Ask the Author: Toni Grant
Answered Questions (7)
Toni Grant
The Trouble with Serpents! The edit is due any week now, so I'll be fine tuning book three as we prepare to go to print. I also have a swag of books to catch up on as I try not to read too much when I'm in creative story telling mode.
I have a long list of excellent books in my library and this summer (winter in Australia) I'll be adding to that list with architecture and design books as we embark on a major renovation at home.
I have a long list of excellent books in my library and this summer (winter in Australia) I'll be adding to that list with architecture and design books as we embark on a major renovation at home.
Toni Grant
It took me a long time to write this book, the third in the trilogy. Partly because I wanted to let my thoughts settle on how my characters would progress forward, partly because I was scared of moving forward, partly because I was questioning why I write at all and mostly because I was deep in grief and could not find my way out of that black hole and big rock sitting in my chest that was my heart.
I knew I wanted to bring some kind of conclusion for Francesca. She needed to be given the opportunity to show her stuff. Sinclair needed to man up and Nicholas was an enigma I was still trying to get my head around. I read a lot, something I don't normally do when I'm writing. I thought I wanted to say something insightful or world changing but I didn't know what.
I was up in my head and couldn't feel a thing so I took a circuit breaker. I went to Italy by myself. I grieved and walked and photographed and found nothing and everything I needed. And still I couldn't write. Later that year covid came and interrupted our lives and five months later when I was walking on the beach of my new home I started to feel human again, my soul found comfort in the consistency of the waves and in my dreams my characters came calling.
I started writing, deleting and rewriting and one day, ten months later I had a book.
Where did the idea come from? A dream. A nightmare. A deep black hole and the need to push on out of it through my characters. So this third book centres on endings and starting again.
I knew I wanted to bring some kind of conclusion for Francesca. She needed to be given the opportunity to show her stuff. Sinclair needed to man up and Nicholas was an enigma I was still trying to get my head around. I read a lot, something I don't normally do when I'm writing. I thought I wanted to say something insightful or world changing but I didn't know what.
I was up in my head and couldn't feel a thing so I took a circuit breaker. I went to Italy by myself. I grieved and walked and photographed and found nothing and everything I needed. And still I couldn't write. Later that year covid came and interrupted our lives and five months later when I was walking on the beach of my new home I started to feel human again, my soul found comfort in the consistency of the waves and in my dreams my characters came calling.
I started writing, deleting and rewriting and one day, ten months later I had a book.
Where did the idea come from? A dream. A nightmare. A deep black hole and the need to push on out of it through my characters. So this third book centres on endings and starting again.
Toni Grant
I had a nightmare. The type of which was so tragic to me and so real, I woke thinking it had actually happened. Cold sweats and shaking in a dark Rapallo hotel room with my kids sleeping in bunk beds across from me and my husband beside me. I was frozen in fear and sobbing. I couldn't move and listened to any noise that sounded different from sleep. We were on a family holiday in Italy, (amazing) and the only way for me to process it was to convert it to a story. As you might suspect, I didn't get back to sleep. I started thinking what kind of person would consider doing that? What life circumstances would bring about that kind of action? By the time I met everyone for breakfast I knew I had the bones of a story, in fact I said to them during breakfast "I just had a really bad dream and it would make an awesome ending to a book". I'd never written a book before but I'd always been fascinated by organised crime in terms of the structure and the family dynamics and decided that was the only way to reconcile such a shocking nightmare. So as we travelled through Italy I wrote the story. First in my head, and when I couldn't sleep because my head was too full, I wrote notes and comments on any piece of paper I could find. I saw my lead character on a train from Rapallo to Rome - he was as sexy as hell and had an aloft air about him. Once I started I couldn't stop writing and developing my characters and the story flowed.
Toni Grant
I'm currently working on the third book in the series - The Trouble With Serpents. We are in the editing phase which is always exciting because it gives me an idea of how my publisher and editor feel about the book. We both want the best version available for you as a reader. As a writer sometimes I get a little too close and need a little help to see the big picture. I'm very invested in my characters - they're like my family. I know what my characters intend to say and do, and that's where the feedback from my editor is invaluable. Also I recently completed a couple of courses through the Australian Writers Centre and I'm currently working on improving my writing skills and author platform. It's a very exciting time.
Toni Grant
First question - why did you start to write? Hold that answer close because writing is hard work and lonely and can be truly demoralising, particularly if you're trying to publish. I started writing for so many reasons. Mostly it was to challenge myself to finish the book I'd started imagining on our holiday. I'm sure there are all kinds of psychological reasons behind that statement, but to me it was about having courage and endurance (I set myself a 12 month deadline) and I wanted to draw on all that creativity that was bubbling inside me and looking for an escape. The year I started was probably not the easiest time (life was very busy) and I did not ever think that anyone would ever read my story. In fact I didn't tell anyone I was writing until the year was nearly done. I suppose I wanted to hold that close to me - a personal challenge with myself. And I was not thinking about publishing until long after I finished the book. So, keep going and remember why you started. Not so much about the end.
Toni Grant
Letting my vivid imagination run wild and threading everything together into a story. Being a reader and a writer allows me to really explore feelings and locations and characters. The best bit about storytelling is creating the characters and then allowing them to have their say in how the story unfolds. Sometimes it takes me to places and situations I'd not intended and that's always a beautiful surprise.
Toni Grant
The first thing is that you accept you have writers block! Between procrastination and online shopping or getting the groceries there is writers block. How did I overcome it? After a long internal battle I stopped thinking and started feeling. Being present in the moment allowed me to get creative. I drew, I mapped my thoughts and feelings and designed a future project. I walked in nature. Eventually threads of a story came through. It took twelve months to get to this point. I had no idea how these thought bubbles would connect but I researched them none the less. Soon I was writing notes on post it’s and shopping lists and bits of dockets. The real life stories in the research inspired and confidence returned. For me pushing through and sucking it up wasn’t working. I had to find my inner child. The child who read books, explored, questioned and listened to endless music. And of course, daydreamed way too much.
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