Pip Harry is the Sydney-based author of YA novels Head of the River (a novel about competitive rowing that I loved despite being an entirely un-sportsy human) and I'll Tell You Mine (a novel about a rebellious goth girl that I loved despite being an entirely un-rebellious human who wears a lot of florals). Pip's also a freelance journalist and has worked in magazines (which I imagine is very much like it appears in all those romantic comedies about women who work in magazines - very glamorous, of course - but I may be incorrect).
She seems like a very adventurous and cool sort, as evidenced by the fact that there's a picture of her skydiving on the About page of her website. (Perhaps that's what I need for my About page. I would never in a million years go skydiving, so I'll have to photoshop it.)
I'm terribly excited to have the chance to interview her, about her tricky journey to publication, advice she'd give to aspiring authors, whether writing can be taught, her writing process and how she relates to her characters, and how her own experiences shaped Head of the River.
Steph: Head of the River beautifully evokes the experience of highly competitive school rowing and was inspired by the years you spent rowing and coaching schoolgirl crews. Did you use a lot of your own experiences in the novel? Was the process of writing the novel made simpler by your familiarity with what you were writing about, or was there still a lot of research involved?
Pip: I
went back in my mind to all those cold, dark mornings in the boat and
the endless drills and backbreaking kilometres pulling on an oar. And
in case I had forgotten anything, I organised a refresher
‘ride-along’ with Melbourne Girls Grammar, shadowing some of
their senior crews on a bike very early one morning along the Yarra
River. I also attended some regattas in Sydney and went to the Head
of the Schoolgirls on the Barwon – madly scribbling notes on every
last detail! I did fall into the Yarra River once, and I used that
experience for one particularly humiliating scene with Cristian. In
terms of the medical and performance enhancing drug research – that
wasn’t anything I was familiar with, so I spend quite a bit of time
talking to medical experts and hitting up Dr Google for advice.
Pip: I’d
like to think my non-fiction and fiction writing flowed into each
other seamlessly, but they’re actually very different beasts. My
creative writing has taken a lot longer to develop and come to
fruition than my professional journalism, which took off early in my
20s and came much more easily. I do think my journalism work has made
me very well equipped for deadline meeting, structure and taking
strong edits and criticism without crying. I don’t think being a
journalist has shaped me at all yet as a YA author– but perhaps I
will one day write a killer YA book about my time as a celebrity
reporter!
Steph: I
loved your debut, I'll
Tell You Mine,
almost as much as I loved your sophomore novel. Did you find writing
a second novel easier or more challenging once you'd had a novel
published and experienced the process of your novel being out in the
world? Did your writing process or expectations of yourself change?
Steph: Do
you find it challenging or easy to create characters that are
currently experiencing the various highs and lows of being a
teenager? Are your characters and their voices something that come
easily to you? Some writers say their characters take over the story
- is that the case for you, or are there things you consciously work
on to make them authentic?
Pip: Awww,
thanks Steph! I took forever to write I’ll Tell You Mine. I stopped
and started and doubted and nearly chucked it for another shiny idea.
It felt so personal and drawn from the deep. Head of the River was
also a personal experience, but one that was faster, more directed
and more supported. I got a grant for the book from the Australia
Council, so I had the incredible luxury of time and a quiet space to
go for it. That said my first draft of HOTR was absolutely shocking!
But I knew I had to plough through and get it down, and I had set
myself a deadline to deliver it to my publisher Kristina Schulz
before she went off on Maternity leave. A baby is the best motivator
for book delivery. For I’ll tell you Mine it was the arrival of my
own first child, Sophie, who spurred me into action and got me an
agent!
Steph: Do
you find it challenging or easy to create characters that are
currently experiencing the various highs and lows of being a
teenager? Are your characters and their voices something that come
easily to you? Some writers say their characters take over the story
- is that the case for you, or are there things you consciously work
on to make them authentic?
Pip: I
find is so easy to go through the hormonal, adolescent highs and
lows. I’m not sure what that says about me. But perhaps it’s just
that teens are having human experiences and emotions, and they are
the same things I’m wrestling with as an adult too – love,
family, pressure, friendships, ambition…all universal and not
age-related. The good characters totally take over the story and have
their own life-force! Like Vasile, the father in HOTR. He was so
fully formed in the first scene – the way he spoke, moved,
everything. All there.
Steph: You
mention on your website that you took a university creative writing
class when you turned thirty, returning to writing fiction after
years focused on journalism. Do you think that writing can be
taught, and would you recommend writing classes to other writers?
Was there anything in particular you learnt that really shaped
you as a writer?
Pip: I
don’t think writing can be entirely taught. You need to have a
talent, a curiosity and a way of observing the world that’s got to
be there to begin with. But I do believe writing can be honed, shaped
and directed. And writing courses are brilliant for meeting other
writers and just exploring with your voice. I learnt during my study
that I had something to say as a fiction writer– and that I needed
to keep on with this punishing and at times difficult journey!
Steph: You had quite a difficult and lengthy path to publication, with novels you wrote much earlier than I'll Tell You Mine not finding publishers. You've now published two well-received YA novels with UQP. What advice would you give other writers who want to become published, about writing and the publishing process?
Steph: You had quite a difficult and lengthy path to publication, with novels you wrote much earlier than I'll Tell You Mine not finding publishers. You've now published two well-received YA novels with UQP. What advice would you give other writers who want to become published, about writing and the publishing process?
Pip: I
was the most frustrated unpublished fiction writer around. I tried so
hard to make my stories cut through and get some attention and it was
just a series of closed doors and polite nos. If I could whisper in
the ear of someone like me – someone struggling to get published –
then I would say: ‘Press on. Believe in yourself. You will make it
to the end and the end is so beautiful and fun.’ But I would also
remind them there’s such an element of luck. It takes just one
person to love your work for it to become a book. So, make your story
the best it can be, let it go out to the right people and don’t be
afraid to try again, and again. I have four unpublished novels in my
bottom drawer that all have a little sparkle, but not the overall
gleam.
Once
you are published, it’s still hard, but you have more people on
your team to pull the oar with, weather the rough water and get your
boat across the line. (sorry, I couldn’t resist a parting sporting
analogy!)
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Thanks, Pip! For more about Pip, Head of the River and I'll Tell You Mine, check out Pip's website.
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Thanks, Pip! For more about Pip, Head of the River and I'll Tell You Mine, check out Pip's website.
