Q. When did you first realise you wanted to be an author rather than an astronaut?
I was always obsessed with books. In pre-school I wouldn’t talk to the other kids. I’d just sit in the corner and read piles and piles of books. When I was 8 I read The Lord of the Rings and decided that doing anything else besides writing books would just be ridiculous. I mean, who wouldn’t want to make up realities for a living? Plus, you get to work in your pajamas--that’s pretty top notch as far as perks go.
Q. Tell me a little about your experience writing your first novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Dying in India. Was it different from what you expected?
At the time that I was traveling around India, I was a few chapters into writing a fictional biography of a rock star who was slowly going mad. I wanted it to be sort of a merging and mythologizing of the stories of people like Syd Barett and Jeff Buckley. It was a good idea, but it just wasn’t coming together.
One evening I was sitting on the rooftop of a hotel just sinking beers and playing guitar. I was staring out at this incredible view of the Himalayas, and I thought ‘You know what? The hell with this. I have to write about this place.’ I picked up my pen and started scribbling in my notebook and slammed out the first chapter pretty much straight away. After that I just couldn’t stop. It didn’t feel like work at all; it was just something that I felt compelled to do. Also by that point I’d already written a couple of ‘practice novels,’ which is something most authors do before they try and get published. It’s an important part of honing your skills. I think because of that I felt ready, and I was excited to get my work out into the world at last.
Q. What’s it like to be an independent author in Australia? What are the major distinguishing features of being ‘independent’?
It’s got its pros and cons. The major downside, of course, is that you don’t have a giant publicity machine behind you pushing your books, so it’s hard to get your work under people’s noses. However, if you’re willing to work hard and really sell yourself, chase every interview opportunity and learn about social media and all that jazz, you can do very well for yourself.
I may not have sold tens of thousands of copies, but I’ve consistently received 4 and 5 star reviews from both professionals and the general public. It’s about taking the long view and building a fan base. I’ve had emails from people in Afghanistan and England and Canada and Malaysia, and that feels pretty damn good. Also some of them included naked photos, which is pretty hilarious.
The major upside, of course, is that you have a great deal of control over your work--cover design, title, editing process and all that stuff. Another really exciting development is that the Lightning Source print on demand service opens in Australia in June. This is big news for people looking to self publish. I think what we’ll see is a development similar to what happened in the music industry, where record companies stopped being a necessary part of the process and became more of an optional publicity machine.
Q. How did you come to be involved in the 100 Stories for QLD project?
The whole thing was really strange, I was actually in Argentina when the floods hit. I’d just got back from a bicycle wine tour with my girlfriend, and it had been the most idyllic, picturesque day you could ever hope for. We got back to the hotel, and I checked my email and saw all these pictures of Brisbane under water. It was surreal and horrifying. I felt insanely guilty for being on holiday while my friends and family were watching their streets being swallowed.
A couple of weeks later a friend emailed me telling me that ‘100 stories’ was looking for submissions, and of course I leapt at the chance. By then I was crashing on the couch of a friend in LA, just about to head home. I knocked my story out on his kitchen table in a couple of hours. The whole things been an absolute pleasure to be part of, and the book is doing really well. We made it to the #1 on amazon.com’s ‘movers and shakers’ list, which was a massive achievement.
Q. If you could invite one fellow author (living or dead) out for a beer, who would that be and why?
It might be an obvious choice, but I’d have to say Neil Gaiman. He’s one of those people who inspire me not only in terms of the actual material that they produce, but in their entire process and philosophy. Actually, the other day my friend posted a music video of his wife, Amanda Palmer, on Facebook with the comment ‘I love this song!’ One of her big wig music industry friends replied ‘Oh yeah Amanda’s great, I’ll introduce you the next time she’s in town.’ If this happens I will be only two degrees of separation away from my idol mwahahaha….
Q. What advice do you have for people wanting to become professional fiction writers?
This really is something I could talk about all day long. I’ve written two articles about it, one called A Beginner's Guide to getting published without wanting to stab yourself in the face with a pen and another titled 6.5 writing tips so you can look those up for detailed advice. However, the key points are the obvious ones; you’ve got to work hard, be patient and persevere. Also don’t spend money on one of those ebooks titled ‘HOW TO WRITE A BEST SELLER IN SIX HOURS AND EARN BIG $$$$$!!!!!.’ The people who write those things deserved to be torn to shreds by a pack of menopausal werewolves.
Q. Are you a pen and paper or strictly word processor kinda-guy?
Word processor all the way. Specifically a program called scrivener which is just amazing and only costs about 50 bucks. When it comes to making art, you want the most efficient and useful tools available to you. Sometimes I have people ask me, ‘Ohhh you’re a writer! Do you use a typewriter?’ Which to me is a little bit like asking a dentist whether they prefer using nitrous oxide or a bottle of whiskey and a quick blow to the head. I get that there’s a romantic, nostalgic value attached to not using a computer, but that’s pretty seriously outweighed by the fact that anything else would be slow and impractical.
Q. What are you reading right now?
I’m in the middle Janette Turner Hospital’s Charades. Sometimes her writing style is a little too polished and academic for me personally, but she’s an absolute master of the craft, and the way she interweaves stories and characters is just magical. Also it’s set in and around Brisbane which I quite enjoy. There aren’t nearly enough novels set in this city considering how many great writers we produce. I just finished Extremely loud and incredibly close which was easily one of the best things I’ve ever read. Everything about it was just beautiful and astonishing.
Q. What does the future hold for JM Donellan?
Well, for one thing I’d like to point out the fact that it’s 2011, and I own neither a hoverboard nor jetpack. I think the future needs to pick its game up. In terms of writing, I’m currently in the process of negotiating publication of a children’s novel I wrote about magical mouthless animals that eat music with their giant ears.
I’m also going back to India next month where I’ll be putting the finishing touches on my next novel ‘Adonis Comma Coma.’ I started writing ‘Adonis’ in Cambodia and continued working on it in Argentina, New York, Colombia and Australia. The fact that I’ll be finishing it off in the country where I started my first novel five years ago has a nice kind of symmetry too, I think.
I’m also in the process of raising funds to build an evil robot army. Feel free to contribute via the link on my blog, although I should point out that donations are not tax deductible. For some reason the government refuses to classify building a robot army as a positive social enterprise. The jerks.
Kendall Benton - Over the past ten years I have been working in the field of environmental conservation within an international non-government organisation ...
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