WHY DOES BEAU WINDON WRITE?

Noè

Welcome to Why Write, a super short podcast that asks writers just that, why they write. Hi, I’m Noè Harsel, a writer and Chair of Writers Victoria, and you know, I’m excited to chat to a diverse group of writers and simply ask, why write? I’m glad you’re here with me.

Today with us, we’ve got Beau Windon. He’s a neurodivergent writer of Wiradjuri descent based in Melbourne, Australia. He writes quirky stories about quirky people with a focus on YA fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, Beau was the recipient of a Writeability F ellowship for his hybrid memoir, and was awarded a grant from Creative Victoria to develop his YA manuscript. You can read Beau’s work in the Griffith Review, Archer Magazine, VICE and Rabbit, among other places.

Thank you so much Beau Windon, and welcome to Why Write. I am beyond thrilled that you are here. Let’s get to the main event. The big question, tell us, Beau, why do you write?

Beau

Yes, well, thank you for having me, first off. I think there’s a couple of different levels to that. One of the main ones being that writing kind of helps me figure out how I’m feeling about things. I’m autistic, and, you know, sometimes I can go through my day and end up like, a bit confused. And I find it at the end of the day, being able to, you know, write about certain things can help lead me to a place where I feel like I understand more, like how I feel about things. So it’s therapeutic exercise for me in that way.

And then to another degree, you know, I, I like to write a lot of fiction as well. And in that, in that manner, it’s usually because I want to share stories that highlight characters with my own conditions to help, you know, share some more representation out into the world. Because I remember when I was young, and reading, and I would always just, you know, I read a lot, and I watched a lot of TV and I was, like obsessed with stories, but I never felt like the characters were relatable to myself. And, you know, I’d often wonder why, why are they doing this? And you know, not, not this. And so I really wanted to write stories that kind-of centred around like neurodivergent characters, and then to be able to share with other, you know, neurodiverse people that kind of experience and allow them to see themselves more in the characters.

Noè

Yeah, I think that’s so important that we’re able to show ourselves and people can see themselves reflected in the stories that you tell, and your writing, you know, you do so many types of writing. I mean, did you choose the YA format as one of the forms of your writing, specifically, so that younger people had this opportunity to see themselves as they were growing up, and so it wasn’t until they were adults, when they saw themselves reflected?

Beau

Yeah, yeah, I think that’s it. One of the things that I find, and and I find this with, you know, a lot of neurodivergent people or people with mental health issues, is that there’s this kind of sense that they’re a bit behind, the rest of the community, like the coming of age, experience takes us a lot longer. And so when I, when I started writing, young adult fiction, I was in my mid 20s, by age, but I still felt like I was in those teenage years trying to, like, figure out how to function as an adult, and you know, how to navigate all of these social systems. And I feel like if I had had the kind of stories that were centred around characters like myself, that also, you know, got confused about these things that are supposedly simple, I feel like it would have helped me to, you know, kind of nudge me along in that way. And so it’s kind of this two-pronged desire to to be able to share with younger people. You know, that story and sense of character that they can see themselves in. And it’s also good for me because I’m still kind-of in that headspace.

Noè

So it gives you that opportunity to be able to work out a lot of the things that you’re thinking about at the same time, of course, and you feel that it helps you understand yourself at the time? So as you’re going through something?

Beau

Yes, yeah, definitely. And, you know, that’s why I write a lot of different genres and types, because, you know, if I’m, say, I’m a bit flustered from my official interaction, like, I’ve gone out to an event, and I found myself overwhelmed and kind of panicked, my way to kind of work through that would be to write poetry. Because that’s a way that I can kind of like, get to the core of why I was bothered and explain it to myself in a way that feels potent.

Noè

I love that. How about the essays that you write as well?

Beau

Yeah, yeah. Essays are a big thing for me, with the trying to, I guess, explain my, like, views of things. Like even, you know, simple things like dating and stuff can be a lot more complicated for me, because I have, you know, certain little rules and like rituals and stuff that I go through on a day to day basis. I feel like writing, you know, essays about that kind of process, and about those things that go on will help to normalise or de-stigmatise, you know, these kinds of conditions and stuff. Because I know like, you know, if I, if I go out and say I meet someone on an online dating app, and we go out on a date, and they’re not going to be familiar with the some of my conditions, and if there was more literature, more reading, about that available, then they would be familiar with it, and I wouldn’t have to feel so embarrassed to have to be like, ‘Oh, actually, I have to, you know, do this insane thing’, when I do this other insane thing.

Noè

Yeah, I hear you. But I’ve got a question about that because I find that really interesting, with that working out yourself and making more awareness, through your writing, do you make conscious choices that this experience deserves or needs the essay format, this experience deserves and needs a fiction format? Or a poetry format? Or does it just happen while you’re going through it, and writing it?

Beau

No, I do. I do definitely make those conscious decisions. With most of the important things that, like I feel I really want to share or have a really serious kind of discussion about, it will usually be, like, the essay format, and the personal essay. Whereas when I write fiction, my focus is in so much around, it isn’t so much around like a certain issue or something, it’s more about showing characters that you know, have these mental health issues, and about them and being able to succeed in something that just like anyone else can, and you know, there might be a bit more of a barrier, but it’s still something that they can walk through. So yeah, with the fiction that I write, it’s very much more about focusing on the character. And with essays, I feel like it’s more about, like, an issue. If that, if that makes sense.

Noè

It makes perfect sense. That’s beautiful. I love that, I love that. That’s fantastic.

Beau

I think a message I would have really liked is that what you write doesn’t have to, you know, follow the format and the structures of what’s already out there and published. Because it can be very stressful, and you know, such a huge hit on your own ego, and everything to write something and be trying to hit this, this benchmark of, you know, published writers, and you see how you know, how their books or their essays are all formatted. And it’s like, you can form this kind of thought that I have to, like, do it exactly like this. And I found I really started to enjoy writing and, you know, having success with it when I leaned more into just having fun with it, and, you know, not worrying so much about having it as perfect publishable piece, but thinking I’m going to create what I want to create, and then, hopefully someone will see some value in that but if not, at least, it’s been a learning experience for myself.

Noè

Fantastic. You’re amazing. Thank you. Congratulations on everything you’re doing.

Thanks for listening. We would love to hear why you write, tell me at whywrite.com.au

Why write is a Writers Victoria podcast. All programs and information about becoming a member with us at writers Victoria is available at writersvictoria.org.au

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Why Write was recorded at Brand Music and engineered by Michael Burrows.

Original Music by Brand Music.

WHY DOES BEAU WINDON WRITE?

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