Writers on Writing is our regular conversation with a writer or industry professional about the writing craft, industry insights, and their own practice. This week, we spoke to Michelle Law about the craft of playwriting, ahead of her workshop Voice in Contemporary Playwriting on Saturday 10 February.
How does the study of other contemporary playwrights assist a writer in crafting their own unique voice?
It’s similar to any form of writing, really – if you aren’t absorbing the medium in which you’re writing, chances are the writing you produce won’t be of brilliant quality. So much of writing is first studying how someone else has done it, followed by extensive experimentation with your own work. When I was teaching university students, I was shocked by how few of the students – who were enrolled in a writing elective – actually read or enjoyed reading.
Which contemporary playwrights should be on our radar right now?
I love the work of Jasmine Lee-Jones (seven methods of killing kylie jenner) and Merlynn Tong (Golden Blood; Blue Bones). They’re both such exciting and original voices.
Do you have any advice for budding writers?
Read diversely and as frequently as you can, and don’t pay attention to literary snobs! Newspapers, magazines, literary essays, young adult fiction, romance paperbacks, graphic novels, poetry collections – it’s all good. To me, being a writer is about being part of the world and reflecting it back to readers; you’re not going to be able to do that in a well-rounded way if you restrict yourself.
Michelle Law is a writer and actor – working in print, screen and stage – currently based on Gadigal Land. Her works include the plays Single Asian Female (La Boite Theatre Company), Top Coat (Sydney Theatre Company), and Miss Peony (Belvoir St Theatre); the television shows Homecoming Queens (SBS) and Safe Home (SBS); and the book Asian Girls are Going Places (Hardie Grant). Her awards include two Australian Writers Guild Awards, the Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award, an Equity Ensemble Award, the Arts & Culture 40 Under 40 Award (which celebrates the country’s most influential Asian Australians), and an AACTA Award nomination. Michelle is also a widely published freelance author and a prolific speaker who regularly appears on panels and at festivals.
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