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How long
does it take you to write a book?
It takes
me about three months to write a youth or adult fiction
novel, but not in a calendar sense as some projects can sit
around for a year or so before I revisit them. It takes
about three weeks to work out the first draft but the story
can change a lot at second draft.
How has
being a writer changed your life?
Being
a writer has changed my life in the sense that all writers
are observers and everything you see, or people you talk to,
become impressions for a novel. They are filed away in a
database of concepts, characters, habits, snippets of
information, etc. It also puts me in touch with kids and
I've been able to help some with their own writing, and this
is the most rewarding of all.
If you
weren’t a writer, what would have been your occupation?
I don't
know what other occupation I might have gone into because
since an early age I have been focused on writing. Law was
a possibility, and before being a writer I was a
journalist, typewriter salesman and bookseller.
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Any tips
on how others can become writers?
People
often ask about tips for writing but simply write things
down, get an exercise book and take even daily notes, get
into the habit of recording things because that develops
your 'creative muscles'. You learn to observe and develop
your style at the same time. Not a short process but nothing
worthwhile is.
What are
some of the pitfalls you have experienced as a writer?
Pitfalls?
Lack of planning is the worst; to start a book you should
know where you are going to finish it. You should have the
road-map, how you start, where you are going and how it
finishes and — most important — how this will affect and
change your characters. If you are not in touch with them,
then you're just writing an event-based story and most times
it will go nowhere. |
What is
the best thing that has happened in your writing career?
Best
thing? Well, winning medals and awards is nice but the best
thing is passing on your ideas and thoughts and hoping
there's another young writer out there who will build on
them, as I build on my impressions and the styles of my
favourite authors.
Can you
give an example from one of your books of how you found your
characters?
Finding
characters really comes from what you want them to do,
building someone who will have a maximum reaction to the
story and who the story will change. Characters are
sometimes complex and can take on a persona of their own. I
have written three books which feature the legendary
Greek hero and seaman, Odysseus, and he is such a strong
force that he always elbows for attention. You will always
start with an idea of your character but this can change and
develop as the story builds and this is often a good sign,
means the story is getting some depth.
Did you
base any of your books on a real life experience?
None of my
stories, apart from those historical ones, are based on real
life but many are based on concepts or facts I have read
about.
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?
I don't
start out making social statements because kids have very
good crap-detectors and don't like being preached at. I
prefer to create a 'challenge' that they can evaluate
themselves and make their own decisions on.
Who is
your favourite author?
Oh, more
than one. C.S. Forrester of the Hornblower books for his
very clear and simple storytelling style. Another two most
important, Rosemary Sutcliffe and Henry Treece, children's
authors who wrote about fifty years ago but are still in
print. Both very different in style but very impressive in
their different strengths. Their historical novels are
masterpieces that just live on.
Read
Treece's 'Horned Helmet' and Sutcliffe's 'The Lantern Bearers'
and you get an idea of how different styles can be.
Another would be Ronald Welch and others, like C.S.
Lewis. Haven't read Harry Potter.
What was
the last book you read?
The last
book I finished was 'Teresa Moran — Soldier', the last in a
quartet of novels about four generations of a family at
war. This enabled me to span the three seminal conflicts in
our history, WWI and WWII and Vietnam, and end with Teresa in
Iraq. They are about how war resonates into peacetime and
the real face (as opposed to the Hollywood face) of conflict.
Do you
have children (since you write children’s stories)?
No
children, only two cats.
What
writing awards have you received?
I have
three television writing awards, two Aim awards, one Esther
Glen, one Sir Julius Vogel and one Ned Kelly (Australian award)
and this year, Margaret Mahy award. Awards are nice but
must be in perspective because at least two of my (I think)
best titles didn't get one.
What books
have you written for children?
About
forty-five junior and senior teen fiction novels, plus
two adult non-fiction books — 'Hanlon - A Casebook', about
a famous Edwardian lawyer and 'Sighting a War', history
of the Blind Foundation.
My
current writing project is set about the Malaysian
Emergency of 48 - 56, and deals with the interlinking
lives of a communist guerrilla and a New Zealand
soldier. It's a 'cross-over adult' novel because, in
fact, most senior teen novels can be enjoyed by adults
too. It is called 'Wood Dragon and Fire Rooster'. Also
planned are 'Nina of the Dark', a sci-fi/fantasy novel, 'The
Monsters of Blood and Honour', a story about today's
generation and wartime, 'Waiting for Nimrod', a sci-fi
novel about the end of the world and 'Bugles in the
Afternoon', about the Boer War. All in varying stages of
completion so it will be a busy year.
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