Author Interview: Steven Herrick

Today I have a special treat for you all. Australian author Steven Herrick has very kindly answered a few questions about his soon to be released YA novel Black Painted Fingernails.

Herrick has written more than eighteen novels for all ages in either verse or prose.

He has won the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards twice (and been short-listed three times), the Australian Speech Pathologists Book Award in 2005, been short-listed for the Australian Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award four times, his 2010 release, Slice, was one of the Notable Books for Older Readers with the CBCA, had two books named on the honour lists of the CBCA and been highly commended by the Children's Literature Peace Prize.

It seems to me, he is a force to be reckoned with.

Where did the idea for Black Painted Fingernails spring from?
It began as a verse-novel about an insecure young man who meets a free-spirited woman, but after many attempts at writing the main female character in verse, I gave up and left it alone for two years. When I approached it afresh as a prose novel, I found it much easier to write. And it allowed me to also add chapters on the parents, which I enjoyed immensely. These chapters were written after our two sons had left home, so I felt keenly the pain of the parents.

You usually write novels for young adults in verse. What changed your mind when you wrote Black Painted Fingernails?
I was at a stage where, after ten verse-novels in eleven years, I felt I'd said all I could say in that form. My last three books have been prose and I've enjoyed the challenge. Having said that, I used a multiple narrator form in 'black painted fingernails' which I've used before in my verse-novels. I guess I like to tell stories from multiple perspectives... there is no single truth.

Can you tell us a little about James and Sophie from Black Painted Fingernails?
I had lots of fun writing Sophie in particular - a woman who is strong-willed and independent. In many of my previous books, the male character has been to the fore... not in this book. But, most of all, I loved writing the parents - their sense of bewilderment and loss at being left alone as their only child sets off into the world.

What would you like readers to take away from reading Black Painted Fingernails?
That we all carry around our own insecurities, obsessions, feelings of love and loss, ambitions... each day.

Can you describe Black Painted Fingernails in three words?
It's a book! No? Okay...umm, how about - love, loss... landscapes

Last year Slice was released. Can you tell us a little about what inspired you to write it?
I really wanted to write about about the everyday minor details of a young man whose mind and mouth sometimes run ahead of themselves! It's a simple story, I hope, of a man trying to make sense of what being a man really means - how do you respond to love, bullies, friends, school, family - all those crucial little things of being sixteen and a little lost. That's where the title comes from - it's slice of life stuff.

What are you reading now?
For pleasure, I regularly read books about football (soccer) - often on the politics of world football. I've just finished a wonderful book called 'Why England lose' - which attempts to look at football from a scientific and empirical data perspective - sounds boring, but it wasn't. I'm also rereading the first draft of my next book - a verse-novel for children tentatively titled 'Pookie Aleera is not my boyfriend!'

A massive thank you to Steven for taking the time to answer my questions :)

Black Painted Fingernails will be published by Allen and Unwin in June. You can read my review here.

Slice was published by Woolshed Press via Random House in 2010. I haven't read it yet but you can read Nomes' review of it over at her blog inkcrush.

All Steven Herrick titles are available via The Book Depository for those of you outside Australia.

Visit Steven Herrick's website here.

Black Painted Fingernails by Steven Herrick

Title: Black Painted Fingernails
Author: Steven Herrick

Release Date: 1st June 2011

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

'How about we toss a coin? Heads, it's west and a lift. Tails, it's still west, but no lift.'

James is heading into the country on his first teacher-training round when a mysterious girl asks him for a ride. Sophie has him all worked out: 'You live with your parents and they bought you this car, and a very nice car it is too...' At first James can't see past her wild hair and attitude, but then Sophie trusts him with a secret she's been keeping too long.

My Review:
This is a story about a boy searching for freedom, and a girl returning from hers. I love Aussie fiction, road-trips, new friendships, awkward male leads and confident females, so this was already a book for me before I even opened the first page.

It is a story that heavily highlights the pressure parents can put on their children rather than letting them choose the path they would like to take themselves which I think is a common issue for teenagers, and parents, alike. There were times I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, at Sophie's self confidence, spunk and boldness and at James's embarrassment at being in an unfamiliar situation. I was also brought to tears at one point when Sophie returns home. It's times like these that I wish I was more eloquent so I could really describe what I want to; I'm just really in love with this book!

James is one of those awkward teens who doesn't have any luck with girls and plays life very safe. Whether this is due to his mother's over-protectiveness, his lack of confidence or both, it means that when Sophie appears in his life, she is sure to turn things upside down. Sophie is a free spirit who left home to get away from the pain of loving people who leave, and the mindset of the small town she lived in. She is the total opposite of James, and just what he needs to help him discover what he wants in life. And James might just be the kind of person Sophie needs to face her family again.

Black Painted Fingernails is told in alternating chapters. James's chapters tell the story as it is happening in present time, with an occasional look back at the past. Sophie's chapters look at her life and how she ended up sitting in the car next to James, heading home for the first time in three years. I believe it is done this way because the problems that James faces are current whereas Sophie's issues all stem from her childhood. Both James and Sophie are attempting to face their problems but without their chance meeting, it may not have gone so smoothly. There are also chapters by James's dad and his mother. They each have a couple of chapters set in present time which help the reader to understand the environment that James has come from but also shows teens the difficulty some parents have when their 'nest' is suddenly empty.

Black Painted Fingernails reminds me of Swerve by Philip Gwynne and Wavelength by AJ Betts. All three books look at males in their late teens struggling with where to go in their lives and what will come next. In each case, a girl helps show them the way.

This was my first Steven Herrick novel. He usually writes verse novels which are not something I am a fan of, so when I discovered that his new book was going to be prose, and a 'road trip' style book, I was ecstatic. I have read so many great reviews of his previous books and listened to Nomes and Nic go on about how wonderful Herrick is that I knew I would have to try him eventually. I was in no way disappointed with what I found and might just have to give in and try one of his verse novels.