Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I am somewhere in between a plotter and a pantser. I have learnt my lesson that I can’t be entirely a plotter because then I would never write a book, I would just plot and plot and plot. I definitely reach a point in the book where I need to step back and start doing some plotting. So I’ve sort of pantsed the opening, and then I begin to plot and it becomes a combination of the two as I finish.
Do you have a favourite place to write?
I don’t think I do. I think I have spent so much time writing about Australia from overseas that it’s almost like I create this little Australia overseas when I’m writing so it’s sort of… writing becomes it’s own space. Anywhere that’s quiet and solitary suits me. I don’t like writing in cafes and things like that, I find it too distracting. So wherever I have a table or desk set up and time to write away from my job.
What is your number one rule for writing?
I teach creative writing so this is the kind of thing we talk about a lot. If there’s a rule that means you write then follow it, and if there’s a rule that means you don’t write, don’t follow it. Writing advice is only helpful if it means you actually sit down and write.
Do you know what you’re working on next?
I’m working on a collection of linked short stories around an Australian serial killer, so it’s quite different to this one!
Are you reading anything at the moment?
Right now I’m reading Charles Dickens! I’m reading Bleak House right now, partly because it’s a very long audio book and I’m on the plane a lot this week, so I thought ‘what’s a book that’s going to keep me occupied?’ And it was Bleak House. And it’s very enjoyable! But I also have just re-read Lauren Groff’s Matrix, because she is coming to visit the university that I teach at next week, so I have just re-read most of her stuff to prepare for that.