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1. To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?<\/strong><\/p>\nI was born in Sydney, Australia and raised in Sydney, Australia and, I\u2019m afraid to say, schooled in Sydney, Australia. And if I\u2019m going to be truly honest, I still live in Sydney, Australia. But I have been other places, I swear.<\/p>\n
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think at twelve I would have given anything in the world not to be taller than everyone else in my class. I failed in that wish.<\/p>\n At eighteen I wanted to be gone. I didn\u2019t know where or why, but the urge to go was too strong to ignore, so I jumped on a plane with a friend and was gone.<\/p>\n At thirty I wanted for little, as I was living the dream. I was sitting in my own second-hand bookshop reading the greatest books ever written, writing my own dross and falling into long conversations with the wonderful crackpots who ventured into my shop. It was bliss.<\/p>\n 3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?<\/strong><\/p>\n That the world needed saving. And it probably needed saving by me. But then I was eighteen and full of beans, so it was a burden I was willing to take on.<\/p>\n 4. What were three works of art \u2013 book or painting or piece of music, etc \u2013 you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n David Bowie was the first artist to influence me. At twelve or so while listening to my sister\u2019s tape of Changesonebowie<\/em> again and again and again Bowie let me in on a secret no one else was willing to share – it\u2019s okay to be weird. In fact, it\u2019s preferable.<\/p>\n Russell Hoban\u2019s Kleinzeit<\/em> <\/a>was another influence, though many years later. At that stage of my life, I knew I wanted to be a writer but I had tied myself up in knots about writing. I had developed a theory of writing without knowing I had and it was inhibiting my progress in every direction. The very first page of Kleinzeit<\/em> smashed this theory to smithereens.<\/p>\n George Eliot\u2019s novels influenced me in a very different way. Her incomparable novels Middlemarch<\/em> <\/a>and Daniel Deronda<\/em><\/a> in particular. That one person could know so much about all of us, could use that knowledge with such art in the form of a novel, could be as relevant on the day of publication as now – all while living as a social pariah in her own age. Astonishing.<\/p>\n So much is said of the genius of Shakespeare, but to my mind his genius pales in comparison to hers. How did Mary Anne Evans writing as George Eliot influence me? By being a star to focus on while lying in the gutter. Sorry Oscar.<\/p>\n In my teens I thought I was going to be a painter. I liked the idea of all those drugs, the gallons alcohol and the messy sex. I was obsessed with certain paintings and painters of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Our age seemed dull by comparison.<\/p>\n But I never felt comfortable with the idea of people interpreting my work. I wanted to be clear in my meaning. When I took to writing a diary to accompany my drawing and painting I fell in love with the written word. I loved how clear writing could be. I could make words do things my pencil or brush could never do. I started to write up the events of the day. Then I began embellishing them. Before long I was just making shit up. I have never stopped.<\/p>\n![\"john](\"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/johnpurcellauthor.png\")
5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?<\/strong><\/p>\n