This is my favourite YA novel
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I have loved The Worst Witch series since I was eight years old
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Milly-Molly-Mandy is a special book from my childhood
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QUESTIONS ABOUT BRENTON
Where were you born?
I was born in Gympie, Queensland. We lived in a little house on a small property with lots of fences and yards and horses. Across the road was a duck pond. Just up the hill lived my grandparents and down the road lived my other grandparents. When I was nine, we moved to Kingaroy, a few hours away. So, I think of Gympie and Kingaroy as my two home towns!
What are your favourite books?
I love biographies of authors, non-fiction books about historical events, and adult murder mysteries by writers such as Robert Thorogood, Amanda Hampson, Ruth Ware, Agatha Christie and Lorna Barrett.
As a kid, I loved The Worst Witch, Milly-Molly-Mandy, the Hannah series by Libby Gleeson, The Shadow Thief, Moving Molly, Whispering to Witches, The Apartment Book, Thunderwith, The Famous Five, Harry Potter, Bailey School Kids, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Baby-Sitters Club (I'm a Mallory), Beatrix Potter stories, and lots of others - I read anything and everything!
Who are your favourite authors?
I love Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Wendy Orr, Libby Gleeson, Alexandra Adornetto, Libby Hathorn, Jackie French, Dianne Bates, Bill Condon, Ann M. Martin, Debbie Dadey, Margaret Wild, Sophie Masson, Peter Carnavas, Janeen Brian, Rebecca Fraser, Sally Odgers, Pamela Rushby, Tania Ingram, Emily Rodda, Judy Blume, Corinne Fenton, Kate Gordon, and about a hundred more!
Who are your favourite illustrators?
Ann James, Jeannie Baker, Lorena Carrington, Beatrice Alemagna, Clare McFadden, Shirley Hughes, Noela Young, Rod Clement, Brenda Clark, Amelia Luscombe, Craig Smith, Max Hamilton, Tricia Tusa, Timothy Ide, Julie Vivas, Andrew McLean, Karen Blair, Tom Jellett, Cheryl Orsini, Andy Joyner, Patricia Mullins, Judy Watson, Danny Snell, Tamlyn Teow, Deborah Niland, and many more!
What is your favourite animal?
Gorillas. I love how majestic and unassuming they are. There are very few, less than one thousand, left in the world. Apart from gorillas, I love wombats, fairy-wrens and platypus. Oh, and dogs. Of course.
What is your writing process?
Sometimes I get an idea and instantly start writing, and it simply flows. Other times, I have an idea that sits in my 'Ideas Notebooks' for months or years, and then it might one day suddenly tell me it is 'ready' - it can be good to let ideas percolate at the back of your mind.
Now, I am trying to be structured and intentional with what I write, and the order of which stories I write. It can be hard to choose what project to write next when I have so many ideas in my head, or in my Ideas Notebook. I try and pick the story that speaks to me the most, the one that jumps up and down and demands to be written, the one I think I will enjoy working on the most at that specific point in time, the one where I think 'I simply must write this right now!'. For each book, I begin a new yellow notebook. On the cover, I write the title of the story and inside, I scribble ideas and character notes and draw maps or sketches and jot down random pieces of dialogue: basically any notes to do with the story. It is like I am 'thinking out loud' as I write scrawly notes to myself in this notebook. The notebook for each new book helps me build up the world of that story, until I am ready to begin the actual writing.
When I am feeling ready to begin writing the story, I keep the notebook beside me and I start putting words onto the page - on the computer but also sometimes by hand on yellow-lined paper (maybe yellow inspires me somehow). If I work consistently while writing a first draft, I can get five hundred words to fifteen hundred words a day. It takes a couple months to write the first draft. I then set aside stories for a while, even picture books which are short, to let them rest and breathe. I have a stack of drafts in different stages beside me now. Which one will whisper to me next, I wonder...?
What's your favourite film?
I love La La Land, You've Got Mail, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Mrs Doubtfire, The Devil Wears Prada, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and so many, many more!
What's your favourite Disney movie?
I have to pick three: Basil the Great Mouse Detective, Sleeping Beauty and Up! (*Cries*)
Do you like writing a particular type of story more than any other?
I love switching between stories for different age groups and lengths and genres. If I just wrote a long novel for middle-grade readers, I would rather write a shorter picture book text. If I just wrote a few children's books in a row, I might switch to work on an idea for an adult novel. I love writing all of it - but I think, deep down, picture books have my heart.
What was the first story you ever wrote?
I was six, and it was called The Dingo With No Teeth. I wanted to be Jeannie Baker so I wrote the story on card stapled together and collected bark and leaves and cotton wool to make 'collage' illustrations.
Where were you born?
I was born in Gympie, Queensland. We lived in a little house on a small property with lots of fences and yards and horses. Across the road was a duck pond. Just up the hill lived my grandparents and down the road lived my other grandparents. When I was nine, we moved to Kingaroy, a few hours away. So, I think of Gympie and Kingaroy as my two home towns!
What are your favourite books?
I love biographies of authors, non-fiction books about historical events, and adult murder mysteries by writers such as Robert Thorogood, Amanda Hampson, Ruth Ware, Agatha Christie and Lorna Barrett.
As a kid, I loved The Worst Witch, Milly-Molly-Mandy, the Hannah series by Libby Gleeson, The Shadow Thief, Moving Molly, Whispering to Witches, The Apartment Book, Thunderwith, The Famous Five, Harry Potter, Bailey School Kids, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Baby-Sitters Club (I'm a Mallory), Beatrix Potter stories, and lots of others - I read anything and everything!
Who are your favourite authors?
I love Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Wendy Orr, Libby Gleeson, Alexandra Adornetto, Libby Hathorn, Jackie French, Dianne Bates, Bill Condon, Ann M. Martin, Debbie Dadey, Margaret Wild, Sophie Masson, Peter Carnavas, Janeen Brian, Rebecca Fraser, Sally Odgers, Pamela Rushby, Tania Ingram, Emily Rodda, Judy Blume, Corinne Fenton, Kate Gordon, and about a hundred more!
Who are your favourite illustrators?
Ann James, Jeannie Baker, Lorena Carrington, Beatrice Alemagna, Clare McFadden, Shirley Hughes, Noela Young, Rod Clement, Brenda Clark, Amelia Luscombe, Craig Smith, Max Hamilton, Tricia Tusa, Timothy Ide, Julie Vivas, Andrew McLean, Karen Blair, Tom Jellett, Cheryl Orsini, Andy Joyner, Patricia Mullins, Judy Watson, Danny Snell, Tamlyn Teow, Deborah Niland, and many more!
What is your favourite animal?
Gorillas. I love how majestic and unassuming they are. There are very few, less than one thousand, left in the world. Apart from gorillas, I love wombats, fairy-wrens and platypus. Oh, and dogs. Of course.
What is your writing process?
Sometimes I get an idea and instantly start writing, and it simply flows. Other times, I have an idea that sits in my 'Ideas Notebooks' for months or years, and then it might one day suddenly tell me it is 'ready' - it can be good to let ideas percolate at the back of your mind.
Now, I am trying to be structured and intentional with what I write, and the order of which stories I write. It can be hard to choose what project to write next when I have so many ideas in my head, or in my Ideas Notebook. I try and pick the story that speaks to me the most, the one that jumps up and down and demands to be written, the one I think I will enjoy working on the most at that specific point in time, the one where I think 'I simply must write this right now!'. For each book, I begin a new yellow notebook. On the cover, I write the title of the story and inside, I scribble ideas and character notes and draw maps or sketches and jot down random pieces of dialogue: basically any notes to do with the story. It is like I am 'thinking out loud' as I write scrawly notes to myself in this notebook. The notebook for each new book helps me build up the world of that story, until I am ready to begin the actual writing.
When I am feeling ready to begin writing the story, I keep the notebook beside me and I start putting words onto the page - on the computer but also sometimes by hand on yellow-lined paper (maybe yellow inspires me somehow). If I work consistently while writing a first draft, I can get five hundred words to fifteen hundred words a day. It takes a couple months to write the first draft. I then set aside stories for a while, even picture books which are short, to let them rest and breathe. I have a stack of drafts in different stages beside me now. Which one will whisper to me next, I wonder...?
What's your favourite film?
I love La La Land, You've Got Mail, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Mrs Doubtfire, The Devil Wears Prada, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and so many, many more!
What's your favourite Disney movie?
I have to pick three: Basil the Great Mouse Detective, Sleeping Beauty and Up! (*Cries*)
Do you like writing a particular type of story more than any other?
I love switching between stories for different age groups and lengths and genres. If I just wrote a long novel for middle-grade readers, I would rather write a shorter picture book text. If I just wrote a few children's books in a row, I might switch to work on an idea for an adult novel. I love writing all of it - but I think, deep down, picture books have my heart.
What was the first story you ever wrote?
I was six, and it was called The Dingo With No Teeth. I wanted to be Jeannie Baker so I wrote the story on card stapled together and collected bark and leaves and cotton wool to make 'collage' illustrations.
Do you have a favourite animal? Mine is the gorilla. I would quite like to write a story about a gorilla, one day.
A cover illustration by Ann James. Ann is my favourite illustrator of all time.
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This is a mystery tv show about a writer, from the 1980s and 1990s. 'Murder, She Wrote' is my all-time favourite show!
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Every time I have an idea for a book, I start scribbling the notes in a yellow notebook like this one.
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