- Where were you born?
Melbourne, Australia.
- When did you decide that you wanted to become a writer?
I have always known that I would write a book someday. Whenever I would go into a bookshop, I couldn’t help but wish that one of the books had my name on the spine. I figured that was a pretty good sign that I wanted to be a writer! But it took me a long time to get around to giving it a try.
- Where do you get your ideas from?
Ideas are everywhere! For me, a story will start as a simple image, word or phrase that sticks in my head and something tells me not to let it go. Over time, more images, words and ideas will stick to it until I finally come up with a rough storyline. This could take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months (or sometimes longer). Once I have the idea for the storyline, I have to start writing it down before my head explodes. Then I just keep writing.
- What are your favourite books?
Scroll up to the picture at the top to see a selection! I’m a big fan of the Dragonkeeper series (Carole Wilkinson), The Arrival (Shaun Tan) and The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Brian Selznick – it’s the one with the cool eye on the spine). I also love books by David Metzenthen (Black Water is awesome!), Kate DiCamillo (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is a book I’ll read over and over) and Sonya Hartnett (The Ghost’s Child is my favourite).
- Who is your favourite author?
Goodness, I could never pick just one. When I was growing up, I was a big fan of Beatrix Potter and Enid Blyton. Recently, I’ve been enjoying books by Carole Wilkinson, David Metzenthen, Sonya Hartnett, Markus Zusak and countless others.
- What advice would you give to new writers?
Read! Read everything. Read what you like; read what you don’t like. Work out what it is that makes you enjoy reading certain books over others. Chances are that the types of books you enjoy reading are the types of stories you’ll enjoy writing.
Once you start writing your own stories, don’t worry too much about the first draft. Get the story down on paper and then start re-writing and editing. Do this over and over again, improving your story every time. Being a successful writer is all about getting the story and the words right, and I am yet to meet a writer who got it right on the first draft. Writing takes a lot of time, patience and hard work. But it’s an absolute thrill when your words finally sing!
- What was your first writing success?
I had two very (very!) short pieces of writing accepted for publication in an anthology in 2005. I was so excited!
- What is your favourite animal?
Cats! When I was little, I wished I had a big fluffy tail. My friend and I used to cut the legs off pairs of our mothers’ old stockings and stuff them with balls of paper to make cat’s tails. Then we’d attach them to the back of our pants and pretend we were cats. We thought we were cool, but my cat probably thought we looked ridiculous.
- Do you have any pets?
Yes, we have a cat called Scout. She is grey and has a big fluffy tail. I am very jealous.
- What is your favourite colour?
Pink.
