Stop buying stuff, you crazy kid!

You can buy the exact right combination of things – the perfect pair of jeans, a brand new phone, that very specific eyelash plumping mascara that costs $72 because it’s got that name in nice font on the side – and you will be complete. You will be sure of yourself. You will be beautiful. You will fit in.

You have been very effectively programmed. Thank you, advertising. Sometimes, you’re more effective than religion.

Here's a piece I wrote on consumerism for Birdee Mag.

My first rejection letter, circa 2009

In 2008, the year before writing Girl Saves Boy, I wrote an epic road trip novel that featured four narrators. It was titled Running With Scissors, before I realised that was the name of a well-known memoir and film. The opening line was Death reeked of cheap perfume when we met. It was... melodramatic. Which is to say, incredibly terrible. I was fourteen! Didn't we all submit novels about amnesia, teenage pregnancy and arson to publishers when we were fourteen? Okay, maybe not.

I submitted it to two publishers. I did not really expect a response, and if I did get one, I knew it would in all likelihood be a form letter. This was okay with me! I expected I'd be super disappointed, but that this would be the first of many rejections, and I had to get used to it. Eventually my manuscript did show back up from one of the publishers, but not with a form letter.

I wrote a blog post after receiving it, saying:
I received back my manuscript from a publisher yesterday, with a very kind rejection letter and almost an entire page of feedback, which must have been very time-consuming to write, which I am infinitely appreciative of. If she’s reading this (which she probably isn’t, because I imagine she’s very busy and important), I want to say thank you. It means a lot to me.

It was disappointing, but not as much as I thought it would be. I know I can keep writing and submitting and eventually it will pay off. I’ve got the advantage of starting very young. I know I have a lot to learn as a writer. Who’s mastered anything but Halo 3 by the time they were fifteen? (Or for older readers of this blog, Space Invaders.)

This letter made a big difference to me. I felt incredibly hopeful going forward. The publishing industry did not seem enormous and faceless and mean. I had a rejection letter! Like a real writer! I had feedback! From an actual editor! I was amazed that a super busy person who likely read a hundred mediocre manuscripts a week actually bothered to do this.

So, this is just to let you know that 'kind rejection letter' is not always an oxymoron. Here's that letter (identifying details all removed, hence all the white space): 

Basically the internet is responsible for everything great: On critique partners

Cait asked: Do you have critique partners? If you do, how did you find them/meet? Do you recommend having them?

Cait, I love this question - I have tons of thoughts on critique partners and getting feedback and the wonders of the internet, and I may go on for a while, so here is the short answer: Critique partners are brilliant and vital, if they're the right ones. You can't possibly be objective about your own work, and neither can your friends and family, as wonderful as they are. The internet is a great way to meet them, especially if you're a shy writer type like myself. (You can skip over the rest of this nonsense and to the end of the post for more recommendations... or you could read all this! Up to you!)

Long answer:

When I was 14-15 I was really incredibly into the whole thing of being a writer, and used terms like 'beta-readers' and blogged daily and read agent blogs obsessively. I was also painfully, cripplingly shy and was completing high school by distance education. I lived an hour and a half by train from Melbourne, which is a very literary city but seemed inaccessible to me, because of my age and my shyness and where I lived and not feeling like a 'real' writer.

So blogging was important to me. I could talk to people about books and writing, including actual real-life published authors. I could play around with identities - if you read my blog in 2009 or 2010, you'll know that I changed the design almost weekly (in 2008 I changed my blog address almost weekly, but all those blogs are lost to the abyss of the internet now) and took tons of weird self-portraits and jumped around subject-wise, compulsively deleting posts because I decided they didn't fit in with what I wanted to say (I haven't done that for a few years now, and wish I hadn't - there's a lot of things I remember writing that I'd like to read again). I was not 'Stephanie' who was awkward and shy and weird, I was 'Steph Bowe' who was awkward and shy and weird in this very specific endearing way that I wanted to project.

People didn't know I was a kid, unless I decided to share that. My family were always wonderful and took me seriously (I was a pretty serious kid, which is probably why I've turned into a silly adult - have to get the balance, you know), but other adults were often patronising, which was endlessly frustrating for me.

(These days, I do workshops in primary schools and secondary schools, and I meet so many kids - even ones who don't consider themselves creative - who are profoundly insightful and imaginative and smart. They use complex words and come up with fascinating stories and I take them just as seriously as I'd take a roomful of adults. Just because you are young does not mean your thoughts and opinions are invalid. Don't let me get old and forgetful and start being condescending towards kids, okay?)

I'm getting back to the point, I promise, and this all has something to do with that point (if only peripherally).

Without the internet, I have no idea where I would be at as a writer. I've met many writers through my blog, a lot of whom I've now met in real life, who have had an impact on my journey as a writer (I do plan on writing about them, eventually, too - though I am always fearful of forgetting people).

I had a real sense of being part of a community. I finished Girl Saves Boy (then titled These Bones and with a ridiculous then-the-kids-get-married ending - I kid you not), and I put a call-out on my blog for anyone who'd like to beta-read, and I got a few responses! One of whom was American suspense writer Sara J Henry.

Sara was thorough, very straight-forward and sometimes slightly brutal in her feedback. Which was exactly what I wanted and needed. Being taken seriously as a writer was pretty incredible. It was also a good preview of what it would be like to work with an editor - sometimes spirit-crushing, ultimately rewarding. She was also impressed enough by my novel to recommend me to a few agents she knew as well as suggesting I enter a blog first-page competition (which is how I ended up with my agent). Sara was in the process of publishing her first novel, too, and was an invaluable source of advice. I'm incredibly grateful to her. There's more about that beta-reading process and my journey to being agented in this guest post by Sara (from four years ago! Extraordinary).

Between Girl Saves Boy and All This Could End I wrote an incredibly tacky murder-mystery novel about a girl going to live with her grandmother in the country following her father's death, and gradually unraveling his dark past. It was terrible, but for ages I was so stressed about writing my next book - and not messing it up awfully (proving everyone who thought I was merely a novelty right) - that all I could write was crap. I couldn't see just how crap it was. And I am infinitely glad I never sent that manuscript to my agent or editor - it was horrific, really - and that was entirely because Sara let me know how far off-track it was. And then I wrote All This Could End, and everything was all right. Until now. When I'm panicking about the next book. Vicious cycle.

Another talented young writer - and now literary agent - Weronica Janczuk also gave me some wonderful feedback on Girl Saves Boy, as did Mya Rooney, another book blogger. There were other writers, but these critique partnerships sort of fizzled before they started, for a bunch of reasons, but mostly because of a mismatch in taste.

So, what I recommend to you: Find critique partners! Except that some match-ups will fail, and it's not really because you're a terrible writer - they're just not the right fit. You need someone who will be as honest as possible, but who also enjoys and respects your work. Putting yourself out there on the internet is a risk but I think it's a risk worth taking. Look for someone at a similar stage in their writing as you. If you're not a blogger, there's always forums like on the NaNoWriMo site or Absolute Write. If you're a brave soul, maybe find yourself a writers group (I would really love to be part of a writers group someday - I've been to a couple of meetings with different groups but I haven't found the right fit yet, and I find it all very nerve-wracking) - your state writers centre will likely have a list on their website (here are writers groups in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales) (I have found a lot of the writers groups skew towards older people, and how committed people are to writing and the stage they are at varies a lot. So it might be a bit of a search for you. Or you and I could start a writers group! Let's do it).

Friends and family are wonderful to get feedback from in the super-early stages (when you really need someone to tell you how great you are to encourage you to keep going) and in the super-late stages (when you need proofreaders). My grandparents are the first readers of everything a write, and they are always supportive. My mum was an excellent proofreader on Girl Saves Boy. My friend Ashleigh read a draft of All This Could End (she didn't like the original ending, I don't think. But she was too nice to say so). This was all fantastic! But it did not help me grow as a writer.

You really need the feedback of another writer (or two) who you respect the opinion of for the meaty revising bits in the middle. It's an editing sandwich. I'm terrible at metaphors. How on earth did I become a writer again?

Hey Jealousy

This post is not, in fact, about that really terrible 90s song that's absurdly catchy. This post is about a bunch of things I think about when I'm trying to process the fact that I'm hugely jealous of someone - or lots of someones, as is my way - usually because they're a splendid writer who is incredibly well-liked (sometimes just because they're a splendid human being who is incredibly well-liked) (I'm also quite jealous of non-humans, like my dog, Abbey, who just lies around all day and doesn't have to worry about anything, but again that's not what this post is about). So! I am not really an expert on these sorts of things, but maybe you'll find my techniques useful? Thus:

How to deal with jealousy

1. Try to figure out why you are jealous of this person. For me, it's usually because they have something that I would really like to have for myself (for instance, money! best-selling books! good looks! I am envious of lots and lots of people). But them having their riches and wonderful way with words is not really, truly why I'm jealous of them - the real reason I'm jealous is because I perceive that having whatever they have would make me feel happier and more fulfilled than I presently do. So it's not really about them at all (these things never are).

2. Remember that they're a real person. I think the reason it's so easy to see other people's lives as easier and more wonderful than yours is that you never deal with the internal reality of anyone else's life. We all get pretty good at putting on a face and packaging our life in a way that makes it seem very magical to other people. We don't really talk about our sadnesses and lonely moments and long periods of mediocrity. So we see this person with this incredible success and a life that appears wonderful, and that's annoying, because why do they deserve that over you? The truth is that life always has times of boredom and weirdness and monotony, and no achievement instils a sense of inner peace, I don't think. That person who you're insanely jealous of and who seems to have the perfect life is probably really very similar to you. They still have to do their taxes and vacuum and worry about their family history of heart disease. 

3. Remember that awesome is not a finite resource. Someone else's excellence does not take away from your excellence! You already know this, but we can all be reminded. If you're a writer, jealous of other writers who are doing well and/or panicking because so few people read/so little shelf space/so many writers, you need to be thinking about other writers less and actually writing a lot more (that's the most important thing and the most positive way to spend your time). And know that writers being successful and lots of books being sold and more people reading is good for all writers! (I think it's good for all of humanity, but then I am prone to hyperbole.) 

4. Reframe 'jealousy' as 'inspiration'. Be happy for people who are doing well and succeeding in the field you'd like to succeed in! This is a bit tricky if you're used to thinking about the people you're jealous of in negative terms. I don't mean comment on their facebook post 'I'm so happy for you' and then secretly seethe. I enjoy being the stereotypical miserable writer as much as anybody but there's a point at which you need to realise you're just being a pretentious idiot. Remember: the people you envy give you ideas for the sort of things you want to achieve, just as the folks you admired as a child did - and they let you know that it is possible. Choose to be inspired instead of resentful, and put your thoughts and efforts into your own writing/what you do best (I genuinely get so myopic that I think writing is the only thing in the world I could possibly do, so forgive me for not referencing any other career paths). 

5. Remember that your journey is different to theirs. Okay, sorry if I start going new-agey life coach on you, but I think this is important. People say this to me less now, and that's something I'm glad of, but when I first started having a bit of success as a writer when I was fifteen and sixteen people would say things like 'I wish I had achieved something when I was your age!' Sometimes flippant, sometimes regretful, which is sad. I didn't like it when people said this. You did accomplish stuff. Just different stuff. Having a book published when I was sixteen was just a thing that happened. It doesn't make me superior to any other teenager or person or writer.

You have stories to tell that are entirely unique to you. Your life experience contributes hugely to your viewpoint. There is validity and worth in your writing whether or not it is published, and irrespective of the age at which you publish it. And if you're not a writer, you don't have to know where you're going or what you're doing or achieve anything in particular by a certain age because such-and-such other person did. (A strange kid on the internet is giving you permission.) There are likely many things you have done and ways in which you've contributed to other people's lives that aren't big or dramatic, but are important. Relax! There are no end-points, really. You achieve one thing and your life is mostly the same and then you have another goal. The people you envy and the sort of person you want to be shifts dramatically. Don't get too caught up in other people and where they're at. Being that you're the only person who regards you as the central character of the story, you really need to focus on your narrative arc.

Watership Down by Richard Adams

My grandfather is an avid reader. He reads a huge number of crime novels and those spy adventure type books that always open with someone getting shot somewhere in Europe, and have the name of the author in huge capitals on the front, bigger than the title of the book (these are the authors that earn a lot of money, I think). My pop is the first reader of all the manuscripts I write, including the ones which are terrible and no-one else ever gets to read. (I am really lucky to have such awesome grandparents.) (My nan reads all my manuscripts as well, even though she is not quite as keen a reader. I give her lots of books, too, though, because those are pretty much the only gifts I give, and she is very good about reading them because she knows books are very important to me - she really enjoyed The Lovely Bones and she's reading The Rosie Project at the moment.)

Our reading tastes are quite dissimilar, so when he recently he told me I absolutely had to read Watership Down, I was pretty sceptical. (The last book before that he had me read was a submarine thriller thing adapted from a film. I can't remember the name of it. Oh no, wait, The Abyss. I haven't seen the movie. For an adaptation, it was pretty good.)

I'd heard of Watership Down, and knew it was a classic, but not anything else about it. As is my way, I filled in all the details with whatever made logical sense to me. For some reason, I thought it was a War and Peace-type thing, but in the navy. I don't know how I came up with this ridiculous idea, but I thought it for years. And then my pop told me it was about rabbits. "But you forget that they're rabbits!" he said. "And it's nothing like Animal Farm."

So I put in on hold at the library and two days later in came in, because the librarians of the Gold Coast City Council libraries are pretty much gods and I think they can teleport books between the libraries? They also have this great system where you get a text message when your book is ready for pick up, and that's nice!

So I went and picked up the book, and then I read it in two days, mostly on the train. I kept wanting to tell other people in the carriage about it, but suppressed the urge because that would have been rather annoying and I'd probably have seemed deranged. What I wanted to talk about though, was the sheer awesomeness of this weird, lengthy 40-year-old book about rabbits, of all things, that's sort of a kids book but mostly not. About the utter absurdity of a psychic rabbit, but how it seems totally normal in the novel. About the hierachies of the warrens and this strange dichotomy between their sophisticated organisational systems and total naivete in other matters. About the odd farm rabbits and the various plots to bring back some does (female rabbit representation in the novel is very poor, because they forget to take any does with them when they leave the warren. As you do) and their bizarre little words and rabbit gods and on and on.

It is bizarre and it is lovely and it is great. It's just about these rabbits who leave their warren because one of them has a vision of disaster and bloodshed, and go and form their own warren. That's it! Off through the countryside! It sounds funny, but I found it really very compelling and I think you should read it, if you haven't already. It's not the height of literary sophistication, though I don't imagine you expect that of me. (I'm not known for being cool or literary.) Sometimes heartwarming is nice.

Questions, of the frequently asked variety!

(And also infrequently asked) (And questions no-one ever asks but potentially could) (Just a random assortment of questions, really)

This frequently asked questions page is a work in progress! Feel free to email me at stephbowe (at) ymail (dot) com if you have a question about writing or my books that doesn't appear here (it makes me feel really important when you do that!). Or if you just want to say hi. You can do that, too.


On writing

How long do you spend writing each day?

At the moment I don't write daily. I really should, though. Once I sit down to write, I'll likely write for a couple of hours. I try and write at least a few times a week. I think spending a little bit of time writing very often is better than spending a big chunk of time writing rarely, but it depends on the writer. Here is some stuff I wrote about writing habits.

How old were you when you started writing?

I have written stories for as long as I can remember. I attempted my first novel when I was seven. It was called The Merryhem's First Adventure and it was a blatant plagiarisation of The Magic Faraway Tree, of which I was a fan at the time. It remains unfinished. The last scene involved the three siblings encountering the most shocking and incredible thing ever, which was so shocking and incredible that I couldn't figure out what it was and stopped writing. I finished my first novel when I was fourteen, a weird bucket-list novel called Gracie's List, about wacky Gracie and her boring twin Teddy and their mad adventures. I like writing stories about siblings! And wackiness! (Here's the start of a failed sci-fi novel from around the same time. I was prone to melodrama.) 

Do you have to be a certain age to be a writer? Don't you need life experience in order to write?

I wrote a blog post about this, which you might like. The short answer: you can (and should! If you want to) write at any age. You don't necessarily need life experience. You have a unique viewpoint and interesting stories to tell, and being young might help you write better stories for young people! Here are some tips on writing what you haven't experienced first-hand.
 
Was writing your second book easier than writing your first?

No. It was a much harder and very different experience, because I knew other people would read it and expect it to be good. It is a lot easier to write when you are just writing for yourself, and don't have to worry about other people's expectations.

How do you write boy characters when you are a girl? (And vice versa.)
I wrote a post about this. Sorry, I'm going to keep saying that. 

Do you base your characters off real people?

Not wholly. I really love being able to make up characters, but inevitably bits and pieces of myself and others will end up as part of my characters. So they are mash-ups of lots of different people and traits, but still my inventions. This way, no one can sue you!

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I have a fairly clear idea of my characters, their general story and a few events (including the ending) before I begin working on a novel, but I don't know exactly what will happen or plan any of it  outside of my head. That would probably be a good idea though? I don't know, I like being able to make stuff up as I go along - that might change in the future.

Do you have any special routines during the writing process?

Not anymore! I used to have a whole lot of things I thought I needed to write: something to eat, a cup of tea, a hat, silence, the right time of day... Eventually I realised I was just using all of these things as a way to delay writing. Now I just sit down and write. No excuses!

How did you get your agent?

I wrote a short post on how I got my agent here. 

Do you need to be homeschooled to be a teen author?

No, you don't! I was lucky that I had plenty of free time to pursue my writing in, as it can be difficult to manage a writing career and school. There are a number of authors that were first published while they were attending to high school, and lots of writers who manage to balance being an author with higher education or full-time jobs. So you can do it, too! Here's a blog post I wrote about homeschooling. 

Do you brainstorm? What type of brainstorming / planning works for you?

I think a lot, very in-depth, about my characters and their stories for ages, before I start writing a novel. I write some random notes of things I want to include in the first draft (snippets of dialogue and lines I think are brilliant but are terrible in retrospect), but I don't tend to actively try and write down plotlines or have any systems for planning.

How do you get your story ideas?

Ideas tend to show up unannounced. They're everywhere! Everyday life is full of inspiration (i.e. interesting characters on the bus). Here is some advice regarding ideas and inspiration. 

How do you tackle writer's block?

I'll go and write something else (another story, an essay, a journal entry, a poem, an email or letter), go and do something else (going for a walk, washing dishes - the more inane or mindless the better), or discuss whatever problem I'm having with my novel with someone else (usually my mum - sometimes she suggests something genius, but usually just talking about the problem aloud helps me work through it and I'm back to work before she has an opportunity to say anything). It's just a matter of time and figuring out what to write next. 

What are your favourite books?
I have so many! The YA novels I especially love are Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley, On The Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood, Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell, This Is Shyness by Leanne Hall, Preloved by Shirley Marr... I could go on for a while. (Here are books I loved as a kid.)

Will you read my manuscript?
It's awesome that you've written a novel! But there are much better people to share it with than me. I recommend sharing it with a supportive friend or family member first, and when you feel ready for some constructive criticism, look at joining a writers group. Writers centres are a good place to start, and there's one in every state, and often have listings of local groups - I'm a member of Queensland Writers Centre. If you want to chat writing or are after some writerly advice - feel free to email me! I am always happy to talk writing.

On Girl Saves Boy  
What happens to Sacha and Jewel after the end of Girl Saves Boy?
I chose to leave Girl Saves Boy relatively open-ended because I love being able to figure out ways the stories I love might continue after the last page. There is an obvious and very sad ending that I could have written, but I wanted it to end hopefully. Whatever you want to happen to Sacha and Jewel is what happens to Sacha and Jewel. Here's a post I wrote about this.

How long did it take to write Girl Saves Boy?
It took about six months to write and edit Girl Saves Boy. I completed a few more drafts over several months with an agent and editor to prepare it for publication.

How has Girl Saves Boy changed your life?

I am writing full-time at the moment, which is awesome and crazy and I am very fortunate. I also get invited to speak in schools! That's fairly brilliant. So it's changed my life in that I am beginning to make a career of something I love doing, and I've also become a more outgoing person since I've started public speaking.

What inspired you to write Girl Saves Boy?

I wrote a blog post about ideas.

On All This Could End

What inspired you to write All This Could End?
Apart from all the general inspirations mentioned above (life! music! creepily eavesdropping on conversations!), I had one big definitive inspiration for All This Could End, and that was watching the news. I am a big fan of the law and have never done anything illegal (I don't think I've even copied a CD), but I think crime is fascinating. Probably because it is so removed from my own life. When I was little I loved Crimestoppers, and was very certain that I would someday see a criminal out in the street and call the 1800 number and be hailed as a hero (this did not happen). I always wonder about what motivates people to commit crimes. The only reason I'd rob a bank would probably be if my mum asked me to. Fortunately she's not a crazy bank robber. But that's how the idea for this story came about - a girl who robs banks with her family, accidentally taking someone she knows hostage.

On publishing and being an author

How did you get published so young?
I wrote heaps, I sent my work out, and I was very lucky! Here is my advice to other teenage writers.

How did you deal with the negativity that often faces teen writers?

I haven't encountered too much of it, and it doesn't bother me too much. People will say negative things about you for some reason or another - becoming a writer makes you vulnerable to a lot of criticism - so I just ignore it. Don't be dissuaded from writing because of other people's negativity. Age doesn't matter in publishing as much as you may think it does. (You should read this post). Here is some advice on dealing with self-doubt, too.

Is being a published author everything you thought it would be?
This post sums up my thoughts. It's wonderful! But there is a tendency for unpublished writers to think that being a real author will somehow make writing easier, and it doesn't. It's even trickier.

Did you always want to be a published author?

Yes! When I was seven I decided I wanted to become a published author and buy a house. I may have overestimated how much money writers earn. Here's a guest post I wrote about my journey to becoming an author.

How long did it take from writing your manuscript to actually being published?
For my first novel, it took about a year and a half from when I started writing to when the novel was published. For my second, more like three years. It depends on the book. From when a publisher acquires a book to when it is published is generally one or two years.

How do you handle the editing process? How do you deal with criticism?

Not very well! I think everyone finds criticism hard to deal with (my technique largely involves collapsing on the floor and wailing), and it can be tricky trying to figure out ways to make the novel work better. Writing a novel is difficult because whether it is any good is so subjective, and it's hard to judge your own work. It gets easier. I think.
 
What's your favourite thing about being a published writer? 
Having people read my work and tell me how much they enjoy it! One of many things I love about being a published writer. There are lots of things that are absolutely wonderful about being a writer that are wonderful even if you aren't published, though - when the writing is going well, it's pretty much magic.
 
Is writing fiscally rewarding? (Or, more bluntly, are you rich?)
Very! I am going to go roll in my money right now! Unfortunately all this money is in the form of five cent pieces and as a result this is more uncomfortable than it may be if I had notes. No, but in all seriousness, I'm not rich, and not many writers are. It's a tough biz but lots of bizzes (bizzee? biz's?) are. You have to really love it, and you have to deal with the reality that you're going to need a day job, or do some freelancing, or try to get tons of speaking work, and even then you might be living on two-minute noodles for the rest of your life. It's a bit inappropriate to ask people how much they earn, though... this question is a bit of a pet hate of mine (here are some other questions not to ask writers, preferably). 

On speaking
Do you visit schools? Will you visit my school?
Yes, I do! I'm based in South-East Queensland but I travel a fair bit to speak, and have been lucky enough to visit lots of schools (and appear at festivals) for talks and workshops, with students from grade four to grade twelve. I usually talk about creativity and inspiration, and developing characters and plots, and make lots of silly jokes. If you're a student, suggest it to your teacher-librarian or English teacher.

If you're in Queensland, contact Speakers Ink.
If you're in Victoria, contact Booked Out.
Elsewhere, email me: stephbowe (at) ymail (dot) com.

Any advice for public speaking?
Here's a post I wrote of public speaking tips. The more you speak in front of people, the easier it becomes and the better you get at it. Not fainting beforehand is the main thing. I used to feel very ill before I had to speak, and now I really enjoy it! (And I think people enjoy listening to me a lot more.) Here's a weird/funny story about a speech I gave when I was twelve and running for primary school captain - remember, if something goes wrong, it'll make a good story later!

What happens to Sacha and Jewel? (Or Sophia? Or Nina and Spencer?) What happens after the end of the book?!

Getting emails from people who have read my novels (and enjoyed them!) is basically the greatest thing ever (I get lots of emails from Spanish readers, which is just incredibly cool). In lots of these emails people want to know what happens after the book ends! The thing people most want to know is about Girl Saves Boy: does Sacha die?

So I thought I would answer this, in case you are interested: what happens after the end of Girl Saves Boy? And All This Could End?

The short answer is: whatever you like.

The much, much longer answer is: This is the thing that I think is absolutely splendid about fiction: there is no absolute truth. There is only your interpretation of the story. For instance, none of the events of the Harry Potter series actually occur! It's all Ron Weasley's coma dream. I read it and I interpret it as I please and thus it is true. (J.K. Rowling would probably disagree, though.)

So, maybe you don't read novels expecting every narrator to be unreliable, and making up conspiracy theories the whole time: that's okay! That's probably how you're supposed to read books! But when a story ends everything is not always neatly tied up. I infinitely prefer stories with open endings, and the ability to interpret and resolve a story for yourself. Much better than an overly cutesy and cheerful ending (though I just explain those away as optimistic coma dreams). While I am a fan of melodrama and a bit of absurdity, I do like my stories to represent real life to a certain degree, and I think an overly resolved story is annoying. There are no conclusive endings in reality. We are in the middle of many, many stories, always.

What I think people really want me to say is: Sacha miraculously recovers! He and Jewel get married and live happily ever after! Sophia goes to prison! (Potentially this turns into a wacky spin-off series.) Nina becomes a vet and saves all the animals! Mr Carr and Sacha's dad skip off into a sunset!

But I'm not going to say that, because I can think of a billion different ways the stories of these characters might continue, and they're all equally possible. If I was dedicated to a very particular path - if I knew in my story Sacha was going to die - then I would've written that.

(I don't really have a problem with killing off characters, but it never seems to happen in the end. Nina died in the original ending of All This Could End, but that didn't quite fit, mainly because ATCE is a lot more comedy than tragedy.)

So: I am absolutely delighted if you are invested enough in my novels and my characters to care about or wonder what happens to them after the end of the book. But they don't have a set path, in my mind. Their future is not yet defined, and there are unlimited possibilities. (Just like real people!) If you read Girl Saves Boy and can't stand the thought of Sacha dying, he doesn't have to! If you read All This Could End and wonder whatever becomes of Spencer, you can decide based on what you know of his character! I absolutely love it when people email me telling me what they think happens after the story ends (and obviously I think fan fiction is one of the greatest things ever).

If you wonder about what happens to that lobster in Girl Saves Boy (does it live? does it die? what's it like being in the ocean after a lifetime in a tank? does it have an anxiety attack?), or what happens when Sacha returns those gnomes to people's gardens (did they notice the gnomes were gone? maybe they sincerely cared about their gnome, and were incredibly distraught to discover it gone?) you can decide. Whether Nina and Tom grow up and revert to crime is entirely up to you. There are lots of little stories there where you can fill-in-the-blanks, if you so wish. It's like magic, basically. No, seriously, how great are stories?

The Steph Bowe Method of Inventing Fictional Babes

If making up fictional boyfriends were an Olympic event, I would've done this country proud and won gold from the ages of twelve through to sixteen (I also had some fictional girlfriends saved up, but I never really had an opportunity to talk about them. They had short hair and cool piercings. Feel free to borrow them).

If you knew me as a young teenager, and I ever told you about any particular love interest, and you were not previously aware (which you should've been! I was a terrible liar!), this is a confession: no such boy existed. I was just trying to seem cooler than I was.

Here are some tips*, for those among you who are not particular involved in any romantic action (maybe just not interested) but need a fictional admirer/admiree (and there's a variety of reasons why one might, the most prominent of which is: peer pressure/other people's expectations. But we'll get back to that):

1. Keep it believable. No one would believe that I would attract the affections of a mega babe, and when you're in your early teens and trying to seem cooler than you actually are the desirability of the person in question is not even that important. It's just the fact that you have attracted the affections of someone! Wow!

2. They have to live somewhere far, far away. I visited family in Queensland almost yearly, often for several weeks at a time, back when I was Victorian kid. Queensland was full of potential suitors as far as my friends were concerned. Never mind the fact that I don't think I ever actually spent time with kids my own age in Queensland. Just sort of flopped around in the ocean, much like a seal, and then went and had a nap most days. See, Queensland was far enough away that no one would ever possibly be able to meet this individual, but not so far away as to make them entirely unbelievable.

3. Keep romantic successes and failures about level. Realistic tales of rejection lend authenticity. But, like, be really cool with everything. You are soooo mature.

4. Never let anything get too serious with any one fictitious love in particular. Because then people will expect to be able to meet them, eventually, or you'll at least have to produce a photo. When I was thirteen and fourteen, Facebook was not as widespread as it is now. I am at the end of the generation which was taught throughout our childhood that the internet was dangerous and rife with serial killers. Obviously we didn't learn out lesson, considering how all of everyone's personal details are neatly packaged up for potential thieves and kidnappers. So I never had to grapple with fake Facebook accounts. Or maybe every one of your pseudo-lovers is really mysterious and has no internet presence? I don't know whether your friends will believe that.

5. Have details fully thought-out before sharing, but do not share them all at once. Too much detail can make people think you're lying. Know the specifics, but only provide them when pressed. This is pretty much exactly like writing! You are the writer! Your friend is the reader! Your character is, um, the character! You don't spell it all out. Drip-feed information.

6. Try to remember these details. So that when someone says, "So have you spoken to Fictional Lover lately?" You don't say, "Who?" Because then people can tell that you're lying. Who am I kidding? Everyone knew I was lying. People humoured me a lot. (Using real people you vaguely know as models can be helpful - then you can remember what they look like. Of course if the person you are describing this character to also knows the Real Person, they might pick it.)

Oh, and of course: Your importance and worth and interestingness as a human being has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not you go out with people, or people want to go out with you. (I believe the lingo now is 'date' but when I was in primary school it was 'go out' and you were 'boyfriend-and-girlfriend' and you really drew out that 'friend' bit so sounded more like 'frannnn' so we're going to stick with that.)

Hopefully you don't feel compelled to make up fictional babes like I did. The expectation from other people that you will be involved in romantic relationships doesn't really die down once you get older, I've noticed. Your friends probably don't care as much as you think they do. If they are that invested, they're probably not particularly good friends. You don't need to go mental trying to impress people, trust me. People like me a lot better being my honest and dorky self than when I am trying to project this whole thing of being grown-up and cool. Or, at the very least, I'm more comfortable.

The perception that everyone is getting more action than you are is rubbish, more often than not (other people are possibly employing the Steph Bowe Method of Inventing Fictional Babes!), and even if it is the case, it doesn't mean you have to, or that you're missing out on anything (like, it's okay to be a teenager who is not crazy and hormone-driven, just as it's equally okay to be crazy and hormone-driven). You are awesome anyway. If you want romance to be a part of your life, it will be eventually! If you couldn't care less, that's totally okay!

In conclusion: Being a teenager is weird. 'Cool' is rubbish and so is 'normal'. You will survive.

*And by tips I mean: don't do this! I was incredibly silly, and it was all very unnecessary.

The greatest writing advice I can possibly give you: Be creepy on the bus.

I lack good hand-eye coordination. I've known this for a long time. It's okay. I accept my shortcomings. Being generally unco is something you come to accept as part of your life. Walking into walls, tripping on flat surfaces, being unable to catch anything thrown to you even from a short distance. I did most of my schooling by distance, so I didn't have to go through the horror of being picked last in P.E. very much.

I'm nineteen now. In the state of Queensland, you can get a provisional license when you're seventeen, I believe, but I'm still on my learner's permit, largely due to this whole brain-hand disconnect and the frequency with which I entirely forget which way to turn the wheel (there is something that confuses me a great deal about reversing. I expect the direction of wheel-turnage to be the opposite, and it is not).

I remain hopeful! After all: your brain continues to develop until well into your twenties. (This is why I am not much of a drinker of alcohol. I am very keen on my brain cells reaching their full potential. Also I have a great deal of love for my liver, and other internal organs). I am taking driving lessons, and my driving instructor panics only very rarely! (Driving instructors are a tough sort though, in my experience. Not easily shaken.)

As a result of being unlicensed, I spend a great deal of time on public transport. Which I love. I realise this makes me a complete and utter weirdo. I don't really take the train with enough frequency for it to become painfully boring. I hate to think what it would be like to take the train every day and not be a creative sort.

Here is why trains and buses (and ferries!) are wonderful if you are a writer:

You can very subtly listen in on conversations.

The more you listen to conversations, the more natural the dialogue you write is going to sound. I like to listen to interesting speech patterns - I think the way people phrase things and the pauses in their speech are really interesting - sometimes I imagine how their words would be punctuated, how they would appear on the page, because I tend to picture written words when I think.

I also like paying attention to funny things people repeat. In Vanuatu I met a man who said at the end of every sentence 'but you probably know more than I do!' I did not, in fact, as he was talking about living in wartime Vanuatu, which I knew nothing about. I think when you're writing, repeated phrases are a good way of identifying and differentiating certain characters, if done right.

Listening in on and not participating in conversations is also really good practice in observing how people relate to each other. When you're talking to someone you're paying attention to what they're saying, and what you're saying, and whether they're interested. There's a lot in your head. When you're watching you can try and decode people's relationships, see how people mirror each other, notice changes in tone. You see more when you go third-person. (Elderly people have some of my favourite conversations on the train. I can't very well tell them how awesome they are though, without it being weird.)

You can make up stories about everyone you see.

I think this is great practice for coming up with ideas and figuring out plots and characters. I think we should get rid of this concept that every idea is brilliant and sacred and must be retained because what if we one day run out? And replace it with the concept that you can have a thousand ideas a day, that the more you use your imagination the easier they come, that material is everywhere and ideas are limitless.

So I am always practicing my skills in coming up with unique ideas (as unique, of course, as an idea can actually be when we live in a world where everything's been done before, a million times). Of course the lives of everyone I see are far more exciting in my head than their business attire may betray.

You can add to your memory bank of interesting physical characteristics. I find descriptions in stories that are just a laundry list of everything about a character to be incredibly boring and actually convey very little for all their adjectives. I try to describe my characters in terms of what stands out about them, and seeing lots of different people every day and imagining how you would describe them in the fewest words is a good way to practice this. (See? Even when I'm not writing, I'm practicing writing! Yes, I know, I'm fooling no-one).

And it doesn't have to be physical characteristics! What are they doing? What are they reading? How exactly are they falling asleep? (I often fall asleep on the train, but I do the thing where my head jerks forward and hurts my neck and I keep waking up. It's unpleasant. Watching people fall asleep on the train is interesting, because it's this very vulnerable thing in a public space.) What ideas do these things give you about the sort of person this is?

If you want to be slightly less creepy, you can actually talk to people!

I am shy and a bit awkward, but people talk to me lots on the bus and train. I wonder whether this is because I'm little and I have a rounded face and wear dresses a lot. Being non-threatening is probably a good way to get people to talk to you. If you don't want to talk to people, you don't have to! (We have a really wonderful thing on Queensland trains called 'the Quiet carriage' if you want some peace. Though people don't always respect it. We also have wi-fi on lots of trains, which is pretty awesome, and what I am currently using to post this.)

But I have had lots of interesting conversations and met lots of people I wouldn't have otherwise encountered if I'd been driving. Oversharers are some of my favourite people. I am probably one of the few people who does want to hear your life story.

I had a great conversation with a bus driver recently, who was teaching himself how to complete a Rubix cube at every red light, about learning the piano, and muscle memory, and about how learning new things might not result in any financial gain but is its own reward. (I also feel much more positive about life when I meet really cheerful people.) (I encounter very, very few unpleasant bus drivers in south-east Queensland, and heaps of really nice ones. Which is great. It's very understandable for people to become jaded in that job.)

I had a chat at a bus stop on the Sunshine Coast with an elderly man waiting for the same bus, about the marvels of modern phones and what newspapers are reputable these days. I met a girl that same week at another bus stop on the Sunshine Coast, who was very helpful telling me about which bus to catch and also told me about the various schools she had been to, and how much trouble she had had with being bullied (she was much happier at a new, specialised school).

I think public transport is pretty magic. I think if the buses are running on time and you can have a nice chat with a stranger then life is pretty good.