First Chapters Q&A with Wayne Marshall

Wayne Marshall is a writer and musician.  His stories have appeared in Going Down Swinging, Island, Review of Australia Fiction and elsewhere.  He is the co-founder of the Peter Carey Short Story Award.

Wayne will be reading from his short story collection Shirl at First Chapters on Friday 7 February.






1. Brunswick Bound has asked you to read a piece from your published work. Tell us what we can expect from the piece you have chosen? 

I’m still deciding which story from Shirl to read, but most likely it’ll be something comic. So: either an alien invasion that leads to a ban on Australian Rules football; a lonely Yowie that leaves the bush to attend a Desperate and Dateless ball; or the unveiling of a striking new girlfriend by a man named Geoff. That kind of thing?

2. How would you describe your writing?

It’s a bit of a dirty word in literary circles, but I see myself first and foremost as an entertainer. Humour, adventure, twists and turns, crazy goings-on: these are the things I aspire to make features of my work. That doesn’t mean I’m not going for the deeper stuff as well – emotional complexity and serious engagement with the culture – just that my primary focus is taking the reader on a ride.

3. What was the first book that you read (or had read to you) that left an impression on you?

The short story collections of Paul Jennings (Uncanny!, Unreal!, Unbelievable!, etc) had a massive impact on me when I was young. Not only in the warped (and very Australian) sense of humour, but also the fantastical plots Jennings was so great at dreaming up. The other big one was Gillian Rubenstein’s Space Demons.

4. Do you believe that books should answer life’s big questions?

I don’t think so. Works of fiction should explore life’s big questions, absolutely –however obliquely and from whatever slant or angle. But it’s a pretty hard task (impossible, really) to be expecting from fiction the answers to it all.

5. Do you have any writing quirks?

A few years ago, I made a shift to handwriting all first drafts. This has worked really well with short stories, allowing me to focus on just getting the first draft down, instead of obsessing over the quality of sentences and language far too early in the process. The only negative has been the sitting down and transcribing my handwritten scribble to a Word document, which even at 4000 words, I find quite a chore. I’m currently at work on something longer (all handwritten so far). The typing up of a novel-length draft could seriously test my dedication to this method! But we’ll see.

6. What is your favourite word or phrase?

‘New to the Yabba?’ (Wake in Fright)

7. What have you found most surprising or interesting about publishing a book?

Shirl is my first book, and will have only been out a week by the time of the February First Chapters, so I’m still a bit of a newbie. But in the lead-up to publication (multiple rounds of editing, cover design, seeking endorsements from other writers, etc), one thing that’s definitely surprised me is how painless it’s all been. I’ve heard many horror stories over the years, and so was kind of bracing myself. But it’s all gone so smoothly (knock on several pieces of very thick wood!). My publisher, Affirm Press, has just been fantastic, so supportive and enthusiastic.

8. What is the question that you hope never to be asked in an author Q&A?

Anything involving me being asked to deliver an ‘elevator pitch’.

9. What question do you hope you will be asked and why?

‘A band of Fish-Men in spacesuits descend on an Australian town and place a ban on football in the name of a psychological experiment: please explain?’

10. Which author or book do you think should be better known or more widely read?

There are so many, especially at a local level (which, glass half full, says a lot about the health of Australian fiction at the moment). Wayne Macauley, for instance, has published six novels and a story collection of such imaginative power, and is a writer that absolutely should be more widely read and celebrated (and decorated). But there are many more – Elizabeth Tan’s Rubik, Shaun Prescott’s The Town, Nic Low’s Arms Race, the work of Ryan O’Neill and Jane Rawson, to name just a few.

Find out more about the First Chapters Event Series on the Brunswick Bound website.