the use of abuse in autobiography

Just had to rave about an article that Jane Sullivan wrote in the Age about memoir novels and her wondering what use they are- apart from the cathartic value they have to their respective authors. In today's Saturday Age there is a wail of complaint from one reviewer saying there is a flood of "I've had a nasty childhood" books. Well I see the point of well written memoirs or nastier works of childhood abuse in fiction. The more these horrible stories are shared, the more likely people will be sympathetic to those people in real life who disclose such events in their pasts or presents. Unfortunately abuse is part of the real world and society has yet to deal with these issues properly. No one seems to question the purpose of love stories and epic novels etc.
On a slightly related topic I'd also like to blog about my admiration of people like MJ Hyland whom are up front about their childhoods and her depressive illness. The more this stuff is shared the better I think. Then those of us that have experiences of these things know we are not alone. And that will be the subject of my next post.

Vixen 2006

I'm currently working on a script adaptation of Vixen which I hope will be made into an animation one day. Revisiting it makes me realise how much some of my views have changed- the book stops in the 1990s- but somehow I want to pull the end into the early 21st century. If the film gets made I don't want it to be just a pretty animation (although that would be good!) I also want there to be a message about human rights both in Australia and Vietnam. I think I was pretty naive when I wrote Vixen- she is not really an active participant in history, the actions of a little fox is against the backdrop of history.

So does fiction need to say something? Or does the reader need to feel something?
I had this discussion with my writing group the other day. My two cents is that the reader needs to feel engaged whether it is intellectually or emotionally or they won't read the book.

My motivations for writing fox fairy fables in the first place was the need to say something. She was for me an expression of anger, she could do what I could not about some situations. Fantasy fiction for me was an escape where you could create your own happy endings and outcomes. In fiction I said what could not be said out loud in the environment I was living in.

I've been asked recently what makes me tick and what pushes my buttons as a writer. I said it was about change and transformation and that is what drama is to me. I also added later that it was about strength in situations and the ability to be a change agent in one's own life which sounds a little bit like the psychologist in me.

Nowadays I wonder how much of these private thoughts I need to speak out loud to communciate with other people- especially since I'm drifting into theatre. My supervisor Kathleen Fallon said that fiction gives you the freedom to speak the unsayable. I think that's also the freedom in theatre too- to bring out what has been kept hidden. That is the empowering and liberating aspect of it.