Sue Lawson Interview

having read the review of Sue Lawson's latest novel Pan's Whisper you people are lucky enough to get an interview with her! any of you who've read my other Sue Lawson Reviews will know just how excited i was to have this oppurtunity.

Hi Sue, welcome to Cherry Banana Split. Make yourself at home. I really loved Pan’s Whisper, as well as all your other books.
Thank you so much for answering me questions: D

Thanks Anna. I’m so glad you enjoyed Pan’s story, and it is lovely to drop in on Cherry Banana Split.

The thing I love most about your books is the characters. They’re so realistic. How do you develop or get to know your characters?

Thank you. I’m thrilled you enjoy the characters. They become like real people for me, which I guess makes me rather strange. I spend most of my planning-time working on characters, creating collages and profiles, so I understand not only who these characters are, but what their motivations are.
I don’t use most of the stuff I gather about my characters, but nothing is wasted. Every detail makes the character more rounded and real for me.

You seem to love dramatic endings; they work really well for you. You build tension to have things ‘explode’ at the right moment, and then reveal everything.
Is there a reason you like this technique or does it just work well for you?
Yeah, I guess I am a bit of a drama queen when it comes to endings. I’m glad they are working for you. I must admit, I like to have an idea – a very rough idea – of how the story will end before I start writing. That way it helps me trickle out information to the end, so the ‘explosions’ aren’t deliberate, but just how my books pan out.

It is hard not to use the ‘dramatic event’ as a cop out to solve the problems or as an excuse for character development?
I guess by knowing where I am headed, I avoid the cop out situation. The development occurs along the way, rather than in that dramatic moment. I think my characters, like Pan, cope with the event because they have grown and changed through the course of the book.

Memories are really important in Pan’s Whisper. Could you have told Pan’s story without using Pan and Morgan’s memories as a story telling device?
I don’t think so. Morgan is as important as Pan, and gives us a much better understanding of Kylie’s character and her issues and so why Pan is as angry and mixed up as she is. Having access to Morgan’s memories as well as Pan’s helps the reader build a more rounded understanding of Pan and of the truth.

I love Hunter and Pan’s friendship, can you tell me a bit more about that?
I’m so glad you enjoyed Hunter and Pan – I love Hunter ( not in an old lady pervy way!) He was initially a bit character, but I realised his experience was integral to Pan facing her truth. His friendship, despite Pan’s efforts to chase him away, sparks the biggest leap of faith for her.
I’ve noticed in life people who have been through trauma and tragedy, even if the events are markedly different, often gravitate and have an intrinsic mutual understanding of each other’s situation. They ‘get’ each other’s situation without having to explain, which is why I decided Hunter could recognize pain and loss in Pan.

Do you use music when you write?
It varies. When I am editing I tend to prefer silence, but when I am writing, I usually have a CD playing, but never one I know really well. (Otherwise I’d become distracted and sing – no Powderfinger, Whitlams, The Police, Queen, or Midnight Oil when I write!) While writing Pan, I listened to ABC Digital radio station, Dig Music, relaxation CDs, the soundtrack from the movie Mongol (LOVE that soundtrack – very intense and emotional!), Pete Murray, and South African street music.

If you could befriend one of your characters who would it be and why? What would you like to do or talk about?
I guess I already have befriended them all. While I am writing and editing, I’m ‘talking’ to them the whole time, about how they would react in certain situations, what cards/clothes/stuff they would buy in shops etc.
I sound crazy I know, but the more I do this, the better I know them and the ‘easier’ it is to write about them and understand their situations. I actually miss my characters when I finish writing!

What’s your favourite Australian kids or YA book?
That is a REALLY tough one. Can I pick more than one? Please??
In no particular order…
Jackie French’s A Rose for the Anzacs, Julia Lawrinson’s Bye Beautiful, David Metzenthen’s Black Water ( And Jarvis 24 and Tiff and The Trout – in fact anything by David.) Cath Crowley’s Graffiti Moon and Karen Tayleur’s Six.
OOOH! most of those are my favourites too.

Thank you so much for having me Anna and for the sensational questions. What a great way to finish off a rewarding and fun blog tour!

thank you Sue for an amazing interview :D

Dare You

Title: Dare You
Author: Sue Lawson
First Published: 2010 by black dog books

for those of you have been hanging around this blog for a while you'll know that i love Sue Lawson's novels, so you would guess that when i walked into the school library for a reading period and discovered this little gem on the bookshelf i was extremely happy. this was before I'd even started reading.

Dare You is the story of a childhood friendship that starts to fall apart as Sas, Ruby and Kahden reach the middle of high school. they'd been best friends since the beginning of kindy, they've never known it any other way. Now though, with summer holidays around the corner, all there little problems are coming to light. the girls bickering and competing is reaching a dangerous point and Kahden and Sas are starting to think of each other very differently, but they can't let go. so they cling to their childhood games, but they aren't little kids anymore so the rules start to change. it starts to get scary. each of out main characters has their own secrets and problems hidden away, in usual Lawson style, which are making things tense and come to head at a critical moment.

the story is divided up into chapters from all three of our characters, Ruby's in first person, Sas' in first person diary style, and Kahden's in third person. i thought it worked quite well and though i had a favourite character, i LOVE Kahden, it didn't affect my reading of the story and it was nothing to do with the quality of the writing. there were moments where i wanted to grab Sas and Ruby and yell at them, because they were so believable. i felt the language was spot on, I'm about the age of the characters and it was the way i would speak or write. I'll admit i did sometimes find myself checking which character was supposed to be narrating because i was confused, but this is a common occurrence for me once we get 3 or so characters. i really thought the characters were fantastic. though we don't know much about the parents, you feel their side of the story as well, which is true to life and really nice to read.

one thing to know about this book, DON'T be tempted to flick through. i found myself wanting to know what happened next and flipping forward. this was a mistake because Lawson starts her chapters with sentences about Major events. i was unlucky and flipped to the chapter with i very informative start and regretted it for the rest of the book.

the only significant problem i had was with the ending, I'll try my best to keep this spoiler free.
there is a Massive event towards the very end and then the ending seemed to go very fast. i felt a bit cheated almost. i don't think this big event was a cop out, so she wouldn't have to solve the friendship problems. i would have liked to read a bit more either before the big event or after it, just to see that everything was resolved properly. it might have just been me, I'd really like to hear what you think. keep that in mind if you every read Dare You. i strongly recommend you do.

Allie Mcgregor's True colours

title:Allie Mcgregor's True colours
Aurthur: Sue Lawson
First Published: 2006 by Black Dog Books
Pages:218

Allie has her fair share of problems. she is sharing a room with her 6 year old sister because they're having renovations, is trying to fit in at school and is now being called the hormonal one by her Dad on his radio show, which basically everyone in town listens to. oh, and her Mum has cancer. Poor Allie's life is spinning out of control, but slowly Allie learns all about good friends, courage and how to important it is to talk. after a few major mishaps.

As always Sue Lawson has Given as a believable character. Allie is constantly in a Bad mood and earned herself the name 'The Hormonal One', but as her 6 year old sister reminds everyone, she just sad about Mum like me. Allie is trying so hard to ignore the fact that her mum is sick that she can't see what's in front of her. she accuses her best friend of being jealous and finds herself with a bunch of bitches who all where they're hair the same way. i thought that Allie's hair was a brilliant metaphor and i have never would have thought how girls wear would be so clever.

i think this book isn't as good as her other books Finding Darcy and After, but i think it is directed at a slightly younger audience. over all i think she did a good job talking about a common but scary issue. i love how it related into the Cyndi Lauper song True Colours, which is a beautiful song.

click here for the original

and here's the Glee version

finding darcy

title: finding Darcey
Aurthur: sue Lawson
first published: 2008 by black dog press

finding Darcy by sue Lawson is the best book in a long time. i couldn't put it down which is what I've been looking for all holiday. Darcy is living with her gran(misery) and her great gran or Grandma(batty). her SOSE teacher the newt or Mr newton has set an assignment about WWII which is a taboo topic in her family, if she mentions it she's more likely to get shot than an interview. the more research she does into her great grand father the harder it is to ignore the elephants sitting the corners of her grans perfectly clean house.

the thing that makes this book sing is how realistic it is, especially Darcy. you couldn't get a more realistic picture of a teenager(my opinion) she is very confused and wants answers and information, she can sulk, lose her temper(i do both of those a lot) and faces bullies. i really love this story and it makes me wonder about my own family history. my only problems with this book is if you're not paying full attention you might get a little confused and that you may need google, a good encyclopedia or someone with a bit of knowledge about australia in WWII.

i'm off to watch 27 dresses and do a little WWII and family research. do you guys have any cool family war stories?