Universal Cultures

This piece was created by interviewing a student of social work and through the interview I have created a piece of fiction inspired by their answers.  I. Relationship I never wanted a relationship in the first place, I’m young, I’m studying, I’m not really looking for someone. But then he came along, the man of my dreams … at least that’s the crap they tell you and what you should be looking for. I thought he was perfect, you know? As perfect as one could be. Dark hair, tanned and dark eyes, average height so he wasn’t the conventional ‘dark, tall and handsome’ but he was good enough for me! He made me happy, he bought me flowers and treated me with respect like the way I deserved.  Of course, things fuck up, and things always fuck up. He left me with nothing but a post-it note. This is why I never wanted to date, this is why I never wanted to be with another man. Woman who lies with another man, that is an abomination. Though who knows if that’ll change. Who knows i...

Think of a character from your own cultural background. Figure out their basic characteristics: age, gender, education, marital status, social values. Write a creative piece (fiction/poem) in their voice. How do they sound? How does their 'background’ manifest in their voice?  I set out a little descriptor for this character for myself as well as what it had above.  Name: Meliton Tailor Age: 20 Gender: male Education: current University student (science)  Marital status: single Social values: socially liberal (women have rights, LGBTQ+ people have rights, immigrants have rights, etc.) Economically conservative (wants there to be lower taxes, no big government spending, etc.) University When they said that they were going to go to University, so many people had an opinion “Why are you just now enrolling into University?”  “You won't be with people your age” “You'll be stuck in school your whole life!”  These are people that did...

When you write, what do you consider 'pure’ or 'authentic’ about your cultural background (including 'Aussie’ culture, mixed heritage, hybrid backgrounds etc.) That need explanation? How do you think ‘cultural contamination’ has informed your writing practice?  This piece is a look at my grandpa and how he has shaped my cultural background. A rough draft as it is, it's at 988 words a bit over the 500 - 800-word count.  My grandpa is a weird guy, he's honestly a trooper I tell you. Every year he'll tell us it's his last year with us that he’ll die sometime this year, but each year he comes back and he says the same thing. He'll tell random people his life story, anyone who'll listen to him really. But he's strong on tradition and I think that's where I get it from, he's quite Australian, as Australian you can get. Of course, he's not dressed up head to toe in gear of the flag or the fact that he's a white Australian (s...

What's your understanding of Hong Kong? What has been your explore to it? Food? Language? Movies? Is it China? Is it NOT China? I don't have much experience of Hong Kong, though when I think of this, I actually do - more specifically regarding media. My first love (maybe bang it down a few notches after writing, video games and my partner) is movies. I've always loved the stories that movies can tell, and if you want my top 5 movies, well let me know (Snowpiercer, The Winter Soldier, I Killed My Mother, Big Hero 6 and Train to Busan - not in that order). Looking at Wikipedia's article "List of films set in Hong Kong", I realise how many films I've seen that are set in Hong Kong. Of course, these films are made by foreign markets but somehow relate to Hong Kong. They all are:  Rush Hour series (a childhood favourite) (1998 - 2007) Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) The Dark Knight  ...

What kind of research do you think is necessary if you're to write outside your experience? Everything. You should research everything that you can. Even if it's something you already know, RESEARCH! Research every small tiny thing, because what happens if you fuck up? Or there's a major plot hole in the situation or the person? Just research! I mean it's simple enough said, right? Research. That's it, and yeah maybe you can live by that ideology for as long as you want but I don't think it's that simple. I mean, research something you don't know but want to know. I do that even if I'm not writing about it, I mean, the amount of Wikipedia articles in my history is amazing (I usually go into fixations of things at a certain time, a lot of the time its school shootings and it's not because I want to do one, (I'm very anti-gun if that helps my case) but the psychology of the killers are interesting).  Though I believe that if you wr...

What do I culturally take for granted in my writing? In my writing, I don't think about the different gestures or the different ways that one character might act depending on where they're from. My character from my novel Leaving Limbo  Mathias Laurent (who I previously spoke about in ' Writing people who aren't you ' blog post) is French, like I mentioned in the post, but I write him as I feel like he would act and I don't think about how different French people are from me. But he's also lived in America since he was 14 (he's 27 now) so he would still have American tendencies. I also have a character in the same novel named Hana Rhee, who is Korean, specifically from South Korea, and she's lived there until she died (at the age of 21) of course unlike Mathias, Hana lived in the future so her mannerisms may or may not be different to the Koreans of the 21st century. Much like another character I have in this novel who is from 19th century Austr...

Mother " Two will do grab your keys find your peace if you will allow, make a single sound - out with it. " I never knew how much of an impact Mum would have on me. She died when I was 33, a woman born of English culture but survived a journey here to Australia. It's been over ten years since she's been gone and I can't even remember much of her. I do imagine how she could see me now, what she'd say or how she'd react to certain things in my life. Would she react to my two failed marriages in shame or would she be happy? I was able to do something, twice, that she wasn't able to do once. It's been peaceful. But the sense of peace recedes as I fish the keys out from the box and open up the door to her old house. Renters have been in it for years and I've had no reason to go back. There is a new doormat and the front door creaks even more than it used to but it still feels all too familiar. It still feels like her house. I need the...