Where do you get your ideas from?

The answer to this is different for my fiction and non-fiction books.

Most of my non-fiction is about the natural world, like the Daintree Rainforest (Seed to Sky), the fabulous landscape of Kakadu (Dry to Dry), or the Arctic and Antarctic animals and birds (Pole to Pole). Those books are mostly based on places I’ve been and found fascinating. (Yes, even Pole to Pole. I went on a plane trip which flew over Antarctica and the South Pole, and when I came back I asked my publisher if we could do a book about the Antarctic.)

My fiction stories…honestly, those ideas come from so many different places, it’s hard to know. Sometimes it’s things that have happened to me or to people I know, which I then change a bit to make a better story (like Lollylegs), sometimes it’s just a ‘wouldn’t it be cool if…’ idea that comes out of nowhere (like The Wonder Dog). And sometimes I get a feeling, and I have to find words and characters and a setting to put that feeling on the page…

So, where do I get my ideas from? Here and there and everywhere…

How many books have you written?

At the time I write this, I’ve published 49 books and novellas and have started the 50th. Some of those have been for adults (I write for adults using the name Pamela Hart and also as Elizabeth Leydin). About 30 of them have been for kids.

Why do you write?

Because I get cranky if I don’t and my husband doesn’t like it. Seriously.

I think that people who are creative, whether in writing or painting or composing or singing or cooking or potting or fixing up cars or knitting finger puppets, end up loving that creative work and get cross if they don’t do it for a while.

The question, I suppose, is why you love that particular form of creativity. For me it was a case of being a fanatical reader first. I found, eventually, that there were stories I want to read which no-one had written and the only way I get to read those stories was to write them myself.

In the end, the only reason I write is that it’s fun. It’s fun to make up things and characters. It’s fun to figure out what happens to them, and to bring them their happy ending. It’s absolutely the best job in the world.

What’s your favourite book that you have written?

In fiction, Victor’s Quest, because Victor is a sweetie.  And, of course, I love the sequel, Victor’s Challenge, too.

In non-fiction, I just love the books I’ve done with illustrator Liz Anelli, because she is a genius and I feel very privileged to work with her. (Our books are Desert Lake: Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu, and Seed to Sky: Life in the Daintree.)

Where can I buy your books?

Support your local bookshop! If they don’t have the book you can get them to order it in for you. If you don’t have a local bookshop, my books are available pretty much everywhere online. Big W also has them sometimes.

Books unfortunately go out of print, so some of them may only be available second hand. Through the wonders of modern technology, I have managed to make some of these available as eBooks. Click on the eBook link on the menu above.

What’s your favourite book that someone else has written?

I have two: Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Also anything by Shakespeare, but preferably on stage, not on the page.

Have you always been a writer?

No. I have worked in the public service, as a waitress, in public relations, as a sub-editor, a scriptwriter for the PowerHouse Museum and for ABC Kids TV, a university lecturer, a business consultant, a technical writer and editor, a consultant in preventing corruption in law enforcement agencies, and an educational designer and trainer for adults. I started writing for kids when I was a scriptwriter at the ABC and ran two careers, as writer and consultant, for around twelve years until my son was born, when I dropped the consultancy work.

I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was around twelve, but I knew that it is hard to make a living as a writer and so I made sure I had other qualifications to make a living.

Now I also teach creative writing at the Australian Writers’ Centre.

What inspires you as a writer?

That’s another one of those questions where I have to say, ‘I don’t really know’. See Question 1. I suppose what inspires me as a writer is the same as what inspires me as a person – stories of courage, generosity, hope, laughter… that sounds so obvious. Actually, it’s just as likely to be something totally disgusting and gory, or something clinical and scientific. I am at the moment, for example, very interested in the recent idea that the basic shape of the universe may be a fractal. How could you represent that in a story? It’s a structural issue, and I am interested in structure in narrative. It may not ever make it into a story, but maybe in ten years a light bulb will go on and I’ll see how to do it.

How much money do you make?

This changes from year to year, so it’s easier to explain how the royalty system works. When one of my books is sold, the publisher must pay me a royalty. Usually, in Australia, that is 10% of the purchase price (it’s less in the US and UK). So if the book costs $10.00, I get $1.00. If it costs $20.00, I get $2.00, and so on. However, for a picture book, that 10% is split between the author and the illustrator, so for a $10.00 book, we would each get 50 cents.

You can see that you have to sell a LOT of books to make any money.

Have any of your books ever been rejected by a publisher?

Of course. My first children’s book, The Willow Tree’s Daughter, was rejected twice before it was taken on by Allen & Unwin. Since then, a couple of my books have been rejected before finding a publisher. If you receive a personal rejection letter from a publisher (rather than a form letter) which says they liked your work but it didn’t fit their list and that they would like to see other work from you, that is actually an excellent sign, because the form letter just says, ‘thank you but no thank you’. If a publisher invites you to submit other work, they mean it.

The phrase ‘doesn’t fit our list at the moment’ or something similar, has real meaning. Publishers have quotas of the number of books in each category which they can publish in any particular year or years. So many historical romances, so much SF. If those slots are already filled by established authors, who can be guaranteed to sell, there is no way a publisher will bump one from the list to make room for a new writer. They will also try to avoid setting up competing authors for the same market. For example, my book, Victor’s Quest, was rejected by my publisher, Allen & Unwin, because it was too similar in style and market niche to a very successful series of books they already had going (the Tashi books by Anna Fienberg). It didn’t mean that the book was bad – and in fact, Victor’s Quest went on to be shortlisted for a couple of awards and has been my biggest-selling and most popular work. But it didn’t fit their list at the time.

I want to be a writer. What should I do?

As Ursula Le Guin once said: Learn to type. This is good advice.

After that, write the book. I’m not being funny. Lots of people say to me that they want to be writers, but they’ve never actually tried to write. ‘When I have time,’ they say. Sorry, writers don’t wait until they have time. They just write, even if (as in one case I know) it’s only twenty words a day. Speed doesn’t matter, but actually doing it does.

Try to find a workshop group – maybe your local library has one. There will be something nearby. If there’s not, there are on-line courses.

If you can’t get to a workshop, try to set one up among people you know.

Pamela’s top tip for new writers

Drafts matter. One draft is never enough. Do lots of drafts and your work WILL get better!