We all know students are busy people. Between final exams and part-time jobs, they also have their passions, their hobbies and their side projects. In some cases, what starts as an extracurricular can become something much bigger. Take, for instance, dotdotdash. It began as a literary group with some Curtin students who had a love affair with all things written and has evolved into one of Western Australia’s leading literary magazines. Here Student Edge asks of SJ Finch, one of the magazine’s creators, how dotdotdash unfolded.

When did you first hatch the idea to start dotdotdash?

dotdotdash was initially an idea for an extra-curricular writing group for Curtin students during third year; I just figured, as writers we learnt most from the workshopping sessions we had in class, so why not use that same format when we were ejected into the real world too. This incarnation of dotdotdash fell flat however, and I got the impression that people dispersed as there was no real goal uniting dotdotdash, there was nothing to aspire towards.

Why did you want to start a literary magazine?

I just wanted to maintain a connection with the people I met in class. I wanted to work with them. I didn't want to wait around for a book to be published or a literary magazine to accept me; I wanted to do something, anything, creative. I wanted to see other people be creative, to help them out, to make a 'zine, to organise a spoken word night. I wanted to start anything. I wanted there to be an avenue for people to send their work and be supported.

How did other people respond when you told them your idea to start a literary magazine? What did they think of the idea of students starting a publication?

Mostly, people have been crazy supportive. They're always encouraging, they're always helpful. It's kind of true that if you do stake out something you love and you're happy and you're working hard, people will generally look on you kindly.

How did you move from the idea stage to actually making it happen?

We met a few times in Curtin library. It was amazing, those meetings. I'd have gathered everyone I ever met in the course, and a few arts students I met an hour or so before, and the room would be completely animated with the sound of people meeting new people. The excitement and enthusiasm was almost tangible. It was extraordinarily motivating to use all of our course skills to the fullest capacity, and to do so with new friends. We also sought the help of lecturers in the creative writing course at Curtin. I recently heard that they actually put dotdotdash on the syllabus, which is ultra-cool!

How did you go about receiving funding?

I applied to two funding grants, the express media Write In Your Face grant, for new literary works, and the Propel Youth Arts Metro grant, for art projects aimed at metropolitan youth. Both of these grants are available yearly, and if you have a good idea and a fine team, you can probably successfully get it too. We also asked for some help from Deborah Hunn, a Curtin lecturer and kind supporter who gave us some student grant money, and from the Curtin Alumni relations centre, who provided us with access to their membership and some money to fund out launch party.

What were the big challenges to establishing dotdotdash?

Finding the right grand needed to print our initial magazine. Also, organising thirty people who have both university classes and part-time work. It soon proved impossible to meet everyone face to face, and so most of the organising had to be relayed via emails. I was writing up to fifty emails a day at some point. Also, there's an extreme workload that comes with dotdotdash. Everything in the project, right from processing submissions to designing and typesetting to marketing, PR, event organisation and magazine distribution is done independently, done by us, so there is often little to no time for me to live a life outside of dotdotdash.

The other real challenge that we have is that, while we're all confident with our required skills: editing, proofreading, and designing, we found the actual practice of these skills to be slightly nebulous. We've had to think outside of whatever definitions we had of our roles; to make a lot of stuff up and run with it.

What have been the big lessons learned over the last year with dotdotdash?

Around 60% of the work done for successful creative projects is done on the business side of things. Make sure you have a PR plan, a marketing plan and a distribution plan, because you will need this, especially if you're starting a magazine, which needs indefinite cashflow. There's way more hard work put into most creative projects than meets the eye.

Also, anything can really be done. 

What would be your advice to other students interested in starting a major project outside of school?
Um, a few things.

1. Just do it, mostly. Even if dotdotdash had never made it to stores, I'd still do all that hard, stressful unpaid work. It kept me involved and connected to people, and I learnt so much.
2. Find a group of brilliant and reliable people that you love.
3. Trust the people you work with. Even when they've stiffed you, or they're not replying to your emails/texts, make sure you keep trusting them. They'll always come through in the end, and if not, it's usually for a very good reason. Mistrust is worse than people not doing things; mistrust puts a hard cog in the whole system of motivation; it just destroys.

As a result of your work with dotdotdash, have any other opportunities come your way?

Well, we were offered a few spots on the chair of a literary prize run by the WA State Library, which would have involved one of us actually judging novel entries in a literary competition. What I'm most thrilled and happy about though, is my involvement in establishing the Perth ‘Zine Collective, which is a group of people who sell ‘zines at market stalls and the like, and who also put on workshops on how to make ‘zines. What I find so cool about the Perth ‘Zine Collective is that anyone can make a ‘zine, print their ‘zine, sell their ‘zine with them. Anyone can create their own literature/book art, and that's awesome.

What are the future plans for dotdotdash?

I've been planning to include more interviews in dotdotdash actually. Stuff like this right here, actually. I think it's important to have dialogue about art and the things that writers and artists do; it provides a pretty cool way of engaging in your local cultural environment. On that note, I'm also planning on having a stronger and more interactive web presence. I think the internet, as a place of easy access and zero publishing costs, is a great place for new writers and artists to get exposure for their work.

Oh and we're going to have a CD enclosed in the jacket of our sixth issue – the Jukebox project. This CD will have spoken word and local music and will be awesome. We're currently open for submissions for it, if you'd like us to include your song and/or spoken word track.

For more info on dotdotdash, check out their website.