Thursday 23 April 2009

Our local bookshop

puts out a blackboard with a "Quote for the Day" on it. I have been remiss lately in not adding to the quotes they use. Tamra was on to me to supply some more. We both like the conciseness of a good quotation.
Conciseness could be practised in other areas as well - perhaps this blog? In prowling the library shelves yesterday I was struck by how many "fat" books there are. Do they really need all those words? Perhaps they do but some of it might be poor editing as well.
I have less sympathy than I should for the plight of some Australian writers. My belief is that, if they are really good, they will make it anyway. If people do not understand the Australian landscape they write about then they have failed as writers. If they lack sales it has nothing to do with our small population. It has much more to do with accessibility, universality and marketing. They can still be Australian and have Australian settings. People who do not live in Australia will undoubtedly find such setting romantic or exotic. If people wish to write from an Australian perspective however they have to find words that others will understand. They can still challenge the reader but the reader needs to be able to comprehend the writing. So, I must read more quotations - a good quotation says a great deal in few words. I say too much.

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