I Will Not Write....

Whatever I write in future, no matter the genre, the format, I vow to never write the following unless it is integral to the plot which is highly unlikely.

I will not write:

Women who, when they are a weeny bit stressed about something, will be unable to eat, (and will fortuitously lose that stubborn pound/kilo or two.) My characters will probably definitely eat more.

Someone who orders a meal but does not eat it. Unless the restaurant has to be evacuated for some dramatic reason. Or as a statement. My main character in my almost-certainly-never-to-be-published comedy novel took such action. When a date commented that she was overweight and ‘should do something about it,’ she did. She ordered an expensive meal then walked out leaving him with the bill. As you do. She then went home and finished of a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, but still, she took action.

A character who will have a lengthy conversation with someone who is about to get in a train that is ready to leave the station. (How do directors in film and TV dramas get away with this nonsense?)

I will not use the word ‘thrum’ which as writer, editor and reviewer, Bec Blakeney pointed out on Twitter, is now ubiquitous. She wondered whether every Australian editor was secretly adding it as an in-joke but it’s been in the last three UK novels I’ve read too. I think it's been in every book I've read  that was published in the past couple of years so it's definitely in some of the books mentioned below.

 

Continuing my appreciation of Australian authors, here are my latest good reads.

Mark Brandi: Wimmera

Mark Brandi: The Rip

Sue Williams: Elizabeth and Elizabeth

Kate Grenville: A Room Made of Leaves

Pamela Hart: Digging Up Dirt

Craig Silvey: Honeybee

Tony Birch: The White Girl

Liz Byrski: The Woman Next Door

Gary Disher: Peace

Allie Reynolds: Shiver

Helen Garner: The Spare Room

Chris Hammer: Scrublands

Molly Murn: Heart of the Grass Tree