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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A unique, intimate portrait of writer’s working life,as experienced by one of Australia’s most highly regarded novelists and artists.
'A Novel Idea is a memoir in photoessay form that follows Fiona McGregor’s life as she writes her award-winning novel Indelible Ink. It is a tongue-in-cheek rumination on the monotony and loneliness of the novelist’s daily life, and the act of endurance the writer must perform.
'Through an extended sequence of photographs taken on a hand-me-down camera, accompanied by terse, evocative captions, the book spans several years of labour and procrastination, elation and despair. The details of the outside world intrude as McGregor works on the novel alone in her Bondi flat, with nothing but a desk, a pin-board, a laptop and a cat, and in studio spaces in Berlin and Estonia.
'McGregor’s voice is wry, vulnerable, at times caustic, capturing the colloquial qualities of her fiction and the durational nature of her performance art via the ephemeral and essential thoughts that take up an author’s days, weeks, and years.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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The Writing Is the Method : Process, Method, Research in Fiona McGregor’s A Novel Idea
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , vol. 26 no. 2 2022; 'This essay argues that fiction writing is a distinct form of research and way of thinking in which the methodology is generated in the writing. Unlike other forms of research, the research problems arise for the writer during the act of writing. However, within an academic setting, writers are often required to set out their methodology in advance of their project and provide a retrospective account in the form of an exegesis. Fiona McGregor’s A Novel Idea demonstrates the practical difficulty in both writing and paying attention to methodology at the same time, thus problematising the exegetical component of fiction writing in retrospect. A way forward might be to require fiction writers within the academy to state their aims for a piece of fiction, recognising that the methodology and knowledge will be generated within the writing. The “original contribution to knowledge” component of these aims can be assessed by the writer’s intention to create something new, whether through formal innovations or approach to subject. In terms of accountability, the writer’s capacity to deliver on their intention can be measured by their previous output and, retrospectively, by an examination of the novel itself and its drafts.' (Publication abstract)
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April in Nonfiction
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , April 2020;
— Review of Australia's Original Languages : An Introduction 2019 reference ; A Novel Idea 2019 single work autobiography -
Desk Work : A Novel Idea by Fiona McGregor
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , July 2019;'One morning I listened to Fiona McGregor talk about her writing on a podcast as I washed a dusty pink cashmere sweater I bought from an op shop for five dollars. Although it was before nine and I was still at home, I had started work for the day. Multitasking by doing laundry and listening to a podcast felt legitimate to classify as ‘on the clock’ because of several factors: the time and day of the week (Monday, 8.45am), the match between the manual activity and a key theme in my current research (housework) and, primarily, the direct relationship between the podcast and my task for the morning (drafting this review of McGregor’s A Novel Idea). While a complicated, informal, internal algorithm determined the legitimacy of this action, I felt justified nonetheless. Even if the difference between work and life is only ever one of degree, I won’t tell HR.' (Introduction)
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Fiona McGregor : A Novel Idea
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22-28 June 2019;'In her work as a performance artist, Fiona McGregor is no stranger to physical and psychological endurance, often sitting uncomfortably still for hours on end. However, it is the more challenging act of endurance – writing a novel – that she documents in this photo essay, A Novel Idea. In the epilogue, McGregor laments that novel writing “is mystified, romanticised or, conversely, trivialised”. She says, “Let this document then show how banal, gruelling and lonely it really is.” And so she does.' (Introduction)
-
April in Nonfiction
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , April 2020;
— Review of Australia's Original Languages : An Introduction 2019 reference ; A Novel Idea 2019 single work autobiography -
Fiona McGregor : A Novel Idea
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22-28 June 2019;'In her work as a performance artist, Fiona McGregor is no stranger to physical and psychological endurance, often sitting uncomfortably still for hours on end. However, it is the more challenging act of endurance – writing a novel – that she documents in this photo essay, A Novel Idea. In the epilogue, McGregor laments that novel writing “is mystified, romanticised or, conversely, trivialised”. She says, “Let this document then show how banal, gruelling and lonely it really is.” And so she does.' (Introduction)
-
Desk Work : A Novel Idea by Fiona McGregor
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , July 2019;'One morning I listened to Fiona McGregor talk about her writing on a podcast as I washed a dusty pink cashmere sweater I bought from an op shop for five dollars. Although it was before nine and I was still at home, I had started work for the day. Multitasking by doing laundry and listening to a podcast felt legitimate to classify as ‘on the clock’ because of several factors: the time and day of the week (Monday, 8.45am), the match between the manual activity and a key theme in my current research (housework) and, primarily, the direct relationship between the podcast and my task for the morning (drafting this review of McGregor’s A Novel Idea). While a complicated, informal, internal algorithm determined the legitimacy of this action, I felt justified nonetheless. Even if the difference between work and life is only ever one of degree, I won’t tell HR.' (Introduction)
-
The Writing Is the Method : Process, Method, Research in Fiona McGregor’s A Novel Idea
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , vol. 26 no. 2 2022; 'This essay argues that fiction writing is a distinct form of research and way of thinking in which the methodology is generated in the writing. Unlike other forms of research, the research problems arise for the writer during the act of writing. However, within an academic setting, writers are often required to set out their methodology in advance of their project and provide a retrospective account in the form of an exegesis. Fiona McGregor’s A Novel Idea demonstrates the practical difficulty in both writing and paying attention to methodology at the same time, thus problematising the exegetical component of fiction writing in retrospect. A way forward might be to require fiction writers within the academy to state their aims for a piece of fiction, recognising that the methodology and knowledge will be generated within the writing. The “original contribution to knowledge” component of these aims can be assessed by the writer’s intention to create something new, whether through formal innovations or approach to subject. In terms of accountability, the writer’s capacity to deliver on their intention can be measured by their previous output and, retrospectively, by an examination of the novel itself and its drafts.' (Publication abstract)
