The Big 4 Interviews - Alison Goodman

Published May 7, 2010
Category: Big 4 Interviews, Features

Alison Goodman is the author of EON (aka The Two Pearls of Wisdom, EON: Dragoneye Reborn, and EON: Rise of the Dragoneye), which has sold into fourteen countries and won the 2008 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It has recently been listed as an American Library Association Best Young Adult Book (2010), and is a James Tiptree Jr. Honour book, and a CBCA Notable Book. Alison’s other novels are the award winning Singing the Dogstar Blues, and her adult crime novel Killing the Rabbit. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and their machiavellian Jack Russell Terrier.

The Big Four for Alison Goodman

1. Your novel The Two Pearls of Wisdom draws inspiration from Chinese Astrology and Feng Shui. How did you first become interested in those subjects?

The idea for The Two Pearls of Wisdom—which has now been re-titled and re-released as EON—was inspired by a short paragraph about a murderous Emperor in a Feng Shui book that I was reading as research for my crime novel. So, Feng Shui began as a research interest and then built into a fascination. The same goes for the Chinese horoscope. Both lores deal with the flow of energy in the universe, and cosmic balance—a great base for a fantasy magic system.

I think the initial interest in Asian cultures came from my late Aunt Nachie who was Japanese and introduced me to a life-long interest in the Japanese culture. One of my earliest memories is sitting in her kitchen eating strips of dried seaweed that were packaged like gum. It also probably explains my well-developed umami tastebuds. I’d much rather chomp down on a nori roll than a chocolate bar.

2. In addition to being an author, you’re a creative writing teacher. What is the most valuable piece of advice you would give a budding author?

The real work of an author is in the rewrite. Getting down the first ideas in a rush of inspiration is great fun, but the real work is crafting those raw words into a cohesive story with compelling characters and fully realised themes. Learn to love the rewrite because that is where a serious author lives.

3. Given your past work, you seem comfortable working in a variety of genres. Will you continue to mix it up or can you see yourself staying in the fantasy genre after the huge success of The Two Pearls of Wisdom?

I basically go where the story goes. When I was creating The Two Pearls of Wisdom (EON) it soon became apparent that the vivid world-creation and quest storyline fitted within the fantasy genre. My first novel, Singing the Dogstar Blues, is set in a future world and explores time travel, which is classic Science Fiction. My second novel, Killing the Rabbit, is a noir crime novel for adults and plays with the conventions of hero and anti-hero, and the conspiracy plot. If the story I want to tell fits in a particular genre then I will use the conventions of that genre, but not slavishly. Part of the fun is to twist the conventions and play with the form.

It also takes a lot of energy and passion behind a story idea to sustain it over the long haul of writing a novel, so I follow the passion and energy too. I do have a new project in mind—a paranormal story with my usual twist—that I started developing about five years ago. It has a lot of fire behind it, so that is where I am heading after I finish EONA, the concluding sequel to EON.

4. You’ve written a lot of novels and short stories in your career. Which of your many characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

I would have to say my two main villains: Trojan Carmichael in Killing the Rabbit and Lord Ido, the villainous Dragoneye in EON and EONA. Trojan is a burnt-out hitman with his own warped code of honour, and Lord Ido is a sexy, manipulative, dangerous, sly, charming power-monger, who has the best set of abs I’ve ever imagined! They are both killers with their own self-justified motivations: fascinating and challenging to create. Hmm, I’m not sure what that says about me…