Interview with David Metzenthen, author of 'Tigerfish'

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I recently had the great pleasure of reading David Metzenthen’s latest book, since the release of his 2009 award-winning ‘Jarvis 24’.  

‘Tigerfish’ is a grand book to be reacquainted with Metzenthen, one of the best young adult authors writing male voice today. When Penguin offered me the chance to ask him some questions and pick his brain, I couldn’t very well refuse; 

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Q: How were you first published – agent or slush pile?

I was first published through the slush pile and that first letter of acceptance made for a happy day! Like, really happy.

Q: Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’ - that is, do you meticulously plot your novel before writing, or do you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and let the story evolve naturally?

I both plot and then see what turns up on my walk with my dog. I always have a beginning, and I always think about possible endings as I go.... I think about books for up to a year or two before starting, and that helps plan in my mind!

Q: How long did it take you to write ‘Tigerfish’, from first idea to final manuscript?

It took about three years to get Tigerfish up and about – but the publishers had it for over a year, so normally it doesn’t take that long! I was growing old waiting for it, I will say.

Q: Where do story ideas generally start for you? Do you first think of the character, theme, ending? Or is it just a free-fall?

I think of characters first – no, places! No, anything that seems like a skyrocket of an idea that suggests more and more things... and the idea has to have a meaning to me, like a serious underlying reason to write the thing... a reason that says something about how people live.. or try to live .

Q: So many of your books are grounded in nature – the beauty of the Saint Helena Bay setting in ‘Boys of Blood & Bone’ and Tiff Porter’s love for her country town in ‘Tiff and the Trout’. But ‘Tigerfish’ is very much about characters living in the urban jungle, so far removed from nature (like Ariel who works in a surf shop but has never seen the sea). What prompted you to write something so urban and gritty, and such a departure from your other books?

I wrote about Melbourne because I love it and I fear for it; as it is developing in a typical political style where people are not always looked after first – but political spin is....
I  see Melbourne as a great city of many parts, not all parts wonderful, but many interesting – like shopping centres, because for some people they are refuges, and I wanted to look at what they are, and how they seem to operate....

Q: Melbourne feels like another character in ‘Tigerfish’, and you capture the city so beautifully. I particularly liked, “the wind blows through the place like a vampire spirit on the hunt for body heat.”. You live in Melbourne, so you obviously know the city well – but what suburbs were you most inspired by? Did you go on Melbourne writing excursions to capture the city just so?

 I find the Melbourne of my imagination the most inspiring – when I mix the past with the future and try to drill into its character. I invented this suburb of Templeton, and it’s not any suburb really – but it might be like some. I am a tree hugger and I like trains and things – so Melbourne speaks to me...coffee, of course! The river/docks/Collins Street... the people... the footy... the winter!!!!!!!!!!!!

Q: You write teen character so well - in 'Jarvis 24' and now 'Tigerfish' it strikes me that your dialogue rings very, very true. What's your secret to portraying teen character so authentically? Do you do a lot of eavesdropping on public transport?

I’m not an intentional eves-dropper, but I like to hear how other people do speak so... but most of my dialogue I just sound out in my head, fast, and then see how it stands up... I don’t worry about too much about slang as it dates everything, and I’ll get it wrong anyway. I look for rhythm and nuance – maybe sometimes I find it!

Q: What’s the appeal in writing for young adults?

I like writing for young people because they’re people I care about; and for some reason I seem still to be able to do it, as I hope story is the essence, and not knowing which jeans are now cool. And for some reason, the stories flow for me, but for adults, I struggle... but I hope to improve.

Q: What are you working on right now, and when can we expect it to hit shelves!?

I have completed a MS on Australians in combat in Vietnam that is at two publishers, I have a picture book coming out with Allen and Unwin called, One Minute’s Silence, and I am working on an outrageous adventure for younger readers that sees my character, George, travel around the world, sometimes by private jet. Dates to be announced!!!!!!!!!

Q: Favourite author(s) of all time?

I like Jack Kerouac; especially On The Road and Lonesome Traveller. Henning Mankell is really good, Hemingway can be great... there are a hundred and fifty (thousand, probably) brilliant writers, but naming them gives me a headache...

Q: Do you have any advice for budding young writers?

Advice to young writers: read/imagine/think...tell a story that matters to you about things that matter to you. Develop your style/listen to yourself, and when your writing looks as good as it can be, go on... then re-write. I like to write slowly and carefully... travel far or near, spend time thinking... walk... listen to everyone  including yourself (hard!)  Only write if you want to do it... because you need energy to finish stuff, and you won’t finish unless you like the story –  writing can feel like torture. Get a part-time job! Find someone really intuitive to read your stuff and make gentle suggestions. Don’t just listen to anyone you don’t trust. Keep your big ideas private until you’ve done the work! Hang in there.

 Tigerfish is now available at all good bookstores.

'Tigerfish' by David Metzenthen

Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

Better in here, they think. Safe and sound. No shocks and no surprises. Twenty-one degrees Celsius all year round.

But outside Sky Point Mall, no one is safe.

Ryan Lanyon lives in a tough suburb.  His brother's a bouncer.  His best mate owns weapons.  Ariel works in a surf shop and has never seen the sea.  And the year that lies ahead is a minefield for them all.

A novel of confrontation, loyalty and love from David Metzenthen, the award-winning and bestselling author of Jarvis 24, Boys of Blood and Bone and Black Water.

Templeton is a concrete jungle suburb in Melbourne, full of hard and loyal characters balancing on the poverty line and watching each other’s backs. Templeton is Ryan Lanyon’s stomping ground – he mostly hangs round Sky Point ‘Knifepoint’ Mall with his best friend, sucking up the summer holidays before school starts again and he has to go back to keeping his head down and avoiding a beating from the local bully boys.

Ryan’s dad knows every tradie in town, the ones who’d prefer payment in beer than cash-in-hand. His brother Slate has just got done with a forty-hours-a-week job at the Arcon pipe factory, and has started a bouncer gig that has his family quietly agonizing over the possibilities of king hits and glassings. 

And then Ryan meets Ariel at the Kealoah Surf Store. She’s a country girl whose family lost the farm and are now rebuilding in the big smoke.  She has never seen the sea, and her little sister is struggling to come out of her shell in the big, anonymous city. 

Ryan and his family welcome Ariel and her sister into their tightknit, have-your-back Templeton community, and together they start helping one another to find their feet and a place in this new world.

‘Tigerfish’ is the new young adult novel from award-winning Australian young adult author, David Metzenthen.

This book reminded me of a favourite TV show ‘Redfern Now’, a drama series that portrays contemporary stories about Indigenous Australians. And while ‘Tigerfish’ is not a story about Indigenous Australians, the connection to ‘Redfern Now’ came from setting – the TV show is set in the infamous and tight-knit Sydney suburb of Redfern. And the same way that that show explores the dynamics of community, however fractured and imperfect, ‘Tigerfish’ and Ryan’s observations of his rough and tumble suburb of Templeton and the city of Melbourne, similarly reminded me of those intertwined stories. 

I feel like Metzenthen’s setting is even more important as he explores a poor community rich in spirit and family/community bonds. It’s by no means a sunshiny, perfect suburb – Ryan is tormented at the local school, and the shopping centre has earned the nickname ‘Knifepoint Mall’ for a reason … but Metzenthen really asks readers not to take things at face value, to dig deeper and scrape away the grime. 

There are lots of beautiful metaphors and thematic explorations for young readers to think about in this book, but Metzenthen doesn’t write them cloyingly or like a prescribed English text. They come in the form of beautiful girl (the aptly named) Ariel; moved from the country with her family after they lost everything, and now working ironically in a surf shop; 

'I don't know anything about surfboards.' She puts her hands in those big goofy pockets and looks me straight in the eyes. 'I've never even been to the beach.' She shrugs, standing under the poster of a guy on a crystal wave. 'I've never even seen the ocean,' she adds. 'Not once. Not in my whole life.' She appears to want to know what I might have to say about that. 

I laugh, zeroing in on her face, knowing that this is a freakin' special moment. Already I'm thinking about telling Evan about the new chick at Kealoah who tells me straight-up she's never seen the sea. And he'll like it the way I like it; because a fact like that is a rare thing in a place like this. I feel like kissing the toes of her no-name sneakers that are the colour of plain flour.

Metzenthen won the CBCA Award for Book of the Year: Older Readers in 2010 for ‘Jarvis 24’, which was also written from a young male first-person perspective. And no wonder, when Metzenthen captures it so well, and does so again with ‘Tigerfish’ – all Ryan’s bravado and heart, his secret worries and outward mockeries. He’s quite a tender voice in this rough suburb, and I loved that duality. 

If I had any complaints about ‘Tigerfish’, it’s probably that it is very slow going, and if not for Ryan’s authentic voice drawing me in I probably would have walked away for wondering where the actual story and igniting event was … but if you stick with ‘Tigerfish’ and Ryan, you will be rewarded with a gritty gorgeous story full of heart and anger.

4/5