Hey Everyone
I have taken a break from working on my paper for the Melbourne Writers Festival. I feel honoured that '209 A Story' was selected for the most prestigious festival on the Australian literary calendar. Furthermore, the launch is on the Opening Day of the Festival at 4pm on Friday, 21 August, 2009. It is a free event, open to the public, and is to be held in the Festival Club at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (AMCI) on Federation Square - (smack bang in the heart of the amazing city of Melbourne).
The paper I am delivering is titled - 'Bringing The Past into The Future'. This has not come about simply because '209 A Story' is the adventure of the only Australian passenger to become a victim of the RMS Titanic disaster in April 1912. It is because of the book itself. '209 A Story' is a woven fabric of four lives covering a period of 150 years. '209 A Story' is the first in a trilogy, in which the past is bought into the future. A future which is fundamental to the story itself. It is the research I am doing and the research I have completed that makes it so exciting...
While working on '211 A Future', I am madly cross referencing with '210 A Time' - I am caught up in the possibilities of what is going to happen to the world in the coming decades (in particular - 'Singularity'). The changes are going to be radical. I truly believe it is this essence of the technological wonderment that is the catalyst to the magical beauty of my novels - hence bringing the past into the future.
I am bringing something of the technological present to the festival. It has not been attempted before now. On the afternoon of Friday 21 August a HASH TAG FEED from TWITTER will be included... (#209MWF). Over 100 people in 83 countries have advised they will be 'TWEETING" to the event in Melbourne. This is no small feat considering it will be 'silly o'clock' in the Americas and early 'breakfast time' in Europe and Africa. I have FACEBOOK to thank for this and the thousands who are my friends and supporters. In doing so, it will support the international flovour to the festival. It will also add an extra dimension to my paper. This could not have occurred in the past. It will also have a future because the HASH TAG FEED will remain open and comments can be added after the event. Fundamentally, it is the way of the future for publications.
In that one action I will have succeeded in establishing the entire point of my paper. I am attempting to bring the future of publishing novels into a present, which is so influenced by the past.
I understand that novels need to sell. In this day and age when over 3000 books are published DAILY, when 7 out of 10 novels make no money at all, when the once proud Publishing Houses are not taking on new writers due to cost cutting, I realise I am attempting something pretty challenging. I JUST CANNOT GIVE UP... What I will say at this point is this... I never wish to regret not trying to achieve my goal of a trilogy of novels published under my name. Obviously, if people read them and enjoy them - I am pleased. If people read them and hate them - I understand. But the joy in it for me is that I achieved a goal. No supporter or critic can remove that from my CV of Life.
So I will leave it with you.
If you want to attend the Writers Festival here's the link to what's on in Melbourne...
Should you wish to participate in the HASH TAG FEED - here's the link...
http://twitter.com/StevenRafter
Finally, as I am going back to brain storming for my 'moment' at the Melbourne Writers Festival - (and truly anxious in my hope of people turning up... OH GOD - that will be a blog in itself! tee hee!)... I smile - because... my past is what has given my present... and the present is giving me... my future!
Cheers
Steven
