend to mature Young Adults who can stomach the unsavoury aspects of the Cold War, and those who enjoy chapters with cliff hanger endings.

(The novel for this review was supplied by Bloomsbury)

Review by Emanuel Cachia.

And the winner of the Melton Short Story Competition is…

Time and Time Again by me!

It feels great winning, especially with a story I like and worked so hard on.

So, what exactly went into Time and Time Again?

- An outline on what I wanted the story to achieve

- A year of turning the ideas into legible prose

- Nine drafts (more if you include the line edits)

- Critiques from my writing group

- Two other competitions (one Highly Commended)

- Rejection letters from three publishers

Looking back at the first draft, the voice and plot were there; only the back-story and placement of words and punctuation changed. But what an impact these things have!

The story went from just over 1,500 long-winded words that took a long time to get to the point to 998 punchy ones that demand attention.

What’s the story about? A guy hangs himself in prison and thinks about his life and where it went wrong. As the story unfolds, he goes further and further back in time to an incident of family violence where he wishes he stood up for his mother. The last few paragraphs show how he wanted to live his life and, hopefully, shows that family violence is passed on from generation to generation until addressed.

Where to from here? I hope to submit it to a few of the literary mags that haven't already rejected it. I’ll probably do that until someone picks it up. I’m also considering sending it somewhere overseas—maybe The New York Times.

Wishful thinking, I know, but if my aim is high I might just hit the target that feels so far away :)

Emanuel

Assesing my career options as a writer

The time has come to choose my subjects for next year (2012). This had raised a lot of questions, the most important being:

Q: Do I want my writing carer to focus on fiction, non-fiction, editing or production?

A: All of the above!

If only I had time to do them all ... Well I do, in the long run. But which two subjects should I do next year?

I'm thinking Novel 2 and Industry Overview 1 are musts. A possible third subject is the hard one. It's come down to a choice between Non-fiction 1 and Editing 2.

Hmm...

Editing 2 focuses on producing publications and working as an editor, and is compulsory. But I can do it next year...
In Non-fiction 1 I'll learn to write non-fiction (duh!). Specifically, reviews, interviews, feature pieces and maybe memoirs and a little journalism.

Editing 2 will refine my editing skills and show how a publication is put together - something I really want to see.

Whereas, Non-fiction 1 will be a great opportunity to see if I enjoy writing factual pieces as much as I like writing fiction and can handle the deadlines.

Editing 2 might be the edge I need to sell my novel and the experience I need to put together a book of short stories by local writers.

Non-fiction 1 will give me more experience as a writer, rather than an editor, and should help me to present my ideas in a logical sequence of thoughts. It might lead to a freelance career in reviewing books, games and other stuff, which I can do when I need a break from my novel...

But which will get me into a paid position quicker?

Which will I use in the long term?

And, can I handle studying four subjects next year? :)

It's VCE all over again...

Help me Obi-wan Kenobi; you're my only hope!

*Ghostly voice* ‘Trust in the force, Luke… err… Emanuel.’

I’d love to hear from current, and previous, PWE students, and welcome comments from experienced writers.

Thanks for reading,

Emanuel

Review: 'Gamerunner' by B.R. Collins

GAMERUNNER

By B. R. Collins

Gamerunner follows Rick, a teenage boy living in the future where acid rain prevents people from going outdoors. Rick’s father, Daed, works for Crater—a virtual reality game developer that benefits from people spending the majority of their time, and money, in their games. Daed created the Maze as the ultimate game that can never be beaten. Rick not only tests the Maze for glitches, but also finds solace in the various activities and challenges within. And when a player comes close to completing the game, it falls to Rick to stop them.

Collins has created a detailed and believable setting where the greater population is scared of the outside world, Undone, and obsessed with the Maze. Sure the Maze isn’t real; but, it beats living in Undone.

Collins effectively uses the limited third-person point of view. At one stage, Rick eavesdrops on a conversation in another room. Although Rick can’t ‘see’ inside the room, sounds allow the reader to figure out what happens while Rick remains confused.

Whenever Rick is in the Maze, the narrator uses an awkward, repetitive sentence structure with very little punctuation. This is awkward to read at first, but after a few chapters it proves to be a great way to differentiate the Maze from the real world. Sharp, repetitive sentences remind the reader that although Rick would happily spend all his time in the Maze if he didn’t have to eat and sleep, he shouldn’t shun the real world for a game.

Corporate greed; dysfunctional father-son relationships; a dystopian future; and, humanity’s tendency to follow the status quo, rather than challenge it, are all explored in Gamerunner. While the setting, theme and plot are definitely dystopian, gamers like me will say, ‘Bring on the rain!’

The novel for this review was supplied by Bloomsbury



Six Word Stories in Platform Magazine

One of the first subjects I completed in my ongoing Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing was Short Story B with Margaret McCarthy. In this class, Margaret introduced us to a variety of short story forms including the ‘six word story’.

How hard can it be to put together six words, right? Wrong!

Those six words need to convey all the elements of a good story—character, mood, setting, theme and plot—while having a definite beginning, middle and end, and using a style that shows rather than tells. Phew!

After the original discussion in class, I scoured the internet for six word stories and found a few sites dedicated to the form and hundreds of great examples. My favourites include:

Found true love. Married someone else.  —Dave Eggers

Blind date. Wrong restaurant. Missed destiny.  —Clare Hill

Dad called: DNA back: he isn’t.  —Helen Fielding

“Apple?” “No.” “Taste!” “ADAM?” Oh God.  —David Lodge

Megan’s baby: John’s surname, Jim’s eyes.  —Simon Armitage

Every single sight mentions Ernest Hemmingway and his belief the best story he ever wrote contained only six words:

‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’

While new clothes frequently get lost in my children’s cupboards until they are outgrown, I think Hemmingway is alluding that something happened to the baby. The voice is that of an advertisement and hints the author needs the money and is ready to move on from whatever happened. I might be thinking about this too hard, but my reasoning shows those six words imply a much greater story and, more importantly, create a taking point for readers and writers alike.

Over the next week or so, I created more than 50 six word stories of my own; I just couldn’t help myself. I recently submitted my best to Platform Magazine, who commissioned 13 for their 10^th, and current, issue. If you’d like an electronic copy of Platform (it’s free!), please email me at emanuelcachia@bigpond.com . You can also pick up a hardcopy at Victoria University’s St Albans campus or one of the Rotunda in the West events.

I’d love to know what you think of the stories and welcome you to post your own.

Thanks for visiting,

Emanuel