Marisa Wikramanayake

writer, journalist & editor ~ I help you tell stories.

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  • Blog
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    • Perth & WA Literary Calendar
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  • A few right thinking men by Sulari Gentill
    Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews

    Sulari Gentill’s A Few Right Thinking Men

    June 6, 2016 / 1 Comment

    I grew up on a literary diet that had a healthy portion of crime fiction in it and these days if I see one crime novel that sparks my interest then the entire process of hunting down the whole series one by one begins. This is also one reason why I am so glad that the first book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series never fully grabbed me in the same way – I would still be trying to get through all of them decades later.

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    AWW 2013: Interview with author Marj McRae

    January 17, 2013

    Eleni Konstantine's Snoop

    February 13, 2014

    Jane Rawson's A Wrong Turn At The Office Of Unmade Lists

    January 16, 2014
  • Science journalism

    Tips for being a science journalist

    December 14, 2013 / 8 Comments

    A brief summary of my seminar (part of the UWA Science Communication Seminar series) on 6 August 2010.

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    False balance: A science journalism pitfall

    October 2, 2012

    53 free ways for science journalists to brush up on their science… and counting

    November 25, 2013

    Salinity threatens freshwater mussels

    September 9, 2010
  • Journalism,  Real Scientists,  Science journalism

    53 free ways for science journalists to brush up on their science… and counting

    November 25, 2013 / No Comments

    This is a list of FREELY AVAILABLE basic science primers, courses and videos that science journalists can take to brush up on their beats/niches/topics of interest. NOTE 1: MOOCS = Massive open online courses = free, short, online, provided by universities to give you a primer in the basics of a scientific topic of study. Both MOOCs and the Coursera courses will use Youtube videos so don’t eliminate them on that basis. NOTE 2: Coursera courses vary in length and whether you get a certificate at the end and are offered at different times so some of the ones listed below may drop off and on again depending on when…

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    Designated Director Designate designates direction for marine research

    March 24, 2011
    An image of two hands writing in front of a computer screen with a phone on top of papers on a desk

    How to easily track pitches in Google Sheets as a freelance journalist

    January 7, 2021

    Real men do read – they just don't let the sexy, geek goddesses know.

    February 6, 2013
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Journalism,  Projects

    AWW 2013: Interview with author Marj McRae

    January 17, 2013 / 5 Comments

    Last week’s review for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013 was Marj McRae’s Not A Man. This week, I got to ask Marj a few questions about her writing process and about the novel itself.

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    Eleni Konstantine's Snoop

    February 13, 2014

    Marianne de Pierres' Glitter Rose

    February 6, 2014

    Introducing In Conversation With

    April 6, 2015
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews,  Journalism,  Projects

    AWW 2013: Marj McRae's Not A Man

    January 10, 2013 / No Comments

    “The hero is an eunuch.” said the author Marj McRae. “Wait, what?” was my reaction. She emailed me the link, I downloaded Not A Man in e-book form and dove in. An eunuch – I expected there to be a few descriptions of not so very nice things – violence and rape. I mean, it’s a young boy being castrated. And frankly, I was stunned by the level of research and detail. I now know a lot of very interesting things about castration and about Oxford. That’s right, Oxford. As in Oxford University. You see, Shuki, is not content with the fate of other eunuchs – lovable as along as…

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    Samantha Tidy's The Happiness Jar

    February 20, 2014

    So who won the Australia Day Book Giveaway?

    January 30, 2013

    AWW 2013: Marion Halligan's Murder On The Apricot Coast

    February 7, 2013
  • How to write a book,  Writing

    7 myths about writing

    March 30, 2011 / 7 Comments

    I thought I’d talk about myths about writing, just so we get all those nagging doubts out of the way. One thing that really depresses me is when I meet someone and they find out I am writing a novel and then they go: “Oh, wow, that’s so great – I could never do that!” Now, I guarantee you that one person out of ten has actually looked at themselves long enough and become sufficiently self aware to know that they cannot write a book for whatever reason. I can also guarantee that I have never actually met this one person. I tend to run into the other nine. I…

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    Inspiration (or is there a muse?)

    April 6, 2011

    The writing process, step by step

    April 27, 2011

    How do I get started?

    April 20, 2011
  • Book Reviews,  Projects

    Book review: Boris Akunin's Pelagia & the Black Monk

    January 9, 2010 / No Comments

    Marisa Wikramanayake reviews Russian author Boris Akunin's second novel in the Pelagia crime fiction series: Pelagia & the Black Monk. This review was previously published on Blogcritics.com

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    A few right thinking men by Sulari Gentill

    Sulari Gentill’s A Few Right Thinking Men

    June 6, 2016
    Drive Me To Distraction by Caitlyn Nicholas

    Caitlyn Nicholas' Drive Me To Distraction

    February 21, 2013

    Marianne de Pierres' Glitter Rose

    February 6, 2014
  • Book Reviews

    Book Review – Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals

    October 6, 2009 / 6 Comments

    Marisa Wikramanayake reviews Terry Pratchett's latest novel in the Discworld Series, Unseen Academicals and lists links to buy the book online. Sometimes you just get lucky. Lucky is what I am. Terry Pratchett's latest novel Unseen Academicals gets released today (Oct. 6th) in the United States but if you are in Australia, it's already out in hardcover in the stores for $49.95 AUD. Amazon has it here for $14.03 USD.

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    Drive Me To Distraction by Caitlyn Nicholas

    Caitlyn Nicholas' Drive Me To Distraction

    February 21, 2013

    AWW 2013: Ann-Marie Priest's Great Writers, Great Loves

    January 31, 2013

    Jane Rawson's A Wrong Turn At The Office Of Unmade Lists

    January 16, 2014
  • Book Reviews

    Book Review: Pelagia & The White Bulldog

    May 28, 2009 / 1 Comment

    Marisa Wikramanayake is a freelance editor and writer. Here, she reviews Boris Akunin's Pelagia & The White Bulldog, the first in a crime fiction series involving a nun as the detective and set in 19th Century rural Russia.

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    Jane Rawson's A Wrong Turn At The Office Of Unmade Lists

    January 16, 2014

    The Australian Women Writers’ Challenge 2016

    January 11, 2016
    Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen by Carl Muller

    Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen by Carl Muller

    January 5, 2017

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