Sunday 26 August 2012

Blog Tour: The Interrogation Of Ashala Wolf, Guest Post & Giveaway


Today is my stop on The Interrogation Of Ashala Wolf Blog Tour.
I have featured a Guest Post and a giveaway open to AU/NZ only.

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe #1)


Guest Post: Inspiration Behind The Writing Of Ashala Wolf

I’ve said before about writing Ashala Wolf that sometimes you find a story, and sometimes a story finds you. The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf was the story that came to me. The primary source of inspiration for the novel were the characters themselves – Ashala and Ember and Georgie, Connor and Jaz, the saurs, the Serpent and the Firstwood. Ashala’s reality is different from mine, of course. To understand her world, I drew on things I knew. I can point to specific things that influenced what I wrote – the tuart forests of the south-west of Western Australia inspired the Firstwood; and the saurs are loosely based on a species of Australian megafauna that lived thousands of years ago. But beyond all the small details of Ashala’s reality were the characters themselves, telling their own story and teaching me of a world that I always felt I discovered more than created.

It’s a great responsibility, to tell a story. You owe your characters all your skill and knowledge. And you have to be brave. Firstly you’ve got to believe that you can do it, and that can be hard, to continually maintain that belief in yourself through every draft and long rewrite. Secondly, you have to prepared to suffer some pain. When I wrote this novel I lived everything I wrote, experiencing Ashala’s journey as she did. It was often a shock to me to look up from the computer screen and find myself sitting in my house, rather than surrounded by the towering tuarts of the Firstwood, or the white walls of the detention centre. Ashala’s best and worst moments were my best and worst moments too – when she was happy I was happy, and when she despaired, I despaired. So there’s moments in the book that it hurt to write. I love Ashala and all the rest of the Tribe so much that I didn’t want any of them to be in trouble. I wanted them to be happy and carefree and safe. But that wasn’t the story they came to tell me, at least, not yet.

People sometimes ask why I write. I feel like they might as well ask why I breathe! It certainly isn’t easy – like a lot of other authors, I don’t have the luxury of being a full time writer. I write whenever and however I can. Usually it’s late into the night, when everything is quiet and still, so it’s just me and the steady tapping of my fingers on the computer keyboard, not to mention many, many cups of coffee. Writing can be a lonely business. But, like Ashala herself, I am never truly alone. I have Ash and Ember and Georgie, Connor and Jaz and the rest of the Tribe, and the Firstwood and the saurs and Serpent. To me, these are people and places worth knowing about, and worth fighting for. And I am proud to consider myself their friend.  
Make Sure to Stop By The Next Stop On The Blog Tour At Shiirleyy's Bookshelf

 Giveaway.
1 Copy Of The Interrogation Of Ashala Wolf
Open To AU/NZ Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2 comments:

  1. Posie Graeme-Evans' War of the Roses series are my favourite books by an Aussie author. Not YA but they are seriously awesome :)

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  2. Can it be a series?
    Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody is a definite fave! I don't know how many times I've re-read this series and can't wait for the final book next year!

    ReplyDelete