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Friday, June 13, 2014

Writing Process Blog Hop # 1: Ambelin Kwaymullina

The other day I received an email from Rhiannon Hart, a YA author currently living outside Australia. It was about a "Writing Process Blog Hop". You ask three writers you know to answer questions about the way they write, along the lines of last year's Next Big Thing. It's meant to be done on your own blog, but not everybody has one, so I offered to host Ambelin's post. Ambelin Kwaymullina is the author of two YA novels so far, plus the author/illustrator of several children's picture books, plus a handcrafter, plus working full time teaching law stuff at university...Some people have all the talents!

There will be a proper interview with Ambelin as soon as I get the questions worked out, but meanwhile, here are the answers to some things you might have wondered. 




What are you working on?

The Foretelling of Georgie Spider, which is the third book in my Young Adult dystopian series. This series tells of a future world where people with special abilities are persecuted by the government and centres around the struggle of a group of teenagers and children to change their world for the better.

How does your work differ from others in your genre?

My work is strongly drawn from and influenced by my Aboriginal culture. This means that while my work is often seen as being very different to that of non-Indigenous writers, it contains a lot of similarities with speculative fiction written by other Indigenous authors, including (for example) non-linear elements to the story. I'm really proud to be one of a number of Indigenous people writing speculative fiction here in Australia and worldwide, I think we have a lot to contribute to the genre.

Why do you write what you write?

The story itself drives me, and the characters. I couldn't not write the stories; they demand to be told and that I do the best job I possibly can of telling them.

How does your writing process work?

Generally my 'process', such as it is, runs on coffee and desperation to meet a deadline!




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