The Lotus Eaters is one of many strong memoirs out in 2020 by young writers. This seems to be a bit of a trend. How did you come to write about your life in your teens and twenties? 

In a very roundabout way! The Lotus Eaters started as a cli-fi dystopia braided with a nonfiction timeline.

I never thought of myself as a memoirist or even much of a nonfiction writer but a big part of this was just that I hadn’t read enough. I was still carrying this very rigid idea of what nonfiction was – the kind of writing that doesn’t have much space for young women and their experiences. While I was writing, though, I started reading memoirs that really defied this expectation, and the way they spoke to me was the way I wanted my writing to speak to others.

I was putting off the inevitable by projecting my story across genres, thousands of years into the future!

The book is part travelogue, covering your time in Vietnam. What were your favourite things about living in that country?

I loved the language. I loved how it feels to learn a language, how you can feel it almost painfully lighting up different parts of your brain. I loved the friends I made and the generosity they showed in letting me into their city, their country, their hometowns. I loved the monsoon. I loved riding a motorbike and the independence that gave me – I remember when I was preparing to come back to Australia, I had to sell my motorbike. I handed the keys over, waved goodbye to the new owner, then turned around and sobbed. I loved that bike.

I loved the routine I had, the space the city afforded me to write. Everyone talks about the food and personally, I feel it’s impossible not to love Vietnamese food. The coffee, too. I loved how there was always something new. I loved what it felt like to ride your motorbike through a balmy evening, to pull over for an iced tea and let it bead your fingertips with condensation; to sit with it, with yourself, with not a star to be seen but lights everywhere. 

You delve into the events of your life with unflinching honesty, touching on subjects like body image, friendship, sex and consent. Did you find it hard to write about these subjects?

Writing is the easier part. It became a matter of rolling up my sleeves and rummaging through my toolkit for the right wrench or screwdriver or in some cases, mallet. I’d be elbow-deep in my own memory and not even feel it; the writing just takes over. Then I would come back to myself, slowly, and feel that my cheeks were wet. The body remembers. Reflection is the more difficult thing. To not just stare into the past, but to speak to it.

What’s the biggest thing you learned about craft in the process of writing this book? 

I learned that what I thought was drafting was just decorating. The real drafting, the kind of drafting that is going to be integral to my writing process from now on, is unforgiving and exhausting.

Drafting is shining a brutal light on each paragraph, each chapter, each pitch and fall in the plotline, making sure every word pulls its weight; hewing as close as you can to the throbbing nerve at the centre of it all. This sounds like a slog, and it is. But at the same time, it strengthened my faith in myself.

I used to keep words around that I didn’t need, simply because I didn’t know if I could write better ones. The Lotus Eaters taught me that I can. There will always be something better, sharper, something dazzling lying in wait. It’s just a matter of digging for it.  

Do you have any advice for young writers wanting to get published? 

Read what you want to learn, write what you cannot read. Make space for your writing and protect that space. Don’t make excuses for it (it doesn’t need to be excused!). Fight through lethargy, disinterest, boredom. Sometimes our brains build labyrinths around the things that give us joy. Set deadlines for yourself and stick to them; the little wins will sustain you. Show up for your writing, even if it doesn’t always show up for you. Be kind but firm with yourself; what you are doing is hard but not doing it is harder. Keep going.  

Also, you are a local writer, so support your local bookshop. Say hi to the person next to you at literary events.

Favourite book of 2020 so far? 

I’ve been using this year to work through my TBR list, which at this stage is my entire bookshelf. I’m late to the party but the Neapolitan trilogy by Elena Ferrante has just swept me away. I love how she peels back layer and layer of thought and emotion and fact until you think she can go no further, and still she does; at last, at the core laid bare, a mirror. 

What have you been working on lately?

I worked on The Lotus Eaters for five years. Between the time it depicts and the amount of time it took to write, this book represents most of my adult life. It’s been a difficult year to get the requisite space to move away from that into something new.

That being said, I was lucky enough to receive a grant from the Sidney Myer Foundation that allowed me to finally sort out some author admin, like setting up a website. I’ve got half-formed ideas floating around but none that really scream “spend half a decade developing me.”

For now, I’m looking to short form to keep my tools sharp and my mind sane. I worked on a chapbook with Slow Canoe earlier this year that I’m really looking forward to seeing out in the world. 

You can find Suzy’s review of The Lotus Eaters on our Books We Love page.

Thank you to Emily Clements and Hardie Grant for the photos.

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