The Big 4 Interviews - Christine Bongers

1. Christine, your new book, Henry Hoey Hobson, is filled with so many important themes: resilience in the face of adversity; self-belief; acceptance; belonging. I think it’s going to touch a lot of hearts. When you were growing up, were there any literary characters who you identified with and who helped you through rough times?

Growing up in the bush, the only one of seven kids without testicles, I knew what it was like to be different. While my brothers were off precision-ploughing the back paddock, I was lost in a book, poling down the Mississippi with Huck Finn, or mushing sled dogs in the Yukon with White Fang.

I adored my six brothers, but when the relentless boydom of my life got too much, I’d escape into Little Women and Jo March’s dream of becoming a writer.

My parents gave me a manual Olivetti typewriter for my twelfth birthday and it sealed my fate. If Jane Eyre could make it from orphanage to Manor House, and Anne of Green Gables could escape to University from an obscure island in the backblocks of Canada, then I could get out of Dodge.

The characters that inspired me were often outsiders; they were true to themselves, and they never, ever, gave up. When the sharp end of life backed them up to a precipice, they’d grab hold of it, and pull themselves, hand-over-hand, back from the edge.

When I wrote Henry Hoey Hobson I wanted to create an anti-hero who could win over the hearts that matter, simply by being himself.  He was only twelve years old, so Henry needed others in his life, but the Others I gave him weren’t of his choosing – strange creatures of the night, owners of a coffin…

I laughed – and cried – many times while writing his story, and judging by the emails coming in, it’s having a similar effect on its readers.

2. Your acclaimed debut novel, Dust, centres on the life of 12-year-old Cecilia: a fascinating, layered character growing up in 1970s rural Australia. You’re a Biloela girl yourself, originally. Was the story autobiographical, or semi-autobiographical? What was it like to receive such towering praise for your first book? Does that sort of reception create as much pressure as inspiration?

I’d classify Dust as autobiographical fiction, like Little Women, which was based on Louisa May Alcott’s family, growing up in Massachusetts, or To Kill a Mockingbird, based on Harper Lee’s childhood in the deep south of America.

Dust is faithful to the time and place in which I grew up, and like me, Cecilia has six brothers and a Dutch father. In its earliest form, it started out as an attempt to recreate a time and a place, but at some point in the writing process, I realised that Cecilia was not me, but a fictional character with her own needs, desires and fears, and that realisation freed me to write her story. (She ended up being just about everything I wasn’t at twelve years of age, and a few things I wouldn’t mind being, even now.)

By the time Dust was published I was 40,000 words into an adult crime novel and 12,000 into Henry Hoey Hobson (which was commissioned shortly afterwards), so there was no angst about what to work on next. When Dust started attracting critical attention, my first and overwhelming reaction was relief. Now I’m just plain grateful.

Henry Hoey Hobson was sold on the first three chapters and a synopsis. I was so consumed by the story, so ridiculously in love with the characters, and so intent on meeting my publisher’s deadline, I didn’t have time to worry about what other people would think of it. That anxiety kicked in when I finished the manuscript…

HHH was like my second child – so different to his older, clever sister – but so beautiful in his own way. I just wanted others to love him as much as I did.

3. Are you able to tell us a bit about Intruder, the YA novel you’re currently working on?

The inspiration came from one of the worst nights of my life: the night my eleven year old woke up to find a prowler standing over her bed. He ran away when she woke up, but I tortured myself with the question what if?

A year later I started writing Intruder.

What if the child had no mother? What if her father worked nights? What if she lied to the police about what had happened? What if the one person she hates most in the world, was the one who came running when she screamed…?

Every kid I talk to wants to know what happens next, but I’m not telling. Not yet.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest  in your mind and why? 

The character I’m currently working on always burns brightest. Right now, that’s Kat, the main character in Intruder. When I’m writing, I’m in my protagonist’s headspace: I think about her, dream about her, and she can be more real than my own family and friends.

But having said that, I sense unfinished business with Henry Hoey Hobson. I left him last year, the only boy in Year Seven. But he still pops in and visits me. Tells me where he’s gone to high school, lets me know what he’s up to… This hasn’t happened before. My characters don’t usually stay in touch. Perhaps there’s more to his story. I’ll keep you posted. 🙂

Check out Christine’s site here for further info.