“Being able to express oneself is vitally important to humans and creative writing – in whatever form – is a wonderful tool to facilitate that. It is also a way to seek to understand each other and regardless of what career one embarks on”, says a writer and a creative writing teacher Zoe Venditozzi. The Scottish writer will be delivering a series of creative writing workshops for the New Media Language students at the KTU’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities next week.
Venditozzi’s first novel Anywhere’s Better Than Here (Sandstone Press, 2012) was praised by readers and literary critics for its mature distinctive style and a realistic representation of a young woman looking for ways to make sense of her life.
Although, according to the young writer, writing is a difficult career, studying creative writing has huge benefits to people in all walks of life: “Anything that can help people to communicate more clearly is needed in any field of study or work”.
You are a writer and a creative writing teacher. Are you more of a writer or of a teacher? Which do you enjoy more?
That’s really difficult to answer as I see the two things working together. Before I was a writer, I was a high school English teacher, so I think that desire to teach and support people is always going to be there. It’s often through teaching Creative Writing that I think about my own practise as a writer so I find it helpful personally too. Having said that, I love it when I’ve finished writing something that I’m happy with and having the opportunity to make things up is lovely!
Is it possible to learn how to write creatively?
I think it is always possible to think critically about your writing and to keep working towards being the best writer you can be. I think the role of a creative writing teacher is to help writers to think about their work and to see it in a wider context amongst other writers. It’s important to read widely and a good creative writing course can help you to broaden your horizons.
Why is it important to study creative writing: for the aspiring writers and for those who have different career plans?
Being able to express oneself is vitally important to humans and creative writing – in whatever form – is a wonderful tool to facilitate that. Creative writing is also a way to seek to understand each other and regardless of what career one embarks on, that has to be a good thing?
You will be teaching creative writing in a technological university and your class will be open to everyone – not only to Humanities students. What, in your opinion, can a student of technology studies learn through creative writing, which can be applicable in his/her field of studies?
Again, this idea of seeking to understand human behaviour and to build on empathy is useful in all walks of life. Also, anything that can help people to communicate more clearly is needed in any field of study or work. On a personal level, writing creatively helps us to make sense of our own lives and can be incredibly useful for positive mental health.
Also, you will be teaching in English to the people to whom this is a second or third language. What challenges do you expect? What can be gained from that?
Whilst we may have different languages, our experiences with the big issues and questions in life – love, death, identity, and so on – are similar and so there’s a definite shared experience to build on and explore. Also, whilst there are bound to be challenges with communicating between different languages, it gives us an opportunity to think about how our own language works. There’s also always fun to be had where language breaks down!
You are a published novelist. How long did it take for you to write your first novel?
It took about two years to write in small windows of time. I used to write mainly on Sunday mornings for a couple of hours (because at that time I was still a high school teacher and I had three young children so time was short) and managed to write quite a lot at each sitting. I was more focused then!
What are you working on now?
I am just editing a novel that is about mental health and possible psychic abilities and I’m starting a new novel that is quite a departure for me in that it’s historical and is based on real events.
Which was more difficult – to write the novel, or to get it published?
I think the most difficult thing for me is the editing process as it’s very hard to have an objective distance with your own work.
What is your main advice for those willing to publish a book?
I think that the most important thing is to keep going! Keep writing and keep submitting. It’s a hard career to embark on as it’s difficult to complete such a big piece of work with no guarantee of it being read. It’s also hard to deal with all the inevitable rejections (and everyone experiences rejections) and keep going. However, if you are really dedicated to being a writer, you must just keep going.
How important is social media, self-advertising and communicating with the readership for a writer? Do you actively use Facebook, Twitter and other media to promote your work?
I use social media more as a way of connecting with other writers and keeping up to date with events and other literary happenings. There’s nothing worse than being “friends” with someone on Facebook, or following someone on Twitter and being subjected to constant advertising for their new book. However, social media is a good way to stop from feeling isolated in what’s quite a lonely field. The trick is to not let it take up all your writing time!
