Indigo Owl is smart, thoughtful YA fiction for modern teens. Equal parts thrilling entertainment and thought-provoking social commentary, Indigo Owl discusses the ‘what ifs’ around the future of the human race.
Join Australian author (and former teacher) Catch Tilly as she explores themes and ideas, gives writing tips and offers text analysis of her hard-hitting young adult anti-bullying novel, Otherwise Known as Pig.
This is a great question!
For me, I think the biggest key to writing a book that is interesting the whole way through is to keep assessing whether I myself actually find what I’m writing interesting. I am a bit of a selfish writer, so I definitely write the kind of stories that appeal to me and that I find interesting personally, and I think that does make it easier to ensure my story is satisfying (for me at least! Ha!).
The flipside of this is that of course through the process of writing and editing a book, a writer is forced to read it through a MILLION times, so definitely don’t get worried if you end up finding your manuscript less interesting as time goes on. That doesn’t mean your work is no good, it just means you have read it a MILLION times, and that is totally okay.
Although I do take tiny snippets from everyday life, I don’t think I have ever based a character entirely off myself or someone I know.
One of the main joys of writing for me is the opportunity to explore the things that make people tick, and often when I begin writing a story I don’t even know a huge amount about the characters myself! It then becomes part of that process of writing just to explore who they are and figure them out.
Actually, one of the most interesting things that has come out of the release of my debut novel, is that I have realised a LOT of people have presumed that the protagonist in my novel is based on me and my high school experience. Funnily enough, this is definitely not the case, and I actually had a lot of fun writing a character like Alice who is quite different to me in almost every way.
Did you base the story on something?I did!
The original idea was sparked by a cute viral video I watched on the net a few years ago, which featured a caught on camera goofy impromptu dance on the street by two teens walking home from school. I saw the video and just couldn’t stop thinking about who they were and what their friendship might be like, and that really morphed into this love story.
From there I was also influenced greatly by the cute romantic animes (Japanese animation shows) I was watching at the time and also by a book I adore, which is fun and light and moving all rolled into one (Jaclyn Moriarty’s fantastic #LoveOzYA novel Finding Cassie Crazy).
This is another excellent question, and it made me sit down and think, because actually I’ve never stopped to wonder what I learned!
Probably the biggest challenge for me with writing ALICE was in figuring out how to ensure that the romantic tension between Alice and her new friend Teddy lasted the whole book. I think one of the most difficult parts of writing a love story is in keeping readers invested in that romance until the end of the book. That was a major challenge for me, and I hope that I learned how to accomplish it with this novel.
To be completely honest, although in hindsight I can see there are themes in ALICE about standing up for others and not buying into stereotypes etc. when I was actually writing it I never thought much about trying to teach anyone anything. There are ideas in it that I definitely wanted to explore myself, but none that I felt like I wanted to teach.
In a lot of ways, and this may sound bad or weird, but I don’t know if it matters to me if readers can learn anything or not from what I write. I have always been of the mindset that fiction should make you feel something, and that is what I mostly set out to do. By writing the kind of story that I find realistic and romantic, that makes me feel happy, I think I hoped to make readers feel happy too.
Right here you have hit on my absolute most favourite element of any story! Actually, I am obsessed with getting emotion across within my work, and one of the hugest parts of writing ALICE for me was to develop a love story that felt ultra possible and realistic, and create characters whose emotions readers could recognise and identify with.
I think every writer probably has different story elements that they most identify with and that they most want to bring out in their work (for instance, twisty plots or interesting fresh ideas etc.) but for me, embedding emotion into my characters and stories is always highest on my list. The easiest way I have found to do that is to really think deeply about a character’s reactions and actions, and think about how everything that occurs within the story might truly impact them and make them feel if they were real.
I think a great way to almost ‘learn’ emotions is also to read other books and watch movies and tv, and start analysing the character’s reactions within their stories. I often think, if that person was real, as in truly alive and real within that world, would they truly react that same way or would their emotional reaction be different? This is actually the thing that can make or break a story for me. For instance, a story could have the most interesting satisfying plot in the world, but if the emotions and emotional arcs of the characters don’t ring true, if it doesn’t make me feel anything, then I won’t be able to love it.
Sometimes I think the stories we read or watch can almost occur in heightened realities, and therefore emotions in those stories can sometimes lose their grounding and depth, and end up feeling less impactful because they don’t feel true. I think that is okay to have stories like that, but personally I am always more moved by, for instance, a love story that feels grounded in true emotion, where the characters feel like they might actually continue to love each other long after the credits roll or the final page.
Gosh what a huge answer! Sorry! But you got me started on a very special topic! 🙂
Oh, this is a fun one to answer! Endings for me are very difficult, because I usually have only a very vague idea of where the story is going to end up when I begin writing it, and definitely no end scene or final plot point in mind. Which means I am usually left in a state of indecision by the time I make it to the end, wondering how to make it work and how to keep it interesting.
With ALICE, I really didn’t know how I was going to end the story, but I guess for me, as we discussed above, it does always come back to the emotion in the narrative. Most of all I wanted to write an ending that had a good emotional resolution for the characters, and when figuring out how to finish the story, I focused mostly on what felt right in terms of the character’s journeys, their emotional arcs and the love story itself. In some ways, I suppose the plot came second, and I figured it out later as a framework to prop up how I wanted the emotional side of the story to end.
Now that I think about it, I suppose that is the way I usually approach the ending of all the stories I write!
Whilst reading this text I have fallen in love with, become exasperated by, and completely related to Alice Dyson, the protagonist Poppy Nwosu has so artfully created. The text delves into issues of social anxiety, peer pressure and bullying, self-identity, the feeling of being trapped on a path that you are unsure that you want to go down, and the ability to be brave and be yourself in the face of all of it. And of course, young love.
The catalyst of the plot revolves around one Teddy Taualai, who in his endeavour to enter Alice Dyson’s life upsets the balance with her friend May, her relationship with her demanding parents, and Alice’s carefully-planned future.
Throughout the novel Poppy threads through brilliant one liners that give her characters and their struggles an achingly realistic relatability. The characters practically jump off the page. It is these one liners that are both humorous but also incredibly real, that allow her to tackle hard issues like bullying in such a way that feels less like you are being lectured rather than you are getting a glimpse behind the curtain of adolescence.
But I do decide I need to do something. May holds her head high every day even when she’s bullied… and it makes me want to be brave too.
Alice’s personal growth is the shining light of the story, and her commitment to her own feelings and desires, while flawed, feels incredibly real. Her relationship with Teddy Tauali is awkward and gentle and incredibly genuine, and Teddy’s character is the sort of person many readers will find themselves wishing they had a chance to meet. This is a beautiful, tender story about endeavouring to be true – to your friends, to your family, but most importantly, to yourself.
Simon Butters, Author of ‘The Hounded’ and screenwriter for ‘Wicked Science’ and ‘H2O Just Add Water’
Guthrow: Why did you go from screenwriting to novel writing, and where did the idea of The Hounded come from?
Simon: Before writing The Hounded, I worked in television screenwriting in live-action drama and animation for children’s television for many years. The industry in Australia is supported by a quota system for the free-to air networks that requires them to produce a certain amount of new shows each year. I won’t bore you with the details, but the upshot is that the industry is not able to produce as much local drama as it used to.
Published by Wakefield Press in 2016, I wrote The Hounded between writing television projects as a way to further my creative writing. I did not write it for the financial rewards, it was a purely creative decision. As far as the idea, I had always been fascinated by perception, and the grey area between the supernatural, faith and psychoanalysis. So, is the dog real, or just his imagination …? That is open for each reader to decide.
I was also inspired by images of the dog at night in my youth. Your mind can play tricks on you when you see a shadow, and for a while you think it might be a dog, or a person, but when you walk closer, it just turns out to be a rubbish bin. Turns out, our brains evolved that way to look for danger. So I guess Monty is hyper-aware of danger, and his dog is the result.
G: How did your idea of the novel evolve or was the idea fully formed before you started?
S: When I started the book, I went the other way to my screenwriting training – which is to plan everything relentlessly before you begin. I wanted to go back to a freer way of writing and so I only wrote a short two or three line brief for each chapter – so I only had a rough outline of plot at the start (however I did know what the ending was going to be).
G: Were there any characters influenced by real people?
S: Most of them were influenced by real people – but I cannot tell you who … (but all characters have been heavily fictionalised).
The Hounded’s cover
G: Was the book originally about Monty or the Black Dog?
S: The novel was always going to be focused on Monty, and the dog only ever a passing influence, like a shadow that comes and goes.
G: What inspired you to write a novel that is so upfront and honest about mental health?
S: I guess to be honest, I wrote the novel out of a personal struggle. Being an artist is always a struggle to find that elusive sweet point between making enough money out of it to survive and to also satisfy your creative side. I have been an actor, director, writer, and all of these are tough. The ‘middle way’, where you work and be creative, is what I am trying to achieve in life.
Apart from the obvious analogy of mental health, Monty suffers from an unstated personality disorder, which I researched during development. After being left alone – which is a form of abuse – as a young child, Monty struggles to connect with the reality around him: other people, objects, and even his own body. This is where in the novel, he describes his body as going on autopilot.
In writing the ending, I was very concerned that it would be a step too far for young readers. If I went back to write it again, there is one line I would cut, but other than that I really tried to get the balance right between an honest portrayal, within the confines of the world, and not doing anyone harm in reading it.
G: For a debut novel, The Hounded was very successful. Did you ever doubt your chances of success and how important was it for this novel to succeed?
S: When writing, I certainly didn’t think about success in any way, it was just about getting the job done and something that I enjoyed reading myself.
G: What did you learn from writing this novel?
S: I learnt that you need honesty in writing. You lay yourself bare as a writer like no other creative expression. Your words are your thoughts. That’s confronting …
G: What do you want your readers to learn when reading this novel?
S: I wanted a reader to ponder their own existence and what their purpose is. I believe, like the existentialists (like Silas and his ball, or Sisyphus and his rock) that you find your own purpose in life, and even if that seems insignificant, your actions provide you with purpose. That’s what Monty needs to learn, and that’s what I guess I need to learn. That’s what I think our whole world needs to learn.
Written by Guthrow Taylor Johnson. Many thanks to Simon Butters for his time and generosity, and for his wonderful book!
Want a copy of The Hounded? Visit Wakefield Press at 16 Rose Street, Mile End SA 5031 or shop the book online.
Over two weeks we’re sharing summaries of and extracts from some Wakefield Press gems, in blog posts put together by work experience student Maddy. (And yes, we briefly had two Maddys in the office! Never enough Maddys, we say.)
In this extract from The Hounded, Monty finds himself alone with beautiful Eliza from next door, and in her bedroom no less …
“You enjoyed it, didn’t you? Watching her suffer like that?”
The Hounded
“What if I did?” she grinned.
What if she did? She was not going to hide it. She’d accepted her nature long ago. It was now up to me to accept the darkness. I’d got her so wrong.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It was my fault.”
Her look softened and she shook her head in disdain, refusing my apology. A knock on the door startled us.
“Quick! Get in there,” she ordered.
I hurried into her bathroom. She closed the door on me, and I stood in the dark, trying not to move. Blood gushed through my veins. The noise was a roaring loudspeaker in my ears. I was sure the sound would give me away. Wasn’t there some Voodoo guy in Haiti who could stop his heartbeat, just by thinking about it? Now, that was control. I thought I’d give it a go and held my breath. I concentrated on my heart, willing it to stop, or at least slow down a bit. It didn’t work. I just made myself dizzy.
“Eliza, dinner’s ready.”
“Thanks Doreen,” Eliza replied. “But I’m not hungry.”
I pictured the scene in the bedroom. Doreen would have the door open just enough to peer in tentatively. Eliza would be seated on the end of her bed, bolt upright with not a thing out of place. By the tension in her throat, I could hear Doreen was unnerved.
“But your father won’t like that,” she whimpered.
“I don’t care what he likes,” Eliza said calmly.
The door closed. A few seconds later, Eliza came into the bathroom to find me holding my breath. I gasped. I began to wobble. A floating gaseousness invaded my feet. I reached out for the shower curtain but missed and passed out. I woke to find myself upside down behind the toilet.
“Why are you such an idiot?” she asked.
“Just the way I am,” I replied.
Blurb
On his fifteenth birthday, Monty is at rock bottom. Ignored by his parents, bullied at school, and with a brain that’s prone to going walkabout, he’s all by himself.
Until he meets the black dog for the first time.
It’s just like any other dog, except that only Monty can see it. And it talks. And Monty’s not sure whether it’s a friend – or a foe.
The black dog gets him talking to pretty, popular Eliza Robertson for the first time. It takes him to places he’s never been.
Eventually it will take Monty, and the people around him, to the very edge.
Notable achievements
The Children’s Book of the Year Awards: Notable Book
Queensland Literary Awards finalist
Shortlisted for the 2014 Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award
About the author
Simon Butters is a screenwriter in film and television, living in the Adelaide Hills with his two hilarious kids, a very busy wife, and a scruffy little dog that definitely doesn’t talk but does do a weird grunt when patted behind the ear. Simon’s credits include Wicked Science, H20 Just Add Water, Maiko: Island of Secrets, and others.
We hope you enjoyed this extract from The Hounded. The book is available at our bookshop on 16 Rose Street, Mile End or online.