Author Interview: Fiona Wood talking about Six Impossible Things

I am so thrilled to have Aussie author Fiona Wood on the blog! I rather bombarded her with questions (sorry Fiona! I'm naturally curious and maybe a tad over-enthusiastic at times...) which she so graciously took time out to answer.

And there's GOLD in her answers... Fabulous stuff for writers and fascinating stuff for readers

• Mostly, I am in awe of such a brilliantly charming page-turner of a novel and I wanted to know how she did it (!!?!). 
• I've read her debut, Six Impossible Things, twice this year (it's an irresistible and delicious way to spend an evening, and I was also hoping to absorb some of the magic into my own writing :) 
• While I had Fiona - I also scored some lovely reading recommendations and got some news on her current project...

Fiona Wood is not only the brilliant author of very funny book but she's also a well-known scriptwriter (her career includes shows such as Neighbours, Home and Away, The Secret Life of Us (my fave!) and more...

*welcoming round of applause*

1. Six impossible things is such a fantastic character driven novel. Dan is charming, funny, unassumingly cute and with just the right amount of angst to make him impossibly endearing. Was it hard to find his story and craft it into a novel?

Thanks, Nomes. Because the novel started with Dan, and my focus was always on him, he very much suggested the shape of his story. So, for example, when Dan can’t resist reading Estelle’s diaries, he has to deal with the consequences of doing that – so story comes from the decisions he makes, and the decisions he makes come from his character. And when Dan sticks up for his friends, or avoids his dad’s calls, or introduces Lou and Fred – all those actions come from character and suggest consequences and story material.

But having said that – I also had some basic frameworks and themes that I kept in mind during the planning and the writing. One of them was the Cinderella story. And because I wanted Dan’s appearance to change through the course of the story as a concrete image of his ‘growing up’, I couldn’t resist having Oliver and Em play a bit of a fairy godmother role. Likewise, his mother’s business gave me a good reason to get Dan home by midnight. And so you get to a point where all the details of character and theme bounce off each other and suggest things to you.

It sounds tangled and convoluted, because it is. You use the word ‘craft’ in your question, and it is exactly like that, it’s like a weaving together of so many elements that all inform and, ideally, enrich each other.


(Me: okay, so I re-read that three times. THANK YOU!)

2. Six Impossible Things is so completely hilarious, from the situations the characters get into to the brilliant one-liners. How did you think all the brilliance up? Does it pour out while you're typing away or come to you in the middle of the night or is it just your genius brain shining through?

Ha ha. If only! A lot of the work does seem to happen subconsciously – I often wake up with ideas when I’m working on something. And I think if you can get to the point where your characters are solid in your mind, then their voices are clear as you write, and the things they say almost suggest themselves to you. And finally, I am a big rewriter and a cut-outer, so I did five drafts of this novel over about three years, which meant there was a lot of polishing and paring back through that process.


(me: five drafts over three years! It's a loving work of art ~ I'm so impressed!)

3. I love that Dan Cereill is an anagram of Cinderella. How did that come about? Was it part of your original inspiration?

Because the idea of the ‘boy least likely’ getting to go to the ball came to me early in the process, one of the first things I did was play around with the letters of Cinderella. He could have been a Ned or a Dan, but when I wrote Cereill as a possible surname, I could see there was some fun to be had with mispronunciation, so I went with that.

4. I know you're a planner rather than a pantser. Did your characters ever do things that surprised you?

I certainly did not expect Dan’s mother to get together with Ali, Dan’s boss! (I originally had Oliver in mind for her, but he ended up being younger, with a very kind and helpful girlfriend, Em, aka DJ Pony.) I didn’t plan for Dan and Jayzo to have a physical fight, either, but it just got to the point where that had to happen.

(Me: Argh! I loved Dan in the fight scene - it was so unexpected and tough and kinda cute too :) Also, DJ Pony is a fave of mine :) So happy for her and Oliver ;)

The thing about planning is that you notionally know where you’re going, and you can make sure that you have enough story elements to get you to your destination, but you inevitably end up taking some detours, and changing your plans a bit along the way.

I could never be a true pantser - I really do need to know where I’m heading, but there is always some pantsing involved, the little moments of inspiration that come from who knows where…

5. Were there any scenes, characters, etc, that you adored which didn't make it to the finished novel? Did it break your heart just a little?

I originally had Dan’s dog Howard’s thoughts visible to the reader. At the beginning of the narrative, Dan had no idea what Howard was thinking, and by the end he pretty well knew exactly what Howard was thinking. Of course Dan didn’t know that, but readers could see it. My intention was for this to represent Dan’s growing integration with his new world. But my editor very correctly talked me out of it because it was a point of view inconsistency, that is to say it was the only deviation from the first person point of view - it took us out of Dan’s head. I did have a pang when I chopped it all out, but I trusted my editor.


(Me: Oh ~ I do love the idea of seeing the dog's POV. Howard is still a wonderfully crafted little character :)

The other thing I chopped out was song lyrics. I had quite a few song fragments here and there, but it’s expensive to get the rights to use them. So the only remaining lyric is seven words from a Go-Betweens song, in a greeting between Dan and Fred.

6. If Dan and Estelle and crew could hang out with characters from another book, who would they be kicking back with?

Assuming we could equalise the ages - Estelle’s group could easily be friends with Destiny’s group (Beatle Meets Destiny) and Lucy’s group (Graffiti Moon). Dan and Fred would click with Tim (Loathing Lola). Janie would love talking movies with Gem (Notes from the teenage underground). And Dan would have been there for Will Grayson #1 when he left his group of friends on a matter of principle (Will Grayson, Will Grayson).


(Me: I absolutely imagined them hanging out with Destiny's group and Lucy's group too - another two groups of girls flitting around in Melbourne!)

7. I'd love to know some of your top YA book recommendations (recent or from your teen years)

In the last few months I’ve really loved reading ‘Graffiti Moon’ by Cath Crowley, ‘Beatle Meets Destiny’ by Gabrielle Williams, ‘This Is Shyness’ by Leanne Hall, ‘Loathing Lola’ by William Kostakis, ‘Everything Beautiful’ by Simmone Howell (which I re-read for a panel discussion, and it was even more beautiful the second time around), ‘When You Reach Me’ by Rebecca Stead (for younger readers), and ‘Speak’ and ‘Winter Girls’ by Laurie Halse Anderson. Jaclyn Moriarty is another great favourite. And there are so many more I could add to the list! In my own teen years I read so much - it was my number one activity. One writer I read for the first time then is Jane Austen. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Emma’ and ‘Northanger Abbey’ are fantastic teen reads.

(me: so many of my favourites here! We crush on the same books :) I'm in good company!)

8. Can you give us any clues about the YA novel 'Pulchritude' that you're currently working on? (I completely cannot wait to read it!) 

Sibylla Quince emerges from her pimply, nerdy middle secondary school cloud to be unexpectedly ‘beautiful’. She learns that this adjective comes with a whole load of problems. It’s a story about love, betrayal and a reassessment of friendships. (Lou (from Six Impossible Things) comes to Sibylla’s school, and they – eventually – become friends.)


(me: argh! I can't wait! I love the concept & I LOVE character cross-overs in stand alone novels!)

9. I am thrilled, ecstatic and shouting from the rooftops that you've been offered representation from a US-based agency. Do you have any scoops on the US version of Six Impossible Things?

Thanks, Nomes. I’m really thrilled, too, and I would love to think there might be a US version of Six Impossible Things one day, but it’s only gone out quite recently, and there’s no news yet. I’m keeping my fingers crossed - which makes typing very tricky.


(Me: I'm keeping my fingers crossed too ~ really super hard ~ and a bunch of other people who want it in their little international hands are hanging out for it too)

Thank you so much for inviting me to visit Inkcrush!

Fiona Wood's website

Read the prologue of Six Impossible Things

My review of Six Impossible Things

Six Impossible Things @ goodreads

A very ecstatic and grateful thanks from me ~ thank you!

Winners and NaNoWriMo so far...

The winner of Melina Marchetta's The Piper's Son is:

#7 Kristy from the UK

For those who didn't win... you can pre-order your copy of The Piper's Son from The Book Depository now - currently 25% off (US edition)

and the winner of $15 to spend @ The Book Depository is

#31 Jess from The Tales Compendium

Thanks everyone else for entering!

For those who have asked... nano... 

My current WIP is titled:

Some kind of Awesome

First line: "Since I found out my dad is the weather man on channel ten it hasn't stopped raining." *

It's meant to be all moody and deep and lingering and heartfelt (but not, please god, melodramatic). But for some reason, it keeps getting comical and absurd. I don't know what's going on but my MC is way too happy for someone with such a depressing life...

i've re-written my first chapter 5 times and i don't think that's the spirit of nano? i can't seem to get my groove. i have also written random scenes to appear later in the story. which is not my usual style. i much prefer to do the linear writing thing. am thinking of starting again even now... ugh, i've had this main character in my head for over a year and i still don't know the best way to go about sharing her story.

enough rambling... as for word count? since nano started i've written at least 15k - but then deleted most of it (maybe i was supposed to wait for the month to be over before deleting so those crap words would count for the word count, yeah? haha). so my document is 8.5k. but am thinking of starting from 0 again. :)

* have heard (numerous times) not to open with the weather. huh. it just happened like that.

Mini Character Profiles and a Contest

Today it's pouring rain and soccer season is over (which means no longer zooming around for my kids three back-to-back soccer games - yay!) and I have a lazy Saturday planned of playing a few board games with the kids and doing some character profiles for my WIP. Oh - and I just realised I'd better go shopping and buy Pete something for Father's day tomorrow. The kids want to get him Dr Who boxed sets...b/c they want Dr Who box sets. They are so subtle :)

Anyway...

Mini Character Profiles

Author Kara Mustafa sent me the mini profiles she uses - which are perfect - not too intense that it'll give me a headache and enough that I can feel out my characters and get a sense of their motivations, etc. Here it is:

Name:
Age:
Best friend:
Best memory:
Favorite food:
Favorite subject in school:
Post-school dream:
Hobbies:
What they'd do in an ethical dilemma:
Best qualities:
Worst qualities:

Kara's Aussie character, Logan
aka Jesse Spencer
(from her novel Plan B)

Also, earlier, YA Highway had a Road Trip with the prompt: What does your character hide in their underwear drawer - or other secret location? Which I'm going to add. Kara did hers and it completely rocks - so telling about her characters and really fun.


I have a few characters I'm going to do it for:
Cara - my MC
Ashleigh - MC's best friend
Seb - the boyfriend
Ben - good mate
Flint - Ashleigh's big bro

Anyone else use character profiles?

Any tips for me? :)

So - the contest isn't here @ inkcrush - it's over @ Kara's blog and includes gift vouchers and The DUFF and Break and Personal Demons and more... And it's also one of my favourite blogs for general awesomeness and inspiration.

Stephen King on Adverbs and Jaclyn Moriarty Goes Gothic

Recently read the infamous Stephen King's On Writing - which was an easy but informative read. He manages to make writing look so easy! Here's some quotes in a section on adverbs: 


The adverb is not your friend. p117 (haha)

I can be a good sport about adverbs, though. Yes I can. With one exception [use] only in the rarest and most special of circumstances.p119.

Some writers try to evade the no adverb rule by shooting the attribution word full of steroids. p120.

Haha. This cracked me up :) So true. Here's some examples Stephen included:

"Put the gun down" Jekyll grated.

"Never stop kissing me!" Shayna gasped.
Shayna, you go girl!

Don't do these things. Please oh please. p120.

...while to write adverbs is human, to write he said or she said is divine. p122.

Love this book :)

Sometimes, though, I love adverbs.

They really can make a sentence that much more funny, or add foreshadowing or just give a sentence a unique rhythm and flavour. In my own work, I weigh up every adverb I use and see if it is really adding to the sentence/atmosphere or if it's amateur and cluttering the writing.

Shiny new UK cover :)
also known as
The Year of Secret Assignments

Jaclyn Moriarty uses adverbs in most awesomest of ways. I love her adverbs, which are sometimes my favourite part of the sentence/scene.

Here' a scene from Finding Cassie Crazy (The Year of Secret Assignments). Lydia is documenting a convo between her parents at the breakfast table in a letter to Seb (I love Seb, too).

Mum: (sweetly) Take it easy on the butter there, honey. You've already forgotten the results of your latest cholesterol test, haven't you?

Dad: This is low-fat margarine, as a matter of a fact.

Mum: (surprisingly) Up yours, as a matter of a fact.

I love the sweetly. I adore the surprisingly. I love how that one adverb can set the tone of the entire scene. I love how the surprisingly is in Lydia's narration (her response to what her mum said), and we are left to imagine the exact tone her mother uses. And I'm totally hearing the tone :)

US hardcover of
Dreaming of Amelia
Oooh! Gothic!

Here's a statement from Emily, from Dreaming of Amelia (The Ghosts of Ashbury High) she's writing in an exam paper.

'I began to hyperventilate, quietly.'

Haha. I love Emily. She narrates with exclamation marks! Sometimes even in multiples!!! And adverbs! And drama! Adverbs totally work for Emily b/c she's an adverb kinda girl, and Jaclyn uses this to add humour and authenticity to the character. I love how the quietly is tacked on at the end, as if to somehow dignify the statement. I can't imagine Emily would do anything quietly, lol, but I admire her for being an unreliable narrator that way.

And, because I can, another snippet from Emily - she is writing an HSC exam paper: a personal memoir with Gothic undertones (!)

'There is a deep foreboding within me,' I said, (or words like that, not exactly that), 'that my new shampoo doesn't actually bring out the honey highlights in my hair like it says it does!'
Lydia shook her head at me slowly, cryptically.
It could be that she meant: 'No, Em, don't worry. I see plenty of honey highlights.'
But I doubt it.
(pg 6)


Back to back adverbs! And I love it. Love Em and Lyd :)

What about you? Are you an adverb user? Do you secretly love adverbs? Do you kill them off? Do you notice them when you read? Do you love all things Jaclyn Moriarty?