Alice Campion authors speak at Bello and Dorrigo libraries Coffs Coast Coffs Coast - popup ad Coffs Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - May 19, 2023 The ‘Alice Campions’ take in the view at the Dorrigo skywalk. (From left) Denise Tart, Jane St Vincent Welch, Jenny Croker and Jane Richards. FOUR, and sometimes five women talking together, reading together and then writing together under a collective pseudonym, Alice Campion, saw the female authors present their unique project in library talks at Dorrigo and Bellingen in early May. The four women friends, Jenny Crocker, Jane Richards, Denise Tart and Jane St Vincent Welch, who has recently moved to Bellingen, filled the two library spaces with audiences keen to hear how they did it. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au The audiences heard how they managed to achieve one ‘voice’ in their novel when they wrote it together; how they found the time to plot and edit when juggling full-time work and families, if there were any disagreements, and how they wrote their first sex scene together without collapsing in laughter. The four discussed all this and more in two thought-provoking and entertaining talks at the two local libraries. They, along with Maddy Oliver, wrote family sagas/mysteries The Painted Sky and The Shifting Light as Alice Campion after coming up with the idea on a book club weekend away. They are now convinced of the benefits of group writing. “There is a long tradition of highly regarded group writing in the TV and film world and we were keen to show that this could be done in commercial fiction as well and we believe our reviews are testament to that,” said communications expert Jenny Crocker, who has previously written for TV comedy. Crafting their stories, the friends met regularly at each other’s houses to plot and plan, and between-times send scenes to each other via email, which were then discussed in person and sent away with a different writer so each scene in the books were written and then rewritten by all of the women multiple times. “We were determined to write something that was entertaining that had a great sense of place and believable characters,” journalist Jane Richards told the Library listeners. “Writing together also gets that novel in your head onto the page. “The team process enabled us to find the support and the time to put pen to paper.” The women’s foray into fiction has led them to hold talks at the Sydney Writers Festival, The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne and as far afield as the Japan Writers Conference in Kobe, Japan. By Andrea FERRARI A packed house at Dorrigo Library listening to how the ‘Alice Campions’ created their characters. (L-R) Jane Richards, Denise Tart, Jane St Vincent Welch and Jenny Croker. ‘Alice Campions’ share their working connectivity, which has delivered two books so far, with an audience at Bellingen Library. Bellingen Library hosts four of the Alice Campions for an author chat and Q&A.
