'Ballad for a Mad Girl' by Vikki Wakefield

Book received from Publisher 

From the BLURB:

Everyone knows seventeen-year-old Grace Foley is a bit mad. She’s a prankster and a risk-taker, and she’s not afraid of anything—except losing. As part of the long-running feud between two local schools in Swanston, Grace accepts a challenge to walk the pipe. That night she experiences something she can’t explain.

The funny girl isn’t laughing anymore. She’s haunted by voices and visions—but nobody believes a girl who cries wolf.

As she’s drawn deeper into a twenty-year-old mystery surrounding missing girl Hannah Holt, the thin veil between this world and the next begins to slip. She can no longer tell what’s real or imagined—all she knows is the ghosts of Swanston, including that of her own mother, are restless. It seems one of them has granted her an extraordinary gift at a terrible price.

Everything about her is changing—her body, her thoughts, even her actions seem to belong to a stranger. Grace is losing herself, and her friends don’t understand. Is she moving closer to the truth? Or is she heading for madness?

‘Ballad for a Mad Girl’ is the new young adult book from Australia author Vikki Wakefield.

Vikki is one of my favourite authors writing today. Hands down. I have loved all of her books, and even though Ballad marks the biggest departure from her contemporary backlist – it’s another one of hers that I’ll cherish and count among my new modern, Aussie YA favourites.

Where as in the past Vikki has written very gritty, realist teen narratives – Ballad is a bit of a horror/speculative-fiction change-up, in which protagonist Grace Foley finds her body inhabited by the ghost of a teenage girl who died tragically, decades ago. Grace finds her ghostly companion after a death-defying school challenge goes horribly wrong, and in the midst of her deep-seated grief over the death of her own mother a year ago.

Now Grace’s dog is wary of her and biting mad, she of – zero artistic talent – can suddenly draw haunting portraits, and there’s a girl always standing in the corner of her room at night.

Even though there are horror and gothic threads in this book, long-time fans of Vikki’s should know that they’re still getting a gritty novel from this beloved author who is celebrated for her gut-punching YA – because she knows that speculative-fiction without relatable backbone means nothing. Vikki takes the haunting and uses it as an extension of Grace’s grief and denial over her mother’s death, as well as her uneasiness over growing up and apart from her core group of friends. There were times when I felt like maybe there were one-two-many metaphoric ideas happening – between the death of Grace’s mum, and her friendship dramas, as well as Grace’s own mental health questions – but by the end all of these narratives were bought together rather neatly for a satisfying, if haunting conclusion.

Vikki Wakefield is one of the most creative and daring authors writing for young adults today. Ballad for a Mad Girl is an Aussie YA Gothic tale that smartly uses the supernatural to explore the depths of grief and growing up, and the pain to be found in both. This is a caring and keening novel, creepy but tender and wholly marvellous.

5/5

'Inbetween Days' by Vikki Wakefield

From the Blurb:

At seventeen, Jacklin Bates is all grown up. She’s dropped out of school. She’s living with her runaway sister, Trudy, and she’s in secret, obsessive love with Luke, who doesn’t love her back. She’s stuck in Mobius—a dying town with the macabre suicide forest its only attraction—stuck working in the roadhouse and babysitting her boss’s demented father.

A stranger sets up camp in the forest and the boy next door returns; Jack’s father moves into the shed and her mother steps up her campaign to punish Jack for leaving, too. Trudy’s brilliant façade is cracking and Jack’s only friend, Astrid, has done something unforgivable.

Jack is losing everything, including her mind. As she struggles to hold onto the life she thought she wanted, Jack learns that growing up is complicated—and love might be the biggest mystery of all.

‘InbetweenDays’ is the new contemporary YA novel from Australian author, Vikki Wakefield.

It’s taken me so long to get around to writing a proper review of this book because a lot of crazy things have been happening lately and I’ve found myself getting so busy … I had to come back and do a re-read of Wakefield’s new gem before I could sit down to write a proper review, and in doing so I re-discovered a little slice of literary calm in the midst of my hectic waking life. A novel to take me completely out of myself; enjoying eating up Wakefield’s richly imagined small-town and the complex fighting character of Jacklin Bates – and I’m reminded all over again of what a captivating author Vikki Wakefield is.

‘Inbetween Days’ is about Jack, who has a complicated relationship with her sister and the boy she wants more from. Jack lives in a town that has a ‘suicide forest’, where people frequently go to die, and I particularly adored the town of Mobius – a setting that’s as rich and complex as the characters and impacts on them a lot. Mobius begs the question; what does it do to a town that’s a dead-end (literally) for so many people?

Morning arrived late to our town and night came early; it was ten by the time the sun made it over Pryor Ridge and around four when it ducked behind Mount Moon. Everything in Mobius stretched to reach the light: we built out houses on stilts, our trees grew tall and spindly, our shadows were long.

Now, tell me that little description doesn’t have the ring of Harper Lee to it?

Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.

(P.S. – that’s one of my all time favourite slices of writing, from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’)

This novel has Vikki Wakefield covering a lot of new territory – a real break away from ‘Friday Brown’ and ‘All I Ever Wanted’. For one, she really delves into matters of “romance” which were glancing blows in her first two books – in ‘Inbetween Days’ there’s a love triangle of sorts (a very Vikki Wakefield triangle, to be sure) and I’ve got to say I particularly appreciated reading sexual politics being negotiated by Wakefield’s Jack, a young woman who is piecing together the difference between sexual desire and true intimacy.

I also loved the dynamic of Jack’s relationship to her sister, Trudy, who she has moved in with after dropping out of school. Mim in ‘All I Ever Wanted’ may have had some dubiously strapping older brothers, and Friday Brown had what started as an oddly sisterly-sick relationship with Arden, but in ‘Inbetween Days’ Wakefield really delves into this tricky familial bond with fascinating results;

Trudy lunged. She grabbed my arm and dragged me off the bed. I hit the floor, bellowing. Trudy hauled me up from behind, digging her fingers into my armpits and shoving me along in front of her like a sack of manure. At the bathroom door she gave me one hard shove. While I leaned over the basin, she ran the shower.She elbowed me in, fully clothed, without waiting for the water to run hot.

I loved reading Jack and Trudy scenes – there’s something visceral in Wakefield’s writing them, I can practically taste the adrenaline when they corner each other like that.

But there are also many aspects to ‘Inbetween Days’ that make this a wholly beautiful Vikki Wakefield book. Like, for instance, the writing of marginalised characters from lower socio-economic backgrounds. I think when youth literature talks about ‘We Need Diverse Books’, it’s often racial and sexual diversity that gets talked about the most – but really all kinds of diverse characters are needed, and a rather insidious common portrayal of white middle-class characters often pervades youth lit. Wakefield doesn’t hold to that – she constantly challenges with her books. In all three she has written characters who are struggling – they don’t have a fixed address (like Friday and her mother) or they’re in constant trouble with the law (Mim’s family in ‘All I Ever Wanted’). This is explored again in ‘Inbetween Days’, with drop-out Jack whose regional town is dying so thoroughly that she finds herself without a job … Wakefield’s characters remain some of the truest and most vital to modern Australian young adult literature.

‘Inbetween Days’ is Australian YA gothic. It’s at times bleak and tender, with touches of romance threaded with heartache, all playing out in a town that’s dead and dying. As anyone who has read a Vikki Wakefield novel knows, it’s near impossible to completely summarise her stories; save to say it’s another ‘must-read’ from one of Australia’s best young adult authors writing today.

5/5  

Reading Matters 2013 - The Reception

This weekend it was my absolute delight to attend the 10th biennial Reading Matters, hosted by the State Library’s Centre for Youth Literature. For those who don’t know, Reading Matters is Australia’s leading youth literature event – where local and overseas authors mix with their young readers in school’s day events, followed by a two day conference with teachers, librarians, teacher-librarians and other industry professionals. It’s epic. 

This was my first ever Reading Matters and I honestly didn’t know quite what to expect . . .  I knew that I loved the author line-up and the topics to be covered (everything from gate keeping to gender identity) piqued my interest. But I went along to the reception on Thursday night a little bit nervous and timid, afraid people would think that, as a blogger, I was encroaching on a professional space (then I felt a bit pretentious, having ‘Alpha Reader’ on my name-badge, like I was throwing a gauntlet down amongst all these fellow bookish types. I’m surprised nobody challenged me to a read-off). 

But, actually, quite a few people chastised me when I introduced myself as “just a blogger.” And then any nerves I had dissipated when I started talking to the authors. 

I got to meet Ambelin Kwaymullina, who I've long admired since reading (and loving) ‘The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf’ and interviewing her for Kill Your Darlings. I got the low-down on ‘Ashala Wolf’ #2 (due out in November) – and have been promised big revelations and a wee bit of romance. 

And then there were my other favourite Aussie authors – Gabrielle Williams, Vikki Wakefield, Fiona Wood and Myke Bartlett. All four are currently working on new books and spoke a bit about them– everybody, watch this space because there are some amazing stories coming our way! 

It was also my great pleasure to meet Jess, of Tales Compendium fame and a fellow blogger who became my conference bestie (bloggers, unite!). If you haven’t already, do check out her blog for some thoughtful and killer reviews (and because I think she might have a few giveaways up her sleeve following Reading Matters. . . ) 

I also got to meet Libba Bray and Gayle Forman at the reception (after spending a good hour quasi-stalking them around the room, then eventually getting the nerve to ask someone to introduce us). You guys. You GUYS! – these two are like rock stars. I’m not kidding. They’re cool like rockers, and they swear like sailors (I do believe Tim Sinclair even taught Gayle Forman some special Aussie profanity – like she needed more?). And they are horrendously hilarious – I thought they were funny individually, but get them together and it’s awesome-sauce. They are like the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler of the young adult scene . . . .don’t even get me started on what they said after we introduced them to the word ‘spunk’ (in reference to an attractive individual). I'm such a huge fan of both Libba and Gayle - and it was just the best thing to meet them and become even bigger fans of them as people, not just authors. 

 

And it was pretty cool when Centre For Youth Literature Program Coordinator, Adele Walsh (also known as Persnickety Snark) offered Gayle Forman an ‘If I Stay’ casting idea – Australian heart-throb, Brenton Thwaites . . . and the very next day Gayle actually mentioned him in a movie-news tumblr post! Argh! It’s like we were present to hear (possible) movie magic happening!

So, that was the Reading Matters reception; swilling wine, hanging out with some formidable authors and feeling an electric buzz in the air for what tomorrow would bring . . . 

. . . Notes on the 2-day conference will be posted soon!

In conversation with Vikki Wakefield and Fiona Wood, recap: 'Caterpillars and Underdogs'

 

I had my biggest bookish day on Tuesday; attending the Melbourne Writers Festival ‘Meet Melina Marchetta’ talk, stumbling upon the ‘Hard Lines’ discussion between Vikki Wakefield and Julia Lawrinson and then attending a very special event at the State Library, hosted by the Centre for Youth Literature. This event was a conversation between Fiona Wood and Vikki Wakefield, concentrating on Vikki’s new (brilliant!) novel ‘Friday Brown’. I should stress that this was not a Melbourne Writers Festival event, it was just a lovely little additional treat put on by the Centre for Youth Literature, who actually do lots of fabulous author events, and everyone should keep checking their What’s On page.

In the lead-up to the talk I was calling it ‘Wakefield & Wood’ and envisioning them as characters in a cozy mystery series about two female authors/sleuths … but my mind goes off on bizarre little tangents like that. It was in fact a lovely, heartfelt discussion between two of my favourite new voices in Aussie YA literature, talking about one of my favourite novels of 2012. By the end of their conversation I decided I desperately needed to re-read ‘Friday Brown’ and start peeling back some of the layers that were unearthed between them … since Tuesday I’ve still been thinking about what was discussed between Vikki and Fiona, and I’ve since started thinking of the discussion as ‘Caterpillars and Underdogs’, for reasons that should become apparent in my recap. So, here it goes…

•    Fiona asked if Vikki writes with a young adult audience in mind, and Vikki said she doesn’t. It’s partly to do with the fact that, when she was growing up, there wasn’t such a vibrant Young Adult reading culture as there is now. Vikki said she went from reading Hilda Boswell’s disturbing omnibus of tales (like ‘The Little March Girl’) to Elyne Mitchell’s ‘Silver Brumby’ series, and then careening towards Jack London. So she made a giant leap in her younger reading habits, and as such still hasn’t become quite imbedded in that YA ‘culture’, so doesn’t write for it.

•    Vikki pointed out that, unlike many authors, she wasn’t a writer when she was younger. She took a long time to get where she is today, but has since decided that she has definitely found her “thing.” She later said that she wrote ‘All I Ever Wanted’ between the hours of 8pm and midnight, after the kids had gone to bed and her husband had passed out watching TV on the couch. After the book’s release (and success!) Vikki decided to take a ‘gap year’ … which has now extended into 2 years, in which she has found a writing routine and now scribbles away between 10am – 2pm.

•    Now onto discussions of ‘Friday Brown’… Vikki spoke a little about the process of writing the novel (which she has famously said began with Chapter 28, and then went forwards, backwards and every which direction!). Really fascinating to discover that the prologue to ‘Friday Brown’ was written last, and before she wrote it there was no curse, or quite so much history ... so because of the prologue, which quite nicely bought everything together, Vikki had to go back and completely re-write the whole book. But Vikki didn’t seem fazed by this massive overhaul; she said her books often have to ‘break’ before she can fix them. And even in her final draft with her editor (who was sitting next to me in the audience, and was nodding her head vigorously agreeing with Vikki’s recounting of events) she actually changed the tense in the final draft. Fiona bemoaned that there’s no quick-fix button to go through and change an entire manuscript from first-person point-of-view to third, and Vikki agreed it was a huge re-edit (but a necessary one). Again, she maintains that her novels have to be broken before she can fix them.

•    Vikki again touched on the fact that she likes writing an underdog (as she mentioned in her ‘Hard Lines’ talk). She creates an underdog by taking away either wealth, status, beauty etc … but she admits Friday Brown was perhaps the most downtrodden underdog, having lost her mother and finding herself living on the streets (and at Arden’s mercy). But Vikki finds it interesting to see a character come back from that, seeing them rise above their underdog status and become something more. Vikki also said she “gets a kick out of leading characters astray.”

•    Fiona picked up on a mother connection between both ‘All I Ever Wanted’ and ‘Friday Brown’, wherein the absence (or imperfections?) of Mim and Friday’s mums have a lot of influence on the protagonists. Vikki agreed, and said that in both books Mim and Friday have to shatter their childish ideas of their mothers in order to go forward in life (When Vikki said that, I kept hearing that Corinthians quote in my head: “I put away childish things”). But then Vikki made a point of clarifying that her own mother is lovely, and she should really write a book with a wonderful mother character and dedicate it to her.

•    Fiona asked if Vikki plans her novels, and she replied that her story ideas always start with a clear plan, but then go pear-shaped. Like with ‘All I Ever Wanted’, for example. That was supposed to be a book about Mim getting out, escaping her home. But then Vikki started writing characters around Mim who she actually really liked and the plan went out the window.

•    More ‘Friday Brown’ talk, Vikki said that when she started writing Arden, she really liked her. But at some point in the writing she knew that Arden had to be nasty, and then embraced that. Arden is now the most horrible character she has ever written (very true!) Vikki also said that Arden’s character really started to take form when she decided she’d have dreadlocks and an animal-like quality, certain viciousness. About this point Fiona commented that the subtle power-plays Arden orchestrates with the other runaway girl’s hair was very clever, and Vikki said she hadn’t even made the Samson & Delilah biblical connection until just recently. She did say that the idea for Arden to have long, dreadlocked hair and then insist that the others cut theirs off came from Vikki observing how much of female sexuality and identity is caught up in hair. Vikki also said that Arden was based on an old school friend of Vikki’s, who was very much into power-plays (particularly using her sexuality to mess with people).

•    Fiona bought up the very unconventional families that Vikki wrote in both her books, and where they came from. Vikki said that they came from her own life, particularly when she was a teenager observing her friend’s broken families where things like drug abuse, physical abuse and teen pregnancy were everyday occurrences. At the time, Vikki’s home life was the most stable of all her friends (and didn’t break until she was older, when her parents divorced).

•    Vikki spoke about two characters in ‘Friday Brown’ who were also very unconventional, and hard to write. Silence (who she loves, and I do too!) doesn’t speak because his father once stepped on his throat when he was younger, and now it hurts to talk. Vikki said that when she started writing Silence, he just didn’t speak to her and she had to write around that and give him emotion without giving him a voice. Likewise, Friday’s mother Vivenne is key to the story and Friday’s life – but she’s dead for the entire book. So Vikki had one character who didn’t speak, and one who was dead but both had to still live on the page. It comes together, I think (and as Vikki pointed out) that Friday has only ever loved one person in her life, and that’s her mother Vivienne…and then she meets Silence, and she finds a second person to love. So these two unconventional (one silent, the other dead) characters gained a life in the story simply for being tethered to Friday in a very profound way (that’s how I think of it, anyway).

•    With regards to setting the second half of ‘Friday Brown’ in a wonderfully creepy outback ghost town, Vikki said she was very much drawing on her own experiences. When she was fifteen-years-old (and without her parent’s permission) Vikki went camping with a bunch of older kids, to an abandoned town in South Australia called Beltana. In writing a ghost town in ‘Friday Brown’, Vikki wanted to evoke that moment her fifteen-year-old self saw Beltana arising out of the outback night, and her sinking feeling that she’d made a horrible mistake in agreeing to this trip. She said she had the thought “I could disappear and no one would know,” and then spent two nights in the cold, dusty ghost town with nothing but a pillow and blanket.

Beltana ghost town

•    In discussing the ghost town of the novel’s second half, Fiona commented that ‘Friday Brown’ is very much a Gothic novel. Vikki agreed, and said that she loves and is influenced by novelists like Flannery O’Connor, and books in which good people do bad things. Vikki also mentioned movies like ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Green Mile’, but particularly ‘Winter’s Bone’ as having a big influence over ‘Friday Brown’ (Vikki also said that if Jennifer Lawrence should be famous for anything it should be ‘Winter’s Bone’, and not for playing Katniss!)

•    Fiona made a few connections for Vikki, when she mentioned that in both ‘All I Ever Wanted’ and ‘Friday Brown’ some very pivotal scenes occur on towers and at great heights (Vikki admitted she has a fear of heights!). Fiona also commented that Mim and Friday both faced mortal danger barefoot! Vikki hadn’t even noticed these things, but concedes it must be a pattern in her (her very own inner-caterpillar? More on that in a moment!) and that she likes putting her characters in physical peril. Fiona also wondered if these moments of physical peril can be attributed to the two professions Vikki said she would choose to do, had she not been a writer – either “a demolition expert on ‘Mythbusters’. Or a stunt designer on ‘Jackass’. Or a ninja on Prank Patrol”

•    Fiona asked Vikki if morality is important to her, in her stories and Vikki said definitely. Vikki herself has a strong sense of what’s right and what's wrong, and while her stories don’t necessarily have strong resolutions, she definitely writes up until her character is alright and in a good place, at least.

•    The question of how Vikki first got published was asked (always an appreciated question) and Vikki said she submitted the first page of her manuscript to a Writers Festival that had a panel critiquing them. Hers was picked up by a publisher (not Text, interestingly) and it snow-balled from there after she received a bit of interest and some great feedback.

•    Then it was question time from the audience, and I put my hand up (clearly I was feeling confident after asking a question of Melina Marchetta earlier in the day!). I very inarticulately asked why Vikki thinks it’s important for her young characters to save themselves – that in both her novels, the plot would have been very different (Friday’s particularly, had the storyline with her father had gone another way…) if her young character had more interaction with the adults in their lives. Vikki replied that she again draws from her own life, and when she was younger nobody was saving her (especially not adults, partly because she didn’t tell her parents half the stuff she was doing!). Vikki feels that her characters need to be unsafe, both physically and emotionally. She also said that adults are important in both Mim and Friday's lives (Vivienne especially) but part of that underdog theme is that those adults aren't saviors, the girls have to save themselves.

•    Somebody asked Vikki if the focus on homelessness in ‘Friday Brown’ was also her writing from life, and while Vikki admitted she had never lived in a squat, the abandoned house that features in the novel was a real place where she stayed for a night. She remembered that house because there were newspapers stacked everywhere, and stuck to the walls

•    The final question for the night was perhaps the most interesting, and a nice one to cap-off this wonderful discussion. In ‘Friday Brown’, Friday is fascinated by this factoid about caterpillars in the Arctic who can only eat so much during the summer period, and then freeze themselves during winter before pupating and becoming a moth. Friday thinks it’s amazing that the caterpillar will maybe panic that it can only eat so much during summer (may even worry that it's going to starve to death!) only to have its body freeze itself for protection, and later emerge a moth. Vikki was asked if all that was true, and Vikki promised it was and she researched it. She said she loved the idea of things being packed into our DNA that we don’t even know what they do until they’re called on to help us. I really loved that idea too, and in hindsight I think it’s a wonderful ongoing metaphor/theme in both of Vikki’s books – that these broken characters aren’t quite sure what they’re capable of until the time comes for them to prove themselves (often from great heights).

I have since researched and (not that I ever doubted!) found that Vikki was telling the truth. For the record, it’s the Banded Woolly Bear caterpillar, which turns into the Isabella Tiger Moth.

Melbourne Writers Festival recap: 'Hard Lines' with Vikki Wakefield and Julia Lawrinson

One of the reasons I love Melbourne Writers Festival? You can walk out of one session, spy another author you love and decide to follow and let them lead you to another equally enchanting event . . .  that’s what happened to me on Tuesday. I had just finished the ‘Meet Melina Marchetta’ talk and went down to the signing area, where I spied Vikki Wakefield dashing to the Yarra Building for the ‘Hard Lines’ discussion with Julia Lawrinson.

Being a big fan of both Vikki Wakefield and Julia Lawrinson, of course I decided to follow her to ‘Hard Lines’, an interesting event described by MWF as: The teenage characters in novels by Julia Lawrinson and Vikki Wakefield often face hard, sometimes life-changing, decisions. See how two authors find hope in a world that is all too real and where there are no easy answers. The event was chaired by the lovely Adele Walsh, from the Centre for Youth Literature.

•    Julia Lawrinson began by saying that she had the beginnings of the ideas for ‘Losing It’ after reading negative reviews of Melvin Burgess’s ‘Doing It’ – in which teenage boy’s wise-cracked foul about their exploits both imagined and underwhelming. Julia really loved the book, but thought a particularly cruel review of it was completely missing the point. She especially thought about how girls have the same experiences with regards to sex and ‘Losing It’, but people seem to think writing about it is crass or taboo. So in describing what her book is about, Julia funnily admitted that it actually sounds like “a YA version of American Pie” (a few school kids in the audience perked up at this description) but then she promised that it wasn't all about "exploding penises." HA!

•    Vikki Wakefield wasn’t sure how to describe her new book, ‘Friday Brown’ – so enticingly said it’s about street kids who take over a ghost town. Julia Lawrinson chimed in, as a fan of the book, to say it’s about a lot more than that but to even attempt to describe the explosive second-half would be to spoil the story . . . Julia did point out that the cover itself is a spoiler. I love the ‘Friday Brown’ front cover, and I especially loved when Vikki agreed that the cover is an “omen” (YES!) and actually based around events in Chapter 28, which is also the section of the book that Vikki started writing first.

•    Talk of Vikki’s cover moved Adele to mention that around the office she was calling ‘Losing It’ the ‘sperm hearts’ cover – which got many giggles from the school crowd . . . and then a delayed-reaction about five minutes later, when someone (I think it was a teacher?) let out a little “Oooooohhhhh!” when they ‘got’ it. Adele and I were actually talking to Julia about her very distinctive front cover before the session started, and she described how the Penguin design department asked her many questions about what her characters looked like (details right down to their hair colour, eye colour) but they set all that aside to create a very distinctive (and, frankly, quite succinct) front cover instead. But, hey, it works!

•    Vikki spoke a lot about how she likes to write underdog characters. Really, characters only become interesting for her when they are underdogs – when you take away something like wealth, status, beauty and let them struggle with the lack. Friday Brown is really the ultimate underdog though, because Vikki took away her mother, had her living on the streets and at the mercy of a dangerous surrogate street mother. But Vikki really likes underdogs because their transformation to a strong individual by the end of the book is made all the more interesting for the struggles that came before. . .

•    I found it really intriguing that in ‘Losing It’, Julia set out to write about female sexuality and just girls in general, in a new and non-cliché way. She doesn’t like reading about one-dimensional girls who are just there as ‘objects’ on the page.

•    On the subject of romance – Vikki Wakefield admitted to being a ‘tease’ when it comes to writing relationships. She thinks that the moment a couple get together, they stop being interesting – so she tends to write everything leading up to that point, and then veer away.

 

 [left to right] Vikki Wakefield, Adele Walsh and Julia Lawrinson talking 'Hard Lines'

•    There was one really thoughtful question asked towards the end, concerning the TV show ‘Puberty Blues’ and the fact that the book it is based on was released in 1979. Vikki and Julia were asked if they think teenage girls have changed a whole lot between 1979 and now. Vikki made the fantastic comment that the TV show creators have changed the intent (and impact?) of the original novel quite a bit, by making the characters in the TV show 16 when they’re actually 13 in the books. Julia agreed, and said that 13-year-olds are very much doing all those confronting, questionable things and raising the age is maybe a bit sanitizing? But Vikki also said that she truly believes girls today are stronger. She doesn’t know what it is or how it came about, but girls have found a new strength from somewhere that was maybe missing for them in the 70s.

•    One school-boy put his hand up and asked the obvious of Julia – did she have a pact of her own when she was younger, like the girls in ‘Losing It’ do? I think the audience were very surprised that Julia admitted that she did indeed have a pact as a teenager – and, of course, everyone wanted to know more (the boy who asked the question said to be as detailed as possible). Julia recounted a rather hilarious story, much like the opening chapter of ‘Losing It’, which involved her climbing into the backseat of an ugly, small car with a boy . . . but ending up on her knees, praying with him that she wouldn’t get pregnant from their interlude. HA! I think the audience (pupils especially, while their teachers hid smiles behind hands?) were utterly enthralled by the enthusiasm and high hilarity of the ‘Hard Lines’ session. Julia, Vikki and Adele all bounced off one another so beautifully . . . and that wonderful repartee led into the final surreal moment of ‘Hard Lines’. . .

•    Both Julia and Vikki were introduced at the beginning of the seminar as having a small cosmic connection – which was that they had both been check-out chicks at one point in their lives (they mentioned that they both had the opportunity to closely study people and watch the world go by in that job, because customers generally didn’t think of their check-out chicks as ‘people’ they revealed some true colours and quirks around them). However, by the end of the session another connection was uncovered – Julia recently discovered (through an unsuccessful Facebook search) that her first boyfriend had spent 25-years in jail. Vikki found out that an ex of hers had been accused (not convicted?) with attempted murder! I think this was also a little insight into how differently Vikki and Julia’s lives could have been had they continued on the hedonistic paths of their adolescence . . . a path that they now both write about in their very tough, very true books but both seem quite happy to have deviated from.

 Vikki Wakefield, me and Julia Lawrinson (two of the nicest, funniest authors I have met at MWF!)

Interview with Vikki Wakefield, author of 'Friday Brown'

Last year I discovered a new favourite author after reading Vikki Wakefield's debut, 'All I Ever Wanted'. I was completely transfixed by her young adult novel, set in a suburban minefield and featuring a tough protagonist with big dreams called Mim. So I was over-the-moon to learn that Wakefield'd second novel would be released this year. I had high hopes for 'Friday Brown', and Wakefield outdid herself on every single one of them.

If you're a fan of Vikki Wakefield, can I also recommend that you book in to attend the FREE Centre for Youth Literature event with Vikki Wakefield and Fiona Wood (another fabulous new voice in Aussie YA!). It's happening on Tuesday 28 August. For more info, click here.

 And now, without further ado - Vikki Wakefield! 

❦

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

This is going to sound backward, but the first lines I wrote for Friday Brown were from the seminal scenes in Chapter 28 (which will mean nothing to anyone who hasn’t read it). The entire story evolved from the water-tank scene and the first line from that chapter was written over three years ago. Of course, there were long periods of inactivity while I worked on other things, but it feels like I’ve been writing this book forever.

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’m a plotter in my head and a pantser on the page. I don’t start writing until I know my characters (usually after I’ve drawn them and daydreamed about them) and I have a clear idea of the direction of the story. The dreaming stage can last months. When I start to write, the characters take over—I have to trash my synopsis and start from scratch because they always end up straying from my script. This surprises and terrifies me every time it happens.

I wrote All I Ever Wanted in quite a linear fashion, but Friday Brown was like piecing together a big, ugly patchwork quilt. The prologue was written after I’d already completed the first draft and, as you can imagine, it coloured the rest of the story. I had to rewrite much of the book. To top that off, I changed tense during the structural edit. I pretty much do everything the hard way, but I’m always sure of the final scene—if I don’t have that I have nothing.

Q: Did you start writing with a conscious decision to make ‘Friday Brown’ young adult, or did that evolve naturally? Do you write with an audience in mind?

Great question. It’s one I’ve asked myself and it’s only recently that I’ve been able to answer it with any clarity. I don’t think I write for young adults at all—I just write about them. If I wrote an adult novel I’m confident my style wouldn’t change. I’m not conscious of deliberately shifting gears to suit an audience and I’m trying to remain as ignorant about the rules of genre as I was when I first started to write. That way I’ll never be scared to tell the story I’m trying to tell.

Q: You had such fantastic success with your first book ‘All I Ever Wanted’. How have things changed the second time round? Was it easier to pen this second book than the first?

It was much more difficult to write Friday Brown. I had deadlines and expectations and the sense that I wasn’t only writing for myself this time. On the upside, I had more knowledge and the compulsion to write was just as strong as ever. When it’s just me and the page, I write well. It’s never easy, but I probably wouldn’t do it if it was.

Q: I feel like you don’t write ‘traditional’ love stories in your novels. Thinking of the Jordan Mullen crush/reality for Mim, or the fact that in ‘Friday Brown’ it’s the friendship between Friday and Silence that comes to mean more. It’s nice to read these sorts of ‘skewed’, nontraditional romances, because so many YA books these days only present one type of romantic love. What makes you write those unconventional, unusual ‘connections’ between your characters? What is it that you find fascinating about them?

I suppose I remember being so wrong about people as a teenager—as if I’d created my own skewed reality—that, in a way, I’m selfishly rediscovering the relationships that should have mattered more to me back then. But the heart wants what the heart wants, even if a person is bad for you (and even if you know it).

Romantic love is a wonderful thing, but neither Mim nor Friday is ready for it. Love for a guy shouldn’t save you, or define you—it’s the payoff that comes when two people are ready and deserving of each other. That’s why Wish (Spoiler Alert!) is only a fleeting character. He’s perfect for Friday, but she’s not ready for him. Friday Brown isn’t their story at all—Wish is just the hint of a new beginning. I meant for this novel to be a love story, but not the kind you might expect.

Q: ‘Friday Brown’ really, heartbreakingly, delves into life on the streets. Did you do any kind of research into homelessness or runaways for this novel?

I’ve spoken with youth workers and street kids, but most of my writing comes from truth and memories, from the people and places I remember. I’ve slept rough and bunked down in a squat, I’ve roamed the city at night and spent freezing nights huddled around a campfire, but I’ve always had the safety of family to go back to. I won’t ever truly understand what it means to be lost.

I think many people who haven’t experienced homelessness believe these kids choose to live on the street, that it’s all about rebellion or a quest for freedom. For most street kids, homelessness is a bid to save themselves. Yes, sometimes there are drugs or crime involved, but often a deep distrust of adults and authority lies at the heart of their reasons for leaving home.

Q: The characters of Mim and Friday are really sticking with me, long after reading. I wonder what it’s like for you – as their creator? Do you still think of Mim and Friday, and the characters around them even though their novels are out and ‘done’ now? Do you ever get the urge to revisit them?

I think about them all the time. They pop in and out at the worst possible times. I think, as time passes, a book drifts further from a writer, and so do the characters. I’m less connected to them, but they never really leave me. If you asked which book is my favourite, it will always be the last one I’ve written, because I’m closer to it.

Q: Favourite author(s) of all time?

I’m going to change the question slightly, otherwise the list would be too long. I always think my favourite writer is the author of the last great book I’ve read (that would create a very modern list), and I always forget somebody.

The authors I’ve read at exactly the right time in my life (some very early on) and who have infected me with a love of language and storytelling: Maurice Sendak, Colin Thiele, Bruce Dawe, Robert Cormier, Jack London, S E Hinton, Edgar Allan Poe, Melina Marchetta, Tim Winton, Flannery O’Connor and Annie Proulx. There are so, so many more.

Q: Favourite book(s)?

At the moment it’s Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt (see, the last book always makes the list). I loved this book.

Hilda Boswell’s Omnibus – an anthology of classics with the creepiest illustrations. I credit this book with my early realisation that bad things happen to kids and sometimes they freeze to death in the snow holding a fistful of matches—but there’s beauty in that. Somewhere.

Everything written by the authors I’ve listed above.

Q: What advice do you have for budding young writers?

There’s a reason most writers give similar advice: read, write, read, writewriteWRITE. It works. Don’t confuse rejection with failure; remind yourself that experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

With your first draft, try to write at least one line in every chapter that you’re convinced has never been written before. When you rewrite, do the same thing for every page. When I’m reading, I find that those lines can make the difference between a mediocre book and an extraordinary one.

Q: What are you working on now, and when can we get our hands on it?

I’ve started two YA novels, but I’m in the daydreaming phase right now. I’ll have to make a choice between them, depending on whose voice sings loudest. I’ll let you know when I hit the synopsis-shredding phase—then it’s game on.