Writing Process x Reads

So I’ve been thinking…

I am tempted to start each post with “I’ve been thinking…”

Another sentence starter could be “I’ve been reading…”

I’ve been thinking about some of the things that I have been reading.

I wanted to put together a small list of shorter pieces I’ve come across and really liked.

I went on a bit of a tangent with essays about crime fiction. I don’t tend to read crime fiction. I once was a reader but I stopped a while ago. I was interested in Beyond Outback OzCrime by Laura Elizabeth Woollett. There was a line in there about how crime fiction aligns with conservative political agendas. From that line, I went searching for related threads, stumbling across Why crime fiction is leftwing and thrillers are rightwing by Val McDermid from 2015. McDermid was one of the writers I read in my crime fiction phase and I was struck by her breaking down thrillers (spies, political intrigue etc) as aligned right while she placed genre crime fiction (murders etc) as more left than thrillers.

The other essay that plays on my mind is Jody Lee’s Difference Domesticated on Sydney Review of Books. Lee looks at the types of books published in the Asian diasporic landscape. Lee’s critique circles publisher agendas and their idea of a formula that is pinned to a specific community. This can be extrapolated to so many other communities. Publishers want a successful formula. If Book X is successful, how else can we publish more books like Book X?Think Twilight and the explosion of paranormal romance but Difference Differentiated is about publisher bias and the type of stories publishers expect from certain communities.

As for books, I recently enjoyed Nervous System by Lina Meruane (translated by Megan McDowell). It is not one to hurry through and I will be seeking out other books by Meruane! There’s also Sickness as Normality: An Interview with Lina Meruane from 2020.

I have a couple of events coming up.

Firstly, there’s the HEAT 26 launch at Arts and Cultural Exchange in Parramatta. I have a small piece in HEAT 26 titled Nine Six One after the calling code of Lebanon. I’ll be reading alongside Eda Gunaydin, Lucy Lehmann, Holly Isemonger and Emma Sorensen! It should be a fun night. It is free but RSVP is required and full details can be found here.

Then there’s the Blue Mountains Writers in the first weekend of November. It is always an atmospheric festival and it’s featuring a fantastic lineup. The full program can be found here and there are also day passes and weekend passes available.

And lastly, Storm Tide is the next novel by KYLIE MIRMOHAMADI and it will will be out in March, 2027 through Scribe. I CAN’T WAIT and yes, capital letters are intended!