Super excited to interview Bren MacDibble today. Even more excited to know that Bren is currently working on a new novel. Can’t wait.
Q1.How to Bee is a refreshingly unique story. Sadly it is possible that bees could become extinct. Have you always been interested in environmental issues and what was it that inspired you to write Peony’s story?
I’d been thinking about writing a farm kid story for a long time. Everyone always tells you to write what you know, and I knew about being a farm kid, but I want to write stories set in the future, and when I saw an article in the Huffington Post with big bright pictures of pear farmers in the Sichuan climbing their trees to hand-pollinate the flowers, I knew all the things I’d wanted to write, had come together. I’ve always been interested in the future and environmental issues are a huge part of that.
As I write this, I’m sitting in a free camp in Northern Territory surrounded by buzzing bees. A few were harrassing our white bus so I fed them water and sugar, because it’s very dry here, and then they told one million of their best friends and it seems we may never be able to step foot outside again!
Q2. Peony is loyal and at times feisty. Were you feisty at that age or how would you describe yourself at that age?
I think I was a feisty handful of terror until I hit around 9, and realised I wasn’t as brilliant as I imagined I was, so it was pretty easy for me to channel Peony’s single-minded determination to get things going her own way.
Q3. I cried several times while reading this book and that to me is the power of a good book. To connect so much with a character that you can feel their pain is an amazing skill. How hard was it to write the emotional stuff and how did you know it would make an impact with readers.
I cry every time I read it and I’ve read it dozens of times! I’d be feeling pretty foolish if I was the only one so I love to hear stories of people crying. Kids don’t normally cry over it. Just adults.
I never know who it will connect with. I try always to show the emotion. I wanted this book to feel real. I wanted young readers to connect with the physical sensations of emotions as well as understanding what had set Peony off rather than telling them how she felt outright. I had to think very carefully about the physicalities of emotion as well as staying true to Peony and what she holds close to her heart.
Q4. If you could have dinner with any character from any book, who would it be and why?
I’ll have dinner with Aissa from Wendy Orr’s ‘Dragonfly Song.’ That kid needs a good feed and a big hug, doesn’t she?
Q5. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I wanted to be a writer when I was young but kids like me didn’t become writers and I figured out no one gives you money for sitting around hammering on a keyboard and talking to yourself, so I gave it up and did jobs where people pay you money for sitting around hammering on a keyboard and talking on telephones for a long time, and later I did those jobs and tried to be a writer at the same time. Two jobs, like most writers.
Q6. Do you have a writing routine and a special place to write?
No. I live in a bus. When the bus is not moving, I write on a laptop in a seat… or sometimes sitting on a chilly bin or standing at a bench. There’s no routine, and a big fat zero on glamour in my life.
Q7. Your book How to Bee is shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. This is so exciting. How are you feeling about this?
I’m so excited. I thought you’d all forgotten about How to Bee. I was in NZ travelling around at Easter and I was more excited to see the bookshops and libraries than they were to see me! It means a lot that NZ is falling in love with Peony. I was a NZ farm kid, so this is the book’s home.
Q8. Do you have any advice for young writers?
Write honestly. Some writers do snazzy showy things and that’s kinda cool for a while, but you can touch people’s hearts when you write your story, using your language, and write about the things that matter to you.
Q9. Are you writing another novel at the moment and if so, any hints?
I’m almost finished another children’s book. We’re calling it Dry Running and it will be out early 2019… its Mad Max for kids, and it’s environmental again, dealing with the loss of a food group we all rely so heavily on, especially in NZ: Grass. Grass is grass, wheat, oats, corn, rice, bamboo, sugar cane, dairy, meat… all of it is gone in my book. Hungry yet?
I’m very concerned with food security, and there is a particularly mean fungus that tends to mutate every decade or so and do terrible damage to crops and grass.
So, against the backdrop of this famine, is a tale of two kids escaping the city to get to country relatives, on a dog cart towed by their five big doggos.
I got a grant to research this one from the Neilma Sidney Travel Fund and so I’ve been travelling around all over, visiting mushroom caves and grassland experts and watching dry dog mushing, where people harness scooters, bikes or carts to huskies and tear through forest trails. Such a great sport. Such happy doggos.
Thank you so much Bren for taking the time to answer my questions. Best of luck with the awards ceremony in August. Exciting times ahead.
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