Word Docs

By: Auscast Network
  • Summary

  • Alex, Amy and Sean (aka Dr Alex Vickery-Howe, Dr Amy T Matthews and Dr Sean Williams) are professional writers who also lecture full-time at Flinders University, South Australia. They’ve joined forces to cover topics of interest to new writers in a lively, conversational style that frequently segues to areas far from where they started. If you’ve ever wondered what writers talk about beyond the lecture theatre or festival circuit, here’s your chance to find out. Bios Dr Alex Vickery-Howe is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. In 2008 he made his writing debut with a bilingual, bicultural horror rock musical in Okinawa, Japan, where it opened the Kijimuna Festival (now Ricca Ricca Festival) and played to rave reviews and full houses, before selling out again at the Adelaide OzAsia Festival. He has subsequently written and published works for a number of Australian theatre companies. On screen, Alex has written and directed short films which have played to a variety of international festivals. He holds a PhD from Flinders University, where he specialises in writing internationally for younger audiences. Links: https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/alex.vickeryhowe Dr Amy Matthews is an award-winning novelist who publishes literary fiction under the name Amy T Matthews and historical fiction under the name Tess LeSue. She's published short stories in collections including Best Australian Stories and co-edited three anthologies of short fiction and poetry. Amy is a past chair and current board member of Writers SA and teaches creative writing at Flinders University. Her current research focusses on writing colonial historical fiction and the intersections of gender, race and power in romance. This makes it all sound very serious. It's actually ridiculously fun. Links: https://amytmatthews.com https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/amy.t.matthews https://tesslesue.com   Dr Sean Williams is an award-winning, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of forty-nine novels and over one hundred and twenty short stories for adults, young adults and children. As well as his original fiction, he has contributed to shared universes such as Star Wars and Doctor Who, collaborated with authors like Garth Nix, and lived on an Antarctica base in the name of research. His latest novel is Impossible Music, about a young heavy metal guitarist who loses his hearing. He teaches creative writing at Flinders University and writes music under the monicker “theadelaidean”. Links: www.seanwilliams.com https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/sean.williams
    2024 Auscast Network
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Episodes
  • Episode 68: ‘Spam’ (Collaboration)
    Feb 4 2024

    Three writers walk into a room...and somehow manage to work together. Not these three writers, necessarily. But in theory, that's how collaboration works. Welcome to the final Word Docs of the season, where Sean, Alex and Amy are in fizzy spirits thanks to acute cases of over-caffeination (or in Sean's case, too much hot chocolate). What's the secret to a good collaboration? Talk talk talk. Pizza. Precious puppet masks. And the supreme act of Veto. Unfortunately, none of the Word Docs have veto power, so there will be tangents, including a charming little story about Alex the Ungovernable Daisy, a call for spam recipes, and a trip down memory lane to when Pizza Hut was an actual restaurant. Those were the days. But these are also days and we're serving them up with a steaming hot spam pizza of knowledge. Seriously, we really do talk about collaboration. And a lot of it is very useful stuff. Besides, you'll miss us next week, so why not put up with us this week? Spam for all!

    #Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #SpamSpamSpamSpam #Collaboration #ShaneDix #GarthNix #PizzaHut #WellMissYou #WeKnowYoullMissUsToo #HappyWriting

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    37 mins
  • Episode 67: ‘Protect Your Groin’ (Action & Pacing)
    Jan 28 2024

    Sean tests Alex and Amy's knowledge of action and pacing this week (ding ding ding!). What are the pitfalls of pacing an action sequence? We've got all the answers - get your fast bits right and your slow bits even righter. Is righter a word? It is now! Get some classic Word Docs wisdom about character, theme, and how to control the story. There may also be a lot of references to John Wick and some random sportsball chatter that contains no wisdom at all. But stick with it until the reversal, when all will snap into focus. (Don't hold us to that).

    #Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #ActionScenes #Pacing #JohnWick #AmericanPsycho #ShaneDix #StarWars #TheWookieEdition #CatrionaWard #LastHouseOnNeedlesStreet #SimoneStJames #InsertActionFilm Here #TriplePenis #ThanksAlex #TheSlugInTheSky #FixItInPost #AmyGame #HappyWriting

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    34 mins
  • Episode 66: ‘There Definitely Is Such A Thing As A Stupid Question’ (What People Ask Writers)
    Jan 21 2024

    Hello from the sickbed...

    Alex is calling in from home, where he's down with COVID; Sean is suffering from post-COVID brain fog; and Amy is infuriatingly healthy. Today the Word Docs are answering the most annoying questions people ask writers: Will you read my manuscript? If I give you an idea, will you write it, and we can split the profits? Can I have a free book? The answers range from 'No', to 'Hell, no', with the odd 'Amy is not a mule' thrown in, to spice things up. There's also some consideration of the stupid questions people must ask dentists...

    #WordDocs #Writing #SeanWilliams #AmyBarry #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #FlindersUniversity #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #WritingCommunity #StupidQuestions #NotSoStupidQuestions #COVID #HappyWriting

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    38 mins

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