Word Docs
by Auscast NetworkAlex, 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
Copyright: 2024 Auscast Network
Episodes
Episode 63: ‘The Alex Challenge’ (Dialectic Writing)
30m · PublishedHe has finally done his homework! Alex has come to the table with trees to shake and pots to stir. Can Sean and Amy handle their sugar addled friend? Will they withstand his jittery scrutiny? The host is juiced up...and he has calories to burn.
#AlexVickeryHowe #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #PinkDrink #Caffeine #DifficultMaterial #MassagingTricks #EndoftheNightGirl #TheBookofMormon #JeanetteVickeryHowe #Tone #PostColonialism #MattandTrey #PunchingUp #Comedy #Metafiction #Simon&Schuster #ItsAlwaysSunnyinPhiladelphia #HolidayInn #BreakfastatTiffanys #NavigatingtheKingdomofNight #Goodness #AmandaNettelbeck #FraughtHistories #AnitaHeiss #ImpossibleMusic #TheBoyintheStripedPajamas #VoteYes #TheTrumpYears #JodiPicoult #CulturalBaggage #BookTokBurns #Junebug #SupremeDickhead
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Episode 62: ‘More Has to be Going On’ (Bad Sex Awards)
36m · PublishedAnd the golden statue goes to...
There are some trophies you don’t mount on your bookshelf (pun intended) but they colour your career nonetheless. The Word Docs have gleefully unearthed the worst of the Bad Sex Awards to explore the act of love in print. With lots of laughter and a little light vomit, Amy, Sean and Alex will discuss the whos, the whys, and the oh-dear-god-nos of these explicit encounters.
Warning: This episode contains weird swearing, confusing anatomy and icky metaphors. Not to be played in public.
#AmyTMatthews #SeanWilliams #AlexVickeryHowe #TheSlugintheSky #LoveandDeath #MarryingOffMorganMcBride #SkinnyDipping #Beards #ShesAllThat #TheWildMan #HelmsDeep #TessLeSue #DefinitionsofSex #JulianGough #NippleSucking #Bleep #MaryCostello #TwistyPigPenis #DidierDecoin #SpiderArms #HannibalLecter #PleasureCave #MichaelBay #Blank #MyDadWroteaPorno #TabA #SlotB #CliveBarker #TheCentralZone #HaroldandMadge #BambiTits #SportsBall #HarryPotterandtheGiantSquid #TheOddKids #HarukiMurakami #AMedicalProblem #OhGloriousPubes! #AnyoneForBillards? #PornistheProblem #SanitisedBodies #LongerHarderMore
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Episode 61: ‘Writing Tips, The Sequel’ (More Advice)
39m · PublishedThe Word Docs are perusing expert recommendations and dissecting them at length. Amy is unwell and trying to keep the train moving, Alex is stuck on a constant delay...and Sean wants to kidnap a dog. This week we learn about Einstein’s epic battle with Hitler, the importance of supportive desk chairs and the dark secret of Mount Everest.
#HiPluto #Limp #ZooCam #JoanneHarris #FiveThoughts #WorkSpace #AReallyGoodDeskChair #ClimbingMountains #ThePhysio #VoidofMyOwnMind #JohnMajor #AffectEffect #Clutter #Walking #NaturalLight #Reminders #PlanYourSnacks #HydroHomie
#EinsteinvsHitler #GoodStory #GoodCharacters #Succession #HouseofCards #TurkeysWithFirearms #MountEverest #Feelings #MakePeopleCry #BeingAuthentic #JudiDench #ArchiveofEmotionalMemory #DogThreats #AMelancholyPerspective #HavingaGoodNight #MoreDogThreats #TedLasso #PointofView #Traps! #FirstPerson #LarryDavid #LionelShriver #Empathy #JurassicPark #TheSlugintheSky #ReadReadRead #SneakyThoughts #TiffanyLyndallKnight #FrozenAlex #GhostAlex #Loose&Sick
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Episode 60: ‘Inside the Giant Spiders’ (Immortality)
40m · PublishedThis week the Word Docs are responding to a listener question and exploring immortality. Would you want to live forever? Would you want your work to live forever? Would you want to spend eternity inside a giant spider? Is that even an option? Sugared up on chocolate, this is Word Docs at their most rambunctious. Sean reads palms, and Amy finds she doesn't seem to have a lifeline, while Alex frets that he might be taken to a farm up state when his time is up. By the end of this one you'll feel you've lived many lives, and you'll be able to use 'heretofore' in a sentence.
#WordDocs #Writing #SeanWilliams #AmyBarry #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #FlindersUniversity #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #WritingCommunity #Immortality #WhoWantsToLiveForever #NotMe #MaybeMe #OnlyIfICanLiveInAGiantSpider #Lifelines #WordDocVampire #SciFiWriter #ThoughtExperiment #GiantSpiders #FarmUpState #Heretofore#HappyWriting
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Episode 59: ‘The Ambivalent Casanova’ (Types of Writers, Part Two)
33m · PublishedSean and Alex are sickly and disgusting (in that order), but Amy is here to save the day with research and cogent thoughts. This week, the Docs explore the wisdom of Betsy Lerner and unpack the various writer archetypes Lerner describes. Who among them is the Natural? The Ambivalent Writer? The Wicked Child? Well, some things are painfully obvious... join the gang as they embark on free, unqualified therapy!
#FeelingGood #OnTheCouch #BetsyLerner #PostGrads #ComplexProblems #Research #TheForestForTheTrees #AmbivalentWriter #LarryMcMurtry #Slog #ThePerfectThing
#RomanticDream #MessyPeople #Love #Hate #CoreValues #SharedVision #ImaginaryCaleb
#Motivation #YoungPadawan #Frozen #Risk #SlingsandArrows #Haunted #Bothered #Otherness #Paradox #TheNatural #LimpBooks #TooEasy #SecondBookSyndrome #OvernightSuccess #Grit #PoorAlex #Hunger #ComingBack #GrowthMindset #SupernaturalWriters #WickedChild #Family #Community #Watchlist #GordonLish
#JeanetteVickeryHowe #EvaHornung #SomeoneElsesBucketList #FascinatingGrandmothers #Marriage #PrinceHarry #ToBeContinued
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Episode 58: ‘The Ambivalent Casanova’ (Types of Writers, Part One)
33m · PublishedA promise delivered! Bookmark this. The Word Docs are back with the second half of their self-diagnoses, once again working from Betsy Lerner’s examples to whittle away at their artistry and categorise their quirky habits. Maybe this week they’ll each discover what kind of writers they really are. Along the way they’ll explore rejections, chutzpah, sportsball and poor old Missus Heartwig...
#LonelyCorner #CancelledPilot #SixKindsofWriters #TheForestFortheTrees #BetsyLerner #TheAmbivalentTheNatural&Me #Detention #MissusHeartwig #StupidDeadBoy #TheSelfPromotor #TheNeurotic #TouchingFire #NewYork #Chutzpah #ShyandWeird #Moxie #RomanticIdeals #IvoryTower #WeNeedtoTalkAboutKevin
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Episode 57: ‘Alex's Manly Clap’ (Playlists and Musical Musings)
36m · PublishedThe doctors are in the house. Or rather two of the doctors are sick and stuck at home. This week the Word Docs are recording from home and everything's a bit looser than normal (which is saying something). But on the plus side, they get to practice clapping again, preferably in time to Amy's playlist for Someone Else's Bucket List. Sean boycotts clapping to The Cranberries and Alex is determined to flirt with copyright infringements as he sings along. This episode is about playlists, soundtracks, music and silence - and they get off track in the best possible way, exploring how writers use and abuse music.
#WordDocs #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #SeanWilliams #AlexVickeryHowe #AFL #Watchlist #SomeoneElsesBucketList #Hyperaurea #SomeoneElsesBucketListThePlaylist #WritingPlaylist #BookPlaylist #BookSoundtrack #SpotifyPlaylist #TheCranberries #DaisyJonesAndTheSix #TaylorJenkinsReid #Elbow #TheWaterboys #StuckInTheMiddleWithYou #ReservoirDogs #TheSingingDetective #FUMA #ShaneDix #NineInchNails #ACDC #BinauralBeats #TheSoapBubble #TheIronicPoseur #ImpossiibleMusic #GlamGong #ScrotePunch #AnalTwin #Hufflepuff #DuaLipa #Physical #OliviaNewtonJohn #Antarctica #ClappingAgain #HappyWriting
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Episode 56: ‘Every Human Being Has A Pinch Point’ (Beat Sheets)
35m · PublishedThis week Amy leads us through using beat sheets to plan and/or fix a story. Alex and Sean join in from where they recline eating salty gold Irish chocolate. It's the middle of teaching and everyone's pinch points are more pinchy than usual, but it's nothing gold-plated chocolate can't fix. If you're curious about how story experts like Michael Hauge, Blake Snyder, Larry Brooks and Jami Gold deal with planning Acts One to Three, this is the ep for you. There are sportsball metaphors, car metaphors, and the word 'blue' gets bandied about, especially when the monkey elbows get a mention - but despite it all, you'll still come away with a good idea of how to use a beat sheet to get your acts together. (And yes, there are many silly jokes about the term beat sheet - insert word 'blue' here).
#Word Docs #writing #WritingPodcast #AmWriting #WritingLife #FlindersCreative Writing #FlindersCreativeArts #FlindersCreativeWriting #CreativeWriting #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AmyBarry #AlexVickeryHowe #AssemblageCentreForCreativeArts #MichaelHauge #DebDixon #JamiGold #LarryBrooks #BlakeSnyder #TheBear #PassTheChocolate #HappyWriting
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Episode 55: ‘The Secret is...’ (Dead Blokey Gasbags)
35m · PublishedThere is a secret to writing a bestseller and it is...nah, kidding...nobody knows. But the Word Docs will keep asking people anyway. This week, the dysfunctional trio bend their knees at the altar of the great men who...nah, kidding...Sean has sorted through the rules of the blokey gasbags who’ve come before and now Amy and Alex are trying to decide who wrote what.Join the party asVonnegut, Heinlein, Leonard and Lewis are meticulously poked, prodded and dissected for the edification of emerging generations. Rules are made to be splintered, but it’s wise to mock them first.
#Aspiring #SeanWilliams #AmyTMatthews #AlexVickeryHowe #Nightmarish #BlokeyLists#KurtVonnegut #RobertHeinlein #ElmoreLeonard #CSLewis #TalkingAboutIt #GarthNix#PeterBeaglehole #CruelSegue #RecreationalSadism #NoCreditForAlex #ChasingTrends#BUYSOMEMILK! #OldOldMan #JustLikeToffee #Succession #Veep #Seinfeld#ItsAlwaysSunnyinPhiladelphia #Macbeth #GailJones #SixtyLights #ThePerfectSentence#SarahWaters #IanMcEwan #AStylishSean #TheMightyBoosh #WriterlyvsReaderly#PlayDregs #RandomBits #WhatAboutBob #OffloadingResponsibility#ThrowMommafromtheTrain #LeonardCohen #Suddenly #WheresWally #WheresWaldo#BirdBox #EnoughButNotTooMuch #JustOnePerson
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‘It’s Good to be Back’ (All About Us)
35m · PublishedThey’ve emerged from the marking void! Alive and insane, the Word Docs discuss activities, opportunities, Nic Cage, scientology, chaotic planning, Nosferatu, spiders, inch ants and hungry catfish... Eventually, they may also get around to discussing their books. You never know.
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Word Docs has 66 episodes in total of non- explicit content. Total playtime is 35:30:33. The language of the podcast is English. This podcast has been added on August 24th 2022. It might contain more episodes than the ones shown here. It was last updated on January 1st, 2024 17:40.
