I had a chat with writer Kaaron Warren about writing, her influences and being drawn to dark things and themes. Her latest book is The Underhistory, details here.
A few questions… with Kaaron Warren
1. What pathway led you into being a writer?
I was pretty focused on becoming a published writer from very early on in my career. Long before I sold a single story, I was sending out requests for guidelines, in the days you had to physically mail a printed letter! I had a loose-leaf folder full of markets, with notes as to what stories I might send them. I have an early issue of the horror magazine Bloodsongs, published firstly in Australia and then the US, with an interview with Ellen Datlow. I adored her anthologies and would devour her Year’s Bests, reading every story, noting down what I liked and didn’t like, what worked as horror for me. In the interview she mentioned an anthology of revenge fiction. I circled this! And I wrote a story called ‘A Positive’ to send to her. She didn’t take the story but gave me a really encouraging note, with a point of editing that made a lot of sense. I sold that story to Bloodsongs instead, and it went on to win me my first Aurealis Award in 1998.
All that is to say: the pathways are not always clear and laid out for you. They’re often strewn with debris of discarded stories, and harsh rejections. Although I’ve only truly received one harsh rejection, all them hurt to this day! But mostly the rejections are polite, and either generic or encouraging. This one said something like: ‘The publisher really loved this story but I hated it. It didn’t make sense and I think you are a terrible writer.’ Ouch! But also: The other person loved it, so that’s what I took away from that letter!
I’ve written since I was about 7 years old. Taken it seriously since about 15. I still take it very seriously, and still love what I do. I’ve taken opportunities and invitations when they come my way as often as I can, and tried to support others in the community.
2. What (or who) have been the influences over the years as you developed your voice as a writer?
I’m a voracious reader, as many writers are. So my influences are wide and varied. As far as developing my own voice though, that’s all me. It’s many hundreds of thousands of words on the page; it’s working hard to make sure that each idea I have for a story is thought through, so I don’t end somewhere predictable or inevitable, but somewhere that surprises me. It’s observing, listening, keeping notes, being curious about everything and everyone. It’s not losing that sense of wonder.
3. Are there any particular themes that you like to explore in your writing?
Family, responsibility, crime and punishment, violence and its repercussions, love, loss, grief, fear, the afterlife and what might come next.
4. Do you have any particular process when you begin a new work?
I start by brainstorming ideas and thoughts, handwritten, usually on a series of notebooks and scraps of paper. The handwritten nature of it is part of the process; it helps me think. I doodle, colour in letters, draw arrows from one thought to the next.
I’ll do some research to start the story off, get the feel for it. Often this will lead to rabbit holes I find it hard to get out of, so I take notes all the way, trying to keep the end result (that is, the story) in mind.
I’ll try to find a particular piece of music that suits the work, something that I can play to put me into the right/write place. The novel I’m nearly finished has Season of the Witch as its theme song!
Once a certain ‘ping’ goes off in my backbrain, I know I’ve gathered enough information and thoughts, and it’s time to get to work. If I haven’t found the story’s voice by then, I’ll work at a few pages, coming at it from different angles, until the right voice presents itself.
5. I’ve bumped into you a few times at AsylumFest, the horror festival at an asylum. What draws you to such dark things?
I’ve never really been able to answer this question. I’ve been drawn to dark things my entire life, from the moment I could read. I liked the scarier fairy stories, the ghost stories, the tales of the graveyard. I remember being only about 5 years old and learning there were actual dead bodies buried in a cemetery and being both aghast and utterly fascinated.
My mother was cross at me about a Mother Theresa quote she’d written up as inspiration. ‘It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.’
I took the words ‘curse the darkness’, one of the first titles that sprang out at me, and thought, how can I get something dark and scary from an inspirational quote. I never did write that story! I have the title written down, and I think a couple of lines somewhere. Actually, when I think about it, this will be the PERFECT title for the haunted house story I’m working on.
I guess the dark side has unknowns, mysteries and puzzles that fascinate me. There are so many possibles, so much room for the imagination. And people who are drawn to these things are often very open to ideas, and so at somewhere like AsylumFest, you can spend the weekend talking about ghosts, inspirations, loss, ideas, anything at all.
6. And, finally, describe your ideal writing space!
I have trained myself to be able to write anywhere, rather than using my environment as an excuse not to write! That said, I have an office in our house which is piled with papers and notebooks, research books, weird items to inspire, all that kind of thing.
I love to get away on a writing retreat with friends and spend the days writing, the evenings eating and talking.
But to be absolutely honest, my perfect writing space is a hotel room. A nice one is great, but even a small one works. Just me, a desk or table of some kind, probably true crime or some kind of crap on the TV. My laptop, my notebook and a series of pens. And nothing else. I’m at my most focused at these rare times.
Scott Vandervalk 