Thank you so much Nathan for the interview! I find it fascinating finding out the inspiration of the books I’ve read. Children’s Literature is such an important area to write for to inspire future generations to be readers and anything they want to be.

Interview

What was your inspiration for the Family Disasters- Crash Landing?

 The initial inspiration was a visit to the volcanic island of Stromboli in Italy. I’m often inspired by places I visit, especially when there is a lot of inherent danger or adventure lurking around every corner. I liked the idea of there being a quarrelling family having to put their problems aside to work together and deal with an eruption. I grew up on a farm and my biggest fear was bushfires—every Summer I was petrified we’d lose our house (and all my books) so I couldn’t imagine living on an island that was an active volcano bubbling away at all times—my worst nightmare! 

What was your inspiration for the Nerd Hero series?

I grew up on a sheep and cattle farm and once I decided to write a junior fiction story I knew it would have to be about a lamb with an identity crisis. Our poddy lambs grew up away from the other sheep and so never acted like sheep—they were much bolder and quite aggressive. I was also inspired by visiting a petting zoo in Melbourne, which became the basis for the petting zoo in the story.

How did you choose which character to focus the story? 

If I was interviewing for main characters in my story, I’d chose the character most ill-suited for the job—that’s where the drama comes in! In the Nerd Herd series, the petting zoo is full of bullies and the narrative arc is about trying to rise to the top of the pecking order—the worst character for the job of hero in this story is a nerdy lamb like Barny. In Family Disasters, the continuing story is about trying to survive a family holiday with the most embarrassing family in the world—this is ten times worse for a character who is extremely self conscious and avoids any attention at all costs. Usually the main character is a version of myself but I take one of my personality traits and exaggerate it.

What was your process for writing for Family Disasters- Crash Landing?

For the first book in a series I plot quite loosely and then write a whole heap of drafts where I’m exploring and finding the characters. This is quite a slow process but I can’t plot a story properly without spending time with my characters first to see what works and what doesn’t. I actually wrote the first draft of Family Disasters over 10 years ago but I couldn’t quite get it to work. I kept coming back to it over the years, substituting different characters and adjusting the tone until it all clicked into place. For the subsequent books in a series I write detailed plot breakdowns that my publisher comments on before I start writing—this is easier for me to do once I know the characters, though still I end up changing quite a few things during the writing process.

What is your approach to world and character building?

With world building, I often start with a real place in mind. Throughout the writing process, that place morphs and adjusts to fit the evolving story and at some point it becomes its own world and sometimes bears little resemblance to the place it was inspired by. Characters often start a similar way—there might be a person I’ve met who forms the initial inspiration but then the character morphs and develops as I explore scenes with them. Sometimes with a character, it might just be one dominant personality trait that I start with (eg. stubborn, overachiever, fussy …) and the character becomes more 3 dimensional from there as I go. Sometimes I don’t fully discovery a character until the end of a first draft and then they really come to life in the rewriting phase. For me character building is also about chemistry and conflict—the right characters should complement and challenge each other.

Did your process change between the two series as the characters differ with being animals and human? 

My process didn’t change so much with the human/animal difference, as the animals in the Nerd Herd are quite human-like, but the process did change with the shift in readership age. Family Disasters is written for a slightly older market and with that, the tone and word count changes. Also with the Nerd Herd, I could rely on Chris Kennett’s illustrations to help tell a lot of the story whereas there are fewer illustrations in Family Disasters and not every moment in the story gets an illustration. The biggest difference though is my approach to plot structure—the Nerd Herd books focus on one major problem, whereas Family Disasters has an overarching problem and lots of smaller problems that run concurrently, many of them coming to a climax together. 

How would you describe Family Disasters- Crash Landing in five words?

Funny. Exciting. Cringeworthy. Dramatic. Gross.

Did you have a favourite moment to write?

I loved writing the dinner scene towards the start of the novel. It’s very graphic and is inspired in part from my own family and what happened when we discovered a game called ‘Gargle That Tune’ —in the game you are given a card and have to try gargling the song written on it with whatever drink you have at hand. We couldn’t do it without laughing and by the end of the game we were all covered in each other’s drinks. It was gross.

What was your favourite book growing up?

I was a pretty small kid (even compared to my 4 brothers) so I loved books about little, seemingly powerless kids who succeed in life. Matilda by Roald Dahl and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens were my absolute favourites. 

Do you have a favourite genre to read?

I don’t actually. I am a voracious reader who has always read across most genres and even age groups. I think a good story is a good story regardless of genre. Having said that I do have a soft spot for speculative fiction.