1. What is the working title of your current work-in-progress/next book?
The novel I'm working on is called: The Bishop, the Gypsy and the Dancing Bear...It refers to a little story at the heart of the book,about the last of the wild bears......
2. Where did the idea come from?
The idea...well, I guess it came from a gzillion places.... But way back when I started, I wanted to write about wildernesses inside cities and other places where you wouldn't expect to find them. I really can't remember the process that made the jump to the idea of the Insiders and the Outsiders, but I have been acutely interested in the story of asylum seekers for more than a decade....
3.
What genre does your book fall into?
Reviewers etc. have referred to my novels as Magic Realism, but I'm not so sure. This novel, anyway, is a bit different, so maybe I could call it Speculative Fiction slash social justice......???? Maybe it won't fit a genre. It will be about 100,000 words in length.
4.
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie
rendition?
Interesting question...To me, of course, the characters are already played by themselves! Because I haven't quite finished,I'm hesitant to try to think of actors who might play their parts.
5.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
This is a book about the universal truth that, when we fence our world to keep the Outsiders out, we are actually fencing ourselves in....
6.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I will have to try to find an Agency. I don't know where to start with that, to tell the truth, because with The World as a Clockface, Ann Summers recommended me to Penguin. They asked for it 3 days after I put the last full stop.
7.
How long did it take you to write the first draft?
Oh, don't ask! I started writing this novel when my youngest daughter was 11!!!! She is now 22!!!! My marriage broke up and I had to start working full time etc etc since then, so not much time for writing.
8.
What other books would you compare this story to within your
genre?
I really haven't read anything like it....It's not even a lot like my other books.....Maybe Ursula Le Guinn would get it????????
9.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Well, it's a book about all kinds of marginalized people...... asylum seekers, the ïnsane", orphans", the poor...........I think that's who inspired it......
10.
What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
It is a very complex book, with mythologies, cultures, back stories, unexpected connections....It is very strange....I don't think the reader will have ever read anything like it before.
