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Inspiration is a tricky thing. It comes and goes, and mostly, its habits are unpredictable. If I knew how it all worked, believe me, my second novel would’ve been out by now. Usually someone in front of me has to do something stupid, or something horrible has to happen to me, and when I stop whingeing long enough to laugh and think, ‘Gee, that’d make a great story…’ – inspiration happens, and the words aren’t far off.

I’m not one of those gushing author fanboys who runs up to authors saying, ‘Wow, you inspire me so much.’ In fact, I was saving that baby up for when I met Terry Pratchett for the first time… but I found myself saying it to an author I’d only just met, and whose work I hadn’t read (obviously, since then, I’ve given it more than a glance, and it’s pretty awesome). That author was Patrick Ness, and that was Tuesday.

But our story begins on:

Monday: Melina Marchetta and The Piper’s Son Sydney launch

William Kostakis (moi) with Susanne Gervay

Book launches are great. They’re inspiring. I haven’t been to many (in fact, I’ve been to two, my own – which was pretty darn inspiring – and Melina Marchetta’s). It wasn’t being surrounded by peers in the industry (and making an awkward spectacle of myself as I was introduced to authors I’d been a fan of for a long time, and was trying to remain calm as I told them about a little blog I wrote for) that inspired me.

In fact, blame for inspiration rests solely on Melina Marchetta.

I haven’t known Melina very long. I met her a year ago. I was on a panel with her, scared to death of how I was going to introduce myself to the Melina Marchetta when the closest I’d ever come to reading her books was watching five minutes of Looking For Alibrandi on Channel Ten. So, I approached her, ready with a rehearsed and completely fake, ‘Whoa, your writing shaped my youth!’ (You know, the stuff she hears all the time.) Before I’ve started the spiel, she calls me by my first name (I haven’t introduced myself) and says how much she loved a short story I wrote in high school, and that she used to show it in class when she taught English. Cut to me thinking: ‘Melina… likes… my… writing?’ over and over and over. In fact, before our session, she didn’t even give me time to spew out the spiel. She just kept talking about me. I was struck by how normal, and humble, and nice, someone whose success can only be measured with ‘mega’s could be.

And Book Launch Melina was no different. Someone told me once, you’re not measured by how you handle the bad times, but the grace and humility you exhibit during the good times. There’s no doubting that, with her current career position, Melina is experiencing the good times. And you would never guess it. Having, since the panel, read all of her work, and knowing how successful she’s been (on account of my not living under a rock), I don’t know how someone can be as level-headed as she is.

Her writing inspires me as a writer (I hesitate to use the word ‘fellow’), but her personality, her warmth, and general Melinaness inspires me as a person.

Congratulations, Melina. Everybody here at Boomerang Books wishes you all the best with The Piper’s Son, and we’re already anticipating Book #5.

Tuesday: Patrick Ness speaks at Sydney Uni

To say Patrick Ness is popular would be to understate the fact considerably. I’d never read any of his work, but a lot of you have emailed me about him, so I thought I’d go along to see him speak (my class in the adjacent building finished at 6, he started at 6 – it was practically fate). I went expecting a room filled with teens, but what I found was a room filled with peers, authors I recognised, publishers, editors, and, granted, some teens.

He was a little late. The air was thick with anticipation – you could cut it with a [insert horrible pun with book title here]. Then, showtime.

“I think a reader can tell if the writer is joyous.”

After considering how daunting a task speaking without a topic is, he settled on establishing his own topic: joy. He said he never liked talking about author stuff, and proceeded to talk about his process: joy, joy, joy. To write is to write free of the mechanics of writing, and to just write joy.

It was great to hear such an acclaimed writer (he won the Guardian Prize), talking about writing for young adults like I do, albeit, with more flair, and more experience to back him up. It made me almost feel like I knew what I was talking about…

Namely, if you’re writing for kids: don’t write “lesson” narratives, with “issues” tick-boxes to work your way through, because they don’t equal good novels.

“Write for the teenager you were. If you think you were atypical, well, the point of being a teenager is being atypical.”

He emphasised not worrying about the genre and the audience. Cue the subtle glances from my editor – she was in the row in front, and had told me that exact thing about a bajillion times in the past year.

Just focus on joy.

“Write with joy, everything else will follow.”

The words made me want to whip out my pen and pad right then and there – well, my pen and pad were out (I was taking notes for Boomerangers), so I wanted to turn the page and plough through my new book then and there. He was really quite sensational to hear speak, and judging by what I’ve read of his work since, he has the words to back him up.

He made me want to write again, and not write to get the novel done, but write for joy.

Fans of both Patrick Ness and Melina Marchetta should keep their eyes on the blog, we have some really great prizes for you coming very soon. Signed prizes.

The CBCA will announce the 2010 list of Notable Books and the Short List for the 2010 Children’s Book of the
Year Awards in Brisbane on March 30. In NSW, they invite all children’s literature lovers to mingle with authors, illustrators, publishers and booksellers to enjoy a day of Professional Development. Join me, and a host of other members of the community as we:

Anticipate! the Short List with our five panelists’ personal choices;

Appreciate! the wonderful array of Australian children’s literature;

Applaud! the authors and illustrators whose books have been chosen for the 2010 Notable Booklist and the Short List.

Keynote Speaker—Dr Kerry White
(Bibliographer, Writer and Reviewer)

A panel of experts from the world of children’s literature will nominate their own Short Lists of children’s books published in 2009. They are:

Early Childhood Dr Sharyn Jameson (Senior Lecturer in English & Literacy, ACU)
Younger Readers Rachel Robson (Children’s Books Expert)
Older Readers William Kostakis (Award-winning author)
Picture Book Dr Robin Morrow (author, publisher, President of IBBY Australia)
Eve Pownall Chris Cheng (author, 2009 Lady Cutler Award recipient)

Where? Sydney Room, The Menzies Hotel, George Street, Sydney
When? Tuesday 30th March 2010, 8:30am—3.30pm

For more information, visit http://cbca.nsw.org.au or phone (02) 9818 3858.

We couldn’t make it to the Adelaide Writers Week 2010, but lucky for us, long-time Boomerang Books customer Amanda McInerney was a constant presence at the festival, and we were lucky enough to have her blog for us.

For those that missed her posts, here’s a recap:

Day One • Day Two • Day Three • Day Five

Amanda McInerney is passionate about books and reading.  She has recently started her own foodie blog at http://lambsearsandhoney.com/.

Markus Zusak

Writers Week day 5 and Adelaide reverts to type –  a blazing hot day with everyone searching for a shady spot!

This afternoon my two daughters and I sat in on the “Meet the Author” session with the improbably youthful looking Marcus Zusak, who had the audience eating out of his hand!!  My daughters were very keen to see him as my eldest (19) had seen him some years before when he visited her English class and the youngest (13) has just about finished reading “The Book Thief”.  Zusak has a very natural and self deprecating way about him and obviously feels very strongly for his book, “The Book Thief”.  He told the very large crowd that the book really came out of stories that his Austrian parents used to tell himself and his siblings about their experiences during the lead up to the war, before they came out to Australia.  Some of the passages in the book, such as when the stepfather gives some bread to a Jew, were directly derived from his parents experiences and he is grateful to them for what he feels is their gift to him, in their stories.  He feels it is a book about people doing beautiful things in ugly times.

He also spoke about some of  the ways he approaches his writing,  trying to write simply, adding small details for authenticity to make the story more vivid to the reader and to try to use something unexpected to maintain momentum in the story.

The audience watching and listening to him was , as I mentioned, very large and entirely captivated as he read the first few pages of his next book, leaving us all keen to read more of it.  He was then available to sign books, which he did with enormous grace, engaging both my daughters – and I assume everyone else – in a little small talk.  No easy task as the lines for his signings were the longest that I have seen all week.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Day 3 at Adelaide Writers Week and I could only pop in for a brief visit today.  I was running late and missed the first part of “Trainspotting” author Irvine Welsh’s discussion on his writing experiences, but managed to catch some of the question/answer time.  He was just as I expected him to be – blunt and forthright with that lovely Scottish accent and plenty of swearing.  He answered questions about his characters and how he gets around the issue of setting his books in places that he no longer lives.   This, he says, is sorted by visiting his old stamping grounds and taking old friends to the pub, plying them with drink and then quizzing them!

This was followed by  a panel session entitled “Mystery” with authors Sarah Dunant, Audrey Niffenegger, Sarah Waters and Marcus Zusak.  It was not necessarily about mystery writing, but about the notions of mystery in their work.  Niffenegger spoke of how writing genres seem to be bleeding into each other, to some extent, citing the example of how the simple mystery story is now evolving into a more literary form.  She also stated that she prefers to be a little mysterious in her writing, sometimes leaving things unsaid in order to leave “space” within her work for the reader to interact and, in a way, become complicit with the story.

When the very amusing Marcus Zusak was asked if he felt it necessary to temper ambiguity in his writing for younger people his delightfully refreshing answer was “I dunno!”  He went on to say that it was a mystery to him how he got to Writers Week at all as he seemed to be such a poor judge of the varying merits of his work.  He was unexpectedly surprised that “The Book Thief” was so very popular!   He made no mystery of the narrator and, in fact, states in the book that the concept of mystery clearly bores “Death” who much prefers the machinations behind it.

Dunant told of how the mystery for her is generally in the actual writing as she often has no idea of where the story will take her or of how the characters will develop.  Thus mystery, for her, becomes motivating and exciting and keeps her writing.  On the other hand, Sarah Waters was shocked at this as she could not contemplate sitting down to start a book without having a meticulously planned plot – in fact she often has a definite story ending before she starts! Clearly, there are as many ways for writing novels as there are writers.

Day 2 of Adelaide Writers Week and another day of glorious sun with a gentle breeze.  Some past Writers Weeks have been blighted by scorching hot weather, so these mild days are very welcome!

My first session today was to hear Richard Dawkins, who spoke about his new book, giving a precis of the chapters before answering many questions from a very large and appreciative audience.  It really seemed  such an inadequate forum for such a huge topic, as the enormous audience would attest!

From there I attended a session called “Writers as Readers” with a panel containing Brian Castro – novelist and Professor of Creative Writing at Adelaide University, Kathryn Fox – Sydney doctor and very successful mystery novelist, Andrea Goldsmith – Australian novelist & Mirielle Juchau – Australian novelist and essayist.  They spoke about themselves as readers and how that has subsequently informed their various works.  Castro spoke of how his poor eyesight as a very young child led to him lurking about the house – under tables and behind doors – learning to read situations.  Fox spoke of the need, as a doctor,  for emotional intelligence and entertained with some personal anecdotes about reading people and their, sometimes unspoken, needs and rationales.  Her final story about an elderly patient and his penile implant had everyone in stitches!  Goldsmith told of her childhood as a very slow developer and how it has led to a fondness and need for solitude to indulge her passion for reading and Mirielle Juchau spoke about how reading helped her to uncover unspoken facts about her family history.  Her Grandmother was a survivor of Hitler’s Germany, coming to Australia in 1939.  While not exactly a secret, this was simply not spoken about and she worked it out for herself at the age of about 15.

With the exception of Brian Castro, they all spoke of their love for reading and the different ways that they use different reading habits when writing.  Startlingly, Castro told how he doesn’t enjoy reading at all, mostly finding it a necessary slog!!

My final writer for today was the very affable – and Prime Minister’s Award winning –  Steven Conte who wrote “The Zookeepers War”, set in Berlin during WWII, chronicling a marriage and a city under immense pressure and the possibilities for heroism within that situation.    He spoke of his early obsession with Berlin and how his experiences as a boarder at an all-boys boarding school helped him to relate to totalitarianism!!”

Adelaide Writers Week kicked off today in the traditional glorious sunshine and, while I missed Tom Keneally’s opening speech at 11.00am, I made it to a seat in the shade to listen to Australian mystery writer, Peter Temple at 12.30pm.  Born in South Africa, Temple moved to Australia in 1980 and has subsequently become one of our most highly awarded mystery authors.  He has won a swag of gongs and his novel “The Broken Shore” won the 2007 Gold Dagger, making him the first Australian to win the world’s richest and most prestigious crime writing prize.  His current novel, “Truth”, follows the investigations of Inspector Stephen Villani, to whom we were introduced in “The Broken Shore”.  His engaging and self-deprecating manner was well received as he spoke about his experiences of writing, lying and being one of the very few authors whom editors beg to include more dialogue, not less!

I kept my seat in the shade to listen to  Sarah Dunant, Geoff Dyer and Sarah Waters discussion “On Being Read”.  The discussion focused around their perceptions of being read, how that affects their writing processes and the effects of the broad media exposure in the modern world of communications.  Interestingly, both Dunant and Waters used the word “brutalizing” when referring to the internet and how close it brings their readers to them, while Geoff Dyer asserted that he actually had no readers anyway.  Given that he has published 11 books (4 novels) and hundreds of essays and articles AND been named by Britain’s Sunday Telegraph as  “England’s greatest, if most reluctant, novelist”, I think we have to assume that someone is reading his work.  I know I will be very soon.

The last session that I made it to today was to listen to a nervous, but extremely dignified Chloe Hooper address a sombre audience on her book “The Tall Man”, about the death of Aboriginal man, Cameron Doomadgee, in police custody on Palm Island in 2004.  She had no previous background, or connection to  Aboriginal experience and spoke eloquently, if sadly,  of what she had learned.”

Amanda McInerney is a long-time Boomerang Books customer and she is passionate about books and reading.  She has just started her own foodie blog at http://lambsearsandhoney.com/.

Whenever William the author is invited to an event, William the Boomerang Blogger gets indirectly invited too. On Wednesday, NSW authors and illustrators braved the orange dust storm, and headed into the CBD for this year’s Bookfeast, a great event organised by Haberfield school librarian Michael Fraser.

Some Boomerang Books Blog alums were there, including Deborah Abela, Belinda Murrell, Richard Harland and Kate Forsyth. Also there was Susanne Gervay, whose I Am Jack’s stage adaptation by MonkeyBaa is on until October 2 at the Seymour Theatre and is the talk of the town, Duncan Ball, Sue Whiting, Jenny Hale, and my current favourite (and the insanely funny) illustrator Sarah Davies, who was just awarded Best New Young Illustrator by the CBCA for the powerful Mending Lucille.

Now, pictures!

Excitement is ramping up for the upcoming NSW Writers’ Centre’s two-day event, the 4th Kids and YA Literature Festival, held July 4-5. The Festival’s bringing together some of the best Australian authors and illustrators, publishers, scriptwriters and industry advocates in what has been dubbed “a celebration of story and the special world of Children’s Literature”.

I was lucky enough to have been invited as a guest speaker, but honestly, I’m far more excited about the company I keep, which includes Melina Marchetta, Garth Nix, Kate Forsyth (check out our interview here), Libby Gleeson, James Roy (check out our exclusive interview here), and Ursula Dubosarsky.

It’s shaping up to be a dynamic weekend. The Saturday is the day for the traditional Festival goings-on, speeches and panels, while the Sunday is dedicated to workshops, industry consultations and manuscript assessments with some of the best in the writing community.

So, Sydneysiders, if you’d like to meet me and other (read: more important) figures in the Australian Children’s literary landscape, there’s more information here.

Those who were reading the blog’s coverage of the 2009 Sydney Writers’ Festival know that I went to see Craig Silvey not once, but twice. The first time, I went at the request of e-newsletter subscriber, Jessica, who couldn’t make it to the Coming of Age session herself (click HERE for my thoughts on it). The second time I went to see Craig, however, I went as a fan. A fan of him, not of his work, I hadn’t gotten around to reading Jasper Jones in the twenty-four hours since I’d seen him last. He was one of those authors that seemed quietly confident on stage, who don’t resort to shamelessly plugging themselves by beginning each sentence with, “Well, I’m a successful author” (yes, I’ve heard authors say it), and he was great to watch.

Well, now having read Jasper Jones, I can say I’m a fan of both Craig the person, and Craig the author. That quiet, subtle vibrancy of his personality translates onto the page. It’s definitely worth a read, if just to see what all the fuss is about. Haven’t heard the fuss? Well, in 2005, Craig was named as one of The Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Novelists. His debut, Rhubarb, was selected as the inaugural book for the ‘One Book’ series of events at the 2005 Perth International Arts Festival. He is, in short, a big deal.

I was lucky enough to have the chance to sit down with Craig earlier in the week for an interview. Okay, that’s a lie. Well, technically it’s true… we sat down, just not anywhere near each other (thanks to the joys of email). So, to continue the streak of exclusive author interviews here on the Boomerang Blog, I give you Craig Silvey…

Rhubarb was both a critical and commercial success – as you worked on it, did you ever anticipate that it would be received like it was?

Rhubarb exceeded my expectations by getting published in the first place. I was always aware of how difficult it is to get published, particularly without solicitation, so i felt very very grateful to have been given that opportunity. Everything that happened beyond that has been a real blessing. I’ve been very fortunate to have a wealth of support from a community of readers and industry peers, who have helped give Rhubarb such an amazing shelf life, which has meant, more than anything, I’ve been able to keep writing.

You mentioned at the Sydney Writers’ Festival that you were making notes on Rhubarb back when you were 16 – how long did it take you to write the first draft, and were there any significant changes that you made in the editing process?

When I started Rhubarb, I was so naive about the process that I thought I’d have it finished in a few months. I didnt write the last sentence for another three years – and I still have no idea what im doing. Rhubarb is actually a longer book for having been edited. There were a number of threads that needed more engagement and clarification, so it was more a process of fleshing out, rather than trimming the fat, which was my experience with Jasper Jones.

Speaking of Jasper Jones, how would you pitch it in one sentence?

A regional Southern Gothic Coming-Of-Age story about two boys with a secret, searching for the truth in a town that trades on myth.

What drew you to writing a “Southern Gothic”-style book set in Australia?

Initially it was no more than the fact that I wanted to have a go. I’ve always adored Southern Gothic fiction. There’s something very warm and generous about those regional American writers like Twain and Lee and O’Connor, and it seemed to be a literary ilk that would lend itself well to the Australian condition. It was only after the themes announced themselves, and I realised where the book was headed that it seemed so apt and important to have these literary elements.

Out of Jasper, Charlie and Jeffrey – which one is most like Craig Silvey? Is there anything autobiographical about any of them, or any of your other characters for that matter?

I like to think I’m fairly evenly distributed through the three boys, though Charlie probably bears the larger share of my character, simply because we come to know him so well. Like Charlie, I was a bookish kid who was terrified of girls and insects but like Jeffrey Lu, I was also a cheeky, unflappable little antagoniser. I think, though, as I grow older, I’m evolving more and more into Jasper Jones: a little quieter, a little stronger, and a little more solitary.

So many hypotheticals spring up over the course of Jasper Jones, so, I pose to you one of my favourites: which could you rather live your life with, penises for fingers or a hat on your head made of poisonous spiders?

Spider hat. Hands down.

If you could claim any other writer’s work as your own, whose would it be?

Twain or Vonnegut.

Most annoying thing about being an author?

It’s far less annoying for me than it is for those closest to me. It’s hard being an author, but it’s harder knowing and loving an author. George Orwell said: Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

And it’s unfortunately true. It’s something you’re beset by, it’s like some kind of seductive parasite that takes you over and wont leave you be. It’s not like other jobs where you can leave your woes at the office. It’s a very private battle. A very mild, genial form of schizophrenia. These characters and their story sort of take you over, and you delve further and further into their lives. And soon they’re taking more of your time and your nutrients, and you’re inhabiting this fictional world with a closer focus than the one you’re supposed to be living.

And, of course, that leaves less and less time for the real people in the real world who rightly expect to be an important part of your life. And you hope that they understand, or at the very least stay patient, but all they really know is that you’re absent when it counts. And so you want to tell them that it’s worth it, you want to show them what’s roiling inside your head, but of course you cant. You’ve got to wait it out and see it through. And so there’s this communal faith and patience, and more than enough teeth gritting, and in the end, you present this pound of flesh, and you hope that it might help reward that faith, that it might be worth it, that it might make these precious people proud. Because if it doesn’t, then you’re kinda just a self-centred douchebag.

If you could rid the world of ONE book, which would it be?

The first novel I ever wrote, when I was fourteen years old. It was as hideously and hilariously bad as it was earnestly epic. And it was called The Drug Warden. Enough said.

The last Australian book you read?

Breath, by Tim Winton.

Craig Silvey is one of our Featured Authors of the Month for June, and to celebrate, Boomerang Books is joining forces with our friends at Allen and Unwin to give blog readers the chance to win one of three copies of Craig’s newest release, Jasper Jones, so keep your eyes on the blog for competition details. It will be announced separately to our monthly giveaway, details for which can be found HERE.

As an aside, I’m really loving interviewing authors as part of our new, revitalised Boomerang Blog, and I hope you’re enjoying reading the interviews just as much. That said, do you have a particular Australian author you’d like us to interview? Send me an email, and I’ll see what I can do.