Written by Specusphere | 30 June 2008

Alison Goodman holds a Master of Arts and teaches creative writing at postgraduate level. Her first book, Singing the Dogstar Blues, was a science-fiction comedy thriller. It won an Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel, was listed as a Children's Book Council Notable Book, and was shortlisted for the 1999 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction. In 2003 it was also published in the UK, Germany and the US and was in 2004 it was listed as an American Library Association Best Young Adult Book. Singing the Dogstar Blues is published in Australia by Harper Collins.

Alison has also written a comic thriller, Killing the Rabbit, published by Bantam in the US in 2007. She is currently working on a fantasy duology based on Imperial China. The first volume will be published in August of this year in Australia (by HarperCollins) and later in the year in the US (by Viking) and the UK (by Transworld).

SF:Alison, you are the author of three published works and they are all different genres. How did such a variety of ideas come to you?

AG: I’m definitely a writer who goes where the story takes me. I’m not particularly tied to writing in any one genre, so if a story idea happens to fit in the adventure/alternative world genre as in the case of The Two Pearls of Wisdom or Science Fiction like my first novel Singing the Dogstar Blues then I’ll investigate the conventions of that genre, but not feel bound to them. I think a lot of energy and depth in good genre writing can be found when a writer moves away from those conventions to create a unique take on the familiar genre expectations.

The idea for The Two Pearls of Wisdom came to me when I was researching my crime novel Killing the Rabbit. I was reading about the history of Feng Shui and came across a legend about an Emperor who ordered all his Feng Shui masters to build him a palace and then, once they’d completed it, had them all murdered. Talk about a tough contract! But that idea of wiping out a whole generation of masters exploded in my mind. I grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper, and ten minutes later I had the entire outline of The Two Pearls of Wisdom scribbled down. It was one of those fantastic times when something you read just sparks a cascade of workable ideas.

SF: What a wonderful and mysterious experience! And, speaking of the mysterious, it seems to me that the one thing your books have in common is a bent towards mystery and intrigue. Would you agree? Is this an aspect of plotting that particularly appeals to you?

AG: That is a big yes! I really enjoy reading books with well handled suspense and intrigue and I love creating enjoyable tension for my readers. I write my novels chronologically, from beginning to end without any deviations, in order to build that suspense. I believe that if I’m feeling the tension when I’m developing the story, then my readers will feel it too. My favourite quote about storytelling, attributed to Dickens, is “Make them laugh, make them cry, but above all make them wait.”

SF: Certainly The Two Pearls of Wisdom made me laugh and cry and wait, and I suspect it will have the same effect on teenagers and adults alike. You have written for both Adult and YA markets. Did you deliberately set out to write to these markets or was the publishers’ decisions to market the books in these slots?

AG: I wrote Singing the Dogstar Blues for the YA market, but I always had the feeling that it would cross-over to an adult readership very well, which it has – a lot of adults have written to tell me they love the book. Killing the Rabbit is very much an adult novel (a very, very adult novel) and was specifically written for the adult market. The Two Pearls of Wisdom is a pure cross-over novel and even when I was scribbling down that quick outline, I knew it was one of those resonant stories that would appeal to a wide audience.

SF: You are a creative writing lecturer as well as a writer. Do you see these as separate activities, or does one inform the other?

AG: I do find that teaching creative writing informs my own writing. It constantly reminds me of the craft and keeps my editing skills honed. On the flip side, teaching writing is also very time consuming and part of the struggle of surviving as a writer is to find the time to write, so it is probably not quite as good a marriage of activities as I first envisioned.

SF: Finding time to research must be hard, too, and you must have had to do a lot for your Eon duology. It's set in China, or at least an alternative world country very like China. How did your interest in China and other Asian cultures develop?

AG: I can trace my interest in Asian cultures straight back to the influence of my Japanese Aunt. She introduced my very Anglo Australian family to Japanese culture and something about it struck a very deep chord within me. I was fascinated by the strict etiquette, the bond with nature, and the search for beauty within every day life. From that interest, I explored aspects of other Asian cultures and was particularly drawn to the Eastern concepts of balance and luck. Both of those concepts are very important in The Two Pearls of Wisdom.

SF: Tell us a bit about how you came to decide on the setting for the duology and how you set about researching it.

AG: Although the idea for The Two Pearls of Wisdom was prompted by Chinese history/legend, I didn't want to make the setting for the novel a particular place or time. I wanted it to be a land of imagination so that I had the freedom to create what was needed to tell the story in the richest way possible. Having said that, I did do a great deal of research as a springboard for my world building. I was fortunate enough to travel to Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. I visited historical sites and took trips through the countryside to get a feel for the different use of space and the range of landscapes. I also trawled a lot of museums to see every-day artifacts, and, in some cases, I was even able to hold them to feel their weight and texture. I use a lot of sensory detail in my writing, so I find it very helpful to gather information from direct sensory experience. I also read a number of excellent books with subjects as diverse as the political influence of Chinese eunuchs in the Imperial Court, to a book about chakras. When I’m researching, I’m like a magpie hopping madly around picking up shiny bits of information that may or may not be woven into my world.

SF: The second part of the duology comes out in 2010, so I expect you are well into writing the book by now. What can we expect from you next?

AG: The sequel to The Two Pearls of Wisdom (called The Necklace of the Gods) is coming along very well. When I finish that, I have a ripper of a three book vampire/crime series ready to go. It is set in Melbourne and will, like Killing the Rabbit, be very, very adult. If all goes well, a sneak preview of that world will appear as a short story in a proposed anthology that is currently being put together by Marianne de Pierres and Lynne Jamneck.

SF: What are your future plans, career-wise? Do you intend to shift more towards writing or simply to fit it in around your teaching as the inspiration arises?

AG: I’ll probably always do some kind of teaching – more likely mentoring or postgraduate supervision – because I enjoy it so much, but I will be fitting it around my writing. I have always put my writing first and always will. It is my joy.

Alison's website is www.alisongoodman.com.au