Zach Jones has been an acrobat and a psychologist, and has taught Shakespeare in prisons, but his wife Aneeka is the best thing that ever happened to him. He spends his time running around after their six children and making up stories in his head. He completed his doctorate in Creative Writing at the University of the Sunshine Coast, and now lives on the North Coast of NSW. Growing Up in Flames is his first novel.
Today, Zach Jones is on the blog to take on our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …
Zach Jones
1. To begin with, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born and raised in a little town called Warrimoo in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Incidentally, this is where Blinky Bill was created and this continues to be the most significant event in the town’s history. I spent my childhood in a house on a hill that Mum and Dad were constantly renovating and improving, and reading in my treehouse out the back. Bushfires were a yearly reality of living in the Blue Mountains. Sometimes they were close and the street would be hazed with smoke for days or weeks. Sometimes they were further away and we would drive to a lookout to watch them in the distance at night when you could see the flames. I graduated from the high school my mum taught at, and from there went on to a degree in theatre, then teaching, psychology and a doctorate in creative writing.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
At twelve I wanted to be an architect. I liked houses and used to lose myself imagining where I’d like to live as I got older. Quickly realised that I wasn’t great at maths and sucked at drawing – that was the end of that.
At eighteen I knew that I didn’t want the lifestyle of acting. I didn’t love the idea of trying to find parking at auditions in different places each day (or being constantly rejected). My parents had both studied theatre degrees and most of their friends from that time had either taken up acting-adjacent careers or were still balancing casual jobs with auditions. I wanted more consistency than that. I knew that I liked acting and performing though, so went and studied it at uni and figured ‘hey, I’ll figure it out from there’.
At thirty I wanted to write. I’d written four or five books and finally put something together that I felt comfortable approaching publishers with – Growing Up in Flames. I love the intricacy of it; the puzzle of plotting and crafting meaningful characters; the thrill of inhabiting another perspective. It was everything that I loved about acting when I was younger, but done at a desk (or lounge, car, shower …). I also wanted to focus on being a husband and a good dad to my six kids.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you don’t have now?
That there was such a thing as ‘bad guys’, both in fiction and in real life. I had a pretty sheltered childhood, and it was easy to think that bad people were somewhere different with their dark cloaks and poor dental hygiene. Lots of experiences with different types of people helped me to learn that life is more complicated than that – that people are almost never the villains of their own story, and generally feel like they have a good reason for what they do.
4. What are three works of art – this could be a book, painting, piece of music, film, etc – that influenced your development as a writer?
I bloody loved the Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate as a kid. I keep trying to get my kids into that series now. It was my first real foray into an immersive fantasy world and I remember as a kid trying to explain it to older people and sounding like a massive nerd (anyone whose really gotten into a fantasy series with some kind of lore will know that feeling).
Ruby Moon by Matt Cameron is an amazing Australian play that I have loved since I was a teenager. It’s dark a twisted take on Little Red Riding Hood explored from the perspective of the parents of a missing child. I learned a lot about motifs as well as using established symbolism to comment on contemporary ideas.
I love TV and movies – especially twisty ones with tight plotting and complex symbolism. Aronofsky’s Black Swan really hit me when I first saw it. I thought it was so layered and complex. I also haven’t seen anything that Mike Flanagan has done that I haven’t loved. He has this way of telling horror stories in a way that is genuinely sweet and moving.
‘Lots of experiences with different types of people helped me to learn that life is more complicated than that – that people are almost never the villains of their own story, and generally feel like they have a good reason for what they do.’
5. Considering the many artistic forms out there, what appeals to you about writing a young adult novel?
I’ve always liked the medium of YA. They’re such important stories to tell – people exploring what the world means through lenses coloured so intensely by their childhood. I think it’s an important audience to be talking to about real issues. YA readers are often exploring complex ideas for the first time, or in ways that they haven’t thought of before. They’re less jaded than some older readers and genuinely keen to be challenged. I also like that I can share my books with my kids sooner. That being said, it’ll be a couple of years before I let them read Growing Up in Flames.
6. Please tell us about your latest book!
Growing Up in Flames is set in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, one of the last places in Australia where the canefields are burnt at harvest. It follows Kenna, who moves to the town her mum grew up in after her mum dies in a bushfire. Kenna finds that there’s a lot about her mum’s life that she never knew and starts unravelling her past as a way of connecting with her. It explores trauma and identity and rage and violence. It’s really good. Buy it.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
A second copy. No, seriously, I hope people think about how our experiences shape us and where identity comes from. Then I hope they buy a second copy.
8. Who do you most admire in the writing world and why?
Stephen King. That guy is an icon. He’s been so good for so long, and is so prolific. He pretty much created his own genre to the point where Stranger Things can copy his tropes and have the same feel without him having anything to do with it.
Also Neil Gaiman, because he’s Neil Gaiman and he has magic in his fingers. Everything I read of his makes me say, ‘Damn, I should’ve done something like that’.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
I have 6 kids, so some days getting through to breakfast is an ambitious goal. Beyond breakfast, I’d like to live in a bus or something, write on the road.
I’ve set myself the challenge of writing a book with each of my kids. I have one done and one in the works at the moment, but as I work my way up to the older kids the books take longer and are more sophisticated, so I’m aware this could take a while.
10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Write. There’s no shortcuts. There’s no quick course or book that will teach you a magic formula for producing a novel. The quickest way to learn to write is to do it and get people to read it, cry about the feedback, rip your own work apart and do it again. Don’t be precious about your words – story is the focus and prose grows on trees.
Thank you for playing!
—Growing Up in Flames by Zach Jones (Text Publishing) is out now.
Growing Up in Flames
Kenna's mother Ava was killed in a bushfire not long ago. Now Kenna's living with her uncle and his young family in the small town where Ava grew up, and she feels like an intruder.
Noah's mother has a mental illness that makes him both carer and jailer - constantly watchful, keeping things on an even keel. One night Kenna sees the general store on fire, and a boy standing watching as it burns. It takes her a while to notice he's holding a petrol can, but then things move fast. She's tackled him and run off with his bag before she even knows what's happened...
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