Small-scalemagic
BY DAPHNE LEEMAGIC or Madness author Justine Larbalestier (pic) is the most exciting fantasy writer to emerge from Australia since Garth Nix. In an e-mail interview with Star Mag, the Sydney-born novelist talks about her work, her husband and just exactly what inspires her.
 |
MAGIC or Madness author Justine Larbalestier |
Many ideas that started Magic or Madness were bubbling in my head. One of the secrets of writing is that it takes at least two ideas to write a story. One is only enough for a limerick and sometimes not even that. For a novel you definitely need at least two. The main ideas that M or M grew out of were:
1) The things that bugged me about a handful of fantasy books. In most fantasy novels it’s very easy to tell who are the good guys and who, the bad. A large part of the reason I’m so fond of writers like Ursula Le Guin and Robin Hobb is that their worlds are much more complex than that – there’s a lot more grey. I wanted to write a trilogy where you couldn’t be certain who was good or who bad, or who to trust.
2) How magic would really work and the conflict it could cause. I was also determined to write a fantasy where the fate of the entire world wasn’t in the balance. A small-scale fantasy with small-scale magic. Books in which magic has no cost are very irritating. It seems so unlikely to me. If magic really existed surely it would require a vast deal of energy. Where would that energy come from? I got to thinking about that and the magic system of the Magic or Madness trilogy was the result.
3) Sydney and New York City. Magic or Madness is set in Sydney and New York City, the two cities I know best. And over the past few years I’ve spent a lot of time travelling back and forth between them and wishing there was a door I could open and instantly be in one or the other, which would be so much better than (spending) 24 hours on a plane!
Most of the Sydney sections of the book were written in New York City and San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. It was a great way of combating homesickness.
You took just nine weeks to write the book. Tell us what it was like.
My husband (sci-fi novelist) Scott Westerfeld and I were in Mexico for three months. We rented two different houses in San Miguel de Allende, a smaller one for the first two months, and a bigger one for the last month, when we had friends and relatives visiting us. Both houses had a housekeeper; not only did they keep the place spotless, cook, wash our clothes, replace light bulbs, but they were also a gas to hang out with, teasing me mercilessly and telling outrageously good stories.
Anyway, it’s dead easy to get writing done when you’re not doing any housework, you don’t know anyone, there’s no TV and no internet. Now that I know this, I am not even slightly impressed by Charles Dickens’ output. Without a housekeeper and with TV and internet it took me much longer to write the sequel, Magic Lessons.
Who is your favourite character in the book? Why?
 |
What or who inspires your writing?
So many different people and places. As I said Sydney and New York definitely inspired Magic or Madness. My husband has been very inspiring in improving my work ethic. He works so hard and with such discipline that it’s hard not to do the same thing. Especially as we almost always write in the same room!
My parents always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted, always told me everything I wrote was fabulous, and kept me supplied with books. I’ve also been inspired by my favourite books and by writer teachers and friends who’ve critiqued and encouraged my writing over the years.
Were you an avid reader as a child? What sort of books did you like?
When my family were living in a remote area of the Northern Territory (in Australia) I would get twitchy and difficult to be with when I ran out of books, so they went to great lengths to keep me supplied. I read pretty much everything. When I was very little I was obsessed with Enid Blyton. The Folk of the Faraway Tree was the very first book I read on my own.
I loved The Magic Pudding and anything by Patricia Wrightson, or Ursula Le Guin, or Susan Cooper, or Rosemary Sutcliffe. I also went through a Nancy Drew, Angelique, Conan the Barbarian, Three Investigators and Hardy Boys stage. I was also obsessed by books about myths and legends and fairy tales. I especially adored Andrew Lang’s Coloured Fairy Books. Basically I would read any book I could get my hands on.
Do you still read children’s and young adult books?
Yes. I stopped reading them when I was around 12 because I decided I was far too grown up and sophisticated and would only read adult books from then on. Then in my 20s, a good friend, Lawrence Schimel, gave me Philip Ridley’s In the Eyes of Mr Fury, which I adored without realising it was a young adult book. He then loaned me a whole stack of M.E. Kerr books and many others I forget the names of.
Anyway I was off – have been reading young adult and children’s chapter books ever since. Clearly, I’m much less sophisticated now then I was at 12! I didn’t discover Diana Wynne Jones or Margaret Mahy until I was an adult. Now they’re two of my most favourite writers.
Why do you think fantasy novels are so popular these days?
I think Harry Potter (both the books and films) and the Lord of the Rings movies have a great deal to do with it, but I’m not convinced fantasy has ever not been popular. So many classic children’s books are fantasies: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Charlotte’s Web, The Magic Pudding, Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and Tarzan, just to name a few.
Do you read a lot of fantasy? What kind do you like and why?
I read tons of fantasy. It is probably my favourite genre, though I use the term very broadly. I consider Angela Carter, Elizabeth Knox, Isak Dinesen and Lisa St Aubin de Teran (all of them wonderful, wonderful writers) and a host of others who are usually classified as mainstream or “literary” writers to be fantasists.
I love reading books that take me to places I’ve never been before (in place or time). Dorothy Dunnett, Sarah Waters and Geraldine McCaughrean (who writes wonderful children’s books as well as amazing adult historicals) are favourites. So are Robin Hobb and Georgette Heyer.
Is it a problem getting Australian children to read? Why do you think kids read so much less these days?
I’m not convinced kids do read less these days. Sure there are computer games and other distractions. But I was distracted by TV as a kid – I watched lots of it, and still managed to read heaps too. I’ve seen kids who love computer games read the novelisations of the game, and then get into other books. Also, I’m seeing lots of kids reading manga obsessively. Some manga is extraordinarily good.
Do you have children of your own? Do you believe in restricting children’s reading material?
I don’t, but fortunately lots of my friends do. I’d hate to live a child-free life. I don’t believe in blanket censorship, because it’s such an individual thing – some books that are a really bad idea for certain people to read are just fine for others.
I once babysat a brother and sister, who I told gory fairy stories to. They’d lap them up, but the brother would have terrible nightmares and not be able to sleep. But the stories didn’t affect his younger sister at all. I toned down the stories after that, but when the boy wasn’t around, I’d tell the sister the real version.
Do children/young adult books get a lot of press in Australia?
They seem to be getting a lot more press since the Harry Potter explosion. I suspect that’s the same all over. I’m very grateful to J.K. Rowling. She’s revolutionised children’s/young adult literature. The writers now get paid better and more attention because of her. I think she’s wonderful.
RSS
