Clare Atkins is the author of Nona and Me, a wonderful tale of growing up that I reviewed recently. It’s a delicate, a quiet tale that you’ll still think about long after the book is finished. Atkins cut her teeth writing on shows you know well — All Saints, Wonderland to name two before she turned her hand to writing. Here she talks to me about how important it was to get this book just right.
How would you describe your books-to-read list?
Long! At the moment, it’s mostly contemporary YA with a smattering of other fiction novels, and one or two non-fiction books buried somewhere at the bottom. I’m currently most excited about reading Laurinda by Alice Pung and Lost and Found by Brooke Davis; I picked up signed copies of both of these on a recent publicity trip to Melbourne.
Do you have a favourite genre that you always find your way back to?
My favourite books are fiction with a historical or political backdrop – the kind of book where you get so involved in the story you don’t realise you’re also absorbing information about another time or place. The classic for me would be Wild Swans, but other fantastic examples are The Book Thief, The Kite Runner, and most of Jackie French’s books.
Your career spans some of Australia’s most iconic TV shows – Home and Away, All Saints, Winners and Losers, and Wonderland — what was the most important lesson you learned through those experiences?
I have learned so much from writing for TV, such as how to write dialogue, structure a story, and create character arcs. But I think the most important lesson has been gaining an understanding of myself as a writer — a knowledge of how to push through and get the work done even if I don’t feel like writing. TV has deadlines and a quick turnaround time for episodes, so you learn how to kick-start and bribe yourself. There’s no time to sit around waiting for inspiration to strike!
While the differences between writing for television and a book seem obvious, are there similarities people might not be aware of?
I actually wrote Nona & Me as an intersection between television and a novel; there is more dialogue than other books, and the structure is a series of consecutive scenes. The main difference is in the amount of description; in scripts writers try to keep ‘big print’ (description of action) to a minimum. It’s the directors’ job to decide how the scenes will look and be shot, and the actors’ jobs to interpret the emotion, so big print is only for things that are absolutely essential to note – like a specific prop or action that is needed to make the scene work. But in a book you need description to take your reader to another world, and there’s no-one else working with you to create it – it’s just you. So I suppose you are playing director, writer and actor, trying to convey emotion, sense of place and story all at once.
What prompted the idea for Nona and Me?
I moved from Sydney to Arnhem Land in 2012, along with my husband and our small kids. One of the first things that hit me was the contrast between the Aboriginal community of Yirrkala, where we were living, and the nearby mining town of Nhulunbuy. Yirrkala was run-down houses, bush and Aboriginal languages like Yolngu Matha. Nhulunbuy was big boats, green lawns and English. I wondered what it would be like to be a teenager navigating these two very different worlds on a daily basis. I have always wanted to write a book and the story of Rosie and Nona seemed like a great fit for a young adult audience.
What were your greatest concerns writing it?
I was concerned that people in Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy would think the story ‘wasn’t representative’ – not just of the Aboriginal community, but also the people who live in town. But I quickly realised that if I got too hung up on this idea I would never write anything. You can’t write a story to be representative, all you can do is tell a good personal story as honestly as you can. I did get input from locals along the way, and now the book is released many people in the community and town have read the novel. The biggest compliment to me has been long-time residents saying that it is honest.
I thought Rosie’s coming of age journey was so relatable, it could have happened to anyone (even as her relationship with Nona made her story unique) – what was the most important thing for you while writing her?
I’m so glad you could relate to Rosie, because that was my focus while writing her character. I was aware that the world would be very foreign to most readers. Not many people have visited an Aboriginal community, let alone lived in one, so it was important that the main character was one that readers could empathise with and follow through the journey. I didn’t want her to be morally superior, or outrageously beautiful, or top of her class, or a sassy teenager with super-witty dialogue. I wanted her to be down to earth and normal, so that readers felt, as you did, that the journey could have happened to anyone, including them.
When I first started reading, the name of the book made me expect more of Nona in the book than there was. But by the end I realised that Nona was a constant presence in the book even if she wasn’t present in a chapter – what fuelled this decision on your part?
For me, Nona was, as you say, a constant presence in the book. She is in every one of Rosie’s interactions with Nick and Selena, even if she isn’t physically there. The name Nona means ‘a spirit from Elcho Island’ and that’s how I saw her; she is almost Rosie’s conscience. She is that rare and wonderful thing: a best friend from childhood with whom you could be completely yourself.
The decision to write her like this came from a few different places. I didn’t feel comfortable writing from Nona’s perspective; it just didn’t feel culturally appropriate to me. And since the story was from Rosie’s perspective the reader needed to follow her journey. The novel begins when the girls are fifteen and at that time Rosie hardly knows anything about Nona’s current life. So we learn about Nona as Rosie does – slowly finding out more about her – whilst the flashbacks give a childhood context to their friendship. And the last reason was that I hoped that the character of Nona would linger in the minds of readers…that if they were left wanting more they might be challenged to spend time in an Indigenous community themselves and get to know their own ‘Nona’.
What was the most important thing for you when it came to writing Nona?
I couldn’t have written the character of Nona without the help of a fantastic Yolgnu woman, writer and teacher called Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs. She was among the first people I told the idea to, she gave me lots of information along the way, and read both drafts and provided feedback. This was essential for making the character of Nona culturally accurate and real. Often, I had to challenge my own assumptions. For example, when I imagined that the character of Nona dreamed of being a nurse I asked Merrki, ‘Is it realistic that a Yolngu girl would dream of being a nurse, or is that my own Western construct – the idea that teenagers should aspire to a career?’ Luckily, in that case, she thought it was very realistic, as Merrki became a nurse herself at the age of eighteen.
You’ve said that you used your own experiences and interviews with members of the Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy communities to write this book – what were the communities’ responses when you told them about the book?
I interviewed around twenty to thirty people from the community and town during the writing process, as well as working with Merrki. So some people did know I was writing a book, but it’s a different thing to actually see it published and read it. The response so far has been fantastic, with many people buying multiple copies to share with their friends and family, to give them an insight into remote community life.
To learn more about Clare and her work, check out her site!
