Just So Stories

Welcome Tania to Just So Stories – so excited to have you drop in! I’m as excited as a guinea pig with a corncob! Thanks for taking the time to chat. Let’s get into it!

I think we should start at the start really ;-). Tell us about little Tania: growing up, family, pets, hobbies, naughty or nice, good student/always in detention….you get the idea!

I grew up in a town on the Eyre Peninsula called Whyalla. I was the youngest of 3 children. My brother and sister were closer in age, so I was the annoying baby sister who was always the third wheel. I loved chickens (and still do!) and I spent a lot of time in the chook yard as a kid, trying to teach them tricks and to generally do my bidding. My brother, in particular, doesn’t know how lucky he was that my chickens never learned to attack on command!

I was the weird kid that always had big ideas, and I was constantly thinking up stories to tell my friends. My teacher once noted that I had a vivid imagination and said that I’d either be a writer or a master criminal when I grew up. .

Were you a reader as a child/teen? and if so, who were your favourite authors or what were your preferred genres?

I loved reading as a kid, especially fantasy books about witches and wizards, magical creatures and ghosts. Stories were an escape from the real world for me. Like many kids of my generation, Enid Blyton was a staple, and though they are considered dated and have lost favour with many people today, I still have many fond memories of summer nights under the covers with my torch reading The Adventures of the Wishing Chair or The Magic Faraway Tree. I longed to find a magic portal to these lands where anything was possible.

As a tween, I adored The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively. I read this book over and over and never seemed to tire of it. I still have my original, well-loved copy of this book, although it’s falling apart now. In my later teen years, I became a huge fan of Stephen King and Dean Koontz, who were pretty popular in those days.

Tell us about the leap from child psychologist to children’s author.

Though I loved my work as a child psychologist, it was also incredibly challenging and traumatic at times. After the birth of my daughter, I planned on taking a couple of years off work to stay home with her, and this was when I started writing in earnest. I’d always loved writing but had never been brave enough to send my work out. The first story I wrote was Dog on Log and it was my way of teaching my daughter rhyme, phonics and opposite words.

What was the first real professional breakthrough as a writer?

The book I spoke of above, Dog on Log was my first published book. It was the first story I ever sent to a publisher and when I received that first agreement I remember thinking, Wow! This is easy, which I laugh at now. Little did I know then that it would be another 3 years before I’d have another book published!

I think readers are always curious as to where writers find inspiration. What have been your ‘inspo’ moments?

I’m a huge daydreamer and observer of people. My mind is often away somewhere thinking up ‘what if’ scenarios. Sometimes, people will mention that I’ve gone quiet and ask me if I’m okay – usually I’ve gone quiet because my mind is off chasing a character or a story.

I also get a lot of inspiration from people-watching, personal experiences and books that I read. I read a lot of books – usually one to two a week.

Sometimes a character’s name will come to me first. Other times, I’ll have a specific scene come to mind, which will then expand to become a story. I’m very much a panster, so I never spend time planning out story lines. I’d love to be one of these people who have beautiful journals full of research and story boards but I can’t work like that. I’ve tried doing it in the past and have never gotten far into the story before I’ve boxed myself in and given up.

Your newest book, Aggie Flea is NOT a Liar, is just a riotous romp from start to finish. Tell us about Aggie’s genesis and development – and how difficult it was to marry the prose with graphic, which I imagine was a very tricky technique.

I based Aggie Flea on myself as a kid. Like Aggie, I had an over active imagination that led to all kinds of trouble. When I was about six, we had a new neighbour move next door and I truly believed he was an alien robot. I told all of my school friends as much and we used to spy on him over the back fence after school.  Luckily, my neighbour was a forgiving man with a good sense of humour. In Aggie’s case though, she thinks her neighbour is a vampire!

The first draft of Aggie Flea was written in 2013 and Aggie was originally a boy called Gilbert Flea and there were a family of real vampires living next door. Shortly after the first draft of this, my series Jinny & Cooper was picked up and I put Gilbert Flea aside for a few years.

When I picked the story up again in 2019, I made the decision to change the main character to a female. My daughter made me change my mind. She had loved books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Weirdo and she once asked me why books with male characters were sillier and funnier than those with females. This made me determined to write a story about a female character who’s just as goofy and irreverent as you’d expect to see in a male protagonist. Gilbert became Aggie and I gave her my extra-large imagination to ensure she found herself in the craziest situations possible.

Originally, the Princess Zombie sections of Aggie Flea were simply mentions of Aggie’s favourite book written as prose. The editors liked these snippets and wanted to add more of them to the book. I told them that I imagined Princess Zombie as a graphic novel and one weekend I wrote a short Princess Zombie chapter book in graphic novel form so I could show them what I meant. I’d never written a graphic novel before so it was a huge learning curve. The editors loved it and suggested we add Princess Zombie as graphic novel inserts instead.

And you’re correct – they are very tricky to write. Thank you for recognising this! Aggie often refers to Princess Zombie whenever she’s in trouble, asking herself, What would Princess Zombie do? in a similar situation. Princess Zombie is Aggie’s moral compass and sassy role model rolled into one. Each Princess Zombie insert needs to marry with something that is happening in Aggie’s life while at the same time telling Princess Zombie’s unique story. And the three Princess Zombie excerpts in each book need to be written so they can effectively be read as a short story in itself. It is quite a complex and challenging process. I’m basically writing two books, one prose and one graphic novel, that blend together!

I always ask creators about their working day and working space – what is yours like? (photos are always appreciated!)

I’m fortunate enough to be able to write full time. My early morning is usually made up of miscellaneous stuff like chores, which I do while listening to podcasts or audiobooks; then mid-morning I’ll do some free writing and social media stuff, before I settle at my little desk to scan over what I wrote the day before. After lunch is when I usually write new content. I treat my desk like a sacred space – I’ll tidy it each day and wipe it down. I always have fresh flowers and candles set up. And lots of tea and chocolate!

Sometimes though, the characters in my story have different ideas about when and where they want to be written. Thomas, the protagonist in my upcoming mid-grade fiction, The Other Shadow, would only ‘speak to me’ after dinner and I could only write him when I was in bed. If I tried to write his story at my desk or earlier in the day, I’d get nowhere. So, I had a routine where I’d edit the previous day’s work after lunch at my desk and then hop into bed after dinner to write the next chapter or two.

What does your downtime look like? What are your interests or hobbies?

I read every day and I also listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks. I don’t watch a huge amount of television but when I do it is usually one of those cheesy but charming British detective series such as Midsomer Murders or Father Brown. I spend time hanging out with friends and family. I also love antiquing and I collect China tea cups and platters.

I also have sporadic moments of creativity such as crocheting, crafting, neurographic drawing, painting, flower arranging or candle making. I’m the kind of person who always has a million creative projects on the go.

And of course, I love poking through bookshops – new and second-hand!

I know you have projects underway. Are you able to tell us about those?

The second book in the Aggie Flea series – Aggie Flea Steals the Show – is coming out in March 2024. Aggie’s class is putting on a school play but Aggie’s big imagination almost ruins the entire production in her usual hilarious way. I’ve recently received some of the images for this book and illustrator, Anne Yi has done an amazing job! I can’t wait to see the final product. I think this one is even funnier than the first book.

I also have a mid-grade novel called The Other Shadow coming out June/July 2024. This story is about a young boy who is followed by a disembodied shadow, which first appears the day his father dies. It’s a more serious book than I’ve written previously. I wanted to write a story highlighting the trauma experienced by children who have parents struggling with mental illness. It was an emotional book to write and I poured my heart into it. I cried many times while writing Thomas’s story!

Towards the end of 2024, I also have a picture book coming out called Walls! The characters in this book are having an argument over who has the better side, eventually to the detriment of the entire book!

Finally, what would you like your epitaph to be?

I’d think my epitaph should say: She was full of stories…and chocolate.

Tania, thank you again for taking time out of your very busy life to give us the pleasure of your company. Wishing Aggie Flea all the success she so rightly deserves, and looking forward to more of her mishaps!!