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Q and A: Peeling the Onion
- What does the onion theme refer to?
- Which came first, the title or the poems?
- What is the meaning of the italicised sections?
- What inspired you to write this book?
- Why did you choose to write this book in the first person?
- In your novel, Anna's mother, Mrs Duncan is always cooking something new. Does this action represent something symbolic, metaphoric or both?
- Who is your favourite character and what traits do you like about him/her?
- The format of your book interested me. You had the dramatic climax at the beginning and several smaller ones throughout the rest of the novel. Did you plan how it was going to go before you started or did it just come as you were writing it?
- What did you want the reader to think about and which age group is it aimed at?
- I didn't understand some of medical terms in the book - does that matter?
- Will there be a sequel?
1. What does the onion theme refer to?
The most obvious answer is the stripping back of superficial layers of self to reach a better knowledge of who Anna is, but to me it also refers to the loss of the different roles in her life. Each of us plays many roles: Anna is a daughter, grand-daughter, niece, sister, friend, acquaintance, student, karate champion, etc. She will behave slightly differently in each of these roles (you probably talk differently to your best friend than to your grandmother, and yet you may be being yourself in both situations.) Her disabilities have either prevented her from carrying out these roles, or have made her feel unable to do so - for instance she is still Matt and Bronwyn's sister, but her position as the older caring sister has been altered. In addition to the roles that we act out at present, we each also carry the dream roles that we hope to achieve (or remember in the past). The loss of these future roles is extremely significant, especially during the period in which Anna is unable to see that any useful or adult role will ever be part of her future.
The good thing about the onion simile, though, apart from the fact that onions make you cry, so you automatically think of tears when you hear the phrase, is that an onion is a bulb - a new shoot will grow from inside all those layers, as we see that Anna is starting to do by the end of the book.
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2. Which came first, the title or the poems?
This title appeared on about the fifth or sixth draft of the book, long before I wrote the poems. I wasn't consciously looking for a title; I had just tidied the manuscript into its manilla folder, ready to show my publisher the next day, when the phrase popped into my head. It seemed to me that it described Anna's process very well, in that she was losing so many roles in her life, and so many layers of herself. However, at this stage, there were no references anywhere in the book to peeling, shedding skin, layers or onions - although I recently discovered some references to stripping back layers in notes I did before I started the book, so it must have been at the back of my mind even though I forgot about it when I started writing.
The poems were added in a very late draft. I had been asked to give a short performance at a Literary Feast, and my publisher suggested I use the title of the book as a base. The three poems were originally intended to show the 'peeling the onion' process of redrafting, but I thought it would be more interesting to imagine that it was Anna doing the writing. When I'd finished I realised that the poems belonged in the book.
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3. What is the meaning of the italicised sections?
They are meant to represent the undercurrent of Anna's thoughts, and are to some extent the more honest representation of her life as she feels it. We all sometimes have things running through our minds, whether they are emotions or conscious thoughts, that are quite separate from what we are saying or doing at the time. However, grief and pain often intensify this experience, as we struggle to hide our real feelings so that we may be seen as polite and 'normal'.
These sections are particularly important to me as I think there would be no point to this book if the reader didn't feel what Anna was going through inside; the bald story - girl gets injured, doesn't really get better but decides she can cope - would be pretty boring, and yet it seemed to me that was the level on which many books about trauma were written.
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4. What inspired you to write this book?
It was based on an accident I had. I had no desire to write an autobiography but thought that giving the same injuries to a teenage girl would make an interesting novel. I was twenty years older than Anna, so the problems that arose from my injuries were quite different from hers; this made the writing more interesting for me, as I always like being someone different when I write. However, emotions are often quite similar, no matter what age we are and no matter what the actual trauma or grief is, and it was these emotions that I felt most books about trauma failed to tell the truth about. I felt quite angry about books that gave people unlikely miracles, or suggested that will power will conquer anything (you need willpower, but it has limits!).
It was something I'd thought about previously, as an occupational therapist, but of course the feeling became stronger when I became a patient.
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5. Why did you choose to write this book in the first person?
The first draft was written in third person, past tense; several drafts were in the first person, past tense - and then I realised that the only way I could get the effect I wanted, to really let the reader know what she was experiencing, was to show you the story from Anna's viewpoint, as it happened, so it had to be first person, present tense. A disadvantage of this is that we see only Anna's viewpoint, although I hope the reader may sometimes glimpse that there might be other points of view: for example that Hairy Legs is actually doing her best to offer help, even though Anna hates needing that help - and therefore loathes Hairy Legs.
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6. In your novel, Anna's mother, Mrs Duncan is always cooking something new. Does this action represent something symbolic, metaphoric or both?
Like Anna, Els (her name isn't mentioned in the book, but that's what it is) needs to be physically active. She chooses cooking because it's a way to be busy inside the house, and is something she can offer her daughter - a parent feels very helpless in a situation like this, so wants to offer what they can. I hadn't consciously planned it as a symbol, but you're quite right that it is.
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7. Who is your favourite character and what traits do you like about him/her?
The mum, I think; Els Duncan. She's strong, straight; not always completely logical but does her best. I suppose she's how I'd like to be as a mother!
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8. The format of your book interested me. You had the dramatic climax at the beginning and several smaller ones throughout the rest of the novel. Did you plan how it was going to go before you started or did it just come as you were writing it?
It was very difficult, having the climax on the first page, but it just seemed the only way to do it. My plans for books are always very rough before I start, in this case I knew that she wouldn't get a miracle but she would be okay in the end, and I'd decided to let her have a boyfriend (after originally planning that she would simply dump Hayden and be strong on her own.) I think it was obvious from the start that she would have to consider suicide, but I can't remember for sure.
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9. What did you want the reader to think about and which age group is it aimed at?
I started simply wanting to tell Anna's story, but as I went on I realised that I wanted the reader to understand that sometimes will power, hard work and wishing aren't enough to solve our problems - but that we can still find the strength to go on anyway, and work out an altered life for ourselves. To me that's more of a miracle than a magic cure (though magic cures are good if they happen, of course!) I see it as a teenage book, but I know that adults who read it also see it as an adult book about a teenager.
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10. I didn't understand some of medical terms in the book - does that matter?
I did not want to explain more than Anna was likely to understand as she went along, partly because a lot of these problems - balance, tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and planning motor actions - aren't well understood even by the medical profession; partly because that confusion and lack of simple explanation is another upsetting thing for Anna - and partly because this book was meant to explore the effect on the whole person of the total of these injuries. So my advice to the general reader is: don't worry about exactly what a traumatic spondylolisthesis is. Just consider how you'd feel if it was present in a long list of things wrong with you. (If you really want to know, it's one vertebra having been knocked forward in relation to the one below, instead of sitting neatly on top. As I understand it.)
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11. Will there be a sequel?
I don't want to write a sequel because I'd like people to make up their own
mind about Anna's future. I don't know the whole story myself because I
haven't written it - but I know that she does handle year 12 okay the second year, still not full time, but enough to finish. I think she does end up
doing psychology, although university will also take her longer than most
people. And she and Luke stay together for a long time, but I think not
forever - however I could be wrong. As I say, until I write it, anyone's thoughts on her future are as right as mine.
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