Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

(whoops, you can't scribble using the shortcut box, but don't worry about 
the double post. It happens sometimes. No big deal.)

I'm entranced with the post-Trust development of the lives of your
characters, Kate. I'm especially interested in the three kids' stories
and can imagine you doing a follow-up years from now, when Seb, 
Stella-Jean and Finn reach their 40s/50s and start looking back over 
their lives with the perspective of age. 

But as I say, _years_ from now. No sequels right away, I understand
you're ready to move on.

But where? Are you currently working on a new book? Have you got a story
line you're plotting out? Some rough drafts? Anything on paper yet? 
  

    
If I could only remember where the command box is ... Apologies to
Cynthia: I know you gave me those very precise lessons before we
started this conversation (now almost at its conclusion, yes?) but I've
... forgotten .... 
(BTW - Susanna's ineptitude with things techie is quite
autobiographical.)

Wickett says she'd thought Finn's "direction would be more towards
psychology or social work focused on
abused children and teens."  

This thing is, Finn is interested in how THINGS work, but not people.
Even his understanding of what was happening with Gabriel was quite,
um, mechanical, in a way.  Social interaction will never be his strong
suit.   I think he'll be a highly innovative engineer, though.  I can
see him being influenced by his cousins into later using his
engineering skills in developing countries, perhaps especially to do
with bridge-building (just a hunch).
  

    
And there's Cynthia slipping in.  Hi, Cynthia!

Ah, The Next Book. Well, I'm a little superstitious about saying too
much, or perhaps it's that it's all too easy to TALK the impetus out,
rather than doing the harder work of writing it.  However ...

Your question makes me smile, actually, because I remember how a year
ago, when I was wrestling with the arduous work of the final draft,
having to cut 30,000 words, and especially how to make Gabriel creepy
and real without his back story, I kept insisting to my sainted editor
that my next book would be a novel in which nothing happened, certainly
nothing bad. Its title would be "Fluffy the Bunny Stays Home."

(Sigh ... I still feel kind of nostalgic for that book.)

But no, the real Next Novel has the somewhat more allusive title of
"Hidden".

The main characters, only three so far, are a woman named Ruby, or
perhaps Willow, who is also an artist (gotta have an artist) who works
with 3D paper objects, in which tinier objects are concealed; the
wealthy man she meets and marries, largely on account of a child (not
hers); and the stepson who, as a young adult, becomes involved with
some radical animal rights activists.  The plot hinges around an action
his group takes which goes disastrously wrong, and a grand staircase
which a young child is terrified to walk down ...

Just since you asked.
  

    

oh.  my.  --> "... 3D paper objects in which tinier objects are concealed"

so tantalizing! Thanks for the delicious amuse bouche, Kate. It makes me
hungry the whole thing right now.

However, I know we'll have to wait at least a year (or two?) before it
hits the stands. In the meantime I'll definitely be on stand-by for
its release.





It's somewhat startling to me that we've been talking here in Inkwell for
two whole weeks now. The time has really flown by. I know that we have a
new guest in the wings so I wanted to thank the Inkwell hosts for having
us here; it's been a real treat. I also want to thank everybody who
joined us in this excellent exploration, especially our volunteer readers:
wickett, ckridge, pamela, and castle. 

Most of all I want to thank you, Kate, for writing such wonderful stories.
I look forward to your next book with eager anticipation!
  

    

I have very much enjoyed this conversation and _Trust_.  Thank you, Kate and
Cynthia, for this treat.

I eagerly look forward to your next book, Kate.  You create innovative and 
challenging careers for your adults and deeply real kids to cherish.
  

    
>3D paper objects, in which tinier objects are concealed<

Very like the one we have just been discussing.

>an action his group takes which goes disastrously wrong, and a grand
staircase which a young child is terrified to walk down,

One mark of a good plot is that a brief synopsis gives one a chill. By
that measure, this a good plot.

One more question, if it's not too late? Why "Trust" as the title? Is
it a noun, or an imperative? In either case, what is trusted?
  

    

I just assumed it was tongue-in-cheek.  There was comfort, there was ease,
there was predictability in the Visser household until, suddenly, there
wasn't.  But trust?
  

    
Thank you all for those comments; I'm very pleased to tantalise and
chill. 

This whole discussion has been both a pleasure and a revelation. You
learn a lot about yourself through the process of writing a novel, and
now I know something more: that through an in-depth discussion with
insightful readers, you continue to learn still more.

One more question? But of course, Coleman. "Why "Trust" as the title?"

The working title was "Stand By Me", partly because it's such a
terrific song about fear and courage and loyalty and the strength that
having an ally gives you, and because privately, in my head, the "me"
of the title, the person you want and need to stand by you, is your
self. You have to know and trust your self – all parts of your self,
the less admirable aspects as well as the ones you're proud of, in
order to face the moment when the night has come and the mountains
crumbled to the sea.  

But I knew I was unlikely to keep that as the title, and indeed both
publishers felt there was too much association with the film of that
name, as well as the song. So Belinda Byrne, my Penguin editor, and I
went through a whole bunch of other possibilities. "Before and After"
was one, which we then used as the subtitles (sort of) of the first and
second halves of the book. (Oh, if you look carefully at those pages,
you'll see a faint b&w print of two hands clasped: this is the cover of
the Aust edition, which was in pillar-box red.)

It was Belinda who came up with "trust", and the moment she emailed me
that word, I felt that shivery feeling of "oh yes, that's RIGHT".
Instinct, again: as I said many posts ago, I'm not a very analytical
person. Wickett's post above, about taking it to have been
tongue-in-cheek 
"There was comfort, there was ease,
there was predictability in the Visser household until, suddenly,
there
wasn't.  But trust?"
is not what I had in mind – yet, as so often in this discussion, what
she's suggested is perfectly apt, and makes me understand my own book
in a slightly different way.
  

    
Wickett, Castle, Pamela, Coleman aka ckridge, and especially my dear
friend Cynthia, the Velvet Paw who afforded me this splendid
opportunity and worked assiduously to bring me up to Inkwell speed, and
who recruited the band of volunteer readers so wisely – thank you all,
so much. Thank you too to those other people who came in and joined
the conversation too.

It's been like holding a many-faceted crystal with which I thought I
was familiar up to the light, and giving it a quarter turn, revealing
aspects entirely new. 
  

    

It's been a delight, Kate.

I'm so happy to hear about what happens to the characters of Trust in the
future.

You mean...you mean, they aren't *real* people?

Hidden also sounds wonderful.  I especially like things that are more 
than they seem at first glance.

Hope to see you again when your next book is published!
  

    
Thank you, Kate. I never got to talk with a novelist about one of her
books before. I learned a lot.