Scotland has its fair share of wonderful literary festivals and even more events – but did you know there’s a festival that you could organise an event for, and host a fun workshop, or invite your favourite authors for a discussion?
The model of Aberdeen’s WayWORD festival is simple: helping young people create opportunities across the creative industries. Throughout the year, the festival team hosts workshops to gauge the community’s interest and find people to get involved. The autumn festival itself is organised by the Youth Committee, who are volunteers chosen at the workshops to plan and run their events. The events are free or low-cost to attend, keeping the festival accessible.
And getting involved is as simple as showing up.
At the beginning of this month, I hosted an event of my own through WayWORD: a fantasy worldbuilding panel with Hannah Kaner and Georgia Leighton, and chair it myself. In January, when I proposed the idea at a workshop, it was merely a suggestion – by October, I had spent nine months contacting publicists, volunteering at WayWORD’s smaller events, and telling everyone that I would be interviewing two of my favourite authors.
The event itself was a success: it was sold out, and people approached me to share their enjoyment. Hannah and Georgia, fantasy authors with four and two published novels, respectively, had the audience engaged and laughing. The conversation was about their worldbuilding processes: Hannah discussed historical research into female kings, while Georgia shared the differences in creating a world and returning to a different corner of it in a subsequent novel. They spoke of how much easier it is to build a world around a retelling, and it also came to light that they both sacrifice the same strange thing in their drafts: the joys of their characters eating fantastical foods.
Chairing this event made me realise that even the frightening things are easier than you think, despite nine months of nerves. The most difficult was balancing paying attention to the conversation while choosing the next question – it took months to prepare the questions yet some went unasked and others arose through the conversation, showing how wonderfully unpredictable interviews are.
However, because every question went to both authors, they took a few minutes to settle in. Next time, I would give each author a short run first, and cut my questions earlier to allow for a longer audience Q&A. A bigger venue would also be beneficial, as people had been left on the waiting list.
If you live in North East Scotland, this might be a perfect way to get involved with the creative industry. WayWORD have regular events throughout the year announced on their website, and becoming a part of it, even if just through volunteering at events, might help you not only develop your skills, but give you the opportunity to try something you might be afraid of – and succeed.
This year, I got to interview my favourite authors in front of a sold-out room. Who says it could not be you next year?
