Ross Watkins Ross Watkins i(A69511 works by)
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 y separately published work icon Fandomonium Ross Watkins (editor), Shannon Horsfall (editor), Victoria : Revolutionaries , 2023 28899308 2023 anthology short story

'Fandomonium is where the passion and pandemonium of fandom collide. Across 55 short works of realism, fantasy, speculative fiction, crime, horror, satire, memoir and poetry, this eclectic collection explores what it means to idolise people and ideologies, and to be fans of our own selves. From streamers to sorceresses, from the fervent to the dangerously fixated, these tales explore the extraordinary connections forged through belief and obsession. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching, and always surprising, Fandomonium has a story for every fan, follower and fanatic.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Life Sentence Ross Watkins , 2023 single work graphic novel
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , October vol. 27 no. 2 2023;
1 y separately published work icon It Begins with Us Ross Watkins (editor), Jay Kylie Ludowyke (editor), Victoria : Revolutionaries , 2022 28899759 2022 anthology poetry short story

'It begins with us is a revolution of the heart. This bold collection of 35 works by emerging Australian writers tells stories of what it means to be human amid times of great transformation - within dystopian worlds that mirror our own, imagined lands of the fantastic, or across the spaces of our opinions and desires, each story explores what it takes to be the catalyst for positive change. Sometimes exhilarating, sometimes thought-provoking and always rebellious, It begins with us underscores how every revolution must arise within the self.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 y separately published work icon Madness in Bloom Ross Watkins (editor), Jay Kylie Ludowyke (editor), Victoria : Revolutionaries , 2021 28899245 2021 anthology poetry short story

'Succumb to madness.

'To the euphoria of love, the torment of loss, the yearning for truth, the whimsy of daydreams and the reckoning of nightmares.

'This eclectic collection of 62 works by emerging Australian writers features realism and surrealism, romance and murder, the paranormal and the poetic, the magical and the monstrous. Humour. Death. Sci-fi, fantasy, essay, epistle, fiction and nonfiction. The erotic. The historic. Even the religious and the political.

'There are no boundaries. Only possibilities. Existing in dreams, reality and reverie...

'A game of wits between a girl, a glass horse, a blurred woman and a black knight. Reflections of a sex worker tending a new client. Intimacy and conception-or neither and both. A pickleball champion in a deadly match. Emotions stolen from artistic masterpieces. Astronauts on a ship who are not alone. Thoughts behind the veil. Islands of dreams. Infidelity and revenge. First love. Secrets. The unspeakable. The unfathomable.

'It's rare for one collection to house such breadth of imagination and insanity. To prod at our hearts with emotional electrodes. And to remind us that we're all puppets in padded cells. 

'Enter the asylum. Experience Madness in Bloom.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Smashing Ourselves to Smithereens : Object Collection, Death, and Creative Writing as Salvation Ross Watkins , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue , October no. 63 2021;
'David Malouf (1985) describes the objects children first encounter as symbols of the unknown – we are ‘set loose in a world of things’, and our only tool to exert power over these objects is the body, as we ‘try to swallow them, then to smash them to smithereens… If they refuse to yield their history to us they may at least, in time, become agents in ours’ (p. 9); especially once we are able to wield linguistic instruments. But objects go beyond becoming mere ‘agents’ in the narratives of our lives. As rendered things – selected, curated, labelled and preserved in our minds and the pages of books, these objects undergo a horror just as brutal as Malouf’s metaphors of consumption and demolition. Objects become us, just as we become objects. This holds true in both life and death – perhaps even more apparently in death, when our objects must be subjectively ‘inventorized’ (Baudrillard), collected or discarded by those who grieve. Can writing salvage the past? Or does the very act of writing things ensnare us in a melancholy gaze? This fictocritical work explores these questions through theoretical and performative discourses, ultimately asking: Through writing, are we smashing ourselves to smithereens?' (Publication abstract)
1 Writing the Half of It : a Challenge Unique to Picture Book Authorship Ross Watkins , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: New Writing , vol. 16 no. 1 2019; (p. 3-15)

'The picture book is a complex narrative form which makes use of not only literary devices but also visual devices, taking into account the content of the illustrations themselves as well as the way design principles lever and help deliver meaning for the reader. The story a picture book tells – as a form which goes beyond the script – is thereby dependent on more than one mode of discourse. For the writer – authoring what is essentially half the story at most – the nature of the form creates challenges which are unique to picture book authorship. I aim to contribute to the existing critical thinking on the picture book by: mapping the context of scholarly and practice-based discussion; outlining foundational concepts regarding the counterpointing use of visual and verbal modes; and introducing the use of anticipation, direction and accommodation as essential strategies which the picture book author must negotiate. I demonstrate these practices in relation to how other picture book authors have articulated their processes, as well as using my own experience as the author of One Photo (Watkins, Ross, and Liz Anelli. 2016. One Photo. Melbourne: Penguin Random House) as a case study.'  (Publication abstract)

1 The Futures of Grief Margaret Gibson , Ross Watkins , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 52 2018;

'This provocation raises questions about the future of grief through digital vestiges that offer the animated presence of the biologically dead in the lives of the bereaved. The vast amount of digital data produced and shared with others accumulating on social media, on phones and computers, creates a substantial archive in which the dead continue to be and also not be with the living. The digital data that is left behind after biological death provides new ways in which to create replicas– holograms of the deceased as well as voice bots in which the bereaved might speak to those they miss and hear their voice answering back to questions much like Apple’s Siri. Bereavement is about living with ghosts (often about discovering that the dead ghost our own bodies) and the digital has ushered in new forms of ghostliness in which we find ways of staying connected to the loved and missed. Digital remains of the dead, while often lively with algorithms generating messages from accounts of the deceased, also, arguably, expose the corporeal, emotional and cognitive difference and limit between a living biological human presence and a digital human presence. The latter can never truly substitute for the former. This provocation suggests that holograms and voice bots can be just as much tools for grieving and acknowledging loss, as they might be tools in the service of denying death and prolonging grief.'  (Publication abstract)

1 How Useful Is TEXT? Julienne Van Loon , Ross Watkins , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 22 no. 2 2018;

'It is always interesting to look at the cPanel stats provided by our excellent webhost, Netregistry. They show, for example, that ten years ago, in October 2008, TEXT had 2397 unique visitors who accessed on average 3.2 pages (i.e. 3 articles) in the month.' (Introduction)

1 2 y separately published work icon The Apology Ross Watkins , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2018 14648626 2018 single work novel

'Adrian Pomeroy teaches English at a boys’ school ‘full of bullshit artists in blazers’. When he finds himself at the centre of an allegation that might end his career, his life starts to unravel in spectacular fashion. With a police investigation underway, Adrian turns to his detective brother for help, but Noel is battling crippling demons of his own.

'As the repercussions of this one accusation lead to the implosion of Adrian’s family, he can no longer ignore the secrets buried in his past. The Apology is an explosive and shocking portrait of the lies we tell ourselves and each other in order to survive.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Waking up as Alan : Game Novelisation and the Playerreaderwriter Ross Watkins , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , April no. 49 2018;

'‘What kind of writer are you?’ So the question is asked of Alan Wake, best-selling novelist embedded in his own horror story in Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake (2010), and subsequent novelisation by Rick Burroughs (2010). What kind of writer you are is a question which has long vexed not only genre fiction authors, but also those writers whose work feeds on/back into established narrative worlds. Game novelisation, the ‘reverse’ adaptation of videogames into novels, has attracted almost no academic enquiry to-date, and is much maligned by critics. Yet game novelisation is a writing and publishing practice on the increase, and when considered in overlap with the voluminous quantities of game fan fiction published online, transformative narrative practice is a phenomenon which begs greater attention within creative writing. While there is much work to be done on game novelisation and game fan fiction in terms of its place, reception and impact within gamer and publishing landscapes, from a creative writing viewpoint there is value to be gained in teasing out aspects of writing that are unique to these practices, and to consider how immersion in narrative world building is altered by the player cum reader cum writer. Using Alan Wake as one example, this article presents selected contextual discussion before performing a reflection on my own experience of narrative world building as player, reader and writer.' (Publication abstract)

1 Introduction : Writing and Gaming Ross Watkins , Maria Takolander , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , April no. 49 2018;

'We have entered the age of gaming and gamification, and creative writing – as both a cultural practice and a discipline of study – is being drawn into this phase of digital culture. Despite the bookish backlash noted by Adam Hammond in Literature in the digital age (2016), major publishers have begun to experiment with interactive digital narratives. Penguin’s We tell stories (2008) was a first attempt by a major publisher to future-proof its business through a merging of gaming principles and creative writing – an attempt more recently repeated by Hachette’s New star soccer story ‘game book’ (2016). In ‘The shifting author-reader dynamic’, R. Lyle Skains diagnoses such experiments in relation to the consumer reality: ‘The next generation of readers is currently in their teens, spending far more attention, time, and money on digital platforms such as gaming and internet interactions than they do in any other entertainment genre’ (2010: 96). However, while literature is being challenged to adapt in a digital age increasingly dominated by gamers, the traffic is not just one-way. Games are also changing in response to literary or artistic imperatives, as writers are conscripted into development teams in an increasingly competitive games industry, and as scholars focus their attention on games as artefacts of cultural interest. While some early game scholars aggressively opposed the ludic culture of gaming to the readerly culture of literature, and while the agency of players (as opposed to the assumed passivity of readers) often continues to be lauded as the distinguishing virtue of games, hard-and-fast distinctions are being eroded. Astrid Ensslin, for example, while remaining appropriately sensitive to medium specificities, has posited the emergence of the hybrid form of the ‘literary game’ (2014), exemplified by such work as Tale of Tale’s The Path (2009).'  (Introduction)

1 Mindfulness in Tunisia Ross Watkins , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 223 2016; (p. 57-60)
1 Radicalising the Scholarly Paper : New Forms for the Traditional Journal Article Ross Watkins , Nigel Krauth , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 20 no. 1 2016;
'Over the past decade much discussion has, by necessity due to the positioning of creative writing practice within academia, focused on strategising the creative arts product – e.g. the poem or short story – into the paradigm of research value as non-traditional research output. Meanwhile, the form of the journal article – in all its monolithic history – has also undergone shifts and challenges, the fictocritical mode arguably making the most incisive impact. Nevertheless, the science-rhetoric form of the scholarly paper is still taken as granted (even as hallowed). But as the packaging of knowledge undergoes a technological transition in the 21st century, is the radical journal article already in the making? And is creative writing the discipline in the box seat for exploring and exploiting new, flexible and dynamic knowledge forms? This paper aims to invigorate discussion around the possibilities of how a scholarly paper could and should one day be written and read.' (Publication abstract)
3 3 y separately published work icon One Photo Ross Watkins , Liz Anelli (illustrator), Melbourne : Viking , 2016 9481526 2016 single work picture book children's (taught in 1 units)

From Ross Watkins, the illustrator of The Boy Who Grew Into a Tree, and Liz Anelli, comes this moving picture book about family, the failings of memory and the strength of love. Told in stunning prose, with poignant artwork, this book is a celebration of what we hold dearest.

1 This Phantom Gibbet : Writing Through/as Melancholy Ross Watkins , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 35 2016;
'In Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia (1989), Julia Kristeva suggests that melancholy – an experience of ‘object loss’ (effectively, when a sign fails to correspond to its meaning, as established by Freud) – is a language which requires learning in order for this state of being (or ‘nonbeing’) to be understood. Melancholy affect, Kristeva argues, can thus be transposed into art where the ‘symbolic’ is represented through the ‘sign’; she states: ‘Artifice, as sublime meaning for and on behalf of the underlying, implicit nonbeing replaces the ephemeral’ (Kristeva 1989: 99). In other words, in the experience of ‘object loss’ we look toward the imagination and the construction of signs to fill the void and make meaning – absence evoked by a presence. Accepting these ideas, this paper explores the paradoxical nature of narrative writing (via poetry by Keats, memoir by Malouf, and fiction by Banville) as a process which not only removes the melancholic from the object of their experience, but constructs a container for the melancholy object, to which the writer is inherently bound.' (Publication abstract)
1 You See Now Ross Watkins , 2015 single work short story
— Appears in: TEXT : Special Issue Website Series , October no. 30 2015;
1 Introduction : Creative Writing as Research IV Nigel Krauth , Donna Lee Brien , Ross Watkins , Anthony Lawrence , Dallas J. Baker , Moya Costello , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Special Issue Website Series , October no. 30 2015;
1 Remarkable Analogue Constructions of the Author/illustrator : Re-imagining Textual Spaces of the Book as Object Ross Watkins , 2015 single work prose
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 19 no. 1 2015;
'Mark Z Danielewski states: ‘Ruler-wielding didacts have instilled in [readers] the notion that a book must start here, move along like this, and finish over there. But books don’t have to be so limited. They can intensify informational content and experience. Multiple stories can lie side by side on the page … pages can be tilted, turned upside down, even read backwards… But here’s the joke. Books have had this capacity all along… Books are remarkable constructions with enormous possibilities… But somehow the analogue powers of these wonderful bundles of paper have been forgotten’ (Danielewski 2002). Adopting Danielewski’s position, this paper is a fictocritical exploration of the practices involved in authoring/illustrating ‘Truth Is’, a composite illustrated novel about the multiple narratives/truths splintering from one act of heinous violence. Part murder-mystery, part pseudo-documentary, part graphic novel, ‘Truth Is’ seeks to re-imagine the textual spaces of the ‘book as object’ as a method of enriching the narrative’s thematic explorations. This paper explores the illustrated novels of Jonathan Safran Foer and others researched while creating the novel, and enmeshes this with an exploration of the author/illustrator’s intentions and trepidations in encountering the potential of the book as object.' (Publication abstract)
1 Bodies in Boxes : A Fictocritical Search for the Writing Process Ross Watkins , 2014 single work prose
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 27 2014;

Research contribution :

'Bodies in Boxes plaits fictional, critical and autobiographical discourses in a fictocritical search of the process involved in writing ‘Coronial Inquest’ (Meniscus 2013). The work accounts for the fictional texts researched in the creation of the short story and enmeshes this research with a third person narrative exploration of the writer’s intentions, apprehensions and other (tangential) embedded narratives. Cannibalising my own work, Bodies in Boxes enacts an ‘encounter between the writer’s emergent, embodied subjectivity and what is written about’ (Gibbs 2005).'

1 Creative Writing as Research, III Nigel Krauth , Donna Lee Brien , Ross Watkins , Anthony Lawrence , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 27 2014;
'This Special issue is dedicated to the late Sandra Burr (PhD), who died as it was in the final production stages. Sandra expressed her excitement at being part of this issue but became ill soon after the call for papers was circulated. The first section of this issue is, therefore, a special tribute to Sandra, her creative work and other contributions to creative writing, and the loss felt around her absence.' (Editor's abstract)
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