My family at Christmas
Frequently Asked Questions
- Where and when were you born?
- Where did you go to school?
- What were you like when you were growing up?
- What were your favorite books?
- What's your favourite colour?
- What's your family like?
- Do you have any pets?
- Where do you get your ideas?
- How do you decide where to begin?
- What's the hardest part of writing for you?
- How long does it take you to write a book?
- Do you have a favourite place to write?
- Are you going to write more books?
- Of all the books you have written, which is your favourite, and who is your favourite character?
- Do you have any advice for people who want to write?
Where and when were you born?
I was born in Melbourne on 21 November, 1960.
That makes me a Scorpio, born in the Chinese astrological year of the Rat. I don't really believe in astrology but I like the idea of having such scary and smart creatures as my birth signs.
Where did you go to school?
I attended Brighton Beach Primary School in Melbourne. Back then, it was an old redbrick building with a huge playground and a big peppercorn tree beside the football field. My favourite part of it was the green weatherboard library building that was near the front fence.
Later, I went to Brighton High School for a few years. In Year 9, I had an amazing English teacher called Mr Civaligia and he encouraged me to think about books and writing in new ways. He really encouraged me to write more, though he often complained about my terrible handwriting.
My family moved to Toronto, Canada when I was fifteen. In Toronto, I attended Humberside Collegiate Institute which I graduated from in 1978.
I was on the Student Council, worked on the school yearbook and scored a role in the school musical. I loved HCI and had a great time there though I was very slack about doing my homework.
What were you like when you were growing up?
I was the middle child in a family of seven kids which was great because it meant there were always lots of people around the house and something going on. It also meant that I could get up to a bit of mischief now and then without anyone noticing.
I loved climbing trees and going on adventures, scrambling across the top of the whole neighbourhood's back fences. I also loved to read and visit the library. I could never get my hands on enough books.
What were your favorite books?
There were so many great books that I loved when I was growing up. I still enjoy rereading my old favourites and discovering new ones as well. I could probably list a hundred different books that were special to me but there wasn’t really one book that was my most favourite. If I discovered a book I enjoyed, I liked to read everything else I could find by the same author.
Some of my favourite authors from when I was growing up included E. Nesbit and Lewis Carroll for fantasy, Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling for adventure, Rosemary Sutcliffe and Esther Forbes for historical fiction, Astrid Lindgren and H.J. Kaeser for their spunky characters, and Alan Marshall and Ethel Turner for Australian adventure.
I wish there had been more Australian children's books around when I was a kid. I also really enjoyed authors like Colin Thiele, Ivan Southall, H.F. Brinsmead and Mary Grant Bruce but there weren't as many Australian children's books available when I was growing up as there are now. I still read stacks of children's and adult books and am always on the lookout for new authors.
To find out more about my favourite books and what I’ve been reading, visit my book blog at:
http://magiccasements.blogspot.com
What's your favourite colour?
Hard to say. I love yellow. I love how it is such a happy colour but I can't wear yellow clothes because I look invisible because of my blonde hair. I have big red rugs spread over all the couches in our living room. I painted all the kitchen cupboards blue to remind me of the sea and there's a big purple blanket on my bed. I love colourful things in general so it's very hard to pick a most favourite colour.
What's your family like?
I am married to a fantastic man named Ken Harper. I have three children and three step-children. They are called Ruby, Billy and Elwyn Murray and Isobel, Romanie and Theo Harper. They are all aged between 17 and 24 years of age. Now that everyone is getting older, getting married(!), and bringing home new girlfriends and boyfriends the table at our house can get very crowded at dinner time.
Do you have any pets?
We have a dog called Zenna who goes back and forth between two households. She’s getting pretty old now but can still act like a frisky dingo when she’s in the mood.
Where do you get your ideas?
I used to find coming up with good ideas tricky until I started writing non-fiction. When I was a kid, I thought that all stories had to come from inside me. Then I discovered that if you look out into the world around you, there are a million fantastic stories just waiting to be told. Suddenly, there were so many stories that I wanted to write about that I had to move over to writing fiction so I could thread all the different ideas together into novels.
Coming up with an idea for a story can be as simple as looking into the face of the person sitting next to you and imagining what it would be like to be them.
How do you decide where to begin?
Sometimes I don't begin at the beginning. Sometimes a really good, strong scene or image comes to me and I write that first. Then, when I've re-read it, I can see what should have gone before it and what needs to happen next.
What's the hardest part of writing for you?
The hardest part about writing is having to sit still for so long. Sometimes I have to get up and go for a walk, just because my body gets so stiff from being at the desk for long hours. The other hard part is not writing. Sometimes, I let too many other things distract me from getting into the office and that puts me in a very bad mood.
How long does it take you to write a book?
It depends on the book. Some books take longer than others though that's not always because they have more words in them. No matter what sort of book or story I am writing, I always do a lot of research into the background of my characters. Bridie's Fire took quite a long time to write because I had to find out so many things about Ireland and the Irish people, sea travel, early Melbourne, the goldfields and 19 th Century theatre.
Do you have a favourite place to write?
I write my books in my office which is right down the back of our garden. It has big windows looking out onto a plum tree and a tiny verandah that runs along the front. When I'm in the early stages of a book, I often work in either my local library or in the State Library. I also sometimes use private libraries, archives and museums to do some of my research and then I write parts of the stories there. I love having piles of books around me as I write.
Are you going to write more books?
Definitely. I have a special folder in my computer that is full of ideas for new books. I hope I can turn them all into finished books one day.
Of all the books you have written, which is your favourite, and who is your favourite character?
There are different things that I really love about each book I've written so they are each special to me in different ways. As to a favourite character, it's always the one I'm writing about at the moment that I feel the most in love with.
Do you have any advice for people
who want to write?
The most important thing is to actually sit down and do it. No one thinks that they can be a great athlete by just thinking about it. Writing is the same. Putting words down on paper and then reworking them again and again until they sound just the way you want them to is like training for a big event. When you finish a story, it's as if you've just run a big race. It doesn't matter whether you won the race. The important thing is that you ran as hard and as fast as you could.
The other important thing about writing is that writers and readers go together. You can't have one without the other. If you want to write well, then read as much as you can and as widely as you can. There are so many different ways to tell a story and the more you read, the more you will understand how good writing works.
If there are any other questions you would like to ask me about books or writing you can email me at: