AustLit

The Barunggam People of the Chinchilla/Darling Downs region.

I grew up in the town of Southport, on the Gold Coast.

The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson. I was a kid when I read it and it seemed so haunting and mysterious back then. In those days, life was pretty turbulent in my house and I liked the idea of escaping into the bush, just like the young boy in the story. I connected with the story instantly and, looking back, I unconsciously related to the notion of making connections to land and country. As an adult, I can now appreciate how important this book was to me.

Good Morning Mr. Sarra by Dr Chris Sarra. As a deputy principal in a socially challenging location, I found it a very inspiring read. Anyone working in education should read this book with a real sense of urgency.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek by Jenny Wagner. That book used to scare the life out of me as a kid! My mum must have read it to me a hundred times. I particularly like Ron Brooks' dark illustrations. It's now one my youngest daughter's favourite books. She has my old copy, with the spine all bent and the pages very well worn.

I started writing seriously when our oldest girl was about two (she's now thirteen). I had a great idea for a kids' novel and I scribbled down some ideas for it. When I started writing, it seemed to flow very naturally and I couldn't stop. The story was never published, but I didn't mind. It planted the seed and made me want to write more.

The escape. There's really no restrictions around what you can create. I love watching movies and switching off, so I try and recreate this feeling when I write and let my imagination take over.

To connect with my audience. If the reader engages, relates to, or is entertained by my narrative, I am doing a good job.

Young readers, especially boys. I have a passion for seeing children develop a love for reading.

The term 'good writer' is pretty subjective. There's plenty of great writers that haven't had the opportunity to be published and hopefully they will be published authors one day. In my opinion, a good writer is someone who keeps the reader turning the pages and thinking, 'I'll clean my bedroom just after I finish this last chapter.' A good writer stimulates all the senses and leaves the reader wanting more.

Growing up, I loved Roald Dahl and his partnership with illustrator Quentin Blake. Andy Griffiths is an amazing talent and I especially like when he writes in the first person. I also went through a phase of reading a lot of Charles Dickens. In my opinion, David Copperfield is his best.

I like to use elements of different authors' styles when writing a story. I don't consciously think, 'I'm going to use some Roald Dahl here and some Andy Griffiths here', but when you respect a particular author and you enjoy their work, it's probably pretty natural that some of their style comes through in your own writing. It's probably no different to contemporary musical artists citing more well-known bands as their influence: Oasis and The Beatles, Jet and AC/DC, Lady Gaga and Madonna, Tupac and The Seekers - the list goes on ...

Once my family is in bed, I duck out to the back shed with a cup of tea and let my imagination take over. Finding time to do this and getting my brain in writing mode is the biggest challenge. With our current book, Deadly D and Justice Jones - Making the Team, Scott [Prince] and I would have some pretty big planning and writing sessions at local cafes and restaurants. We would brainstorm ideas and laugh at our own jokes, much to the dismay of other paying customers. That's what made this book so fun to write! Hopefully we sell a few copies so I can pay for a gym membership to work off all those plates of pasta and sticky date pudding (Princey's favourite).

I tried it recently, just to see if I could do it. I wrote an adult short story, set in the northern rivers of New South Wales. It was about a well-known ghost in the area. I loved doing it and the people who read it kept wanting more! The hardest part was using big words, like 'astonishingly'. I was surprised I could spell that one.

Our editor, the fantastic Sue Abbey, told me never to try too hard. Write what is currently inside your head and come back and improve it later on.

Write from the heart and if you truly believe in what you're doing, never ever give up! Scott and I knew our manuscript was a winner and we were certain that one day our story would be published. We were blessed that Magabala Books and the State Library of Queensland also believed in us. Keep all of your rejection letters as well, they're great motivation!

We had this really cool idea about a boy with glasses who has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead who discovers he can do magic tricks, like making a coin appear from behind your ear and guessing which card you pulled out of a playing deck, but Magabala didn't go for it, which was weird ... So ... we are working on the second Deadly D novel, which is awesome! In this story, you might meet a new character and learn a bit more about Dylan's curse. I'd love to tell you more about it, but I am sworn to secrecy!