Thread by @IndigenousX

I'm going to talk about my newly-released novel. Not in a bit-noting way, but I want to talk about some of the themes and how I approached these. And also share some of my observations of the Australian literature sector. uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/where…

First, I want to mention how long it took. And perhaps later this week expand on this to help others achieve their pathways to publishing. I started this novel in 2012. I've wanted to be a novelist since early 1970s. For a range of reasons, this wasn't an easy, quick road for me.

Before I won the Dorothy Hewett Award, 18 agents & publishers passed up the manuscript. Many had nice things to say about my skills but weren't interested. Most common reasons I heard: too many characters, spans too many years. Ah yes, that's what sagas do. No one wanted a saga.

Decisions to publish are based on commercial reasons, which can be influenced by trends. In this instance, I didn't know whether this was because Australians were no longer reading sagas (also called epics) or whether only sagas by white Australian writers were seen as marketable

I couldn't recall reading any saga-style novels by Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander writers. Is this because they've not been written or publishers have never given them a go? (Definition of saga I'm using is: a novel that spans multi-generations; with a long, involved story).

I was excited to read that Nardi Simpson's new novel was being marketed as a saga. I've not read this book, but am looking forward to getting a copy. hachette.com.au/nardi-simpson/…

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander books on shelves is not representative of what is/has been written. Publishers makes commercial-based decisions, based on their experiences. Aust literature sector is very white. This influences what manuscripts get selected or rejected.

Themes and my approach could also have been reasons why so many publishers and agents were not interested in my manuscript. I've used magic realism as a narrative approach. But - two best-selling white male Aust authors launched their magic realist novels at the same time as mine

So was it my themes that were part of the reasons why my manuscript was not seen as publishable? It could also have been me: I am not palatable in so many ways. Books aren't just about quality writing or interesting plot + characters, the author also needs to be marketable.

I'll be back in a minute to talk about the key themes in my book, and why I wrote about them ---

I'll start a new thread to talk about the themes ---