AustLit

'Every new book I begin seems to present a different sort of problem. In theory, having written one, the next should be easy. Just follow what you did before. But in practice it does not always work out like that. For a start, doing what you did before can all too readily be a recipe for boredom. The times I’ve roughed out the outline of a book and thought, ah, that section will be simple, that’s what I did with this story or that novel, I know how to do that, it hasn’t proved simple at all. I would find I couldn’t do it again a second time. The novelty, the creative energy, the creation through discovery wasn’t there.' (Introduction)