Thanks for the interview Meg, and congratulations on the success of “Black Glass”. It has certainly left me with plenty to think about. The slight shift into Melbourne’s future is terrifyingly plausible and I imagine that most readers will be left questioning the state of our society’s future and their position in it.
Thanks for having me (: I hope the book didn’t freak you out too much! But yes, I also hope it does make us wonder about the direction we’re heading in, both as a society and as individual people.
You have described the setting of “Black Glass” as more of a sideways shift than one directly into the future. How did you decide which elements of our current society to develop or change when you were writing the book?
I wish I could answer this more accurately, but mostly it wasn’t a conscious decision. The world of the book starts to take over, and you’re never quite sure where it’s going to lead. But the two things I did want to play around with were, firstly, the idea of surveillance culture; and secondly the kinds of social divisions that exist in our world today. I wanted to take those two things and exaggerate them slightly. To ask: what if…?
One of the foundations of the government in the book is that their control is a way to keep citizens safe. The other side of that coin of course is a society ruled by big brother, where citizens have few if any freedoms. Was this in response to any occurrences in our own society?
Yes, I think we’re already giving up certain freedoms, exchanging them for promises about “safety” or “security” or “belonging” – that’s how surveillance gets sold to us, as a protective thing. But sometimes that’s an empty promise. Information is power, and when you give away your personal information that’s like giving away a little bit of your personal mojo. So we need to be careful about who we give that to. Privacy is important, and it’s dangerous to just blindly accept everything governments say and do. Sometimes they do the right thing; but sometimes they’re just looking for a scapegoat, or trying to win an election.
Why did you choose to set the book in Melbourne?
Were you ever worried that this would limit your reach to overseas readers?
The setting could be any Western city – in fact, it’s never actually named as Melbourne. Because I’m familiar with Melbourne’s geography I used it as a kind of blueprint, but really if you altered a few street names and location details it could be Auckland, or San Francisco, or Dusseldorf, or Madrid. I don’t think overseas readers will have any trouble relating it to their own familiar cityscapes. I hope the book’s themes are universal, too, things that readers anywhere can relate to: things like friendship, hope, courage, creativity and power…the struggle to survive in a world that can sometimes be quite cruel or uncaring.
In some ways, “Black Glass” reads like a script, with the often one sided dialogue and the brief introduction of the characters and setting of each scene. Do you see there being potential to turn the story into a film?
Was this something that you thought about while you were writing the book?
Hooray! I’m so glad you read it that way (: I really love films and one day I’d like to write one – this book would work well as a film, I think. While I didn’t do that deliberately while writing the book, I guess I am a very “visual” sort of person, so the story comes through quite visually. Also the novel deals with things like surveillance cameras, eavesdropping, spying, role-playing and so on, so I thought a film-like style of writing, broken up into different scenes, with sections of dialogue, would work quite well with those ideas and themes.
The ‘moodies’ (characters who control the atmosphere of a room by altering peoples sensory experience) are fascinating. Where did the idea for these artists come from?
Partly that came from my past experience working as a DJ, watching how different sounds would affect the behaviour of a crowd. Also I’m interested in space and the senses, and how we experience different places through sound, colour, touch, smell. And I wanted the Moodie to be a creative character who has to face some tricky moral questions – is it ethical to secretly control people in this way? Where does art stop and greed take over?
What kind of research did you do to be able to describe so well the kinds of scents and sounds that the majority of readers would respond to in the same way as the characters?
Well, I did a lot of sniffing! Strange, but true. I looked into the effects of certain smells, colours and sounds on human behaviour. There are all sorts of theories and experiments circling around out there. For example, about half of the casinos in Las Vegas pump special smells through their air-conditioning systems to encourage people to stay longer and spend more money. Apparently fast-food restaurants often use the colours red and yellow, which stimulate your appetite, so you eat fast and move on, leaving your table free for another customer. And at some train stations overseas they play dodgy, uncool “muzak” through the speakers to discourage teenagers from hanging around. Those sorts of ideas found their way into the book.
Is there a particular scent that reminds you of your own childhood?
There are a few – the ocean, cut grass, jonquils, pine trees, baby lambs’ fleece and milk powder, hay-bales, and, um…horse sweat, and I’m sorry to say, horse poo! I grew up on a farm in New Zealand, near the sea, and we spent a lot of time outdoors. (No sheep jokes please!)
How did you manage to balance a large cast of such wonderful characters? Was there a particular character that you felt more of an affinity towards? Was it ever tempting to follow one character more than others?
I’m not sure exactly how it works while you’re writing it. They seem to take on their own lives, and start doing things you don’t expect. The two main characters, the young sisters Tally and Grace, were the ones I felt closest to. They are really the heart of the book. But I also related to the male characters – the homeless boy Blue, the moodie Milk, and the journalist Damon. I enjoyed spending time in their heads too.
How long did it take you to write and publish “Black Glass”?
A long time! At least four years, off and on. I wrote part time while I was studying and working, and also writing part of another book.
Do you have any tips for any emerging writers who have ideas but are struggling to put them together as a novel?
Just start writing, don’t wait for an amazing idea to come. Just do a little bit at a time, and set yourself daily word limits to meet. It’s not so daunting if you break it down into small parts. Be persistent, write often, and once you’ve done a block of writing, put on your critical editor’s hat and be really strict with yourself: what doesn’t work? What needs to be re-written or cut? You get better with practice, so just stick with it. Carry notebooks and scribble down ideas so you don’t forget them. Write on the tram, write in bed, write while you’re having breakfast.
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, hopefully we will see you at the festival!
Thanks so much Bec, it’s been a pleasure. Hope to see you there (:
You can read more about Meg at her website.
