Month: March 2016

 

Jaclyn Moriarty’s ‘The Colours of Madeleine’ trilogy (Pan Macmillan), beginning with A Corner of White and The Cracks in the Kingdom (which I reviewed here) and now concluding in A Tangle of Gold, is one of Australia’s great fantasy series. Jaclyn has also written some other fascinating YA novels, in their own unique sub-genre.

Thanks for speaking to Boomerang Books, Jaclyn.

– Thank you for having me!

 Where are you based and how involved in the YA literary community are you?

 – I live in Sydney where there’s a strong YA community. (I think there’s an even stronger one in Melbourne, but we are catching up.) I see other YA writers at festivals, conferences and schools sometimes and, in the last few months, I’ve walked across the Harbour Bridge with Justine Larbalestier a few times, and had hot chocolate with Kirsty Eagar. I don’t believe in ‘networking’ at all: it’s very important to me that friendship and socializing be genuine, and not motivated by career goals.  Life is too short and friendship is too important. But there are so many lovely, funny, intelligent YA writers in Australia (and in the world generally), that it’s a real pleasure to mix with them, and to talk to them about writing and books. I’d like to go to more YA social events but I have a 9-year-old and getting a babysitter can be tricky.

What interesting thing is happening to you at the moment?

I’m sitting outside my 9-year-old’s electric guitar lesson. I just wasted five minutes trying to find an app on my phone to record a few seconds of the lesson so that I could use that as an illustration to this answer. But I couldn’t find it. I need the 9-year-old to tell me where it is.

Your books have won and been shortlisted for numerous awards and are popular in Australia as well as overseas. Which of your books started making people pay attention?

 – I was lucky that my first book, Feeling Sorry for Celia, was a number 1 bestseller in Australia and won the NSW Premier’s Award (Ethel Turner Prize), so I had a kind of crazy start. But I think it was my second book, Finding Cassie Crazy (published in the US as The Year of Secret Assignments) that seemed to catch people’s attention both here and overseas.

Your recent trilogy ‘The Colours of Madeleine’ which now concludes with A Tangle of Gold is fantasy with ‘realism … ingeniously wedged’ into it but even your realist novels have an elated sensitivity and glee. Do you recall any examples?

 – (I like that ‘elated sensitivity and glee’ phrase very much – thank you!) I never really like the idea of writing straight realism. It’s kind of like photorealist art: it’s very skillful but what’s the point? You can just take a photo. Also, I don’t like rules. I get restless and want to go outside the borders. So you are right that even my realistic books were never very realistic. In Feeling Sorry for Celia, the main character gets letters from imaginary organisations like the Cold Hard Truth Society; in Bindy Mackenzie, there’s a highly unlikely murder mystery; and in Dreaming of Amelia, there’s a ghost.

 ‘The Colours of Madeleine’ trilogy is set both in the Kingdom of Cello and the World – particularly in Cambridge, England where Madeleine lives. Why Cambridge – you seem to know it well?

 – I lived in Cambridge for three years in the late 90s when I was doing a PhD in Law. It was a strangely dreamy time: punting on the river, going to classes in castles, deer crossing my lawn, owls in the tree outside my bedroom window, tulips in the marketplace, being able to go to Paris on the train for a weekend for a few quid…

Madeleine receives letters from Cello through a crack in a parking meter. We find out about the fascinating places in Cello such as Bonfire in the Farms, Nature Strip, Cat Walk and Jagged Edge. Do you imagine yourself inside the Kingdom of Cello? Where would you live?

– I spend a lot of time imagining myself living in the Kingdom of Cello. If I did live there I think I would move around a lot. When I felt like a party I would go to Jagged Edge, when I wanted magic and snow, to the Magical North, and when I was hungry, to the Farms. They are very good bakers in the Farms.

You also invite us into this beguiling world through descriptions of its Living Colours such as Colour storms caused by vicious Greys and Purples; Lime Greens and Spitting Fuchsias. Are there some details about the Colours that you would have loved to include in the trilogy but couldn’t fit in (this will also be some solace for those of us who want to live in Cello)?

– I made a giant table of colours and their effects, so a lot of them missed out on making it into the book. I would have liked to use a very Pale Apricot. It floats through towns making everybody smooth-skinned and dewy-eyed. Although now that I think about it that sounds a bit like an ad for a skin product.

Spaces between Worlds are intriguing. What interests you about spaces in-between?

– My earlier books were written in letters and notes, and I was always intrigued by the space between those letters and notes. There is so much story in silence and in expectation. So when I started this trilogy, and the two characters started exchanging letters between worlds, I was drawn to the fact that the space between their letters had actual substance. It was also the space between their worlds: they were right beside each other and a universe apart, and it was this impossible space that was preventing their connection.

Can you tell us something about one or more of the historical figures you’ve written into the trilogy?

-I liked the fact that Byron spent some years sleeping all day, riding through the forest in the evening, then talking to friends all night long. Conversation in the night with close friends is very appealing to me: it can be a perfect way to connect. I also liked the fact that Leonardo da Vinci used to go into pet stores, buy all the birds, and set them free.

How would you describe your writing style?

– My writing always seems determined to turn itself into letters and notes, even when I’m determined that it won’t.

A Tangle of Gold is structured into Parts. Could you share how you’ve formed these?

– I spent a year planning the trilogy overall, and then about a year between books re-planning each. There were many different versions of each plan. I wanted Elliot, Madeleine and Keira to have room to move in this novel, so I let them take turns having their own Parts.

Your plot pacing bends boundaries in novel writing. Could you give us an example?

– Thank you! I’m too modest to answer this question.

Quick questions to answer without thinking too much:

 Your favourite colour? yellow

Favourite word? bewildered

Introvert of extrovert? introvert

Do you get your ideas while speaking or writing? A bit of both but mainly I get ideas while I’m half-asleep or looking at the sea. Also I get ideas by drawing pictures, and writing down questions addressed to myself using coloured texas and big bubble letters, and as a consequence of eating chocolate.

Madeleine or Keira? They’re both different parts of me but if I had to choose, Madeleine

Science or magic? Magic.

Light or dark?   I want to say dark because I like stars, moon, shadows and so on, but I’m mostly an extreme optimist so I think that means light.

What else are you enjoying reading? At the moment I’m reading Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Steward, which I am loving. And recently I have read and loved The Guy, the Girl, the Artist and his Ex by Gabrielle Williams, The Burning Elephant by Christopher Raja, Cloudwish by Fiona Wood, Clariel by Garth Nix, and the manuscript of my sister Liane’s latest book, Truly, Madly Guilty. Next I’m going to read My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier and Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar.

Thanks very much for your responses, as well as your wonderful writing, Jaclyn.

– Thank YOU so much for your kind words, and your unique questions!

#ByAustralianBuyAustralian