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1. What made you decide to be involved in the Willow Patterns project?
Honestly? Simon’s a nice guy, I’m interested in the future and his take on it, and I say No a lot. I thought it was time to say Yes to something I’d usually say No to.
2. Did you have any prior relationship with any of the authors? Was this an additional factor to doing to the project?
I knew a few of them and knew of most of them. It wasn’t part of my decision, but it was happy prospect. They’re people I respect.
3. Do you find working towards a deadline stifled your creativity or enhanced it?
I found that kind of deadline did my creativity no good at all. A deadline of, say, a couple of weeks (for 5000 words of fiction) puts pressure on you to deliver but gives you time to breathe and think – a 24-hour book, with max 12 hours of thinking and writing time, doesn’t.
4. Did you have any ideas/plans on what to do coming into the project? Were there meetings beforehand?
I tried to limit how much I thought about it, since I thought that was in the spirit of it – I wanted to live up to the 24-hour thing. We exchanged a few emails to identify the world of the story, but not much more than that.
5. Was there a point during the 24 hour time frame, were you felt you didn't have enough motivation to finish the project by the deadline? If so, what did you do to re-motivate yourself?
I never doubted I’d finish it, though I had real doubts about the quality. In a room where everyone else is writing away, you make yourself keep working at it. It doesn’t make it great writing though.
6. How did you all communicate with each other during the project and ensure synergy with each entry?
We stuck notes on a wall. The problem was, people’s own stories then developed from there, but the notes stayed as they were. On top of that sometimes a bunch of us would pick up the idea in the note and run with it, without realising others were too. There was a real risk of the one character being killed off three times.
7. The use of meta-fiction in your story was a very interesting technique, what made you decide to use it?
In my piece, or in the whole thing? If it’s just mine, I honestly can’t remember. Maybe I was desperate? Whatever I did made sense at the time, or seemed to. Strange time though.
If you mean the whole thing, we talked for a while before writing and made decisions collectively before going off to write our own pieces.
8. Would you say this technique was an accurate account of the realities of the project?
I honestly don’t know. I’m not sure what would be an accurate account of the realities of the project. There was to some extent a different project buzzing in every head, with the bold hope that the pieces would fit like a weird mosaic rather than like rubbish.
9. In the process of writing your chapter you only had 96 revisions, which was significantly less than the other authors, what was the reason for this? (eg. did you work off a thorough plan and thus, didn't need to change your story much...or were you just very satisfied with the first draft?)
Low expectations. Early on, I realised I wasn’t writing something great, but knew I had to push through. I focused on delivering the story and on delivering enough words rather than on quality. I wasn’t satisfied, but I realised early on I didn’t have the time or headspace to turn out 5000 words of quality. Part of saying Yes was agreeing to a project that had to be framed differently and done differently, and I tried to operate that way on the day.
10. Were there any memorable moments from the project you would like to share?
For me, it was an 11-hour blur almost 16 months ago. I can remember pizza arriving, then editors arriving and falling on the pizza like gulls. Mostly I remember the resolve to push on and bash out my piece, and not be the only one not to deliver something.
11. You have collaborated with authors before on a joint book, what is it about this collaboration process that interests you as an author and do you think you would you ever do something like this again?
I honestly think I’m not a natural collaborator, or team player when it comes to something creative. Film and TV require it, but mostly I prefer fiction to be a solitary thing. Working on Word Hunters with Terry Whidborne was different – we collaborated on ideas, but had different roles in the execution. With Joel & Cat Set the Story Straight, Bec Sparrow and I wrote alternating chapters, each from the POV of our own character. That story needed to be written that way – it’s not something I’m naturally inclined to do. It might be good for me to stretch myself and my way of operating occasionally, and collaborating drags me from my comfort zone. Maybe it’s a chance to learn something. But I’m not aiming to make a habit of it.
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