Express Media – We're here for young writers

God I wish I could go to Freeplay. Please, someone, let me live vicariously through your experiences in the comments.

If you don't know, Freeplay is a festival about independent games, but it's all about creativity, the creative process and design. It's only $25 for heaps of sessions over the entire weekend. See below for some of the writerly, creative-y sessions that might interest you. But if you love video games (me) or even just have a passing interest in them, there's an extensive program of cool stuff that I am going to be jealous of. Have I mentioned I would like to go? Anyone wanna swap lives for the weekend?

The design of everything… - Design / Creativity
Deane Taylor, Michelle Gilmore, Ian Gouldstone, Andrew Drage.  Chair: Marcus Westbury
Every expressive medium is different, with unique strengths and weaknesses.  Exploring each one requires different approaches to the creative process - but some fundamentals remain.  This session looks at the creative process from a variety of perspectives, and highlights how design - from character to structure to usage - creeps into each of them.

Beyond the controller – Design
John Sietsma, Steve Bull, Jane Turner (Truna), Hugh Davies.  Chair: Morgan Jaffit
Pervasive games, locative games, transmedia, cross-media, arts based projects. How do they use the tech for things? How do they use what games peopple know? What can games people learn from them?   This session looks at what happens when we remove the controller and how that changes the sorts of experiences we can create.

Artists Way at Work Workshop – Creativity
Sally Mazak
Using tools from the world famous ‘The Artist’s Way at Work’ and other inspiring methods, this workshop will provide you with a few powerful seeds of knowledge to sow and grow. How can you overcome your creative blocks, begin to take risks and produce awesome results? Did you know that inspiration doesn’t ‘just happen’? How can you be relaxed and still come up with cool ideas under pressure? There are three types of Creatives. What type of Creative are you? Learn steps to actively become inspired and push your boundaries.

Story Driven Game Design – Design
Dan Graf
Games are, like stories, designed experiences.  While there are unique elements to both storytelling and gameplaying, there are also things that we can learn from thousands of years of storytelling lessons.  This workshop takes a look at one method of deconstructing stories and how that can apply to game design.  Please note: This session is highly interactive, and spaces are limited to first come, first served.

Sleep is Death – Design
Mike Skolnik
Jason Rohrer's Sleep is Death is a unique experience.  Straddling the space between game and interactive art, it lets two players collaborate on a story in engaging and unpredictable ways.  This session looks at the possibilities of this unique piece of software.

If you're in Melbourne, we're running another Voiceworks Live event this Thursday, and we'd love to see you there. There'll be readings from Birthmark, including Daniel Hogan, Christopher O'Neill and Holly Voigt. We'll give away some prizes in games of boggle and a spelling bee, and the editorial committee will do a radio play of Danielle Bink's 'Is this a miracle?' All of us have a face for the big screen, not radio, and the only way to enjoy said faces is to be there! It's a free event at the Wheeler Centre, but bookings are required. To see what happened the last time we did one of these, see Sam's recap.

I’ll admit it. Between the ages of thirteen to sixteen I was an avid reader and writer of fan fiction. Brace yourself because I’m about to declare something nerdy in the extreme. My friends and I called ourselves the Marauders (if you don’t understand the reference then you are officially cooler than me. If you do, you may still be in the running – we would need to swap details to confirm). I was James. Enough said. Anyway, writers of fan fiction like to fill in the gaps. Though much fan fiction is not erotic, leaving out the vast amount of fan fiction that plays out the hilarious fantasies of fans would be a glaring omission; every reader of fan fic knows about the R-rated tab. Basically, erotic fan fiction is about taking characters beloved by many and turning them into sexual deviants – it’s wholesome family fun!

Chloe Wilson is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. Her first collection, The Mermaid Problem, was published by the Australian Poetry Centre in 2010 and will be launched this Thursday 1 July at the Wheeler Centre. Her poetry has appeared in The Age, Blue Dog, Wet Ink, Voiceworks and is forthcoming in Going Down Swinging. In 2009 she won the Poetry and Youth categories of the Lord Mayor's Creative Writing Awards and the Page Seventeen poetry prize. She is a former poetry editor for Voiceworks.

Okay probably there won't be too many sexy times at this event, but I am nothing if not flexible when it comes to making double entendres. (Double entendres about me being flexible also welcome.) The Wheeler Centre is hosting a second speed dating night for all you single literary hunks and hotties out there. Bring along your favourite book and maybe you will find someone to help you crease those covers (the book's). Just imagine the moment when you see that not only has someone brought the same book as you, but a shiny first edition of the hardcover. Wow! You can sleep with them, and then in the morning run off before they wake up with your guilt and their first edition. Almost everyone wins! Really, I think this is a neat idea, but please, please, post lots of puns below. Update: Ladies, unfortunately this event is now booked out for women. Gents, this event is now booked out for women!

Where: The Atrium, Federation Square (the downstairs bit) When: This Saturday (17 April) 1-2pm. What: Live readings, painting and prizes Who: You! For one hour this Saturday, as part of the annual Fed Square Book Market, Voiceworks magazine is going live. We’re anticipating dramatics and dynamics, the becoming of geniuses, and that lyrical atmosphere that can only come from live readings. Join the Voiceworks editor, directors, editorial committee and contributors for an hour of live lunacy. We want you to perform that brilliant piece you tore from the pages of your favourite Voiceworks and pinned to your bedpost in an inspired fit of admiration. We’re equally champing at the bit to hear those pieces you’ve written, and stuck beside that dog-eared page of the magazine. Come and read anything, as long as it’s creative and not longer than three minutes. First prize is $75, with runner-up prizes like issues of Voiceworks and The Words We Found. For those not fond of the stage, the Voiceworks team are setting up a painting station. We’re supplying the paint, paper and brushes, and we’re herding the muses towards the mic, but we need audience members to get their creative on and colour the event. We want you to paint what you hear, or perhaps illustrate the silences. Again, there are prizes for the best visual interpretations. To spur everyone along, contributors from our most recent edition will be performing their works, and the Voiceworks editorial committee will be right alongside, reading the pieces that most thrilled and inspired them. Pop in and say hi, have a go at winning a prize, and meet the people who make Voiceworks happen.

Oh look, another festival program has gone live, this time for the Next Wave Festival. Unlike the Sydney Writers Festival one which I bitched about the other day, this one actually made itself easy to browse online. Although that might be to do with the fact that there's a lot more in there that seems fresh and interesting to me. There's a good chance I won't be going to most/any of those things, but the Next Wave Festival is something that makes me feel warm and fuzzy, knowing that it's existing and doing good stuff without me. Anyone have any experiences to share from past years? I imagine there would be lots of good writing inspiration to be found, if you're short on it.