Marisa Wikramanayake

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

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  • Home
  • Blog
  • Services
  • Journalism work
  • Editorial work
  • Events
  • Free resources
    • Perth & WA Literary Calendar
    • Women who review
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  • MEAA FAQs

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  • Blog,  Journalism

    What is a typical day for a journalist?

    October 16, 2019 / No Comments

    The typical day for a journalist always varies depending on what your working circumstances are. But here are some ideas.

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    I'm blogging this by Jhayne via Flickr (additional text by me)

    My top 10 posts in 2016

    January 20, 2017

    How to deal with late payments as a freelancer

    January 26, 2019
    The Writers' Cabins at KSP (c) Writers Bloc

    Day 1: Home on my back, home where there is a bed

    May 30, 2018
  • Writing

    It’s one day to NaNoWriMo people.

    October 31, 2016 / No Comments

    Thinking of doing NaNoWriMo this year? Did you only just realise that it was one week away? Don't worry, I have something that can help you plan for it.

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    How do I get started?

    April 20, 2011
    Marisa Wikramanayake will be appearing at two sessions at the Digital Writers Festival this year.

    I’m in the Digital Writers Festival this year!

    October 28, 2016

    Why you should love your writers more (or pay us more)

    January 20, 2016
  • Journalism

    Interviewing techniques from the BBC

    June 18, 2016 / No Comments

    The BBC has an arm called the BBC Academy. In this video Peter Allen discusses interviewing techniques for journalists to use.  

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    Profile: Amanda Curtin and world weaving

    May 29, 2013

    Salinity threatens freshwater mussels

    September 9, 2010

    How to get started in journalism

    November 29, 2013
  • Writing

    Watch “The true story of ‘true’ – Gina Cooke” on YouTube

    June 13, 2016 / No Comments

    This is a fantastic piece on etymology and the fascinating ways in which we have thought about ourselves and ideas and how we can trace all that by following the history of a word. Word nerds, geek out.

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    The Writers' Cabins at KSP (c) Writers Bloc

    Day 1: Home on my back, home where there is a bed

    May 30, 2018

    The Writing Calendar: June 2016

    June 9, 2016
    Plan B by Sebastien Wiertz via Flickr

    It’s one day to NaNoWriMo people.

    October 31, 2016
  • Writing

    Slowing down time (in writing and in film) by Aaron Sitze

    June 6, 2016 / No Comments

    Pacing is always important in any sort of storytelling. Too fast and your readers will miss something, too slow and they will fall asleep. But it is also about how and when to introduce suspense and when to keep things moving along quite steadily rather than making readers slog their way through. Here in this TED-Ed video, Aaron Sitze has some pointers on pacing. If you struggle with pacing, let me know in the comments.

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    HIM update for February 12

    February 12, 2016
    Top down shot of two people sitting across from each other a table having coffee with just their arms and cups in view

    10 Important Things You Need To Know About Finding A Mentor

    January 14, 2021
    Stressed? by aaayyymm eeelectriik via Flickr

    All my worries as a WOC writer

    May 13, 2016
  • Plan B by Sebastien Wiertz via Flickr
    Updates

    The writing plan for June

    June 3, 2016 / No Comments

    It’s June today. A June day, today, let’s say since June began the day before yesterday. On this June day my TBR is neither pile nor stack, it is a scatter instead, in bags, on shelves, across the floor, under laptops and beds. It’s also not To Be Read but rather like quantum, a mix between the two, some To Be Read but some also read already so To Be Reviewed. I need a plan. 

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    The South Asian Women Writers Challenge 2014

    January 20, 2014

    Round up 05/01/2013 – 19/01/2013

    January 19, 2013
    Happy 2017! Fireworks by Prabhu Balakrishnan via Flickr

    Happy New Year!

    December 31, 2016
  • Writing

    How to write descriptively by Nalo Hopkinson

    May 30, 2016 / No Comments

    In Sedition there is an ever present gecko that consistently turns up. I have no idea why it does when the actual leit motif, if any, is a plant mentioned throughout the book. But description is important in writing and here Nalo Hopkinson points out why doing it well matters: Do you have any issues with description in your writing? Leave a comment below if you do and let me know that I am not the only one! 🙂

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    Latest piece of research for the foundation fellowship: the book titled Police in Sri Lanka by Frank de Silva

    Foundation Fellowship update: a bit about Gin and Tonic

    January 12, 2018

    My year in writing: 2016 and the freelance writer life

    December 16, 2016

    The Defying Doomsday Anthology

    April 12, 2015
  • Writing

    Watch “How to make your writing funnier – Cheri Steinkeller” and then let me know what you think.

    May 23, 2016 / No Comments

    I once spent an entire year while in high school writing what was my first attempt at a novel. It was very episodic and almost sit-com like because it was a) cheesy and b) I was working out how to write humour into scenes, from wit to slapstick. These days there are still a lot of things I have to learn about writing such as figuring out the best way to convey something I want to say when I see it in the way a character moves physically in my head and to turn that into words on a page that conjure up the same image. I think visually –…

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    KSP cat by Ashleigh Hardcastle via KSP Writers Centre

    I hit 10,000 words!

    June 4, 2018

    HIM update for April 15

    April 14, 2016
    A phone with messags on its screen sits on a desk in front of a lit up keyboard

    My 10 Compelling Reasons For Running Youtube Livestreams Right Now

    January 22, 2021
  • Writing

    The Gap by Ira Glass

    May 16, 2016 / No Comments

    For those moments when you despair that what you are creating isn’t as good as you hoped it would be: Video by David Shiyang Liu, found via a group on FB, thank you my darlings.

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    Piano by Kim Slever via Flickr

    Reader question: what sort of music do you listen to when writing?

    May 18, 2016
    Makeup by Atjme Love via Flickr

    HIM update for April 29

    April 29, 2016
    Katherine Susannah Pritchard and her typewriter (c) Marisa Wikramanayake

    Day 4: Freedom to write, freedom for writers

    June 1, 2018
  • Journalism

    My story on China’s circuit breaker mechanism

    March 30, 2016 / No Comments

    I recently got back from two months in Sri Lanka where I worked as a weird mix of intern and reporter and production assistant and researcher for both a TV channel called Newsfirst and a radio channel called Yes FM. They allowed me to take some of the work I had done for my portfolio when I left. So here is some of the work I did. This is the story on the circuit breaker mechanism that China trialled in early January. It was part of why the global economy in January was so shaky that oil prices got affected a lot more than they otherwise might have been. I…

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    #ECUWAPolChat transcript: quizzing the Mt Lawley candidates

    March 6, 2013
    art coffee business money

    Three important stories I wrote in 2021 as a freelance journalist

    February 15, 2022
    Marisa Wikramanayake works on a story as a journalist and in this post showing you how to write a freelance pitch

    How to write a freelance pitch to an editor

    September 17, 2021
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