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1. What made you decide to be apart of the Willow Pattern project?
The people organizing it. I am a big admirer of Queensland Writers Centre and the people who work there. Add to that the writers they were inviting to take part and I was prepared to say yes. In fact, when the email arrived with the invitation I initially laughed (out loud) at the madness of the idea. Then I said yes very quickly before I could think about it too much and say no.
2. Did you have any prior relationship with any of the authors? And was this an additional factor in taking on the challenge?
I knew Steven Amsterdam from spending a week at Varuna with him doing a 2nd novel residency. The rest I knew by their (pretty awesome) reputations. I ended up, along with Krissy Kneen, convincing Steven to take part. I hope he has forgiven me.
3. Coming from a crime writing/police background, did you want to incorporate this style of writing into your Willow Pattern chapter or try and aim for something different?
I wasn’t really sure. I said yes quickly then tried not to think about it too much because when I did I started to freak out. There were a few emails setting a time place and situation but beyond that, I didn’t really plan anything. We were asked not to plan too much in advance. So I didn’t, and spent hours in terror.
4. Did your crime writing background influence your choice for the cop character in your chapter?
To be honest – until you asked the question I had forgotten I had a cop character in there. (See Q 8!) I mainly remember the monks.
5. Your chapter introduces a little girl shoving ‘nothing’ into her pockets. How and when did you confer with Simon Groth to refer to his character and a distinct trait of hers?
I’m not sure ……
We were putting notes up about the work as the day went on, and I think at one point we might have had a structured break to talk about it. I recall taking notes as everyone talked about what they were doing, in the hope that something might crop up that I could slip into my story to give the collection a sense of being linked. So it was quite deliberate. But I can’t recall exactly when.
6. Albeit marginally, yours was the second smallest word count of the group. Were you overly concerned with reaching the word limit or more with producing a greater quality of writing?
I was terrified. I am a slow writer. I like to re-write a lot. I feel like I don’t get to know my characters until about the third or fourth draft. I said yes to taking part, but then spent a lot of time thinking WTF have I done. I was very concerned with finishing a story on time, having something that had a beginning, a middle and an end. Knowing it was being written in a day kind of made thoughts of quality a bit futile. It was never going to be work I was fully satisfied with. At best it was only ever going to be a passable first draft.
7. Did you learn anything about your writing or process during the 24-hour book or from looking at the data afterwards?
Yes, I learnt that if forced to I could write a lot of words in a day but that I am not a writer who enjoys writing like that, or a writer who necessarily produces great work by writing like that. I haven’t looked at the data. I’m not sure I could interpret anything too meaningful from it.
8. A couple of the authors have mentioned they haven’t gone over and read the book. Have you read it and if so, what did you think? If not, why haven’t you decided to read the finished piece?
I haven’t read it, no. When I recently came back to the State Library to go to GenreCon I realised that it was my first visit there since the 24 Hour book, and I felt a momentary sense of anxiety as I came into the building and sat down in the room we used. I think I was a little traumatised by the experience! So, no, I can’t bring myself to read it. Maybe one day.
9. How did you find collaborating with 8 other authors? Is collaboration something you wish to further pursue as an author?
It was not really collaboration in the sense of making a seamless whole. Because the spirit of the project was to ‘do it on the day’ we didn’t plan too much. And on the day we were working too intensely on our own things to really have time to bounce ideas around. I have had the experience of working collaboratively on a TV series (which sadly wasn’t made) and I really loved that. A bunch of writers sitting in a room, round a table for a week, bouncing ideas, stories and characters, it was great fun and a really creative experience The process is extraordinary and it’s fascinating to see ideas built upon and grown.
10. Would you be interested in participating in a similar project again?
Not something that demanded x number of words in a day, no. I don’t regret taking part, it was interesting and I made some good writerly friends but I know that for me writing is something that I do slowly, with a lot of non-writing thinky bits in between drafts. And that’s not a process that I want to mess with again. I find it hard enough to do with time and space.
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