Writers On Reading: Fiona Palmer Talks Books and Reading Habits

This week I welcome  the lovely Fiona Palmer to the blog to find out about her literary loves and inspirations. Fiona is best known for her Rural Fiction – The Family Farm, The Road Home, Heart of Gold, The Sunburnt Country and most recently The Outback Heart.

 

 

And as if that list isn’t impressive enough Fiona has a new release coming out on May 1st, her first Young Adult book, The Recruit.

 

 

 

The Recruit

Jasmine Thomas may not be completely normal, but she’s a pretty typical seventeen-year-old girl. She hates the rich mean kids, loves her best friends, and can’t wait to get out of school each day. Her spare time is spent at The Ring, a boxing gym where she practically grew up, learning karate, boxing and street fighting. So, yeah, she can kick some major butt.

Life seems pretty normal until the day Ryan Fletcher enters her gym, mysterious and hot with heaps of bad boy charm. Sure, she checks him out. Who wouldn’t? But what doesn’t show on his gorgeous abs are secrets and lies that dominate his very grown-up world. Now Jaz has to figure out just how far is she willing to go to know more. Could Ryan really be offering the life-fulfilling life path she’s always dreamed of?

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Here’s what Fiona had to say about books and her literary inspirations …

 

1.Which books do you most vividly remember from your childhood?

How Emu lost his wings by SRA Australian Stories. It was a book from my Gran. We also had a lot of fairy tale stories, like from The brothers Grimm. And of course any of Danielle Steel’s books as that’s what my mum had in her bookshelf.

 

2. Who are your three most favourite literary characters? Tell us what you love about each of them.

Rose Hathaway because she is bad ass, a little hot headed but also funny. Elizabeth Bennet who is intelligent, strong willed and has Mr Darcy. Jack West Jr because he’s someone you want when you’re in a jam or looking for lost treasure.

 

3.Who is your favourite literary villain? Why?

Snape. Because even with all that grumpy meanness he did care. He had a heart. We like to see bad boys turn good, or good triumphing over evil even in its smallest form.

 

4. If you could invite any five writers to a cosy dinner party who would you ask and why?

Probably my fellow rural writers. We are so spread out but write with a common theme so we would have plenty to talk about. And it would be so nice to have time to chat with like minded people face to face instead of by email.

 

5. What book has made you laugh out loud?

Kathryn Ledson’s Monkey Business. And her first one Rough Diamond. I know Kathryn, she’s a funny girl so I get her humour and love reading it in her books.

 

6. What book, or scene from a book, has made you cry?

My golly there are too many to list. My own books do it to me, it’s hard not to when you get so attached to characters. I just finished reading Katie McGarry’s books Pushing the Limits, Dare you To and Crash into You. I’m sure each one had me sniffling at some point. She masters the emotion with ease.

 

7. Where and when do you do most of your reading?

When I finally get around to picking up a book, if it sucks me in then you’ll find me reading it while I’m cooking or watering the garden. I’ll read a bit in bed at night or sitting on the kids couch. But if I’m struggling, and the book is not calling to me then it will be mainly at night after the kids have gone to bed. Sometimes I won’t read a book because I know I won’t be able to put it down and so I try to save it for when I have the time.

 

8. Is there a genre of book you’d never read? Why?

For some reason non-fiction doesn’t interest me, I’ve read a few but it’s not what I look for when finding a good book. Literary books, I just don’t bother with as I don’t have the time to try and decipher what I’m reading. (unless it’s picked for bookclub and then I attempt it) Generally, I don’t like to read books that don’t have a happy ending. Life is crappy enough at times, I read to escape and I want it to take me to a happy place where I can smile at the end of a book. But I will read just about any genre if there is a romantic thread or a happy ever after.

 

9. Can you give us a mini-review of a book you’ve recently read and enjoyed?

Katie McGarry’s Crash into You. I really enjoyed this book as I like car’s myself. You have Rachel who is the private school straight A student who loves cars. Then there is Isaiah a foster kid who’s had to learn how to survive on the streets and has never known anything different. But both of them have secrets and issues regardless of their social standings but together they end up helping each other. This was the third book in the series but can be read on its own.

 

10. What are the top three books in your TBR pile?

Mountain Ash by Margareta Osborn, Crimson Dawn by Fleur McDonald and Divergent by Veronica Roth

 

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Connect with Fiona:

Website: http://www.fionapalmer.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FionaPalmerRuralAuthor

Twitter: @fiona_Palmer

 

 

 

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Fiona Palmer Talks About Her Writing Process and New Release The Sunburnt Country

Today on Flying Pony we have a visit from Rural Fiction Writer Fiona Palmer.

 

Fiona’s latest release, The Sunburnt Country hit the shelves his week.

Here’s a lttle taste of what you can look forward to reading:

Jonelle Baxter is a young woman in a man’s world – a tough, hardworking motor mechanic from an idyllic country family. But lately things in her perfect life have been changing, and her workshop isn’t the only local business that’s struggling. Daniel Tyler is new in town, posted from the city to manage the community bank. As he tries to rein in the spiralling debts of Bundara, he uncovers all sorts of personal dramas and challenges. The last thing Jonny and Dan need is an unwanted attraction to each other. It’s going to take more than a good drop of rain to break the drought and to keep this small but very colourful community thriving. From the bestselling author of The Road Home comes a moving and heartwarming story about love, change and courage – and the beauty that’s found in the bush, even in the harshest of times.

Watch the book trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkWOJZbxXFU

Thanks for joining us Fiona and sharing your creative process.

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1. What activities (other than writing) get your creative juices flowing?

Okay, don’t laugh but housework!  It’s usually those daily grind jobs where my mind wanders and before I’ve finished the vacuum cleaning I have the next chapter plotted out. Also I get up at five to go  walking with my mum. Sometimes just being out in the crisp morning, watching the sun come up and the kangaroo’s in the paddock can be inspiring.  Being out and about in      my rural community and appreciating the life I have is sometimes all I need to get my thoughts going.

2. What sort of writing routine do you have – disciplined or undisciplined, regular or erratic, focused or  easily distracted?

I’d like to be disciplined but I fly by the seat of my pants most times. Between kids and housework, I try to write when I can.      I’m more in a routine when the kids go back to school and it’s much easier  without having to stop writing because they are hungry or the buggy has run out of fuel.

3. Do you ever suffer from  writer’s block and if so what do you do about it?

Sort of. I like to plan out the story in my head while doing those ‘daily grind’ jobs I was  talking about. So when I do sit down to write I usually know where I am  heading.  I hate sitting at the computer with no idea where to go, so I’m thinking of my story as much as I can while I’m away from it.  If I am  really stuck I find talking to my mum and bouncing ideas off her really helps. Sometimes just having someone to talk through the story with works wonders. Half the time my mum doesn’t even get a word in but she has helped just by being there and listening. (sometimes I don’t even think  she is listening but just nodding in all the right places!)

4. Which aspects of the writing life do you most love?

The part where I am living it, where I feel like I’m involved in the town or with the characters. I want to see them get their happy ending, I feel their heartaches and I love creating all of  that.

5. Which aspects do least love  (or detest!)?

The part where I have to sit at my computer. I love being outside so sitting inside glued to a computer all day is not how I      pictured my life. I was adamant growing up that I’d have an outside job. Thank god for early morning walks!

6. What books and writers have most influenced your own writing?

I think originally it started from movies. Like Paperback hero with Hugh Jackman. I was rewriting endings to movies I didn’t like and then one day decided to write my own. I wasn’t a big reader back then, besides reading some of my mums collection of  Danielle Steel’s books. Rachael Treasure’s Jillaroo was a turning point for me. It gave me the courage to send off my work to Penguin and I haven’t looked back since.

7. Can you describe for us your  writing process, from getting the original idea to completed manuscript?

I  will plan it all in my head first. I’ll start with an idea and let it fester and grow. I keep trying to sort it into a rough synopsis and when I  feel I have enough details I will type out a 3 to 4 page outline. Then I start from chapter one and work  my  way to the end. Sometimes I do feel like my head will explode while trying to keep all my thoughts together!

8. Please describe your path to publication.

In 2005 I started writing The Family Farm. I was working full time running the local shop with a newborn and toddler. When I had the  first draft complete I entered and won an Australian Society of Authors mentorship, which helped heaps as I had no idea on how a manuscript was supposed to be set out.  Once I reached the desired  word length I sent the first three chapters off to Penguin and it went from the slush pile into the hands of Ali, who was Rachael Treasure’s publisher at the time. I was offered a contract not long after that, which was 2008.

9. What advice would you give to writers who are working towards publication?

To write what you are passionate about. You want your readers to feel how much you care about your characters and what you are writing. So you will need to put your heart in your work. Also write what you know and to keep writing. You can’t edit a blank page.

 

Connect with Fiona on her blog: http://www.fionapalmer.com/

Read a review of The Sunburnt Country here: http://1girl2manybooks.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/the-sunburnt-country-fiona-palmer/

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