by Judy Alsop
Moderated by Irma Gold with authors Alice Robinson and Imbi Neeme.
Irma Gold did a splendid job of encouraging these two writers to express their ideas behind their work, both being extremely generous in what they said, what inspired them and their difficulties in writing.
As an introduction Irma quoted some statistics relevant to the session. Literature in general is dominated by men as characters. The University of Southern California has conducted a study where they found that men are four times more represented as characters in literature than women. There is a gender bias towards male characters although most readers of fiction are female, and many women writers struggle to be taken seriously.
Not daunted by this fact our two writers were open about their writing styles and issues. Imbi talked about the unlikeable women in literature. Perhaps unliked but understood and the portrayal of empathy for such characters; the emergence of characters through the writing experience and the exploration of what the holding of secrets can do to people. With much humour she discussed what she was prepared to write about and the vulnerability of the author when writing from a personal space. Some subjects are too hot to handle!
Alice talked about the puzzle that authors create for themselves, and the logic needed to make the details of the story fit the plot. Her work is clearly drawn from the stage of life that she currently finds herself inhabiting and her own personal experiences. Life stages are often confusing in real time. What is happening and how am I coping? Do we have the insight to write about things not yet experienced? Many of life’s challenges are described in literature, often giving meaningful representation which resonates personally for others also. Imbi’s ideas also resonated with Alice’s, noting how textured our everyday lives are and how quieter, more ordinary books can remind us of life situations.
To quote from Tessa Moriarty’s introduction – ‘In stories we find ourselves when we relate to the characters and situations. We see our past, present and future, our aspirations and even the things that we are afraid of’.
Thank you, girls, for your wonderful insights and presentation.
