Article: Sun Herald, Sydney, July 22,, 2007
New Name Will Give This Story a Happy Ending
William McInnes
A nomination in the Australian Book Industry Awards means that William McInnes is one step closer to that much longed-for slash - as in actor/author.
IF anybody says that awards don't count, don't matter and aren't important, please don't tell that to the thousands of people who get dressed up, get excited, get depressed and bang on about them. Those who complain are usually the first in and best dressed.
I have been to many awards nights. Once at a local football club I presented a crow bar painted gold and mounted on a bit of wood to the recipient of "The Best Hardman Award". This was to a young fellow who said: "Outside me 18th birthday this is the greatest night of me life."
I've been to awards with red carpets and crowds. I've been to school speech nights and sporting nights. Being nominated and recognised is always good. Always. And it's something you never take for granted.
Being recognised with a nomination for Cricket Kings in the Australian Book Industry Awards is an acknowledgment of having done well, or at least is recognition of having had a go. Of taking a chance to try something different creatively and instead of boofing about in make-up and costume, to sit down and write a book. To me, finishing a book was an award in itself.
The nomination also means that I take a further step in the direction of becoming a fully fledged Slash.
If anybody used to recognise me it was usually as an actor. Or someone who may owe them money. But with more recognition you gain a slash. There are some slashes you don't want, actor/drunk or actor/tool, but actor/author is one that I will happily accept. It is fun and nice, especially when I know I'm not the world's best actor or the world's greatest writer.
It's something that is earned and in no way expected. You certainly don't want a three-way slash happening: actor/author/tool. Though straddling the slash is sometimes entertaining.
Actors love a prop. A busy actor carries a mobile or an electronic organiser. An important actor usually has an assistant with the phone and organiser. But to attain that elusive title, Thinking Actor, you can't go past carrying a book.
The perfect prop for a Thinking Actor is a book. And the bigger the better. I personally got a great deal of mileage out of lugging around The Fatal Shore for nearly half a decade.
The trick, of course, is to remember to move the bookmark occasionally. That was my downfall. The successful Thinking Actor usually uses a spare cab charge as a bookmark, remembering to casually waft this much sought-after form of currency in Acting Land while thumbing thoughtfully through the book in Thinking Actor fashion.
And there is something wonderfully terrifying in a humorous way about actors talking about writing. While shooting a version of My Brother Jack some years ago, there were earnest discussions on set about a lengthy scene we were to film. The actor in question had some thoughts on the long speech that he was about to undertake. The speech was taken word for word from the pen of George Johnston's great Australian story.
"Listen," said the actor, waving around the script, "we don't need this."
The director, a kind and decent man, stared back politely. "Really?"
"No, not all," pronounced the actor and then he uttered the words that make the soul of every writer wither and revolt. "I can do it with a look, mate!"
I winced, but I couldn't really say anything - almost every actor has done it. Let him who is without sin cast the first LOOK.
You could almost hear old George Johnston rasping in his grave.
But writers and actors love to tell stories. That is the great thing that drives them both.
But authors are , if you like, the sole creators. The ones who make a story. The ones who walk a lonely path. The ones who are prepared to look around at life, at our country and our people and our world. The ones prepared to put their heads above the ruck and draw a picture of what life is like from their view. Those prepared to have their heads kicked critically. The ones who are solely to blame for the worth of what they have created.
I guess at its best that's what being an author is. As I said, I'm not the world's greatest author and I don't occupy a lonely garret. But writing and books are things I have always held in high regard. To be nominated and acknowledged is such a bonus.
The problem, of course, is when the winner is read out ... oh no, let's not go there.
Cricket Kings by William McInnes is published by Hachette and is short listed for Australian General Fiction Book of the Year at the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards, which will be presented on Tuesday night.
William McInnes
A nomination in the Australian Book Industry Awards means that William McInnes is one step closer to that much longed-for slash - as in actor/author.
IF anybody says that awards don't count, don't matter and aren't important, please don't tell that to the thousands of people who get dressed up, get excited, get depressed and bang on about them. Those who complain are usually the first in and best dressed.
I have been to many awards nights. Once at a local football club I presented a crow bar painted gold and mounted on a bit of wood to the recipient of "The Best Hardman Award". This was to a young fellow who said: "Outside me 18th birthday this is the greatest night of me life."
I've been to awards with red carpets and crowds. I've been to school speech nights and sporting nights. Being nominated and recognised is always good. Always. And it's something you never take for granted.
Being recognised with a nomination for Cricket Kings in the Australian Book Industry Awards is an acknowledgment of having done well, or at least is recognition of having had a go. Of taking a chance to try something different creatively and instead of boofing about in make-up and costume, to sit down and write a book. To me, finishing a book was an award in itself.
The nomination also means that I take a further step in the direction of becoming a fully fledged Slash.
If anybody used to recognise me it was usually as an actor. Or someone who may owe them money. But with more recognition you gain a slash. There are some slashes you don't want, actor/drunk or actor/tool, but actor/author is one that I will happily accept. It is fun and nice, especially when I know I'm not the world's best actor or the world's greatest writer.
It's something that is earned and in no way expected. You certainly don't want a three-way slash happening: actor/author/tool. Though straddling the slash is sometimes entertaining.
Actors love a prop. A busy actor carries a mobile or an electronic organiser. An important actor usually has an assistant with the phone and organiser. But to attain that elusive title, Thinking Actor, you can't go past carrying a book.
The perfect prop for a Thinking Actor is a book. And the bigger the better. I personally got a great deal of mileage out of lugging around The Fatal Shore for nearly half a decade.
The trick, of course, is to remember to move the bookmark occasionally. That was my downfall. The successful Thinking Actor usually uses a spare cab charge as a bookmark, remembering to casually waft this much sought-after form of currency in Acting Land while thumbing thoughtfully through the book in Thinking Actor fashion.
And there is something wonderfully terrifying in a humorous way about actors talking about writing. While shooting a version of My Brother Jack some years ago, there were earnest discussions on set about a lengthy scene we were to film. The actor in question had some thoughts on the long speech that he was about to undertake. The speech was taken word for word from the pen of George Johnston's great Australian story.
"Listen," said the actor, waving around the script, "we don't need this."
The director, a kind and decent man, stared back politely. "Really?"
"No, not all," pronounced the actor and then he uttered the words that make the soul of every writer wither and revolt. "I can do it with a look, mate!"
I winced, but I couldn't really say anything - almost every actor has done it. Let him who is without sin cast the first LOOK.
You could almost hear old George Johnston rasping in his grave.
But writers and actors love to tell stories. That is the great thing that drives them both.
But authors are , if you like, the sole creators. The ones who make a story. The ones who walk a lonely path. The ones who are prepared to look around at life, at our country and our people and our world. The ones prepared to put their heads above the ruck and draw a picture of what life is like from their view. Those prepared to have their heads kicked critically. The ones who are solely to blame for the worth of what they have created.
I guess at its best that's what being an author is. As I said, I'm not the world's greatest author and I don't occupy a lonely garret. But writing and books are things I have always held in high regard. To be nominated and acknowledged is such a bonus.
The problem, of course, is when the winner is read out ... oh no, let's not go there.
Cricket Kings by William McInnes is published by Hachette and is short listed for Australian General Fiction Book of the Year at the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards, which will be presented on Tuesday night.
posted by WilliamWatch at 6:45 PM
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