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Where do you currently live? Wellington.
What inspired you to write your first book? My first
published novel is 'After Z Hour'. It's a ghost story, set
partly on the Western Front in World War I . I'd always liked
haunted house stories, so I wrote one.
How long does it take you to write a book? Eighteen months
to two years.
How has being a writer changed your life? Being a
writer I have a lot of freedom in my daily life — I can be
nosy, and dreamy, and over-excited all in one day. It's a
great life.
If you weren't a writer, what would have been your
occupation? I started writing at 16, and began my first
published book at 24. I didn't think of it as an optional
occupation. I suppose it's possible I might
have finished up teaching in a university like my sister
Sara.
Any tips on how others can
become writers? Only two tips. 1) Read, read, read.
2) Write, write, write.
What are some of the pitfalls you have experienced as a
writer? Sore neck and back — bad reviews just the
stuff that happens to all writers.
What was the best thing that happened in your writing
career? The real high points come over and over again
when I'm alone with what I'm writing and I'm working
well. However, writing has taken me to France three times
now. I was in Menton in the south of France in 1999, with my
family. I travelled, with family, around Burgundy and
Provence in 2003 publicising the French translation of 'The
Vintner's Luck'. And I was in France — mostly in Paris
—
last November with the Belles Etrangères (Beautiful
Strangers). [Editor's note: Belles Etrangères is a literary
festival.] I love France!
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Can you give an example from one of your books of how you
found your characters? This is how I found the
character of Rose in 'Dreamhunter' and 'Dreamquake'. I wanted
Laura's cousin to be a kind of intimidating contrast to
Laura. I wanted Laura to feel that her cousin was the
confident one. This is how I started with Rose — Rose as
smugly confident and kind of lacking imagination. Then I realised this was a bit of a cliché
— the 'sensitive girl' vs the 'brash girl' — and that I
wanted to write a story about a friendship that
survives big changes in the friends' lives. I thought about
why Rose has nerve — that she's
impatient with people who keep saying to her doesn't this
or that thing make you nervous? She's a fighter who has
just happened to figure out early on that she needs all the
courage she can muster to live the kind of fun and useful
life she wants to live. Anyway, I worked out that with Rose
and Laura I didn't want a 'versus' kind of characterisation. As I wrote the story I discovered that
each girl has most of the traits they need to live the lives
handed to them by circumstances, and that, whenever they
find they don't have what they need inside them, they look
to each other as an example.
Did you base any of your books on a real life experience?
My three novellas — 'Pomare', 'Paremata', 'Tawa', collected
in 'The High Jump' — are more than based on my life. The
central character, Lex, is pretty
much me, and her family is my family. |
Do you start your stories
with the aim of making a social statement or do the
stories grow on their own as you write them? Writing
fiction is a bit like what NIWA does when it makes a model
of a climate inside one of its computers and runs it to
explore how the real world works. Good fiction doesn't state
things, it demonstrates them.
Who is your favourite author? Jane Austen.
What was the last book you read? 'Memoir' by John McGahern.
Do you have children (since you write children's
stories)? I have one son. Jack is in year 11, is 14, and
is six foot three.
What writing awards have you received?
PEN Best First Book award
Katherine Mansfield Fellowship
Deutz Medal for Fiction
Tasmanian Pacific Region Prize
ONZM
Arts Foundation of NZ Laureate Award
Esther Glen Medal
What books have you written for children? 'Dreamhunter'
and 'Dreamquake'.
For adults? 'After Z Hour', 'Pomare', 'Paremata', 'Tawa',
'Glamour and the Sea', 'The Vintner's Luck', 'Black Oxen'
and 'Billie's Kiss', 'Daylight'. ('Dreamhunter' and 'Dreamquake' are
really also for adults!)
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