TRANSCRIPT
Noè
We would like to acknowledge the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation as Traditional Owners and Custodians on the lands on which we record, and pay our respect to their Elders past and present.
Welcome to Why Write, a super short podcast that asks writers just that, why they write. Hi, I’m Noè Harsel, a writer and Chair of Writers Victoria, and I’m excited to chat to a diverse group of writers and simply ask, why write? I’m glad you’re here with me.
Today I have Ashley Kalagian Blunt. Ashley is the author of Dark Mode, an internationally published psychological thriller. Her earlier books are How to be Australian, a memoir, and My Name is Revenge, a collection of fiction and essays, which was a finalist in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Awards. Her writing appears in the Sydney Morning Herald, Overland, Griffith Review and Sydney Review of Books, Australian Book Review, Kill Your Darlings and other places. Ashley co-hosts James and Ashley Stay at Home, a podcast about writing, creativity and health, and teaches creative writing. Originally from Canada, she has lived and worked in South Korea, Peru and Mexico.
Welcome to Why Write, Ashley, you have an excitingly diverse writing life, from fiction to nonfiction podcasting to teaching. There is actually so much to cover. And I’m glad that we’re actually able to do this. So let’s get right to the big question. The reason why we are here. Tell us Ashley, why do you write?
Ashley
Love this question. I love this podcast. Thank you. I write to connect with people. And just as one fabulous example, I would probably wouldn’t know you if, like if I wasn’t writing. So when I, I, I’ve always, I’ve always written. My father-in-law jokes that I have auto dysgraphia which is like a compulsion to write. And so I wrote, you know, when I was my first little published story was when I was in year one in Saskatchewan. It was published in the school district anthology, Young Saskatchewan Writers, and I thought I was an author and I got, you know, got that in my head too early in my life. And then when I was 14, I started a novel, I’d written terrible poetry for years and gifted that to my family for Christmas, like that was something they wanted. When I was 14, I started a novel, when I was 18, I started another novel. So yeah, I’ve always written and I didn’t really think about why it was just something that I did really love. And I, you know, I love books, I love being in conversation with the books and authors that I’m passionate about. But I realised later, when I was working on getting published in my late 20s and early 30s, the reason why I write is to connect with people. And I was really lucky that I had sorted that out in my mind, because I had a publisher, the publisher for How to be Australian, when we first talked on the phone about the book, he did ask that, and I had that very clear answer, which is, I really just want to connect with people. And it’s an inverse way of connecting, because I’m sitting alone at my desk. But then because I’m able to shape these ideas on the page, and then send them out into the world. That means I then get to meet all these incredible readers and people that, you know, I automatically connect with, like booksellers and people in the writing industry and other authors. And it’s just been incredibly amazing for that reason.
Noè
I love that, I love that idea of using writing as that way of communicating and further connecting with people and finding a community that is part of your own, adding on to the people you’re having that conversation with. And I’m glad that you brought up your other your other books and your other writing. Because I think, well what you’ve written now, your latest publication is a bit of a departure, right? And so I’m curious, and I’m wondering if you don’t mind talking about it, the shifts in the types of genre you’re writing. So you’ve got this current book, which is a psychological thriller, which seems, you know, correct me if I’m wrong, but seems a shift, conceptual shift from the memoir, which seems a shift again, from your original novella. So maybe talk to me about that journey? What that’s what that’s been about?
Ashley
Yeah. Well, it’s, a it’s a question that was on my mind quite a lot. I think I read very widely. So it was never like, was never one natural thing that was like, this is the thing I want to write because this is the thing that I’m most passionate about in terms I’m reading, like, I love, I love fiction. I love literary fiction. I love crime thrillers. And then I love nonfiction. And those are those are sort of the things that I have ended up writing, in fact, and I think part of it was just finding my way I had to try a lot of things to figure out what works for me, and then also what works in terms of forging a career in the market because that is a consideration. Like, I could be probably writing short stories and greatly enjoying myself and exploring all kinds of like, you know, literary experimental approaches to the short story but I don’t know how far would have gotten in terms of actually having a career that, you know, make some money. And that was definitely one of my goals. So it’s sort of, I tried different things to experiment, in terms of, in terms of that goal. But I think interestingly, I sort of swung around. So my first book includes a novella, so fiction, that opens with an assassination, and then explores a terrorist attack based on based on true events. And so I feel like then I went into the memoir, which is very light hearted, which is very comedic. Because I’ve always, I’ve always been a big comedy fan, I was doing stand up comedy at the time.
Noè
Oh Wow.
Ashley
So I think I was trying to see Oh, will this work for me? And then, and then I got sick, I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2017. And one of the first things I lost was the stand up comedy, like, I just couldn’t, I just my brain didn’t have the energy to do that and be up at that time of night anymore. And I feel like I really lost my comedic voice. The illness really did that. But then I spent a couple years in bed just listening to True Crime podcasts, and felt like, Okay, I think I’m ready to try writing a psychological thriller.
Noè
I love that. I mean, not that I don’t love that you got sick. But I love the fact that you’re, you found some pathway and a passion through that because of your wide reading and wide areas of interest. But I have to say, psychological thrillers, you make it sound like, like, it’s not like you’re making it sound easy, but it, you’re making it sound like wow, I’ll do this. But there’s so much craft and what you’ve written is so artful, right? I mean, it is artful. I’m telling you that. And it’s not an easy thing to get just right, which you’ve done. And there’s so much craft, and there’s so much planning involved. There’s a lot of research. And there’s a lot of disturbance, right? So what is that like to sit with? And to do because writing a book isn’t something you just do for Christmas?
Ashley
No, it takes it takes all 12 months of the year, really. I think I mean, I spent 10 years studying genocide to write my first book, my great grandparents were survivors of genocide. So I think I’ve always sort of been interested in the dark side of humanity, and what what leads us to commit dark acts, and also as a person, like, as an individual, myself, I’m an extremely law abiding individual. So I think this is especially intriguing to me is sort of like, what pushes people to commit terrible acts, because this is certainly a part of our capacity as human beings. And I’m also really just fascinated by crime and how crime happens and how crime is investigated. And, and all of these things, and I wanted to write a book that had a, that had a social justice angle that that was drawing attention to, I think, some some issues that maybe we’re not paying enough attention to as a society, specifically misogyny on the internet and how that translates into violence against women in the real world.
So I, I think, because I was so immersed in all these on these true crime podcasts and documentaries. I, my brain was primed for thinking about how to piece that together. And because I’m such a true crime or such a crime fiction fan, I then picked a couple specific models, a few specific books that I particularly loved, Cadice Fox, J P Pomare a Tana French, and started breaking down scenes in those books and looking at how are they achieving their effects like these were books that I picked up, and I had to get to the end, I couldn’t put them down. And that’s what I wanted to produce for readers. I wanted to give readers that same experience. So I really carefully analysed how writers that I love had done that, and was very consciously writing for their readership.
Noè
Amazing. I just love the fact that you’re, you’re able to break that down and give us that tip. I think that’s beautiful. Thank you. That’s a precious gift that you’re giving to us. And just on that, because you are a teacher as well. I mean, could you, I just would love to hear some of the things that you’ve learned about the craft of writing for yourself. The perhaps you could give us another little tip?
Ashley
I think pace and tension are so important. And whether that’s fiction or nonfiction, like I took the same approach in my, in my nonfiction as well. If your writing narrative, I think pace and tension is so important. So understanding the mechanics of scene and the mechanics of, of narrative structure are so essential. We spend a lot of time talking about character and setting and dialogue. And those things are super important. Like, we need to, we need to be skillful in those areas as well. But I think it doesn’t matter how skillful your characters and your dialogue and your setting are, if you don’t understand the mechanics of scene and how they drive plot, you basically got a beautiful Ferrari that has no engine.
Noè
I love that Ashley, that’s fantastic. Thank you so much for your time. And thank you for your honesty and being so forthright and telling us exactly how you do, why you do, and where it’s coming from. Thank you so much for your time and being here today.
Thanks for listening. We would love to hear why you write, tell me at whywrite.com.au
Why write is a Writers Victoria podcast. All programs and information about becoming a member with us at writers Victoria is available at writersvictoria.org.au
We hope you enjoyed Why Write and if you did, please tell your friends and don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review on Apple iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Why Write was recorded at Brand Music and engineered by Michael Burrows.
Original Music by Brand Music.