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Dear Readers
Kia Ora
I've been lax about learning how to update my site with the new computer and programme, and kept putting off the promised revamp. I have, however, written a book and a half, and have spent some time in my capacity as Chairperson of my local Sociey of Authors (PEN) doing things for and with other writers.
One of the book group I joined this year is a fantasy fan and we all tried a fantasy book one month. Then someone suggested we read the book of film that we'd seen, but had not yet read the book. I chose Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera. And it was interesting to see how the film makers had changed elements of the story to fit the different medium. I have been interested in script writing for a long time, and although many films - sometimes to the fury of both writers and readers - bear not much resemblance to the book version, the storyline was the same. Some characters had been taken out, added or changed, and some scenes were different. But the essence of the book was conveyed well in the film.
That is what script writers try to do, but a script is limited to about 100 pages, and to adapt a book is a very special skill. Books normally run from 200 (typed and double spaced) pages to several hundred. And in film everything the writer has tried to communicate has to be conveyed by sight and sound, without the ability to get inside the characters' heads. This is where the actors can interpret the script and put their own spin on the character, helped by the director. Not for nothing is film called a collaborative medium. A script is a different "animal" from a book. When my short story Dying Light became a film, the actress playing the lead character made her softer and more obviously vulnerable than I had envisaged when writing the story. And that's okay. As the director told me, she brought a lot of depth to her character. Another writer described how an actor had brought new nuances of meaning to his script, which thrilled him, just by the way she spoke the dialogue.
I am still reading romance (of course) and a lot of mystery and suspense, with some non-fiction thrown into the mix. And last week went to the famous-in-New Zealand Rawene Book Festival. Rawene is a tiny historic town, one of the earliest European settlements in New Zealand, where loggers used to dwell and sent their timeber off to Britain and America. Our kauri trees grew tall and straight and were much in demand for "spars" for the sailing ships that plied their trade around the world. Now the two-yearly book festival brings people from all around the country to enjoy a weekend of book poetry, prose and talks, with guest writers reading their work, and an open mike evening for everyone to read what they like. It has become a regular pilgrimage for book lovers. A regular ferry service from Rawene (pronounced "Rah-wenneh") plies the nearby harboutrto KohuKohu on the other side, another very old settlement. Some houses in both towns date back to the 19th century. For New Zealand a building of that age is old!
Another town I recently visited is Paihia, which is not actually a Maori word. One theory is that when the early missionary Henry Williams was inspecting sites for a mission station, his Maori friend suggested that this spot was a good place by saying "Ka pai here," mixing two languages. Ka pai means "good" in Maori. Williams may have thought he was giving the place its Maori name. The missionaries wanted to "save" the local Maori population from the vice and depradations of the settlement across the bay then called Kororareka, and known to sailors as a great place for the kind of roistering that men who had been at sea for months or years felt they deserved. Once known as "the hellhole of the Pacific", (a title later bestowed on Hawaii), it is now a quiet tourist resort with shops selling artworks, handcrafts and souvenirs, and a small museum. I was intrigued by a tiny, elegant silver "ladies'" hand gun, which I guess the lady tucked into her garter. Paihia is more bustling and busy, and well supplied with motels and hotels and backpacker hostels for visitors to use as a starting point to explore the Bay of Islands and the Far North, which includes Ninety Mile Beach. Some spoilsport measured the long shore and discovered it's more like fity-something miles, but it's still impressive.
For Harlequin M&B fans, yes I have been taking some time off to do other things, but my London editor has accepted a new manuscript to be called The Timber Baron's Virgin Bride. I know, I know - some of you will be sniggering, but apparently the buzzwords ensure a book will fly off the shelf. You can't argue with success. This is a "reunion" story about a couple who knew each other when the heroine was a child and the hero a lordly teenager, and who get together after ten years apart.
The one I'm working on now has the working title of A Baby Made to Order, but there is no telling what it will be in the end.
I have ameantime written some short stories, and have been tutoring and coaching other writers. But made some time too, to spend with family members, some of whom have been having tough times lately. I've also attended the launch of a book written by one the Kara School of Writing's past students, Zana Bell, whose historical novel Forbidden Frontier has been launched in Australia and New Zealand. It is the rip-roaring story of Charlotte Badger, the first white woman known to have landed in New Zealand, a mutineer/pirate with a rambuctious personality. Next week another ex-student, Beth Heyward, launches her first published novel, Cherished<, published by American publisher Swimming Kangaroo.
For writers, I have a couple of good websites for you:
http://www.writers.net
http://www.writersserivices.com
And if you are a Kiwi, try http://www.authors.org.nz, the site for the NZ Society of Authors. There is much good stuff there to interest all writers, plus information on how to join and what benefits you gain from membership, which include regular weekly updates on writing matters like contests, publishers, workshops and events. This week Auckland is having its Readers and Writers Festival, with a plethora of fascinatiing speakers and panels includikng overseas guests.< However, I have a deadline to meet and may not get to it, though I hope I may be able to take in part of the last day.
