interview : jessica au

Jessica Au is part of Express Media’s “Big Splash” mini-festival being held in July. Jessica entered the literary world through short story writing and her first novel “Cargo” is about to be published.

It can be a long journey from conception of an idea to the publication of a novel. Jessica, who is delivering the keynote speech at the Big Splash on everything that goes into your first novel, spoke with Express Media’s Stephanie Powell.

You are on the cusp of debuting your first novel, ‘Cargo,’ firstly congratulations, do you feel like you were pulling together all your writing experiences when you sat down to write your first novel?

In a word – yes. I didn’t really know what I was doing to begin with, so I had to rely on everything to try and find out, from that really cringe-worthy novel I tried to write in high school (an example of what not to do) to covering my wall with post-it-notes (a handy piece of stationary for reworking structure, stolen from the study of Will Self. The idea that is, not the actual stationary.)

You must have had periods of high and low intensity work on the novel, what kept you motivated?

Just wanting to write. You’re right in saying that writing is all about peaks and troughs, but to be honest even if I’m complaining about writer’s block, or crappy prose, a bad day writing is still better than any other day not spent writing, so why wouldn’t you want to keep going?

You’ve written for Meanjin, the Sleepers almanac and other journals – did writing and publishing short stories give you the confidence to attempt a full length novel?

Yes definitely. Or rather it gave me the grounding as well. For one, it tunes you into where you need to be to even get a second look. Rejections can push you to be better. But apart from that, it gives you the encouragement you need to attempt something bigger. This is why I think journals and anthologies are so important – they let you find your voice and test the waters.

Where have you drawn inspiration from for your novel? How long did this process take?

Actually, from short stories. I figured I didn’t want to embark on something too mammoth, or else I’d probably lose control and end up like Grady Tripp in Wonder Boys. So I went back to some old short stories where I’d always felt there was more in there to be teased out, and went from there. Also a lot of YA fiction – I’m a huge fan of YA and I really disagree that there are age brackets for good stories. So in a sense I wanted to use what I loved about YA and transfer it into a more ‘adult’ work.

All in all it simmered in my head for months and months. I wrote a whole notebook full of ideas and hardly used any of them in the end. The actual writing has taken about two years and counting.

You are presenting the keynote speech at “The Big Splash” on what goes into a novel, aside from technique, what are most important things to consider when sitting down to write a short story or full length novel?

First of all I think it’s different for everyone – every writer has different pressure points, so I guess first of all it’s important to find out what works for you and make that happen. Generally speaking, I think time is huge – making sure you have enough hours in a day to write generously and without pressure. Also, leaving enough space to ‘put a story to bed’ and then rework it again. I’d also say the ability to self-edit, which involves confidence but also a healthy dose of negativity. Failing that, readers that will help point out your blind-spots.

Would you advise young writers to start off with short stories before attempting to write a novel?

I think it depends on what you feel most comfortable/confident with. If you need to find your sea legs, then yes I think short stories are the way to go. Most of the time, it’s a good way for new writers to find their voice and get use to being edited, submitting etc. That said, nothing’s a given and there’s no reason why you couldn’t dive strait into the novel if you felt so inclined.

Who did you turn to for advice when writing your novel?

I’m a very introverted writer, so I don’t tend to talk much about it except in very generic mumbles. But I was lucky enough to have some fantastic writers and editors around me who I could angst to when my head started spinning – Sophie Cunningham, the editor at Meanjin and Lou Swinn at Sleepers, both of whom have been incredibly generous with their support and knowledge. And later, many of the very talented peeps in my writer’s group, where we can collectively bash our heads together over procrastination, queasy titles and semi-colons.

Jessica Au is part of the Big Splash festival, hosted by Express Media. The mini-festival celebrates the novel and hopes to give shape and motivation to the ideas of young writers.
The day includes a keynote speech given by debutant author Jessica Au, workshops hosted by John Marsden and Steven Amsterdam and a panel discussion.

The Big Splash, is being held at Express Media on Saturday the 10th of July from 10am to 5.30pm at the State Library. Tickets to “The Big Splash” are $45. Young writers can go to www.expressmedia.org.au or call 9094 7890 for more information and bookings.