AustLit

I grew up in Chermside and Zillmere [suburbs of Brisbane] with my mum and grandma. My mob are the Wakka Wakka from Brisbane and the Kamilaroi from Northern New South Wales.

I had a few favourite books growing up - The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling and the The Mediator series by Meg Cabot are my favourites. They were both so well written in the sense that I could picture the worlds so clearly and it was easy to get lost in the stories.

I think almost every book I’ve ever read has had some impact on my life at the time I read it, especially those that I’ve not wanted to end.

The last book I read was Sempre by J. M. Darhower. It’s a fictional novel about human trafficking and the mafia in the USA.

There was only one I just couldn’t bring myself to finish (which is quite rare, I always try to give a book a shot no matter what). It had so many spelling errors that after the second paragraph I had to walk away. I can’t remember what it was called.

I tend to read a lot of books more than once. I’ve read the Mediator Series by Meg Cabot about six times - I absolutely love it every time I read it.

I’ve always loved reading and hearing stories. I started writing thoughts that popped into my mind at the time and just went from there. As I’ve gotten older, I can see how my writing style has changed and grown.

I didn’t really seek out any further learning in terms of writing. I enjoyed my English classes when I was homeschooled during grade 8 and 9 and the teachers were very supportive. Other than that I suppose you could say that writing just came naturally to me.

The thing I love most about writing would have to be the freedom. It’s a great thing to be able to write down your thoughts creatively and to share that with others. It can be very cathartic sometimes.

My aim as a writer is to just keep writing and expressing my creativity. I write mostly for myself, but if other people enjoy reading what I write then that’s amazing as well.

I think a good writer is someone who can write so vividly that in your mind as you read you can picture every word and character as clear as a movie. My favourite author would have to be Meg Cabot. I absolutely love her writing style and the books she’s written.

Meg Cabot would probably be my biggest inspiration. She’s published so many great books over the years and I would love to be as successful as she is.

I don’t really have a writing ‘process’. If an idea comes to mind, I write it down as detailed as possible then leave it for a while. Later I go and elaborate on the basic idea. I rarely have a full plan before starting on a story - it all just falls into place.

In some ways it would be difficult moving between genres - especially as I’ve mostly written fantasy. But I like a challenge, so I like to keep an open mind in terms of genres and I’ll write what feels natural to me.

The best tip I was ever given was to write for myself.

At the moment I’m working on a completely new series of young adult fiction. This time it will be a paranormal/crime/thriller. Hopefully. It’s just in basic dot point at the moment but I’ve written little snippets for the beginning.