Official Interview: Marlene Rattigan

[kandscreeley]

Today's Chat with Sarah features Marlene Rattigan author of NICO.

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1. What was your first experience with writing?

Too long ago! Probably writing about my own kids. I later joined a writing for children group in Fremantle (held at the old gaol! – part of the Children’s Literature Centre) and worked on several pieces. I think the first manuscript I submitted was for a book about a child whose mother was having a baby, called, of course, ‘My Mummy’s Having a Baby’ but got put off when I was rejected by multiple publishers. A few years ago while browsing in a bookshop, I saw a picture book on the same subject as well as another of ‘my books’ and decided I couldn’t stand it if any more of ‘my books’ made it onto the shelves written by another author. Imagine if I found a book about a talking pet bird? No, that wouldn’t do so I got back to writing and published Nico.

2. Who or what has been the biggest influence on you?

Lots of things/people but probably reading lots of children’s picture books over the years to my children and students. My background is teaching Early Childhood.

3. Let's talk about your book NICO. Can you give us a synopsis for those that don't know?

Nico is a talkative and interactive pet bird (sulphur-crested cockatoo) who is a bit of a show-off. Being left alone for long days during the summer while Kim and her mother work at the flower shop makes Nico so sad and lonely he becomes ill so they take him with them. Now he’s happy – he has an audience once more! The florist shop is at a railway station and one day he thinks he sees Kim getting onto the train – all by herself! ‘Whaah… crikey!’ he screeches as he flies after her to rescue her. Of course he needs to rescue her! The rest of the story is about his ordeal on the train and what happens next. And what will the family do next to make sure he is safe in future?

4. Nico is a bird. Why did you decide on a bird?

I saw a bird in a florist shop on the Bologna Railway Station about twenty years ago when I attended the Children’s Book Fair for the first time and I just wondered what might happen if that bird somehow got out of his cage. That thought kept ruminating in my brain until I worked out a bit of a story around it. The details changed considerably over the years (decades!) but the basic story remains the same.

5. Can you tell us about the process of working with an illustrator?

I had published three music and movement books for teachers and parents and when the illustrator for the first two – a friend of mine - was no longer available, I had to search for another and found Sergio Drumond on an online site. He was brilliant! It was my Scarf Magic book. He put a ‘frame’ around each double spread looking like a patterned scarf and coloured in all the pages. Who would think of doing that? I had to send him bits from my video to explain what I was doing in the book for him to copy. He was brilliant! Have I said that before? Not enough times! He got in touch with me a few years ago to wish me Happy Christmas and in thanking him I asked if he was still illustrating as the Australian illustrators I contacted didn’t respond (still waiting …) and he said he’d love to work on another book with me so I sent him Nico. He sent some rough sketches through to show me how he saw each spread and I had very few changes to make. Because this story is set in Australia, Nico being an Australian bird, he had to draw the other birds in the story as Australian birds or ones that are found everywhere. His interpretation of my words was wonderful, beyond what I could have ever imagined. I was ecstatic when he showed me the front page with the word ‘NICO’ in those coloured boxes. That image formed part of the eventual cover because I loved it so much. He was obliging and very helpful in all his suggestions. Brilliant! My words became magic because of him.

6. What was the best part about writing the book? What was the most challenging?

That’s a difficult question. Writers write because they can’t stop themselves. Losing yourself in a story and dreaming up what might realistically happen is such fun! It doesn’t matter if countless editors make suggestions along the way which you may or may not take up. It’s your story. Writing is a way of losing yourself in your imagination. As for challenges, feeling put off because an editor makes suggestions can make you feel like you can’t really write after all. It’s very unnerving but you have to rise above it. On a friend’s insistence, we sat down and brain-stormed Nico so I could get my confidence back and just do it. Believing in yourself is actually the most challenging.

7. What's next for you?

I have actually just written and published (through Xlibris) another picture book called Batty Wings, also illustrated by Sergio Drumond. That was the best fun! I had four editors look it over and they all loved it! It’s about a Nanna (that would be me) and her grandchildren (actually mine) and how Nanna turns into a bat at night and flies around checking up on things while everyone is asleep – and the adventures she has. It’s about a trick I played on the children.

I like to end with fun questions.

8. Who's your favorite author?

Julia Donaldson, Matt Ottley, Shaun Tan, Isobelle Carmody, Anthony Brown … OMG so many terrific authors that I love! Hmmm… notice they are all children’s picture book authors? OK, I do have favourite authors who write for adults but let’s focus on picture book authors.

9. What's your favorite music?

Classical

10. Which chore would you rather do? Dust or clean the bathroom?

That’s so funny! Neither! I do have to vacuum regularly though because of a certain ginger girl called Simba who manages to find her way into my books. (Yes, she’s a cat.)

11. What kind of bird is your favorite?

I love them all! That’s a hard question. Hmmm… I like birds with personalities rather than those that simply look beautiful. Willy Wagtails probably because they are so cheeky. Then again, crows are pretty cool because they are so smart. Kookaburras are also lovely because they ‘laugh’ and sound hilarious.

[George Okello 2]

The interview is very informative.Birds can have personalities too.I thought only humans had personalities.

[NoviceReader]

I have read books related to animals and human interactions like dogs, monkeys but this is first kind of book which tells about birds and that also rescuing human. It would be new experience to read this book.

[Catherine Sweet]

I enjoyed reading this interview and hearing about her experiences as a writer. The story and illustrations for Nico sound great.