Thornwood House
Page 45
Acknowledgements
Writing a novel is never a solitary task, and I’d like to warmly thank the following people whose involvement made this one possible.
My agent, Selwa Anthony, for her valuable story input and writerly advice, as well as her steadfast belief in me over the years. Selwa, you are a treasured friend and role model – thank you with all my heart!
My publisher, Larissa Edwards, for her dedication and hard work, and the awesome crew at Simon and Schuster. My talented editors, whose insights helped me become a better writer: Selena Hanet-Hutchins, Drew Keys, Kate O’Donnell and Roberta Ivers.
Russell Taylor for being my rock, and for giving me his love, faith and support over many years. Sarah Clarke, Merrilyn Gray and Julian Davies for cheering me on. Dan Mitchell for giving me a home in the bush, and for his love and friendship and ongoing inspiration. Bet and Norm Mitchell for their kindness and hospitality, and for allowing me to pore over Norm’s wonderful war memoirs.
Ian Irvine for being a fount of writerly knowledge and good sense; Josephine Pennicott for taking me under her wing. Megan Inwood for allowing me to borrow her daughter’s name; Stuart Ruthven for insights about the Boonah region; and Hailey and Luke for reminding me that stories (and life) are supposed to be fun!
My mum, Jeanette, for inspiring my love of books, and for her wisdom and continuing faith in me; my dad, Bernie, for a lifetime of memorable stories and yarns; my sister Katie for her countless facials (to repair the wrinkles she gives me by making me laugh!); and my sister Sarah who’s always been my staunchest fan – even when success seemed a remote and impossible dream.
My love and thanks to you all.
I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Ugarapul people of the Fassifern region of south-west Queensland, whose history inspired my references to Indigenous culture in Thornwood House.
Anna Romer
Exploring My Writing Process
For me, a novel begins a long time before I sit down to write. I always start a project with a new notebook. Over many months – or years – I fill it with photos, newspaper clippings, articles, and random scribblings. I make lists and timelines, draw maps, create detailed dossiers for my characters and build histories around them. I currently have about fifteen of these notebooks on the boil, each containing the raw ideas of a future novel.
As the bones of a story begin to emerge, I pick over my favourite themes – forbidden love, obsession, scandal and family secrets, and the lies we tell to each other and to ourselves. I never consciously try to work my themes into the storyline, but they are always brewing away under the surface, helping me to stay focused.
I also choose a fairytale that resonates with me, and think of ways I can weave it through the plot. In Thornwood House I played with the idea of Bluebeard, and his mysterious locked room which eventually tempted his wives to their deaths. The manifestation of this theme in the final story is very subtle, but it inspired the sense of curiosity and danger that I wanted to convey – both for the back bedroom of the house at Thornwood, and for the old settler’s hut near the gully.
When I finish brainstorming, my pile of notes is thicker than a telephone directory. I rarely look at these notes again. The story seeds have been planted; now it’s time to let them germinate and grow in the dark garden of my subconscious.
Meanwhile, I dive into the research, which is another great way to peel open further layers of story.
My research involves a lot of travel to soak up scenery and get a feel for local people and families and their fascinating pasts. For Thornwood House, I needed to know what life was like in the Fassifern region of Queensland during the 1940s, and how a small rural community was impacted by the war. I studied old newspapers, maps and photographs, and explored the landmarks in my story, such as Boonah’s historic Lutheran graveyard, and a spooky old settler’s hut I discovered in a forgotten paddock.
I also read heaps of war correspondence, as well as wartime memoirs and diary entries. Mum gave me a bundle of airgraph letters that were sent to my grandmother during the Second World War. These letters documented a young pilot’s longing for home, and made the war experience all the more personal for me.
By this stage I’m usually impatient to start the plotting process, which I really love. For me, there’s nothing more enjoyable than sitting at my ‘plotting table’ with a thermos of tea, and assembling the skeleton of a new story.
I love making a mess with scraps of paper, jotting down ideas for scenes and plot points and possible twists, and then puzzling them all together like a huge unwieldy jigsaw. The plot is always organic; when I start drafting, the story flies off on tangents and I invariably write myself into a corner. Back I go to the plotting table and re-shuffle my paper scraps until the problem is solved, then I return to my embryonic story and redraft. This phase of the process goes on for many months, and is a mental and emotional rollercoaster ride!
Some scenes – endings in particular – are more difficult to write. I enter avoidance mode: gardening or knitting or brushing the dog, or collecting wildflower seeds for my various regeneration projects – meanwhile freaking out over the gaps in my story, worrying myself into a state of creative agitation. By the time I’m ready to write my most challenging scenes, I’m a mess . . . but that’s good! Angst and chaos are part of the writing process, too, and are frequently the catalyst for better work.
Often I write to silence, but some scenes require that I work from a place of heightened emotion. If this is the case, on goes the music – Mumford and Sons, Will Oldham, Yma Sumac, Roky Erickson, Loreena McKennitt. For especially dark brooding scenes I play Espers, Six Organs of Admittance, PG Six, Nick Cave; for the ending I’ll crank up Muse, maybe a few Metallica tracks, or some weird obscure 70s folk rock. At some stage during a critical scene I’ll pull out Evanescence and have a great old cry.
Understandably, after all this intense focus, the story lines begin to blur; it becomes easy to overlook mistakes. One of the most exhilarating (and terrifying) parts of the process is handing over the novel draft to my agent and editors . . . and my eagle-eyed sister. They are the ghosts in the novel machine, and without them the story would be a shambles. An editor’s job is to pick apart a story and then send it back for the writer to fix. If someone points out that part of the plotline or a character doesn’t work, I gladly make the changes, knowing the story will be better for it. It’s a daunting process, but my ‘behind the scenes’ team always gives me deeper understanding and insight – not just into the novel we’re working on, but more importantly, into the craft of storytelling.
Another vital part of the process – especially after slogging towards deadlines – is clearing the brain fog. For me, this usually involves vanishing deep into the bush never to be heard from again . . . well, at least not until dinnertime! I’ll swim in the river, or climb into the hills and daydream on a bed of wildflowers. When I finally return to the world with the peppery scent of yellow-buttons clinging to my clothes, my brain and body are fully recharged.
One of my favourite quotes comes from Joseph Campbell, who said, ‘Follow your bliss.’ For me, the process of creating a novel is very much about following the trail of ideas that I find most intriguing and inspiring . . . a strategy that works well for writing in general, and also for life.
Anna Romer
May 2014
THORNWOOD HOUSE
First published in Australia in 2013 by
Simon & Schuster (Australia) Pty Limited
Suite 19A, Level 1, 450 Miller Street, Cammeray, NSW 2062
This edition published in 2014
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© Anna Romer 2013
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nical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author:
Romer, Anna, author.
Title:
Thornwood House/Anna Romer.
ISBN:
9781922052407 (paperback)
9781922052414 (ebook)
Subjects:
Family secrets – Fiction.
Country life – Queensland – Fiction.
Inheritance and succession – Queensland – Fiction.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover design: Christabella Designs
Cover image: Mark Owen/Trevillion Images
Internal design and typesetting: Midland Typesetters, Australia
The paper this book is printed on is certified against the Forest Stewardship Council® Standards. Griffin Press holds FSC chain of custody certification SGS-COC-005088. FSC promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.