Gabrielle Wang is an award-winning children’s author and illustrator. She has written and illustrated more than twenty novels for young readers. Her latest middle grade novel Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon was Shortlisted for the 2023 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, Queensland Literary Awards and NSW Premiers Literary Awards. Gabrielle was the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2022 and 2023 and is the Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge Ambassador 2024.
Ahead of Gabrielle’s workshop Plotting, Structuring and Pacing when Writing for Children, we asked her a few questions about her new book, self-doubt, writing routine and more.
1. Tell us more about your latest project and what inspired you to write it.
My latest work in progress is a middle grade historical fiction magic realism novel called The Silken Thread. The idea was inspired by my parents who came from completely different backgrounds and places. My mother was third generation Chinese Australian who grew up in Carlton, while my father was born into a peasant family that lived in rural China close to the mouth of the Yangzi River. It was because of World War Two that their destinies intertwined and they fell in love. Their bond was so strong, I began wondering the what if question. What if they had met as children but in a separate reality. As a boy. my father was the one responsible for raising the silkworms on their farm and so, the idea of a silkworm thread acting as the conduit between worlds began to form. The Silken Thread will be published by Penguin Australia in July next year.
2. What role have books played in your life?
As a child, adventure stories and stories about dogs and horses captured my imagination and made me fall in love with reading. But it was Enid Blyton, in particular The Magic Faraway Tree books and The Secret Seven series that made me the writer I am today.
Because I was constantly drawing and wanted to be an artist when I grew up, I liked books with illustrations. This is why I include black and white illustrations in my own books. There was one problem though. I never saw myself, a Chinese girl in the books I read so I struggled with my identity. Thankfully these days, there are many wonderful diverse Australian books by diverse authors and illustrators for young people to read.
3. Self-doubt seems to be part of being a writer. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to another writer about how to overcome it?
I wish I knew the answer to this. Even after more than twenty published books, I still suffer from this all-too-common affliction that artists have. There is a positive side to self-doubt though. If you’re completely happy and satisfied with what you are producing, then you aren’t growing. Only by pushing yourself through and overcoming these challenges, can you reach your next level.
4. What does your writing process and routine look like?
I begin work at 5am when all is quiet. It’s still dark, not even the birds are up yet. My studio faces east so I watch the sun rising. The day is awakening and so too is my brain. I find that my mind is razor sharp at this time of morning. Instead of reworking the same paragraphs over and over again, my writing comes out clean the first time. This certainly doesn’t happen if I try and write later in the day. Unless I’m writing historical fiction, I don’t plot my novels. I like to keep my mind open and let the things I observe and experience around me play a part in my story. Later, when I’m into say the second act, I’ll begin to do a little plotting. I guess I’m aware of plot on a subconscious level because I’ve been writing for more than twenty years. Don’t let plot get in the way of a good story.
5. What are you hoping participants of your workshop will take with them?
I hope participants will learn some plotting and structuring techniques that they can use in their own projects. If they are working on a piece, I encourage them to bring it along, not to share in class, but to refer to when doing some of the writing exercises. I found this invaluable when attending writing workshops in the past. I would ask myself, does my manuscript follow these basic steps of plot and structuring? Where does it fall down? What do I need to make the narrative more exciting, the characters more real?
Places are still available for Gabrielle’s workshop Plotting, Structuring and Pacing when Writing for Children. Members of Writers Victoria receive up to 37% off the full price of all clinics, workshops, seminars and courses. Writers experiencing financial and social barriers to developing their skills are encouraged to apply to The Writers Victoria Fund for subsidised attendance at workshops and clinics.