Kate Gordon grew up in a very booky house, with two librarian parents, in a small town by the sea on the north-west coast of Tasmania. In 2009, Kate was the recipient of a Varuna writer’s fellowship. Her first book, Three Things About Daisy Blue – a young adult novel about travel, love, self-acceptance and letting go – was published in the Girlfriend series by Allen & Unwin in 2010. Now Kate lives with her husband and her very strange cat, Mephy Danger Gordon. Every morning, while Kate writes, Mephy Danger sits behind her on the couch with his tail curled around her neck. Kate was the recipient of a 2011 Arts Tasmania Assistance to Individuals grant, which means she can now spend more time losing herself in the world of Thylas and Sarcos. She is currently working on the sequel to Thyla.
You grew up in Tasmania, Kate, and continue to live there now. In what way do you think Tasmania’s geographic remoteness influences your work?
I think Tassie’s remoteness has definitely influenced my work – indirectly, at any rate. I think when you grow up in a place like Tasmania – particularly in a small town as I did – your imagination can take one of two paths. Either it can be closed off and limited and begin to imagine that wherever you live is all there is – that it’s the centre of the universe and nothing outside of it matters – or it can be sparked by the idea of what is outside of the small sphere you live in. one of my most embarrassing moments was when I met Isobelle Carmody, and I told her that (when I was really young), I thought her books were set on mainland Australia. I literally imagined that, outside of Tasmania, all of these magic worlds existed! She was very nice to me about it, thankfully! Lesser people might have had me thrown out of the book talk for being crazy! As I’ve grown up, I’ve learned more about Tasmania itself and all the parts of it that are unexplored and wild and that has really influenced my work. What is out there, in the forests, where nobody goes? We’re very luck living here. There aren’t many parts of the world that are unexplored. There’s an HP Lovecraft story called At the Mountains of Madness, that is set in Antarctica and imagines the lost worlds that could exist there, beyond what explorers had already mapped. Now, even Antarctica is all mapped out and known to us. I like the idea that there is still the “unknown” out there and I think it could very well be in Tasmania! On another level, growing up in a small town in Tasmania, you don’t really meet many other writers, so I guess that allows your writing to develop without outside influence. You can be a bit more creative in your approaches without other people telling you how to
do it!
Can you tell us a bit about your early days writing and the impact that winning the Varuna fellowship had on you and your career? Do you go on writers’ retreats or get involved in writing groups these days?
I think Varuna is a fabulous organisation and they provide many good opportunities for both beginning and experienced writers. For me, the Varuna experience was maybe not as beneficial as it would be for others. I’m a bit stubborn, really, and I kind of like to do things my way (just ask my husband). I’ve never really thrived in environments where I’m given a prescription for how to work – not saying that Varuna does that at all. I think I was just in a place with my writing where I was really certain of how I wanted to work. It probably wasn’t the right way, but it was what worked for me! I’d love the opportunity to do it again now! I do like being in writer’s groups, though. I like being around other people who “get” what it’s like to be a writer – how all-consuming it can be and how you can go a bit bonkers at times! I do like having my work critiqued and edited, too (even though that seems to go against my previous statement). I like having new eyes give me new ideas or directions. I love having an inspiring editor give me new ideas for the plot and character. There’s nothing better than working with a brilliant editor, and I’ve been very lucky so far in that respect! I’ve just never found a “technique” or “method” that works for me. That’s why I don’t really read writing books. I have friends (who are very good writers) who swear by them, but I find when someone tells me how to write, I can’t. It makes me anxious!
Thyla is set in Tassie, and is described as a dark piece of writing. Thyla was ‘found in the bush, ragged as a wild thing’, lacking any memory of how she acquired the ‘long, striping slashes across (her) back’. How did you get in the mindset to create this character and the mystery that surrounds her?
When I was writing it, I never saw Thyla as a dark work. I’m still not sure that I do! I like to think it’s funny and really light in places! Although the Diemens could definitely be construed as “dark” characters. I’m still not sure how I managed to create them. When I read about them, they even scare me! It wasn’t difficult for me to get into the mindset of Tessa. I’ve never really had trouble writing characters. Plot I have a problem with, but I find characters easy! I think a lot of it has to do with my training as an actor. I did a uni degree in performing arts and a lot of the work we did followed the teachings of Stanislavsky, or “method acting”, I guess. We were taught that it’s important to know your character inside out – what they have for breakfast; their favourite film; their first childhood memory … I guess I do the same thing with characters. It might sound a bit mental but, when I’m working on something, part of the character is always with me, and they have a lot of say in which direction a book goes in. That’s why I’ve never been able to really plan my books before I start, because if I do the characters tend to decide halfway through that they don’t like that plan and they want to go in a different direction. I kind of just let them do their thing and hope they don’t do something stupid! I once made a work colleague think I’d gone off the deep end by coming back from my break having obviously been crying. When she asked what was wrong I told her I’d been writing at lunch time and one of my favourite characters had died. She didn’t get why that upset me so much! She thought I was in control over whether characters lived or died and that I would have known in advance. I had a hard time convincing her that, sometimes, I have no idea in advance what characters are going to do!
Which of all your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?
That’s hard! It’s usually the character I’m working on at the time! At the moment I’m working on the third book in the Thyla series. It’s called Sarco and the main character is probably the most fun character I’ve ever written. She doesn’t take herself too seriously and she’d feisty and ballsy, and yet she’s also kind of insecure – when it comes to boys, especially. I’m really excited to see where her journey ends up! There’s a character in one of my manuscripts that hasn’t come out yet – her name is Molly – who is probably the closest in personality to me, and so she was the easiest to write and is probably the character I feel most strongly about. I hope people get to meet her one day! Daisy Blue and Paulina Gifford are both very close to my heart. They’re both based on different sides of me as a teenager and I spent a lot of time developing them. I hated each of them at various points and then fell in love with them again! And I do love Tessa, very much. She is so kind and sweet, but she has a fiery side to her, too, and a kooky sense of humour. Tessa is kind of the person I wish I could be! I once heard a writer say that asking her to pick her favourite character is like asking her to pick her favourite child. It’s impossible! That’s very much how it is for me, too!
Find out more about the fabulous Kate Gordon here!
Catch Kate’s tweeeeeeets over here!
Our review of Thyla is coming soon.
Whenever you read a story set in a particular place you know that vividly describes sights, sounds and smells, the sense of place adds an extra dose of magic to the whole experience. Set in Tasmania and interwoven with its rich convict history as well as the here and now, Thyla is a breath of fresh shape-shifter scented air. Gordon has let her imagination roam amongst folklore and fact and has created a world of wonder and delight.
