TWO award-winning, North East native, crime authors captivated their audience when talking about their latest published books as well as their overall work at the Beechworth Town Hall recently. Beechworth’s author and playwright Margaret Hickey with Mansfield's own author, playwright and screenwriter Gabriel Bergmoser delivered a fascinating account of writing processes, developing characters and more about the genre at a 'Winterwords' session. Gabriel said he tried to convey at events there was no great secret to writing and being an author. “It is hard work, persistence, and passion for the craft and being open to getting better, to develop, listen to feedback and critics, and figure out your voice from there,” he said. “I strongly believe in demystifying the process and lifting the curtain as much as possible and saying, this is what it is, and this is what goes into it. “If aspiring writers can take that away and realise that it's hard but very possible, then that is more than enough for me.” Gabriel said he loves passing on his knowledge and chatting to appreciative people who want to talk about books and find out more. Margaret said she hoped people grasped the idea there were many ways to write a novel. “There's a small group of crime writers in Australia, we know each other, and are really each other's best supports,” she said. Benalla’s Anne Smith said she admired the authors’ work. “I've seen Margaret start, have read her earlier stories and thoroughly enjoyed them,’ she said. “I have never understood the process of how someone can sit down and write a book, and it was interesting to see how the book gets written through the author."
