1. Why did you choose to set the text in Australia?
“When writing, the location is always something I make sure is clear in my mind before anything else. I grew up in Australia, and I was at a point in my life where I wanted to reflect and write about myself for a change, I wanted to write about my childhood in particular. I wanted to write about my youth- when I was just a young boy hitchhiking around the Australian countryside. Therefore, I couldn’t think of a setting that would even compare to outback Australia. I remember staying in a railway carriage in Ballarat, Victoria and working either as a fruit picker or in a cannery…. Similar to “Billy” and “Old Bill” in the story. On my travels around Australia, I was helped out of a freezing cold speedboat by a man who let me stay in his cabin and even took me out for lunch, similar to the meeting of “Billy” and “Ernie” (pg. 8-13). Although …show more content…
I believe it enables the reader to view each character from a more personal point of view. I find it appalling that so many young men and women have no idea that verse writing exists, but to be honest with you I was the exact same. When I was 18 I had my first poem published, and it wasn’t until a few years later that I began to read and write novels in verse. I wish I had the opportunity to be exposed to the world of verse writing in my younger day, so it is my mission to expose as many children as possible to hidden land of verse novels. It gave me great pleasure when creating “The Simple Gift” because I was writing a verse novel, but with a storyline directed to a teenage and young adult audience. One of my biggest career achievements was discovering that the novel was being engaged in and enjoyed by students all over the world- And I have been told that some students have been at such a high point of engagement to where they have totally forgotten that they are reading poetry at all- this was my ultimate
“When writing, the location is always something I make sure is clear in my mind before anything else. I grew up in Australia, and I was at a point in my life where I wanted to reflect and write about myself for a change, I wanted to write about my childhood in particular. I wanted to write about my youth- when I was just a young boy hitchhiking around the Australian countryside. Therefore, I couldn’t think of a setting that would even compare to outback Australia. I remember staying in a railway carriage in Ballarat, Victoria and working either as a fruit picker or in a cannery…. Similar to “Billy” and “Old Bill” in the story. On my travels around Australia, I was helped out of a freezing cold speedboat by a man who let me stay in his cabin and even took me out for lunch, similar to the meeting of “Billy” and “Ernie” (pg. 8-13). Although …show more content…
I believe it enables the reader to view each character from a more personal point of view. I find it appalling that so many young men and women have no idea that verse writing exists, but to be honest with you I was the exact same. When I was 18 I had my first poem published, and it wasn’t until a few years later that I began to read and write novels in verse. I wish I had the opportunity to be exposed to the world of verse writing in my younger day, so it is my mission to expose as many children as possible to hidden land of verse novels. It gave me great pleasure when creating “The Simple Gift” because I was writing a verse novel, but with a storyline directed to a teenage and young adult audience. One of my biggest career achievements was discovering that the novel was being engaged in and enjoyed by students all over the world- And I have been told that some students have been at such a high point of engagement to where they have totally forgotten that they are reading poetry at all- this was my ultimate