10 Minutes with Dervla McTiernan

It’s not a surprise that we love Dervla McTiernan here at Riverbend Books. We were excited to catch up with her recently when she came to sign copies of her new book, The Murder Rule.

1.       Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I am such a plotter it is not even funny. I am like colour-coded spreadsheets level of plotting. Yup. Has to be done.

2.       As you’re writing, who do you have in mind as your ideal reader?

Oh man, that is such a tricky one. I don’t ever have an ideal reader. I write the story that I would like to read! It’s so selfish. But I do, I write the story that I would like to read. So, myself.

3.       That makes sense. Isn’t that what they say? If you’re looking for a specific kind of book to read but you can’t find it, you should write it yourself?

They say that. I’ve heard screenwriters talking about that about movies, you write the movie that you want to see in the world so it kind of makes sense to me.

4.       Do you have a favourite writing place?

Home. Home with a cup of tea and a warm room.

5.       What element of your writing brings out the grammar police in your editor?

Repeated words I would say. It’s not a grammar thing so much as I tend to repeat words. Or there’s always something like with The Ruin it was ‘looking.’ Everyone was looking at each other constantly. So I had to cull all of that and I was over that by the time The Scholar came along but then I had something else, some other repeated little thing like a phrase or a word that you’re suddenly fascinated by that you’re just using to death. So that is probably what happens more than any grammatical thing.

6.       Are you reading anything at the moment?

Oh! What did I just read? I read Jane Casey’s new book, again, on the plane back for an event and it was brilliant and I wish I could tell you the title, to tell you! But it’s really really good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and very very clever and sharp. (We looked this up after the interview and Dervla is talking about The Killing Kind.)

The Murder Rule

by Dervla McTiernan

First Rule: Make them like you. Second Rule: Make them need you. Third Rule: Make them pay.

They think I'm a young, idealistic law student, that I'm passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system. They think I'm working hard to impress them. They think I'm here to save an innocent man on death row. They're wrong. I'm going to bury him.

10 Minutes with Victoria Carless

Recently we had Victoria Carless in store to sign copies of her new book Gus and the Starlight. We took the opportunity to ask her a few questions!

1.       Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Good question. I think I’m somewhere in between. I do have a  few scenes ahead plotted out and I usually know the ending but I like to have a bit of a problem or a mystery as well to solve, that’s what keeps me writing.

2.       What is your number one rule for writing?

Set a goal and try to stick to it. If in doubt, do a scene map. A scene map is where you very broadly plot out what scene it is, who’s in it, who’s the point of view and what happens. And then you get to see clearly where your gaps are and how you can develop your story further.

3.       Do you have a favourite writing place?

I feel like my answers are very boring! Just my office, when no one else is at home. For obvious reasons. But it’s nice if the pets are there.

4.       Are you reading anything at the moment?

Yes, I am reading We Run the Tides which I’m really enjoying because it is published for adults but it’s from the perspective of 13 year old girls and it’s kind of all about understanding your place in your community and getting a sense of your power as a young woman, I guess, and how you grow into that.

5.       What are you working on next?

I’m working on two middle grade works – I kind of alternate between them. The first one I’m trying to incorporate some elements of quantum physics in there which I don’t really understand so it’s taking me some time to kind of understand how that works and how that might become a metaphor in the story. And I’m also trying to write one called Stella the Bad and Stinky Fairy which is about girls being able to be naughty and smelly if they want to!

Gus and the Starlight

by Victoria Carless

Gus doesn't want to make friends. She also doesn't want to be intrigued by the cat-lady teacher at her new school, or the Riley's Comet project that she and her seaweed-eating science partner are working on together.

And she definitely doesn't want to fall in love with her job as the projectionist at the Starlight, a drive-in movie theatre that her family is reviving.

Because, knowing Gus's luck, she and her family could be moving on in a day, or a week, or a month. When the ghosts that haunt Mum catch up with them. Or if the Starlight doesn't succeed.

Then she'll have to say goodbye. Again.

And saying goodbye is too hard.

10 Minutes with Tom Tilley

We were lucky enough to have a chat with Tom Tilley when he visited Riverbend Books this week and signed copies of his newly released memoir 'Speaking in Tongues'.

Did you have any writing rituals when writing this memoir?

I wrote the book by hand with pen and paper. I mostly wrote outdoors, usually at a park bench by a beach in Sydney. I loved the ritual of looking at the horizon and then looking at the page. Just taking moments to think, jog memories, then going back to writing by hand. I also only liked to write if I had at least three or four hours of space. I never needed a whole day, but I couldn't just go for an hour or two. I needed the right vibe.

How do you feel about the book now that it is out of your hands?

I'm really happy with it and loving the reactions I have been getting from people. I thought it might give people hope who are, even broadly, in similar situations. What I am amazed by is the people who have been in very similar situations telling me that they feel like I am telling their story. The power of reading something you can relate to seems to be really liberating. Somehow people feel supported or acknowledged or even seen by just reading a story that is similar to their own. I think it's because no one had really explored this tiny corner of the Pentecostal experience.

And also it's representation. To see yourself somewhere else can be hugely impactful for people, especially when it comes to minorities, or a sub group of a minority.

Yeah, and I hadn't understood that as well as I do now. Even after being on radio and putting everyone's stories to air for years and hearing people respond on talk back. But this is a whole other thing - and this story is told in the kind of detail you can only do in a book, where you have that much space.

If 'Speaking in Tongues' was made into a movie, who do you see playing the main characters?

I would like to have Aaron Eckhart from 'Thank You for Smoking' and 'The Dark Night'. We have a real resemblance and I like him on screen. So he would play me. Maybe Ron Howard for later in my life?

What are you reading at the moment?

I am reading Kate Langbroek's 'Ciao, Bella!' We are going to speak together at a writer's festival next week. It has lots of cute Italian texture and a heart-felt family at the centre of the story.

What are you working on now?

I'm thinking about documentary ideas that might be adjacent to my book. But that's in very early stages.

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Tom Tilley is an Australian television and radio presenter and journalist who is currently a reporter for the news talk show The Project. He was previously the host of daily radio news program Hack on Triple J between 2011 and 2019.