[CLASS] #42: Wednesday October 14th Class

Final Wednesday class. Here we are. We did a few things today.

1. We discussed the book launch and receiving the books. It was important that at least one of us had a physical copy, to prove that it does exist. We might have to do a 5km relay to pass them out. I'm in an appropriate range. But hopefully on Sunday, the travel restrictions might be lifted... so I can see G again, but that's another story, hehe. The book launch has been pushed back to Week 16. That's Wednesday November 11th, 6pm. Remembrance Day. Should be on Discord as well.

2. Zoe presented the cover designs, with a little preface about the design brief and the mood boardy stuff they sent to the design. Space junkie aesthetic, with violent neon colours, with a focus on pink was among the mood board pictures sent. That was promising. Hayden also commentated on The Annihilation ending credits, which looked very much like Doctor Who opening credits. That was promising too. I was getting really hyped.

...

And the designs were... very, very, disappointing. From my opinion, anyway.

I didn't have the courage to ask the class if they felt the same way, but I was incredibly disappointed by the designs. There were 3, with the same shapes and elements, so they looked similar to each other. Two of them had flat, grey backgrounds, with the elements transposed for a quirky, spacey, bowling alley carpet vibe. The last had a mustard yellow background, a nice(?) splash of colour. What made it stand out was the fact that the elements had been decorated with gradients and other small things. I voted for it, and it was already the picked choice, the writers were just asked to vote as a guess for what the editors chose.

I've... accepted it now, very reluctantly. Perhaps the better word is resigned. After all, there's nothing I can say to fix it.

I saw the designer's added comment, and it made sense on the paper. Molecular stuff, spacey things. The design itself also has someone sitting in a "void" like-area, a nothingness of yellow, in between wormholes/portals, a bit lost. Perhaps a plague wanderer themselves.

I'm still... disappointed.

I don't think it fulfils the part about the brief looking for "colour exploding off the page, provoking the reader forward into the mess that our writers are navigating". 2/3 of the designs have a slate grey background. The one chosen has a murky yellow background. 

I could nitpick more, but I do already feel bad that I don't like the cover, admittedly. I'm sure the designer worked hard on it but I just don't feel like it captures the book and how much all of these pieces say. Simple can be more but... after seeing the pictures provided for inspiration, I was disappointed. And maybe I'm afraid of turning my opinion around after analysing it VCD-style.

What was I expecting? I sorta expected some black and white photography, to be honest. Probably someone looking out a window contemplatively. Not very colourful, but I thought it would be sort of fine-artish. The inspiration pictures got me super excited for a radically bright and colourful cover, 'Plague Stories' the title boldly written, but... yeah.

I ended up drawing a bit of an "alternate", more vent-art cover, just combining different images from everyone's pieces. Admittedly it can be a bit too simple for some of these essays, but I thought it'd be fun to create a very chaotic, playful image, with those pinks and violent colours I had in mind. It's a bit rushed, and I probably won't finish it, but hey. A nice tribute to all the pieces that make up this lovely anthology.

In case you ah, can't read my handwriting (and want to know more about the writers featured), starting from the left column:

• Neil's Panspermia
• Brayden's Black Plague
• Jenny - feet on head
• Miriam's billboards
• Jake's anon(ymous) man cured of AIDS
• Cushla's Bogong moths
• Beau's Surviving COVID
• Asiya's shaah tea
• Ewen's kebab
• Juno's trauma writing
• Angus' bacteriophage (looks like a moon lander)
• Shannon's Pestilence w/ white horse
• Joey's Worm of Procrastination
• Chloe H's looking at the sky/sky falling down
• Max's thrown pencil
• Violette's lurex top
• Emma's World of Warcraft corpses
• Rachel's Life's grave
• Chloe K's glasses
• Katie's relationship messages
• Shane's bag of drugs

Uh, last point I guess, they're considering making the cover page an AR thing that you can check out on Instagram or something? Yeah.

Anyway, moving on...

3. Writer/Editor Debriefs. We sat down with our editors in different, non-editing groups to discuss our experiences in this course. David gave us some questions, so I'll put them down here for answering too:

a. What has the experience of the writer/editor collaboration been like for you?
It's been overwhelmingly positive! A fantastic way to get into new territory in the writing industry, get to know what it's really like. I'm so thankful for this opportunity.

b. What are the things you found most fun/exciting?
My editor "understanding" me. In the good sense. Like someone reading my work, doing their best to understand my intentions behind it. It has been such an uplifting and fulfilling experience.

c. What are the things you found most surprising?
Knowing I can write raw emotion... all I need to do is do it again with fiction. Make some really real (fictional) characters.

In retrospect, probably my overturn of my attitude towards nonfiction. I'm sure there's probably still some lesser-known, vain authors out there, but... I'm more open to writing it from now on. Of course, it doesn't stop my insecurities about feeling like I don't have much interesting things to say unless an event occurs, but... hey. I could write more contemplating stuff, I suppose~

d. What are the things you found hardest/most challenging?
All of the redrafting. Doing things again and again and again, and being uncertain about how the final draft would look. I'm used to writing a rough draft, and just making a few adjustments. But I'm really proud with how it came out in the end. I'm so glad I was open to changing and improving it more.

e. What are the biggest things you've learnt through the process?
How enjoyable Collaborative Writing is. I want to do more of it, perhaps nonfiction in particular, so they can meld more together. I'm surprised how light the load becomes and also how fun it can be.

Extra Notes include...

Jake: To add to my "editor understanding me" positive note, Jake responded that he felt it was quite indulgent. To have someone read your writing, get it, and want to respond to it is an amazing feeling. The most challenging aspect of the courser for him was how long we spent dedicated to one essay. Twelve weeks!

Rosalind: Responding to Jake's "indulgent" comment, she said that the experience was a privilege for editors, and was rewarding for them. It was challenging for them to put themselves into writers' shoes, and sometimes they can become concerned if they're not interpreting things correctly, the way the writer intended.

Carly: My editor, Carly, would suggest ideas, and watch writers make it their own, even springboard it into something else while fixing the problem. Watching this process was amazing.

Overall, we all agreed that although writing used to, or perhaps is typically seen as a very solitary activity, it can be quite collaborative. The writer/editor relationship is vital because it's easy as a reader to get attached to your work and find it difficult to change or remove aspects of it. We can rely on editors to tell us what to remove. We furthermore noted the two sides of the coin -- the writer/editor relationship is indulgent for the writer, and a privilege for the editor. We appreciated the ability to celebrate and improve our writing process as well.

And that... is my second last class post! Hehe. I don't think there's anything I want to add to the Folio though from here, so, I guess that's it. Catch you all later!