Adam Casey introduces us to Andrew Macrae, the author of Trucksong, a sci-fi novel, which almost
won the Aurelis Award 2014.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Australia, Trucksong was written during Andrew’s PhD. During a PhD, students
are encouraged to experiment different paths than usual. Innovation and
creativity are supported. PhD is research; therefore, it gives space to
unconventional roads.
Andrew Macrae was working on his sci-fi novel; experimentation with
the language was the key for his novel. However, it is interesting how the open-minded
attitude of a university environment finds a stop in the real world of
publishing. When Andrew proposed his novel to agents and publishers, here and
in the USA, his book wasn’t welcomed. Andrew was told that the story was good
but the language was unconventional. He was in a dilemma: “Do I want to reach
as many readers as it can, or do I want to keep going on my way?” Andrew
remembers.
He resisted for a while; he was too concerned on maintaining his
integrity. But eventually, he came back to the language and made it more
readable.
“In the end, I didn’t have to compromise much,” he said, “because I
mostly had to work on the spelling.” And while doing that he realised that his
character’s authority—which he thought depended on the particular way of
speaking—didn’t depend on the spelling.
“The character’s voice was still there,” says Andrew who, with his
revised novel version, found publishing in 2013 at Twelfth Planet Press.
Andrew brings us also an example of marketing. Having an interest in
music—he plays in an instrumental rock band—he has created a CD soundtrack for
his novel that he distributed to us. This is the spirit of marketing:
attracting people in a diverse and original way.
No comments:
Post a Comment