JAMES BROWN a fourth year student at the Wanganui School of Design, meets up with VIVIEN FISKE WAKE, a former senior lecturer
Vivien! What are YOU doing here?
Good to see you, James! I haven’t seen any of you guys for ages! I've just come back from seeing Doctor Jill Durey, my Ph.D supervisor at ECU in Perth – thought I’d spend a couple of days here in Melbourne on my way home, But what are you doing here?
We’ve just been presenting at the AGideas conference in Melbourne, It went really well. We had to present to around 3 and half thousand people so that was pretty exciting.
Great! WSD must be proud of you! Tell you what, let’s go over there and I’ll ‘shout’ you a coffee and cookies or something... it’ll be good just to sit and catch up with what’s been going on at WSD!
No … let me ‘shout’ YOU!
No way! I’m earning! Tell you what, when you’re a rich and famous designer, you can ‘shout’ ME to a champagne dinner at a 5 star hotel –in, let’s see! Hollywood? London? Paris? Shanghai?
How about Wanganui?
James and Vivien go over to the coffee shop and after settling down with their coffees, continue to chat.
So, you’re doing a Ph.D? What’s it in?
Writing. I have to write a novel of literary quality as part of my thesis.
Really! What’s the novel about?
It’s a time slip novel – you know, travellers in time –aimed at young adults The historical part is set in Elizabethan England in 1588 at the time of the Spanish Armada. It’s all about witchcraft, espionage, that sort of thing – but this novel is completely different from all the other time slip novels I’ve read!
Really! What’s different
Wait and see!
Okay, I’ll read it when it’s published! You’ve published two other novels, haven’t you?
Yes – the first one was a very tongue-in-cheek gothic set up the Whanganui River in New Zealand in 1892. My favourite reviewer stated that the novel was very funny and that a funny gothic was a ‘contradiction in terms’. It proved to be quite popular – Zebra published a second edition, which was unusual for a paperback.
But you’ve published a couple of text books, too, haven’t you?
Right – text book/ anthologies. Oxford University Press (Melbourne) asked me to write two books introducing Australian and New Zealand poetry to overseas students of English. What a challenge! But I enjoyed it! It ended up with each chapter introducing a poem, then various historical/geographical background items …and a conversation and then – I guess I got carried away! --a short play at the end of each chapter! (That was FUN!). And of course, I had to write a separate classroom activities book for each anthology
You’ve had a lot of experience teaching overseas students, haven’t you? And haven’t you presented at lots of conferences?
Well, I don’t know about lots! But as well as presenting several times at our New Zealand CLESOL, I’ve also presented in Singapore, Fremantle, Melbourne, Hawaii and Palm Springs!
And didn’t you write our English curriculum -- I mean our overall English curriculum, not just one for our overseas students?
Yes, I did! Now THAT was a challenge – but a very interesting exercise, as it were! I presented a paper about it at a conference at Latrobe University! And I’m glad to say that it was approved by the NZ Qualifications authority.
So, what are you doing, now? Apart from writing your time-slip novel, that is?
Well, it seems that gothic novels are becoming popular again! So, I’m writing another gothic just for fun! I’m also doing some editing for a design firm, Inc Creative, as well as writing a screenplay aimed at young adults. …
Scriptwriting! But that’s what you taught the class I was in. I mean how to write screenplays and stuff
So, you remember!
Of course, I remember – I remember you having us create scenes in the proper format and then having us act them out in class so we could HEAR the dialogue we’d written and see if our directions were clear! That was a great class, immense fun.
So, the class was successful?
Oh, yes! Very helpful. I now feel confident to express my thoughts in script format. And maybe one day, I’ll …
(beat)
And you’ve taught other subjects, too, right? What about thesis writing?
What about it?
Well, you’ve taught a lot of students how to do research and how to write a thesis. Was that interesting?
Oh, yes! Depending on the topic! And sometimes on the student! But aren’t you writing your honours thesis now, James? What’s it about?
Semiotics and critical theory. It’s really interesting! I may even have found my calling because my fellow students are beginning to get tired of my constant chatter about semiotics! In fact, I decided recently, that I’ll follow up on it; so I'm going to Victoria University (Wellington) next year to study philosophy and media studies.
VIVIEN
Great!
So, would you be willing to give advice – I mean give editing/rewriting help to struggling thesis students?
I might consider it, if the topic interested me, if I liked the student concerned and if someone twisted my arm!
Well, what if the student did you a favour? I've been working on a website for myself and I was just thinking maybe I could one set one up for you too? Perhaps in screenplay format?
Go for it, James!
