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 Hilary Bell about finding creative inspiration in unexpected places, and nurturing these ideas into stories.
Do you find that writing across different forms such as theatre, screenplays, and children’s books enhances or informs your overall practice as a writer?
Each form offers a different outlet, and demands a different way of thinking, so yes, it stretches me as a writer. When I create picture books with an illustrator, for instance, I write short verses with their own set of needs (complementing without reiterating the image; fun to read aloud; condense an idea into four lines). Writing for the stage requires balancing a bird’s-eye view with a worm’s-eye-view of the world you’re creating, and calls for stamina. I also write lyrics for musical theatre, and that’s a whole craft unto itself, with so many functions to serve while also being succinct and singable.
You’re quoted as saying, “You only need to find an entry point, through which you can access the idea that’s inside you.” How do you determine if an idea is worth developing into a new piece of work?
I would say that actually pretty much every idea has value in it. Once you start burrowing in, it will yield treasures. Sometimes we resist an idea because it doesn’t feel original or brilliant enough, but it’s only when you commit to it, and spend some time exploring it, that you find your connection, start inhabiting it, and then the magic starts to happen. True, sometimes it just doesn’t spark (Though it’s interesting how the idea may persist, and revisit you down the track when you’re ready for it). But just about any idea can be nurtured into fruition.
How do you train yourself to recognise the ideas hidden within our everyday surroundings?
Be an eavesdropper and a nosy parker! Get into conversations with strangers, peer into open doorways and lit-up windows, take your air pods out on the bus and listen to the couple behind you. That’s one way. Another way is to take in the work of the world’s best noticers, like Helen Garner and Cressida Campbell – artists who find the compost as compelling as a vase of peonies. Seeing through their eyes opens your own. And keep a notebook on your person so you can jot these observations down before you forget them.
What books, films, plays or places would you recommend turning to for creative inspiration?
It depends what kind of writer you are. Some people are visually motivated; some find listening to music helpful; others find inspiration in the daily headlines. I’m primarily a fiction-reader, but when I’m looking for ideas I’ll head towards non-fiction, in an area that I’m somewhat intrigued by: children raised by wolves; Anais Nin; frauds; professional apologists; flea circuses (for example). Photographs can provide good entry points for new ideas too. If there’s an artist you love, diving deep into an exhibition or book of their work can be nourishing and inspiring.
Hilary Bell is a multi-award-winning playwright and lyricist. Her work has been produced nationally by leading Australian theatre companies including the Sydney Theatre Company and Belvoir, as well as international theatres. Wolf Lullaby won the inaugural Philip Parsons Young Playwrights Award in 1995 and remains on the school syllabus. Other awards include but are not limited to the Jill Blewett Playwright’s Award. Hilary is the creator, with illustrator Antonia Pesenti, of several picture books, including the best-selling Alphabetical Sydney. Currently she is writing a musical adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock with Gertler Gold.
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