Kaylie Newell - Author Interview: Debut Novelist

What kinds of fiction did you read as a child and teenager, and did you have some favourites?

As a child, I read a lot of fiction about animals. Horses in particular. I was a horse nut! I read every book in The Black Stallion series, some of them twice. As I got older, I read a lot of romance. My mom always had Harlequins lying around, so I started early on those (earlier than my mom probably would have liked) and I fell in love.

Would you say your childhood and teenage reading has had a distinct influence on how you write fiction now, and why?

I definitely do, because the more you read, the better you write. I’m sure that discovering books at a young age taught me, even if subconsciously at the time, how to write. Those books gave me my first glimpse into character development, plot and world building. They taught me what makes a reader pick up a book, and more importantly, finish it.

What did you do before you became a published novelist, and how did you come to write your first novel and get it published?

I worked for many years in the records section of a small police department. I’d been writing short stories for years, but one day I decided to shoot for the moon and write a romance novel. It had always been a dream of mine, so after six months of writing, another six months of editing and several months of rejection, I was ecstatic to hear that a publishing company wanted my book. Feeling that it was now or never to try and build a writing career, I made the decision to quit my job and write full time. I’d never be able to do this without my wonderful husband’s support and for that I’ll be forever grateful.

How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction?

I write romance, so I think I write with a pair of rose colored glasses on. I like my stories to be realistic. To a point. Then I like the fantasy to take over. I mean, we all know some men wear socks while naked. But in our stories, we can leave that part out :)

Is your first published novel standalone or part of a series, and what advantages or disadvantages does this present for you?

My first book, A Death That Lingers (releases on November 21st-woohoo!) is a standalone book. I think when I started writing it I really couldn’t wrap my mind around anything more than just the immediate story at hand. But now I can really see the wonderful aspects of having a series. Readers often say, “I wasn’t ready for the story to end!” With a series, you can delve deeper into the character’s lives and the lives of those around them. Also with a series, your reader base is established with the first book. If it’s good, those readers will keep coming back for more. I definitely think I’d like to try my hand at a series in the future.

Have you found writing your second novel easier or more challenging than writing your first novel and why?

Ugh. My second book was SO much harder to write. And that surprised me. I’m still not quite sure why it gave me so much trouble, but it did. I actually had to stop at the halfway point and go back to wipe out a big chunk of the story. It wasn’t going in the direction I wanted it to, even though I had the outline pretty much worked out. My characters were feisty and rebellious. I had to reign them in a little.
I guess each book is different. They’re like your kids. Each has a distinct personality. Some are easy to work with, others are difficult. But you love them all.

Who is another novelist whose fiction writing you admire and why?

I absolutely adore Stephen King. He’s my hero. I have an autographed copy of On Writing that I keep by my computer for inspiration. The guy is an amazing story teller, but even more than that, he’s a master of the English language. He can take just a few words and weave them into the most incredible sentence that you’ll find yourself going back to read again and again, just for the sheer enjoyment of it.

How would you summarise your debut novel in one paragraph?

A Death That Lingers is a romantic suspense with a supernatural twist. My favorite kind! It was written in the spirit of books by Karen Robards with a sprinkling of Alice Hoffman thrown in for good measure. Here’s the blurb:

Josie Collins’ story is just beginning when she finally summons the courage to leave her famous, abusive husband and return to her hometown among the winter wheat of Kansas. She thought she’d escaped him this time. But she was wrong. When he is killed in a fiery car accident on his way to find her, it’s clear he may have died, but he has no intention of letting her go. With his death, an unthinkable evil is born. His presence only seems to intensify when Josie develops a rapport with sexy young police Chief, Paul Stark. Their attraction is undeniable, and Josie immediately knows there’s something special about the tall, brooding officer with the long jagged scar down his face. He has a nightmarish past, and what Josie soon learns, is that Paul has lost someone too, and is haunted by love, even as she is haunted by obsession.

How would you summarise a chapter from your debut novel in one paragraph?

I love the first chapter, because it sets up the rest of the book. At the beginning of Chapter One, Josie is packing her bags to leave. Her husband is a world famous musician. Handsome and talented, but very cold and abusive. She heads back to Kansas, anticipating a brand new life running the family’s antique shop. All these thoughts are running through her head. When will he come after me? What will he do if he finds me? She’s terrified, but she’s been pushed to the absolute breaking point. And that’s where the story begins. At her breaking point.

How would you describe the contribution this chapter makes to the novel?

This chapter is where you learn how bad Josie had it. How rotten her marriage was. How horrible her husband treated her. It’s also when you see what kind of life is awaiting her. And how much she stands to lose if she can’t finally be free of him. It’s my hope that the first chapter introduces you to a frightened young woman who discovers strength she never knew she had. Until now.

Author website: www.kaylienewell.com



Alastair Bruce - Author Interview: Debut Novelist

What kinds of fiction did you read as a child and teenager, and did you have some favourites?

I remember reading a lot of Enid Blyton as a child. The Famous Five were my favourite, more so than the Secret Seven. I remember an island and a dank tunnel. I also a remember a tip for keeping milk cool – put it in a stream. And of course lashings of ginger beer. In my teenage years I went through a Stephen King phase and like many I found Catcher in the Rye compelling. I remember also reading a lot of anti-Apartheid literature, like A Dry White Season and Cry, The Beloved Country.

Would you say your childhood and teenage reading has had a distinct influence on how you write fiction now, and why?

My first novel was published when I was 38, which is rather a long time after I was a teenager. As a child I loved books and reading and indeed writing. That passion has stayed with me into adulthood and was behind me starting to write seriously in my late twenties. It was that that is behind why I write now, rather than the particular type of reading that I did, as least as far as my conscious mind is aware. As a university student I started to read the sorts of things that I now consider to have influenced my style and thinking in some way, however peripheral.

What did you do before you became a published novelist, and how did you come to write your first novel and get it published?

For me, and I think most first-time novelists are the same, there is no before and after. I had a full-time job when my first novel got published. I have the same job now and no plans to give it up. For most writers getting a novel published is not a ticket to riches and is often not a ticket to a living wage, at least not initially. No one should be writing for the money, unless of course you are adept at producing hugely popular fiction!

I started writing a novel as a conscious decision. I decided that though I had written a few short stories I needed to do something “serious”. The idea for the novel actually came out of one of those stories – one about a man living in a cave who one day spies a stranger approaching from across the desert floor. I did not write very regularly at first and there was even a gap of about a year when I wrote nothing at all. However, the love of it never went away and I got more serious about it from about the age of 30. When I “finished” the novel I didn’t really expect all the hard work still to come. I got hold of a copy of Writers and Artists yearbook and started sending the manuscript off to agents. I would send them in batches of 4 about a month apart. After contacting about 16 and receiving about 8 rejection letters I got one asking to see the rest of the manuscript. I worked with the agent for what turned out to be around 2 years before I had a manuscript fit to be sent to publishers. It was that process that really brought home the fact that a novel (for me at least) is not going to be finished after the first or second draft. It needs a long period of rewriting and redrafting to hone it into shape. It is hard work. I eventually found a publisher in my native country of South Africa and from there publishers (at the time of writing) in the UK and Germany. The day I found out I would in all likelihood get published was the same day my daughter was born. A special day.

How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction?

Having published just one novel I’m not sure I would say that I have a style yet. The prose style of the first novel though might be described using words such as sparse and spare – I try and make every word count. The story itself is allegorical and (I hope) with a brooding intensity.

Is your first published novel standalone or part of a series, and what advantages or disadvantages does this present for you?

It is standalone. The advantage is I can do something different and not be typecast. I can do different things as a novelist still developing my craft.

Have you found writing your second novel easier or more challenging than writing your first novel and why?

I am hopeful that my second novel will not take as long as my first. I am lucky in that I feel that with even twenty minutes I can get something written and my writing philosophy is very much along the lines of “writing anything is good, not writing is bad.” I’m currently doing a lot of my writing on the train into work. With a second novel there is the pressure to not be a “one-hit-wonder”. I have found that while I was writing the first because of a love of writing, with the second the love is still there but has been joined by a pressure to deliver. But when the latter starts to overwhelm the former I remind myself why I’m doing this in the first place: I write because I enjoy creating worlds and telling stories. That’s all that matters.

Who is another novelist whose fiction writing you admire and why?

JM Coetzee is brilliant and I like to think influential on my own writing. The seeming simplicity of his language belies great evocative power. He has written some of the most beautiful passages in modern literature. The closing pages of Age of Iron, for instance, are superb.

How would you summarise your debut novel in one paragraph?

Bran, the ex-dictator of one of the last two remaining human settlements, lives alone in exile on an island counting the days he has left to live. His routine is broken when he sees a body washed up on shore, a man he comes to recognize as his one-time bitter enemy and leader of the other faction. He recognizes the danger this event may portend for his people and decides to return, risking death. Upon arriving, he reveals another purpose: he has come to seek redemption and forgiveness for the terrible acts for which he was exiled. However his reception at the settlement is baffling. No one claims to recognize or remember him and evidence of his rule has been wiped out. Bran tries to find out the truth of what has happened and in doing so obtain the redemption that he cannot live without, but the sinister town seems to want to hide its secrets. His reception is so unexpected, so mystifying that he casts about unsure of what is real and what imaginary. Only the friendship of a child anchors him as he retraces the terrible deeds for which he is answerable, and as he tries to reach back, over his biggest betrayal, to the one he loved.

How would you describe the appeal of this novel to readers?

Readers who like a mystery and a puzzle will enjoy Wall of Days. The novel deliberately poses more questions than it answers and readers who like being challenged by what they read will enjoy the novel.

How would you summarise a chapter from your debut novel in one paragraph?

The first chapter is probably the one I spent most time on. It needs to capture the attention straight away and deliver the reader straight into the atmosphere and action of the novel. In the first chapter of Wall of Days, the main character’s island home and way of life is described. Straight away it introduces a tension between what the narrator says of his life there and the reality of the situation. In other words, the character’s status as an unreliable narrator is hinted at in the first few pages. After describing the island and his way of life the chapter has the narrator discover a coat washed up on shore. Since nothing has washed up for years this discovery introduces tension and the possibility that he may not be alone.

How would you describe the contribution this chapter makes to the novel?

Is the first chapter not always the most important? If the reader is not hooked within the first few pages they will more than likely never be hooked. The first chapter in Wall of Days is, I hope, successful in introducing a rather complex character as well as a sense of mystery and disquiet.

Author website: www.wallofdays.com



Amy T Matthews - Author Interview: Debut Novelist

What kinds of fiction did you read as a child and teenager, and did you have some favourites?

I read everything I could get my hands on when I was a child. During the school holidays when I was a teenager I would read a book a day and would be down at the library every week. For a while I was addicted to Fantasy, and for a while to Historical Romance, but I also discovered literature like The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, and Orlando. I would read anything Historical (and probably still would), but I didn’t really have any prejudices. I was indiscriminate in my tastes.

Would you say your childhood and teenage reading has had a distinct influence on how you write fiction now, and why?

What I’ve found is that my fiction mashes genres together, which I suppose is a direct reflection of my childhood/teenage reading pattern. End of the Night Girl is a hybrid of historical fiction, ‘chick lit’, and postmodern literary fiction and my latest novel explores realism, magic realism, and fantasy in a contemporary Australian setting. I think my early reading influenced my denial of generic restriction.

What did you do before you became a published novelist, and how did you come to write your first novel and get it published?

I did two degrees in my twenties and worked as a waitress during my study and afterwards. I kept working in hospitality as I wrote my first novel. I had always written but it was only during this period of working a menial job without studying that I found I had the creative/intellectual space to write seriously. In 2002 I began my Honours in Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide and did my PhD in Creative Writing 2003-2007. During that time I wrote the first six drafts of End of the Night Girl. I worked as a tutor and lecturer as I tried to get the novel published and commenced work on my next novel. Although the book received attention from agents and publishers they all deemed it a ‘hard sell’, and it wasn’t until I won the 2010 Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award (with draft thirteen of the novel) that I received a publishing contract.

How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction?

I would describe my style as contemporary, page-turning literary fiction. It straddles a line between commercial fiction and literary fiction, which is a line I enjoy exploring. I’m interested in representing and mythologising the landscapes I inhabit, which have been neglected in fiction.

Is your first published novel standalone or part of a series, and what advantages or disadvantages does this present for you?

My first novel is standalone, which is fairly standard for literary fiction. I like having the freedom to venture into something completely different with the next book, although I’ve found the two books contain similar patterns and themes. Both are ‘Adelaide’ novels and both intertwine two stories; both also contain ‘non-realist’ elements.

Have you found writing your second novel easier or more challenging than writing your first novel and why?

The second novel was far easier. But I think a lot of that had to do with having the luxury of time and anonymity, because I was still unpublished. There were no expectations of me, which was enormously liberating. I tackled a very challenging subject for my first novel and it took me nine years and thirteen drafts to complete, as I was always working at the limits of my skill set. But it also taught me a great deal, so by the time I began work on the second novel, my skill set was quite developed.

Who is another novelist whose fiction writing you admire and why?

There are so many novelists I admire: I admire Gail Jones for her spectacularly muscular and tightly controlled sentences; I admire Stephen King for his robust storytelling; I admire Virginia Woolf for her daring experiments and luscious language; I admire Henry James for his playing with point of view; I admire Jean Rhys for her biting commentary; Jonathan Safran Foer for his sensitivity; Amy Tan for her warmth; Edith Wharton for her pathos; George RR Martin for his finely wrought worlds – I could go on and on and on.

How would you summarise your debut novel in one paragraph?

Molly is an Adelaide waitress who is haunted by the ghost of a woman who has been dead for more than sixty years: Gienia, a Polish Jew, a victim of the Holocaust. As Molly’s life grows more complicated (she falls into an affair with a married chef, and her pregnant step-sister takes up residence on her couch) Gienia’s ghost gains substance, until she threatens to overwhelm Molly completely. End of the Night Girl weaves together the stories of two women, separated by time and experience, but inextricably tangled by the horrific legacy of the Holocaust.

How would you describe the appeal of this novel to readers?

First and foremost it’s a gripping read. Two compelling stories – contemporary and historical; trivial and deeply moving – circle one another, raising questions about our moral lives and our rights to happiness and unhappiness.

How would you summarise a chapter from your debut novel in one paragraph?

Molly suffers through a long night at work, waitressing a wedding, where the groom and his mates are drunk at the bar and the bride has disappeared into the bathroom with her bridesmaids and a bag of magic white powder. She has hours to go before she can rest and even when she can finally knock off and go home there’s no peace. When she goes home, there’s a ghost waiting for her. Gienia, a Polish Jew who has been dead for more than sixty years.

How would you describe the contribution this chapter makes to the novel?

It establishes Molly’s character, the world she inhabits, and also the inescapable presence of the past. It shows the tangible embodiment of Molly’s relationship to her obsession with the Holocaust.

Author website: http://www.amymatthews.com.au



Claire Corbett - Author Interview: Debut Novelist

What kinds of fiction did you read as a child and teenager, and did you have some favourites?

As a child I loved animal stories, Greek myths and legends, sci fi and fantasy, particularly those that combined all of these, such as the Narnia series, The Lord of the Rings, Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll books, and C S Lewis’ sci fi novels Out of the Silent Planet and Voyage to Venus. Also Eleanor Cameron’s The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet and Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books. As a teenager I loved George Orwell and read all his novels and essays as well as classic sci-fi (Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlein), feminist sci-fi (Marge Piercy), classic crime (Christie, Conan Doyle), literature, history and science (the last two not fiction, I know, but still had a huge influence on my fiction writing).

Would you say your childhood and teenage reading has had a distinct influence on how you write fiction now, and why?

Yes, my reading has formed me as a writer, both as inspiration and at sentence level. I am lucky that the writers I loved as a child, such as Tolkien and Lewis, were classically educated dons with a mastery of the beauties and complexities of the English sentence. Reading their work was a rigorous training in style. Those writers wrote for the ear as much as for the eye; there’s less of that around now.

Those tales strengthened my passion for stories that freed my imagination but were believable and grounded in truths about human nature.

What did you do before you became a published novelist, and how did you come to write your first novel and get it published?

I’ve crewed on feature films, taught at university and worked as a policy advisor in the NSW public service. I have worked on my writing for many years, publishing short stories, essays and journalism as well as working on my first (unpublished) novel and my second, now published novel, WHEN WE HAVE WINGS.

WHEN WE HAVE WINGS took ten years to write, though of course I was not writing full time. It took me time to find my agent, who sold the book quite quickly to Allen & Unwin. Once Allen & Unwin bought the book there was a brisk process of structural edit, copy edit, cover design, proof read and then publicity and marketing in the lead up to publication, which took just over a year. I’m sure Allen & Unwin have put a lot of work into selling the book that I don’t know about.

How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction?

Hemingway said prose is architecure, not interior decoration. Up to a point I agree. I admire prose that is plain and clear, like Orwell’s; such writing is far harder than it looks. I like prose with flashes of startling beauty, as in A S Byatt’s work. I strive for those things at sentence level but put just as much work into character development and story structure. Structure is a rock upon which many fine writers shatter their novels. Writing fine sentences, while necessary, does not make you a good novelist, any more than well-made bricks make a house.

Is your first published novel standalone or part of a series, and what advantages or disadvantages does this present for you?

WHEN WE HAVE WINGS is a standalone. With the number of readers who have demanded a sequel, I do wonder if they will prevail upon me eventually. I already have a completely different story outlined for my second novel.

The advantage of a series is that readers know what to expect. That is also the disadvantage.

Have you found writing your second novel easier or more challenging than writing your first novel and why?

The challenges are different: there is the advantage of knowing that your agent and your publisher are waiting for the second book but there is also the time pressure. There’s ongoing anxiety over how well the first book is doing.

There is the desire not to repeat yourself, whether at the level of themes or even at word and phrase level. Most novelists will tell you writing novels never gets easier because each novel presents its own challenges.

Who is another novelist whose fiction writing you admire and why?

Rohinton Mistry and A S Byatt are two of the finest novelists in English and both write with uncompromising intelligence. Mistry writes in a clear, beautiful style; unapologetically prose, not would-be poetry. His characters and situations are effortlessly involving.

Byatt novels are full of ideas, stories, research and wild imagination tempered with discipline. She’s brilliant and some of her sentences are breath-taking. She fully explores the novel’s capacity to paint a broad canvas.

How would you summarise your debut novel in one paragraph?

In her launch speech Amanda Lohrey described the novel in this way: ‘WHEN WE HAVE WINGS is a dystopian fiction set not that far in the future when the rich are enabled through the marvels of genetic engineering to acquire wings and to fly - not occasionally, but routinely - and in the process they begin to form a kind of caste, a superior race or nation so that the divide between rich and poor grows larger and larger. And we are seeing the beginning of this process now. So the book is in fact a kind of political allegory about where the advances of science may take us, not in a hundred years or 150 years but in the next thirty to fifty years. So it’s not in that sense a fantasy novel, it’s not even in that sense a science fiction novel. It’s about an amazing dilemma that we are on the cusp of and that is creeping up on us in a way that we are unprepared for, that we are being ambushed by and that we haven’t even begun to think about properly, the intervention in the human genome and the manipulation of what it means to be human.’

How would you describe the appeal of this novel to readers?

Readers themselves have been doing a great job describing its appeal. Jane Campion told me: ‘this book made me imagine things I’d never imagined before’.

Many readers have described how they could feel themselves flying, as if they had their own wings. This is one of the great reasons to read; to experience a life you could not have in any other way.
Amanda Lohrey also said in her launch speech: ‘The thrill of reading this novel is that it’s about now; it’s ahead of you. It’s way ahead of the reader and you race to keep up with it, the exhilaration of keeping up with it is part of the joy of reading it. It is that rare thing, a novel of ideas that actually has a plot, that is compellingly readable in the way of genre fiction while having seriousness and depth.’

How would you summarise a chapter from your debut novel in one paragraph?

The first chapter, titled Flight, shows us the main character, a very young woman flier, Peri, discovering the body of her friend, another nanny. Peri is terrified and decides she has to fly away before whoever killed her friend comes after her. But what does she do with Hugo, the baby she cares for, the son of rich flier parents?

How would you describe the contribution this chapter makes to the novel?

This chapter was rewritten over and over right up to the final draft. This is because this chapter sets up the main plot dilemmas and some of the themes of the novel and it has to do this economically. It sets the place, the story and the character all while moving forward.

Author website: http://www.clairecorbett.com