Writing is Shaped by Family & Community Life
Well known Australian writer Dorothy Hewett grew up on the sprawling sheep station of 'Lambton Downs' in South Australia. Bruce Bennett suggests that this was “the seedbed of Hewett’s creative fiction” (p.xv). Hewett herself, suggested that:
“The first house sits in the hollow of the heart, it will never go away. It is the house of childhood become myth, inhabited by characters larger than life whose murmured conversations whisper and tug at the mind”.
Above: Dorothy Hewitt
My childhood was very different to Hewett’s. I didn't live on a sprawling sheep station with the richness of memories and opportunities that Hewett experienced. As well, home for me was far from being a place of harmony and security. Nor was it a place where great literature was shared. Yet, I too found inspiration and ideas for my writing, from the storytelling, yarns, poetry, and music of my childhood, and from the key events of my early life.
Above: My First Home
Looking back at my childhood, and my early writing that survives, I can see how both were shaped, in part by the home I lived in, as well as my family and early uncontrolled life. Home was not in general a happy place, but it was an environment in which storytelling was everywhere, and not just from books. The stories that surrounded me had connections to music, poetry, 'yarns' and my free range life style. The latter offered boundless opportunities through my self-made adventures, and also the varied experiences and challenges of everyday life.
The tension between my experience of story and the literature of school, was a great challenge for me, especially in high school. I lived in a home where storytelling, yarns and some more contemporary poetry were what mattered. But at school, it seemed that it was only the work of great writers that was valued. This tension for me, had an influence on how I dealt with literature in my classrooms later in life as a teacher, academic and writer.
The Many Seed Beds of Story Telling in My Life
Sometimes, hidden within the stories our students write, are hidden echoes of their personal life. Many find personal suffering is too painful to share, perhaps a near death experience that they were too scared ever to reveal it to their parents. However, there are often hints, crumbs along the path of their lives than can offer deep insights. These might reflect an event, person, or even a deed done for which they feel deep shame.
At a distance of many decades, I can see an example of this in my early writing. One piece I wrote in my teens was titled "The Orphan Seagulls". This picture book told the story of two seagull chicks who were sometimes left alone in their nest, on a high rock cliff near the ocean. While often only the father would leave to find food for them and their mother, as they grew older and food needs were greater, both parents would at times leave them.
On one of these occasions, the two half grown chicks huddled in their nest as a Sea Eagle flew in circles above the cliff that held their nest. They were high in the clouds, looking for prey. Father was well beyond the clouds and out to sea, and Mother had gone out quickly just along the shore, to seek some easy pickings in the surf below. But she had not gone long before we saw an eagle circling above us. I wrote about it in early story this way:
"While mother was away, we took the opportunity to sit on the edge of our nest and stretch our wings, which were now fully feathered. Suddenly, we saw an eagle above us and we realized it had spotted us. It began to circle and then descend. We looked beyond it hoping that mother might be returning. But we could not see her."
As an adult, I often recall childhood memories of my sister and I often being left at home on a Saturday and sometimes Sunday nights while our parents were out entertaining at clubs, weddings and hotels. When it was time for bed and they hadn't returned, we would huddle under the covers and worry at every noise we heard outside. On one such evening someone came and banged on the wall outside my sister's room where we were both trying to fall asleep. We were terrified! Thankfully, it stopped but we couldn't get to sleep. When our parents arrived home at about midnight we rushed to them. Dad tried to calm us by going outside, searching the surrounds before coming back and saying it was probably a horse that had come into our yard and bumped into the house. This of course, was nonsense.
As a teacher, when I read the writing of some of my students, I would at times hear a few faint echoes of life experiences they had which troubled them. On a few occasions, my students privately shared some of these experiences.
Growing Young Writers
I believe as teachers we can have a great influence on growing our students as writers. We will do this if we are able to inspire them with great literature and powerful story telling. As well, we need to assist them build on such literature, to grow as story tellers and writers themselves.
Imagination is of course, a key ingredient in this quest. So, how might we inspire our students to write not just because they have to, but to release them to explore ideas and seek deeper personal insights that turns life experiences into rich story telling?
Above: A very young writer composing an early story
First, we need to flood their world with stories and poetry of all kinds. This requires skill by the teacher to introduce them to varied works, and inspire them to read and seek out books themselves.
Second, we need to model this by sharing books that would also be appropriate for them, and that open up opportunities for them to share some of their favourite books.
Third. we need to create an environment in the classroom that allows space for such personal reading, and some time when they can share these with other students. One simple way to do this is to allow students to go and read if they have finished other subject area activities and tasks. I might return to this topic in a future post.
Good Luck!
