Atonement

It is 1935 and thirteen year old Briony Tallis is spending time with her family at their country house in England. As three of her cousins have joined them, Briony decides to organise them to take part in the performance of a play she has written. This plan is easier said than done.

Part one of Atonement by Ian McEwan deals with events occurring in the Tallis household in1935  including a secret relationship between Briony's older sister, Cecelia, and  Robbie Turner. Briony, who loves writing, observes events as they occur around her and makes assumptions about what she notices. Unfortunately she jumps to incorrect conclusions that destroys relationships between family members and friends.

Part two deals with the the horrific experiences of British and French soldiers endeavouring to reach the north coast of France for the Dunkirk evacuation between 26 May and 4 June, 1940.

Part three provides us information about Briony's experiences during the war when she working as a nurse in London hospitals and witnessing the often severe war injuries of rescued soldiers. On a day off she also visits the wedding of two of the protagonists from part one of the book and later that day has an encounter with her sister and Robbie. She is looking for a way to make amends for her past behaviour.

The plot then jumps to 1999 when Briony attends a celebration for her birthday in a hotel which used to be the family home. By this time she has become a successful author but her last novel will not be able to be published until after her death and the death of two of the protagonists in the book. The reader also becomes aware of a twist that occurred in part three of the novel.

Atonement is a book about family relationships, class, impact of war, guilt and the need for atonement as well as what is really required to become a writer. The novel, published in 2001, was nominated for many awards, winning some, and was made into a film in 2007. It is one of Ian McEwan's best known novels.

This Novel Had Everything - Penguin Books 

Atonement by Ian McEwan is a meditation on creativity in later life - The Conversation

Dunkirk evacuation - Britannica

Atonement (novel) - Wikipedia

Creative Differences

In Creative Differences Australian author, Graeme Simsion, has included eight short stories previously published in other sources and a short piece produced for Twitter. These short pieces make up the first section of the book. Two of the short stories involve Don Tillman, the popular character in the Rosie series of books. The short stories are followed by a novella entitled Creative Differences which was first written as an audio book.

Emily and Scott are authors who had success with a novel that they wrote together three years previously. Writing the novel also brought them closer together emotionally and they now live together but are working on separate projects. Scott's solo book was not a great success while Emily is suffering writer's block when writing her literary project. She eventually asks Scott for advice which results in regular sessions, usually with a drink or two, where they discuss writing techniques and brainstorm ideas. Life becomes more complicated when one of Emily's students invades their space.

Creative Differences provides an insight into the many styles and procedures involved in creating a story that others might want to read. The book also looks at the need a writer may sometimes have to just write in order to understand themselves and their relationships with others.

The art of time travel: historians and their craft

In this work Tom Griffiths studies the work of fourteen historians who present different perspectives of Australian history. Beginning with the work of Eleanor Dark in her book, The timeless land, he moves on to the work of Keith Hancock, John Mulvaney, Geoffrey Blainey, Judith Wright, Greg Dening, Henry Reynolds, Eric Rolls, Stephen Murray-Smith, Donna Merwick, Graeme Davison, Inga Clendinnen, Grace Karskens and Mike Smith. As seen by this list 'historian' in this book is not just interpreted as an historian working in a university but can also be someone portraying history through literature or art.

The chapters are not necessarily confined to the person listed in the chapter title. The chapter, History and fiction: Inga Clendinnen, for example, includes several pages of discussion on the work of Kate Grenville, especially her books, The secret river and The making of the secret river. Tom Griffiths provides an interesting study of how writers have interpreted the past in Australia's story.

Writing family history

A number of books have been published about writing family history, a topic becoming increasingly popular with older Australians. Two titles I have recently looked at include Writing family history made very easy: a beginner's guide by Noeline Kyle and Writing your family history: a guide for family historians by Gill Blanchard.

Chapters in Noeline Kyle's book include Becoming a writer, Research and writing go together, Who are you writing for? Asking questions and finding ideas, Characters, Nostalgia, Historical context is what? as well as chapters on publishing your work. This Australian book provides useful clues to writing and publishing your family story. The section on publishing concentrates on producing a print publication which is probably not surprising as the text was completed in 2006. It is still, however a useful guide with ideas to consider when writing a family history.

British author, Gill Blanchard, published her book in December 2014. Chapters include Who, what, where, when, why and how, What kind of ancestral story, When to stop researching, Developing writing skills, Make it interesting - 'bringing the past to life', The nitty-gritty - from editing, proofreading and acknowledgements to copyright and Publishing. Useful tips and exercises are included in each chapter making this a practical step-by-step guide which is easy to follow. The section on publishing includes publishing online as well as publishing in book form. 

Both of these authors have published family histories as well as other material on writing family history. A Google search provides additional information about the authors and their publications.
I also found this link to lecture notes by Noeline Kyle on the topic.

Writng history

Increasingly people are writing family or community histories. Writing these books is not just telling the story but also presenting the information in an interesting manner that people want to read as well as recording the sources used when researching the information for the book.

How to write history that people want to read by Ann Curthoys and Ann McGrath (2009) is a useful addition to books on writing history. These Australian authors provide information about research, selecting information, advice on writing, choosing a style, acknowledging sources, editing and revising the work and marketing the final product.

Gavin McLean in his practical guide, How to do local history, looks at the topic from a New Zealand perspective as he provides advice on ideas and questions, research, writing and publishing.

Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th ed, 2002 is an extremely useful resource for information on writing, presentation, use of grammar and spelling, use of citations, indexes, design and illustrating, editing - all facets of producing a book. A must for all Australian writers.

In 2006 the Federation of Australian Historical Societies published Publishing history: a guide for historical societies by Helen Doyle and Katya Johanson. Topics include planning projects, how to publish, drawing up a budget, contracting an author, components of a history book, images, editing and design, identification and access requirements and selling the finished product.

These are only a small selection of titles now available in libraries and bookshops to assist in the writing of readable history.

The writing book

In 1990 Kate Grenville wrote, the writing book: a workbook for fiction writers. This is a resource book for potential writers of fiction to read examples from Australian authors and to undertake a series of exercises designed to help them understand the fundamentals of writing either a book or a short story. Chapters include Getting started, Sorting through, Character, Point of view, Voice, Dialogue, Description, Design and Revision. Examples in early chapters are reworked into a completed short story at the end of the book as an example of how a few ideas can be worked and reworked into a finished product. The book is a practical starting point for would be writers though the age of the book is apparent in many of the examples used.

The Maeve Binchy Writers' Club

A number of authors have written guides to writing books. The Maeve Binchy Writers' Club was published in 2008. It is based on a twenty week course held at the National College of Ireland aimed to encourage prospective writers with the skills to start and complete a book. Each week the students were provided with a letter written by Maeve Binchy covering an aspect in the process of writing and publishing a book. A guest lecturer then conducted a session providing detailed information on a specific topic. The twenty letters written by Maeve Binchy are included along with abridged notes from ten of the lectures. Topics included Getting Started, Writers' Groups, Telling a Story, Writing Short Stories, The Writers' Agent, Finding Your Voice, The Role of the Editor, Writing as a Journalist, Publishers and writing men's fiction, for the stage, for children, crime and comedy. The book also includes a short story about a writers' group written by Maeve Binchy which illustrates some of the points made in her letters. This book is a readable introduction for aspiring writers on aspects of writing a book.