From tiny seeds...Omega Writers grew – by Ruth Bonetti

Once upon a time, back in the past millennium, a publisher scattered seeds amongst Brisbane writers. Offering a free seminar–with lunch– to attract new authors, Open Book’s John Pfitzner was swamped by responses. Intrigued by familiar faces there I wondered: What if we got together on a regular basis to encourage and support each other? I sent an open invitation to meet in my garden and discuss.

This 1991 mustard seed of Omega Writers has rooted and bourgeoned strong branches.

A dozen in a monthly circle shared writing to encouraging nods. We photocopied a scissors and glue newsletter. Guest speakers enlightened but the prime focus was support.

Our recurring plaint: ‘How do we find a publisher?’ was answered. Publisher Rochelle Manners rose through our ranks, while other Christian houses faded.

In 1994 God gave another vision: performances to showcase members’ words coloured with dance, rap, my husband’s Brisbane Symphony Orchestra. Pro Hart sent paintings for an adjacent art exhibition. I illustrated my poem with a slide show in the dark ages before Power Point. Two performances Gallery attracted 1000 people. Nail biting? Yes. Faith? Yes.

In 2000, God sent another vision. Help people into print with an anthology Seasons of Giving. It came to pass. As did my energy.

Lyn Hurry took over. She and Anne Hamilton mounted another visionary exploit: Alpha2Omega Conference of Literary and Dramatic Arts drew authors across Australia, to present knowledge, experience and books across multiple rooms.

Next president Annie Hamilton urged authors to review each other’s books on Goodreads.com. Her visions initiated a digital magazine Zaphon, CALEB book awards and conferences.

STILL TIME! Apply NOW for Omega WritersConference in Sydney 27-29 October.

“A great place to get together with like-minded people for learning, sharing, networking and encouraging.” – Nola Passmore

Initially Omega’s only local writing group was based in Brisbane. but expanded to Toowoomba, Gold Coast, other capitals and New Zealand. Locally based and genre specific online writing groups budded.

President Simon Kennedy updated the website to small screen friendly with capacity to pay memberships, advertise and process events online–like Toowoomba Chapter’s caring, infectious annual weekend retreats and a Book Fair.

“Last year’s Book Fair was made possible with bookings done online and covering the event with insurance. We hope to repeat it in March 2018.”–Jeanette O’Hagan.

Enterprising and passionate Australian authors have produced quality books, ranging from children to school children and young adult, romance, historical novels, memoir, theology and devotionals, drama, poetry and illustrations. write in a wide range of genres, suitable for all your Christmas shopping–and Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day and birthdays.

They live similar lives to ours: snatching time to write between nursing the baby or toddler naps or home schooling teenagers or minding the grandchildren. Professionals juggle deadlines to cadge windows of writing time.

“Omega Writers has encouraged me to see my writing self as part of a bigger picture with a greater reach. One small puzzle piece does not a picture make. One brick does not a building make. But stacked and fitted together, we strengthen the integrity and impact of the Ministry of Christians as writers.”–Cathie Sercombe

 “I didn’t know I could write until I joined OMEGA. The friendship and nonjudgmental critiques give me confidence to develop my talents.” –Judy Rogers.

When output shrivels in desert times, groups like Omega Writers support and encourage. Branches online encourage many members (as well as Omega’s groups, CWDU has 935; Australasian Christian Writers 540).

We’re heartened and inspired to see how the Head Gardener nurtured small seeds sown in 1991 to a thriving community of Christian authors who are published or developing skills towards that goal, clear in their vision to use their God-given gifts to further the kingdom.

After a dozen publications in her primary field of music and performance practice, Ruth Bonetti was especially challenged by memoir/historical biography. She values support of Omega Writers friends to see into print her recent books "Midnight Sun to Southern Cross" and "Burn My Letters" (shortlisted for CALEB nonfiction award). 

Website: http://www.ruthbonetti.com/burn-my-letters/

Face book: https://www.facebook.com/RuthBonetti/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/boniruth
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard
Blog: http://ruthbonetti.musicabonetti.com

The 'Do Unto Others' of Marketing by Nola Passmore

Soon after being released from Ravensbruck concentration camp, Corrie ten Boom began a worldwide ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation that took her to more than sixty countries over several decades.  During those years, she was billeted in the homes of hundreds of people, and experienced their warm hospitality.  She thanked God for these wonderful hosts, but also credited her parents with planting the seeds of generosity.  All throughout her childhood and into adulthood, their home was open to anyone. There was always an extra place at the table, a word of encouragement and an open ear.  Corrie later reaped the benefits of her family’s hospitality.

We’ve all heard the adage ‘do to others as you would have them do to you’ (Lk. 6:31), but do we apply this in our writing?  We’re fortunate that there are supportive writing groups like Christian Writers Downunder, Australasian Christian Writers, Omega Writers and FaithWriters.  All of these groups emphasise community and helping each other.  However, I’ve also seen the other side where some writers exude a sense of entitlement.  They want everyone to support their writing, but are reluctant to help others in return.  Such a person might join a group of writers purely to market their own book without giving anything back to the community; or they might expect their publisher to nurture and promote their book, yet be reluctant to even share posts about their publisher’s books, services and events. 

‘Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’ (Lk. 6:38)

How can we apply that in the marketing of our books?  Here are a few suggestions to ponder.

• If you want people to review your book on sites such as Amazon or Goodreads, you must be prepared to review other authors’ books. (See my post about reviews here).
• If you expect others to buy your book, you need to be willing to purchase other people’s books.  If your budget is a problem, see my suggestions later in this post.
• If you expect people to share your book news on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram; you need to do the same for them.
• If you want someone to give you feedback on your manuscript, you need to be prepared to give them feedback on their writing.
• If you want people to comment on your blog, you need to comment on other people’s blogs.
• If you want people to subscribe to your newsletter, give them something in return (e.g. a special offer or some subscriber-only benefits, such as a free story).
• If you want people to help you with events such as workshops, book fairs and book launches, you need to be willing to lend a hand to others.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.  If we’re going to support each other as a community of writers, we need to give before we take.

There are some caveats to what I’ve been saying.  Firstly, we need to watch our attitudes.  We should help others because we genuinely want to support and encourage them, not just because we want something out of it.  People can spot a phony a mile away and no-one likes being used.

Secondly, ‘doing unto others’ doesn’t mean we give someone a five-star review because they gave us a five-star review.  Honesty is critical.  There have been times when I’ve started reading a book with every intention of posting a review, but then felt I couldn’t really endorse it.  If it’s an author I know personally, I’ve chosen to not review the book rather than post a negative review.  There have also been times when I’ve been asked to share a Facebook post or tweet, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing so. This could be due to the content or to other practical considerations (e.g. I'd shared other posts recently and didn't want to spam my friends and followers).

Time and money constraints can also be issues.  It only takes a couple of seconds to retweet a message on Twitter, but it can take ten hours or more to read someone’s draft manuscript and provide constructive feedback.  For that reason, I’ve decided to only do that favour for my critique partners.  Most people don’t have endless pots of money to buy books, but we can still help authors and publishers by borrowing a book from a library or a friend, and then posting a review.  Some authors and publishers will be happy to give you an Advanced Reader Copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. If you sign up to NetGalley, you can also receive free e-books in exchange for reviews.

Some people might find this post challenging.  I find it challenging too.  I could be doing a lot more to support other writers, editors and publishers; and I admit that my attitude is not always as it should be. None of us is perfect, and we all have limitations and responsibilities.  We can’t do everything, but we can all do something.  Can you take time to bless a writer, editor or publisher today?  It could be a simple ‘like’, comment or retweet. You don’t know what blessings may be poured out for you in return.

Nola Passmore has had more than 150 short pieces published, including fiction, poetry, devotions, true stories, magazine articles, and academic papers. She and her husband Tim run a freelance writing and editing business called The Write Flourish.  You can find her weekly writing tips blog on their website.  

Website:     http://www.thewriteflourish.com.au

Blog:           http://www.thewriteflourish.com.au/posts

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/TheWriteFlourish/

Twitter:        https://twitter.com/NolaPassmore

LinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/nola-passmore-749a628/

Duelling Trolls: How To Be Serpents & Doves

I never considered how writers need to have tough skin. How they need to stand behind their work, while still staying teachable to criticism in order to become better at their craft. It’s a delicate balance, and one I’m still learning.

This year, I’ve been writing for more publications, my readership is growing, but it’s come with pesky trolls and negativity. Oh how often I want to quote Bambi at them - “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”

The other day, I woke to several notifications filling my smart phone’s lock screen and found myself smiling.  I’d been trolled! The first time this happened was earlier this year. I wanted to print out their comment and hang it in my room, like businesses do with their first dollar. It made me feel like I’d made it.

I was proud of my reaction and thought, “Oh, good. I can totally deal with the ‘haters’ of the world. Bring it on!” Then came the next barrage of comments on another article I wrote. All I wanted to do was ask those ‘haters’ if they had any sisters or daughters and would they like it if someone was talking to the girl’s in their life like they were talking to me. I composed that message about fifty times that day, until I finally realised I needed to let it go.

It’s not pleasant to have someone dislike our art, but it’s unfortunately becoming more and more common. It’s important to know how to duel trolls.

When I received my first ‘troll’ I asked other writers for advice. I had over 50 replies with differing opinions on how to deal with hate mail and trolls. Some dealt it right back to the ‘haters’ while others cried and struggled against self-doubt, but the overwhelming response was to ignore it.

But I think we have a different call as Christ followers.

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” - Matthew 10:16

How many of us have read this passage, but lost its significance? Let’s break it down a bit…

• God has appointed us to a specific place - “Behold I send you out…”
   
• He wants to take us ‘tame animals’, who are accustomed to grazing and set us in the middle of of the cruelty, the greed, rapacious and destructiveness of mankind - “…as sheep in the midst of wolves…”
   
• And in the midst of all this chaos He’s commanded us to be intelligent, wise and prudent, to be mindful of our interests - “…so be shrewd as serpents…”
   
• But not only are we to be wise, we are to remain pure, like an unmixed wine or metal, our minds are to remain free from guile, without a mixture of evil - “… and innocent as doves.”

If you’re facing trials, or ridicule from people who read your posts, books, etc. I encourage you to approach it with this scripture in mind.

The hard part about a lot of the negative comments is they don’t just attack what you’re writing, they attack our identity. The more we can stay steadfast in the truth of who we are and Who’s we are, the more we can approach these perceived ‘attacks’ for what they really are. (And this is what I feel God is really speaking to my heart.) The people writing these negative comments are just like me.

They’re human beings, who may be having a bad day and so they’ve taken it out on a stranger.

Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, but as I looked at the most recent posts literally belittling my existence, I couldn’t help wondering if I’d actually get along with the person in real life.

None of us are perfect. We’ve all said something we regret.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not excusing these people. What they’re doing is not helpful or beneficial to the world, but as a writer who’s learning to duel trolls, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact they are someone God cares very much for and because He loves them, I should too.

So how do I duel trolls?

Surprisingly, it starts with humbling myself to recognise where I’ve ‘mixed with evil’ in wanting to approach these comments with as much negativity as I received. Then, instead of ignoring their comment, I pray for the individual - seeing them as a human being in need of grace. Next I look at their comment with fresh eyes: Is there any truth in what they’ve said? Could I have written things with more clarity to avoid this comment? If the answer is no, it’s time to let it go.

My fellow writers, I hope you can take courage from this. To know when to own up to your mistakes and when to let these hurtful comments go. Don’t add them to your life if they aren’t going to bring you closer to God. Instead, remember the individual to our Lord and leave them there.

Charis Joy Jackson is working as a missionary with Youth With a Mission (YWAM) a non-profit organization & is part of The Initiative Production Company. She loves creating stories & is currently writing a novel, which she hopes to create into a seven part series.
 
Here's to a life lived in awe & wonder.
 
Welcome to the adventure.
www.charisjoyjackson.com

Exploring Genres - Short Fiction

by Jeanette O'Hagan

This year, the cross posts between Christian Writers Downunder and Australasian Christian Writers are focusing on genre. So far, we’ve had posts on meeting genre expectations, in Space Opera and Superheroes, Portal Fantasy and Secondary World Fantasy, Poetry, Free Verse and Verse Novels , Regency and Historical Romance, Rural and Medical Romance and Supernatural Fiction.

This month we are exploring 'short fiction'.

Short fiction can come in any genre - and a range of sizes, from six words up to 50,000 words. And while it may seem easier to write less, short fiction requires it's own set of skills to do it well. 

Types of short fiction: 

1. Mirco-Fiction - up to 100 words. 

Though hard to write well, these are becoming increasingly popular with mobile phones and texting and twitter (140 characters). Clearly, every word must count. 

Ernest Hemingway's famous example of a six word story is as follows 'For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.'

2. Flash Fiction - between 100-1000 words. 

These stories can be used as 'palate cleansers' between longer stories in magazines. 

The Faith Writers Challenge requires no more than 750 words on a weekly theme (and the best are collected and published by Breath of Fresh Air Press in the Mixed Blessing books). A number of members have appeared in the pages, including Nola Passmore, Simon Kennedy, Jo Wanmer, and myself. 

Writing flash fiction helps tighten one's prose. The focus is often one or two scenes or on the climax of the story.

3. Short Story  - between 1,000 - 7,500 words

This is often what we think of as a short story. Many competitions, periodical, 'zines and anthologies require this length - often around 2000 to 3000 words.  Speculative fiction (sci-fi and fantasy) have bigger words counts of between 7000-10,000 words. For instance, two spec anthologies that I had successful submission to - Tales from the Underground and Quantum Soul preferred stories around 10,000 words.

There is more room to manoeuvre, but focus and tight writing are still essential. It's important to streamline --- limit the story to a short period time, small cast of characters, with few if any subplots, and start the story close to the finish. 

4. Novellette - 7,500 - 20,000 words

A novellette falls in between a short story and a novella. Heart of the Mountain started life as a short story (my original attempt at the 7000 word limit for submissions for Glimpses of Light anthology) but blew out to over 11,000 words, so I wrote Ruhanna's Flight instead (7000 word exactly). Later, I expanded HOM to 15,500 words.

Yet, I think there is confusion with the term 'novellette'. For some, it means a novella. Many others have never heard of the term. So, I've called Heart of the Mountain 'short novella'.

5. Novella - 20,000 - 50,000 words

A novella (and to some extent a novellette) allows more complexity, with perhaps more characters and twists and  develops over a longer period of time. 

Some famous classical works are novellas - for instance Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), H. G. Well's The Time Machine (1895), Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol (1843),  Geroge Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) and many others.

Presentation

Periodicals, zines, collections and anthologies are usually the home of short fiction.  

However, short fiction can be published on it's own. For instance, I and others (like Aussie authors Adam Collings, Sue Jeffreys or Meredith Resce) have published short stories or novellas as stand alone e-books. Novellas, particularly, can be published on their own --- both as e-books and also as print books. 

When I decided to publish Heart of the Mountain, I planned on an additional three novellas with the intention of combing all four into a single print volume. I thought that each novella would be too small to publish on their own (especially in the case of HOM). However, I have now published both Heart of the Mountain and Blood Crystal as stand alone print books and am very happy with the result, especially as the books are aimed at the Young Adult market. I chose a smaller cover size (8x5 inches rather than 9x6). 

Short fiction can also be collected in boxed sets - as for instance An Aussie Summer Christmas Boxed set - which allows fans to sample fiction from a range of authors - in this case Andrea Grigg, Narelle Atkins, Rose Dee, Meredith Resce, Marion Ueckermann and Lacey Williams. 

Another innovative approach is publishing short fiction as a series (similar to TV series) in which 'episodes' within a 'season' are published with individual story arcs plus an over-arching series arc. Adam David Collings is taking this approach with his Jewel of the Star series, having so far published the 'pilot' Earth's Remnant which sets up the series, and a prequel episode.

Short fiction has advantages for both readers and writers. 

For readers:

• In a time-pressed word, short fiction can be enjoyed without a huge time investment - often over half an hour or a couple of hours. One can start and finish a story without having to worry about when one might get a chance to read again.
• It also gives the reader a chance to sample a range of unknown authors. This is especially true for anthologies or boxed sets, which include a range of authors, one or more of which may be already known to the reader. 
• At its best, short fiction can be thought-provoking, evocative, original, experimental.
• On the other hand, short fiction may leave a reader wanting more character development and/or world building or plot complexity. 

For writers:

• It's a great way to break into the market, as there are many opportunities for competitions or anthologies or to self-publish.
• While not easy to write, short fiction requires less investment of time and money (for editing etc) than a full length novel.
• Short fiction can help a writer to hone her (or his) skills - to write powerfully with less words, to set the scene or show character without the fluff, to better understand plot and story structure.
• Short fiction can be an opportunity to experiment with subject, genre, approach without a huge investment in time (so it's not so critical if it doesn't work out).
• Short fiction tied into the novel world can be a way of either introducing the novel, continuing momentum between novels (and keeping fans happy), filling out the story world,  and/or as a freebie in promotions. 
• It can be fun to write.

Perhaps short fiction are like an artist's sketch compared to a fully developed painting. Both can be beautiful, both have different functions, both tell a story.

Over the last four years, I've enjoyed playing with short stories at different lengths and have had several published in a range of anthologies. Generally, a story has it's own innate length. The trick is limiting the complexity or the number of needed scenes for the word count and then paring back the excess wordage. Sometimes this means sacrificing scenes or elements you like (or deciding to try again with another story).

Have you written (or read) short fiction? What do you like (or dislike) about this form? Who do you think does it well?

---------

Jeanette started spinning tales in the world of Nardva at the age of eight or nine. She enjoys writing secondary world fiction, poetry, blogging and editing. Her Nardvan stories span continents, time and cultures. They involve a mixture of courtly intrigue, adventure, romance and/or shapeshifters and magic users.

Recent publications include her novellas Heart of the Mountain and Blood Crystal and short stories The Herbalist's Daughter and Lakwi's Lament and her novel Akrad's Children. Other short stories and poems are published in a number of anthologies, including Glimpses of Light and Futurevision with three anthologies coming out this month - Redemption anthology, Tales From the Underground, and Quantum Soul.

Jeanette continues to write her Akrad’s Legacy Series—a Young Adult secondary world fantasy fiction with adventure, courtly intrigue and romantic elements.

Find her at her Facebook Page or at Goodreads or on Amazon or on her websitesJennysThread.com or Jeanette O'Hagan Writes . if you want to stay up-to-date with latest publications and developments, sign up to Jeanette O'Hagan Writes e-mail newsletter.