Ten Terrifying Questions with Georgina Young!

Georgina Young is a writer and designer from Melbourne. Her first novel, Loner, which was published in 2020, won the Text Prize, was commended by the CBCA as a notable book for older readers, and was shortlisted for a Prime Minister’s Literary Award.

To celebrate the release of her book, Bootstrap, Georgina takes on our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …

1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?

2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?

I started writing books when I was about twelve. I had plans for a medieval trilogy about magic swords and excellent archery skills. I was still writing books when I was eighteen, but I was studying design at uni, as I was under the impression that that would be more employable. Unfortunately, our lecturers never ceased to inform us that there were few jobs in the industry, and we could expect to intern for nothing for some time before getting anywhere. I’m not yet thirty. I hope I’m still writing, but who knows, maybe I’ll have joined the navy.

3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you don’t have now?

My dad used to be exasperated by the way I’d always finish an anecdote by declaring ‘people are the worst’. I no longer think that and find it sad that so many people seem to have become stuck on that conclusion, i.e. people are horrible, and the world is horrible. There’s a lot of nihilism going round, and contempt for one another. I am sad when someone throws a custard pie at the Mona Lisa, or decrees that all old white men are deserving of our animosity.

I don’t like the rudimentary nature of so much of our contemporary discourse. In fact, I would hardly call it discourse. I don’t believe the destruction of something beautiful is a worthwhile expenditure of one’s energy and creativity. I believe in constructing something beautiful of one’s own, and I would hope we live in a society that can at least appreciate one another’s attempts at this.

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?

Big question, so I’ll isolate it to a few key influences on my latest novel, Bootstrap. We’re going to have to go right back to Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, which I read for school when I was fifteen. There is one particular scene that has stuck with me, and that is Rose watching Fish on the landing, and the house around them creaks and groans and our omniscient narrator describes this moment in time as endlessly, infinitely occurring. I became obsessed with this concept (all of time always happening), although only put a name to it a few years later when I encountered Nietzsche’s Eternal Return.

My fascination with time is at the heart of Bootstrap, as is my love of time travel narratives. I’ve always been a big fan of the genre, and Doctor Who was an early influence, particularly the Russell T. Davies seasons. I think time travel allows for an interesting combination of imagination and existentialism, which are two of my favourite things.

And if we are to discuss time travel, and my favourite instances of such, we must mention the Time-Turner sequence in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I have always loved this example of time travel because it is logical and fits together, and I like things that are logical and fit together. I find it deeply satisfying narratively, and this has certainly fed into the sort of time travel novel I wished to construct myself.

5. Considering the many artistic forms out there, what appeals to you about writing a book?

The fact that I get to do it all myself! In all honesty, this is a big factor. I am very private about my writing. I don’t feel a need to share drafts or workshop at an early stage. I appreciate being able to determine, as closely as possible, what I want to say, and how I am going to say it. I find writing enables me to express concepts clearer than I am able to in verbal exchange, or in any other medium. I also just enjoy the construction! I love writing, and I always have. I like building a novel.

6. Please tell us about your latest book!

Bootstrap is a small-town time travel love story. It is about Jackson Sweeney, who is living in a country town in northwest Victoria where nothing ever happens, and then suddenly a lot of things happen. The way I have come to describe it is: a coming-of-age story that is hijacked by a time travel story.

7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?

I want people to enjoy my books, and also think about them. What else could a girl want? With Bootstrap in particular I wanted to write a fun book about country Australia, because I was sick of how the rural landscape is used for horror and the Gothic all the time. Small towns and the people who live in them are often portrayed as backward and/or menacing, and that has never been my experience of the country.

8. Who do you most admire in the writing world and why?

I am currently reading 71/2 by Christos Tsiolkas and I have never been gladder that a novel has been written. I was weeping by the fourth page because I was so relieved. Tsiolkas offers this angry, wearying era something beautiful and states that such a gift is worthwhile. He refuses that which is didactic and steeped in the certitudes of Morality and Politics. He dares to suggest art is not only a tool. He dares introduce doubt. I admire this apostasy, I admire this novel.

9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?

I am aware that I am going to die some day. I just want to write as many books as I can before then.

10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

If you want to write, you’ve got to write. Sit down and do it. If it helps, set a specific time and location for the work to take place. This can make a difference (I certainly find it does) when the hardest obstacle seems to be one’s own hesitance to begin or to get back to it. If you’re struggling to motivate yourself at home, go to a library. If you’re sick of staring at a blinking cursor, try writing by hand. Follow the advice you’re given, or don’t. Change your mind and your practices. I certainly never stop doing so

Thank you for playing!

—Bootstrap by Georgina Young (Text Publishing) is out now!

Bootstrap

by Georgina Young

Get to know the author of Bootstrap.

Order NowRead More

No comments Share:

About the Contributor

Booktopia Guest Blogger