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 award-winning author Zoya Patel about the craft of writing non-fiction, ahead of her upcoming course Online Feedback: Creative Non-Fiction.

How important is feedback from other writers? Is there a particular discovery you’ve made about your own writing through the feedback process that you never would have made alone?

Writing can be seen as a solitary discipline, but it’s through the editorial process that good writing becomes great! And any feedback, whether it’s from an editor, a friend or a fellow writer, helps develop and grow our writing. 

I often find in my own work that I have a niggling sense of something not quite working, but I can’t define what the issue is until I work with an editor. That’s been the case with both of my books as well – getting feedback has helped me zoom out and get a more objective sense of my work, and I think that’s invaluable as a writer.

You’ve written fiction, memoir, essays and more. What do you enjoy about writing non-fiction in comparison to writing fiction?

I love writing both fiction and non-fiction and I think each genre satisfies a different desire for me as a writer. I see my non-fiction work as often being more advocacy-driven, often motivated by increasing understanding of particular issues or experiences, or trying to connect people through common experiences. 

In contrast, while my fiction work can also have strong social justice undertones, it can also be pure escapism! 

You were a Stella Prize judge in 2020 and 2021, what were the nonfiction books you loved discovering through that process?

So many! A highlight was See What You Made Me Do by Jess Hill, and I also really enjoyed reading Blueberries by Elena Savage. 

What are some great essays you’d recommend reading for those who want to improve their skills writing shorter non-fiction?

I highly recommend reading the essays section of Meanjin and Overland – both publications feature incredible writing and on a real diversity of topics! 

Zoya Patel is the award-winning author of No Country Woman (Hachette, 2018), a memoir of race, religion and feminism, as well as the novel Once A Stranger (Hachette, 2023). She was formerly the editor of Lip Magazine, co-host of the Margin Notes podcast, and founder of the digital literary journal Feminartsy, which published and mentored emerging writers from 2014 to 2018. Zoya has won numerous awards for her writing and editing, and has been published widely, including in The Guardian, the Australian Financial Review, ABC, SBS, Junkee, Overland, Meanjin, Sydney Morning Herald and more. She was a 2020 judge for the Stella Prize, and Chair of the 2021 Stella Prize Judging Panel.

Enrol now in Online Feedback: Creative Non-Fiction with Zoya Patel, online from Monday 15 July to Friday 22 November 2024.

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