PD Martin's Blog

A couple of weeks ago I was on a panel for the Emerging Writers’ Festival
(EWF) here in Melbourne.

The topic was Just write Dammit! and the brief was to discuss our
writing techniques.

The other panellists were:

• Victoria Carless – a playwright who also works in fiction, film and feature writing.
• Andrew Hutchinson – award-winning author of Rohypnol.
• Tiggy Johnson – poet and short story writer.

During my 10 minutes I talked a little about my writing routine. Although I
have to fit writing in with my 2yro, compared to many other authors I’ve got it easy. I rarely stare at a blank page for more than a few minutes. I don’t
agonize over a sentence for hours. And I’m not particularly prone to
procrastination. Of course it’s still hard work, but I do have the ability to
just sit down and write. 

The panel got me thinking – why do I find it easy to get words on a page?
It’s probably partly related to my genre – crime fiction books tend to be
page-turners and I think the writing process somehow reflects this. You read it fast, we write it fast. I can also thank my 10+ years of working as a corporate writer. I’ve always written to deadlines and always had to simply sit down and write. While short corporate writing pieces are very different to a 100,000-word book, the pattern of behaviour is ingrained.

After initially feeling that my writing process should be at least a little
more torturous, I’ve now decided I’m extremely happy and grateful that it’s
not!

For more information about the EWF, please visit their website.