I went to the Cairns Writers Festival over the last weekend. I had a great time and learnt a few things, and also came across some good information and contacts for furthering my writing and publishing.

FRIDAY

I arrived in Cairns about 2PM and dropped off my books at the festival book shop. I hadn’t seen anyone buy a copy by the time I left the book store but a teenage boy picked up a copy and looked at it… then his mother made him put it back.

SATURDAY

Started off with an interesting session on writers that have switched from non-fiction to fiction. I bought a book which was part of a series by Craig Cormick, who was one of the writers on the session panel . He has a science background; the book itself is an amalgamation of fantasy and historical characters and folk tales. So that should be an interesting read. I also attended a session on crime writing (both fiction and true crime) and my Mum (yes I went with my Mum) bought the fiction crime book so I’m going to pinch that off her when she’s done. (Note: It is handy to have family members who like similar stuff to you, as paperback books are fairly expensive and you can share!)

I also talked with a guy from an assisted publishing company. I’m going to send him some of my files, and if they’re approved, they’ll offer me a contract to help publish my books. So I’ve got an avenue for getting my books out to more locations (bookstores, online, etc), you know, should it be well written enough. Here’s hoping!

SUNDAY

Today I went to some sessions on publishing. I learnt a few things about how I might be able to access/approach traditional publishers. Apparently approaching them is easier than getting a literary agent at the moment! Which may not necessarily be a bad thing.

In the afternoon I went to a session on creating characters with Anna Campbell. As I want to improve my writing of characters. I seem to be on the right track. Covered information like revealing character through dialogue and secondary characters. So more like revealing your characters through your writing style and techniques.

All in all, had a good time! 😀