Paul Dalgarno was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and immigrated to Australia in 2010. In Scotland, he was a senior features writer, columnist and Deputy Weekend Features Editor with The Herald and Sunday Herald newspapers. In Melbourne, he was a launch editor, Deputy Editor, Arts Editor and Science Editor of The Conversation website. Paul has written for many publications including Guardian Australia, Australian Book Review, Sunday Times Scotland and The Big Issue. His memoir, And You May Find Yourself, was published in 2015 (Sleepers Publishing). In 2016, he was awarded a Varuna Residential Fellowship to work on his second book. When not writing, reading or parenting, Paul loves to cycle vast distances. Poly is his debut novel. He lives in Melbourne.
Paul is on the blog today to answer a few of our questions about Poly – read on!
Paul Dalgarno
Tell us about your book, Poly!
PD: A couple with young children open up their sexless marriage in a last-ditch attempt to save it, only to discover that one of the people they become close to has an undisclosed personality disorder that threatens to wreak havoc. While Sarah enjoys passionate flings with a string of men, Chris, much to his surprise, falls head over heels for Biddy, a polydactylous musician and actor with whom he begins a potentially long-term relationship. Amid the growing chaos, Sarah, Biddy and Chris try to do what’s best for the children and – ultimately – for each other, especially when things take a turn for the sinister. It’s a dark romantic comedy thriller which … I’m not sure that’s a genre.
The adultery novel has a long history, but polyamory seems to be a new frontier. What draws you to polyamory as a novelistic subject?
PD: When my wife and I opened our relationship a few years ago we quickly realised there weren’t many narratives to follow, or even to rail against. For hetero monogamous relationships, you kind of grow up knowing that (a) you’ll live happily ever after (b) you’ll split up, or (c) you’ll make each other miserable in myriad ways but stick it out for the sake of kids, finances, emotional co-dependence, or a sense of loyalty. Poly relationships don’t yet have those strong cultural blueprints, although that’s definitely changing. There are TV shows, like You Me Her and Wanderlust, and there are guidebooks providing ethical and theoretical frameworks (More Than Two and The Ethical Slut are usually high on poly people’s reading lists, especially when they’re starting out). There are also plenty of YouTube videos of hot, young, childless people extolling the virtues of a poly lifestyle. I wanted to write about polyamory in a way that made sense to me and rang true to my own lived experience and that of polyamorous friends and families I know in Melbourne.
Poly deals with some pretty hefty topics – love, marriage, identity, mental health, trust, etc. – but with a comic touch. Did you always set out to write a funny novel?
PD: I don’t consciously write jokes, unless it’s for a character that writes jokes, but a lot of my favourite writers and biggest inspirations are very funny – particularly Scottish writers like Janice Galloway, James Kelman and A.L. Kennedy. It’s a very dark gallows humour which, being Scottish myself, has always struck a chord with me. I think there’s something inherently funny about people trying to maintain a veneer of dignity as things keep going wrong around them, which is definitely the case in Poly. The number-one rule for me as a reader and writer is that the work should be entertaining – not making light of heavy topics for the sake of it, but with a healthy appreciation that life is absurd, belly laughs are rare, and people have plenty of other things to be reading.
You’ve worked as a features writer and editor, and you’ve also previously written a memoir. What appeals to you about fiction now?
PD: Funnily, when I wrote And You May Find Yourself, I didn’t think of it as a memoir. And when I wrote features, I didn’t always think of them as features. Fiction – the things it can do, the intense focus on theme, tone, language, mood, dialogue – has always informed my writing. That said, the obvious difference in fiction is that you can make things up, which is ironic because you then need to work even harder to make it feel real.
What does a typical writing day look like for you?
PD: I work full-time, have two partners and two children, so a typical writing day is waking up to start writing at 5am and smashing out as much as I can before 7am and getting the kids breakfast. Then, if I’m lucky, on my lunch break, or on annual leave days. I jot ideas into my phone as I think of them, or record voice memos with dialogue, or stop to write notes while I’m riding my bike or taking a shower. In the evenings, after getting the kids to bed and tidying the house, I’m too tired. When I’m really into writing something, or have a deadline, I can sometimes negotiate time on the weekend too. I was lucky enough to receive a two-week Varuna Residential Writing Fellowship a few years ago and that was the best thing ever – going to sleep thinking about writing, waking up and writing all day, repeat, repeat, repeat. Oh, for more of those opportunities …
Do you have any unusual writing or reading habits?
PD: Reading, not really – just that I tend to read a few books at once, which I think other people do too? Writing … I often write and edit in really big font, like 48 point and 500% magnification. For writing, it’s so I don’t see many of the words as I’m keying them in – my approach is always to know what I want to say, broadly, then write as quickly as I possibly can, to get ahead of my conscious thoughts and self-doubt. For editing, it’s so I can see everything really clearly – like a comma that’s as big as your thumb. It’s not always like that, though, I do zoom in and out at various stages. When I used to work in a big open-plan newsroom, a journalist from the sports desk – at the other end of the building – said he could read everything I was writing from his desk. Often co-workers assume I have a degenerative eye condition but the last time I got my eyes tested the optician said I could be a pilot if I was younger.
Who do you most admire in the writing world?
PD: Authors are admirable, and I do admire them, but it’s also self-explanatory to me why they’re writing. Publishing lives and dies on so many people who aren’t writers, or who are working in a non-writing capacity: agents, booksellers, publishers, editors, designers, proofreaders, the staff in book shops. Given the money is usually terrible, the government support risible, and the risk to return equation barely worth thinking about, you might expect those people to behave as they’re notionally treated: as financially-independent hobbyists with no expectations on themselves or from others. In reality, they’re usually busting a gut for the sake of writing and working at least as hard as anyone else. I admire those people, and what they stand for, the most.
What is the last book you read and loved?
PD: There have been loads but Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko was a revelation for me. I loved every bit of that. The language. The humour. The pathos. The worldview. The characters. The context. I recommend it at every opportunity.
What do you hope readers will discover in Poly?
PD: Hmmm, I guess that they have a laugh, maybe a cry, and have a chance to reflect positively on their own lives. And, if they like it, that they tell their friends about it too …
And finally, what’s up next for you?
PD: In some ways, I’m waiting to see what happens with the world, which is a bit stupid … Otherwise, I’m back to working on another novel that I started before Poly and put on pause. A dead woman checks in with her triplet daughters, unaware that she, and they, are in deep denial about significant events in their past.
Thanks Paul!
Thank you!
—Poly by Paul Dalgarno (Simon & Schuster Australia) is out now.
Poly
Chris Flood – a married father of two with plummeting self-esteem and questionable guitar skills – suddenly finds himself in the depths of polyamory after years of a near-sexless marriage. His wife, Sarah – a lover of the arts, avid quoter of Rumi, and always oozing confidence – wants to rediscover her sexuality after years of deadening domesticity.
Their new life of polyamory features late nights, love affairs and rotating childcare duties. While Sarah enjoys flings with handsome men, Chris, much to his astonishment, falls for a polydactylous actor and musician, Biddy...
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